de_paradise

Well I have this friend, a very intelligent beautiful 22 yr old woman who is a seriously depressed individual. Her mother, and then her father died of cancer when she was young, from which she seems not to have gotten over. The psychologists have not been able to treat her successfully, and she pretty much shutters herself away from society, also has serious eating disorders. I have become really concerned lately because she is manifesting health problems as well, will probably need surgery for colon, and she told me she is feeling angry alot, as well as depressed. From what I know of demons, this might indicate the entity gaining strength and asserting itself more. So could someone with some expertise in this area, comment?

I fairly appreciate Mak's content, high signal to noise ratio, and his replies to challenges show the depth of his knowlege. I'm sure he'll get bored of posting so much before long.

Whoa there hoss. I was not being so literal about sending negative vibes, I was merely talking about negative and argumentative posts. I think we all know how to do this. It dusturbs one's own mind and can impede loving stillness meditations when one is thinking about what an asshole another person is.

Yep, I already know how to send negative vibes through cyberspace. I find it impedes spiritual practise.

I do agree with you, however shishir_peace did ask about spontaneous Kundalini situation as well as deliberate K-raising exercises. (which you'll note I was not encouraging; and not contradicting Shrfu Max.)

I've had quite a few similar, lets call them high-vibe lucid dreams. Yesterday I became lucid on my bed as my body went into crazy acceleration, and also sometimes feeling like silly putty being smushed. Just like you, the evidence pointed towards a dream state as my mind was partly manifesting fictions--and yet there was something non-dreamy about it. I often lose vision, as is have awareness of a scenario but no sight, just darkness. At one point I realized there was someone in the room and I grabbed her arm and asked her name. She say, "Ivy, no. Iris. No. Isis." The fact that she came out with a list of short "I" names made me think that it was my subconscious doing its relational functioning, and even then I realized this was only my subconcious mind, not an entity. But I have the same questions as you. I do know that astral travel books characterize the leaving the body as a time just at an energy acceleration. Your descriptions sound like dreams. You might find interesting this guy: http://www.shaman-australis.com/~claude/dreams.html

We are an opinionated lot, yes we are. So here's mine. I agree with freeform that you only need listen to your body as it is much more intelligent in these matters than the scraps of oversimplified information we can cognize. I was fairly fearful of the (spontaneous) Kundalini Kunlun mix at the beginning but that fear was not warrented. As Santiago says, its all Shakti. Upward, downward, sideways, round and round, its intelligent energy in your body that is helping you transform, it will adapt and maximize whatever you do to transform. This has been my guiding belief that has served me well, where other people seem to get fearful or paranoid, using this to rationalize their not practising. Yes I do think Kunlun falls within the definition of Shakti (great transformational intelligence). It is just a name and I wouldnt get caught up in these names. Alchemical processes are millions of times more complicated than what we write here--better to say Shakti or God. I am not saying that doing the Kundalini yoga exercises, raising your K or qi level and then move onto Kunlun. It seems redundant, unadvisable (by Chris) and when you get a feel for it, you might notice that Kunlun a more refined and powerful type of energy than that produced by doing dragon fire breath for example.

Well first off, its better to see Randi as an entertainer, a t.v. show where he is the hero. One might have the tendancy as to view his stuff as not just entertainment, a hero looking to unmask charlatans. The hero is not supposed to lose in the show. There has been plenty of lab testing of cultivators. Tibetan monks, generating heat, for example. Many regular people have had energetic experiences, such as seeing auras or out of body experiences, or seeing a future incident. The problem as I see it is that people are not scientific enough. You would think a weird energetic experience is enough for people to shake up their model of the world, to allow the possibility of an etheric body or existence beyond the explaination of our lastest science. But people tend to shelve these incidents because it involves rethinking what a human is, what existence is, the whole biscuit, and its a very scary thing to have ones structure pulled out. Last year I learned Tarot cards, and while practising, time after time the same cards would appear during a sitting with a person, no matter how much I shuffled the deck. It doesnt take me long to spot a statistical anomaly. I couldnt explain it, so I googled this and found some articles explaining how other people, in one example a physics professor had met the same statistical anomolies while dealing the cards...But what have you done with this fact so far? While your mind is reeling to find what could possibly explain this phenomenon, you still have to deal with people who deal in the carefully defined reality of the day. A statistical anomaly like this ought to shake up your reality. It did me. So I then on carefully looked for any idiosyncracy which could not be explained in the current materialist science model of reality. Funny enough, when you start looking, these things start popping up. And then you have to turn to things like Taoism or new age stuff for possible expanations. But when I talk about an etheric or soul body with friends, do you know what most say? They say people who believe in that type of stuff need to believe because the thought of dying is so difficult. WTF? I used to think that! But now I realize its the pot calling the kettle black: they cant accept reality beyond their programmed reality because doing so would upset their minds to much, and they may realize they have been suckered into thinking this is all there is. I have this little trick where I can emit qi from my hand onto somebody's head or hand and they will be able to feel something like a warm flow or their skin. And although I can demostrate on anyone, I havent been able to really shake up another person's reality or view of the body to one that contains an etheric body. How are they able to shelve tangeable 1st hand proof? Its crazy. One guy accused me of using suggestion or hypnosis. So perhaps instead of clamoring for proof, ask yourself why you dont see the proof that is already there?

Thanks for the detailed answer. I just happened to be browsing your sites (good job on your google ratings btw) and looking for techniques that help get to the level of control of ejaculation, jing reabsorbing and abdominal control. Do you suggest the nauli yoga one, or will you have a distance course for these things soon? regards, DP

Hi Santiago, May I ask you a question? What is your standpoint on retaining jing throughout the kundalini and enlightenment process? I gather from "Path Notes" that Glenn was doing sexual practises, but he doesnt seem to be as paranoid as others for losing jing. Would you please clarify this? Regards and thanks in advance, DP

I've thought about this alot. Ive gone out to my local bar and gotten in coversations where I've been talking about cultivation and cultivator's version of reality. It flies like a lead balloon. End up looking like a religious extremist or psycho weirdo. But at the same time many women are extremely attracted to spirituality and new-aginess, and it tends to be rare in men. So I've revised my schtick to include the soft-core version. People can swallow that I meditate to connect with the unified field of consciousness, for bliss, for happiness and to expand imagination. People LOVE to hear Tolle's stuff about living in the now or how shedding their ego attachments will help them live happily. This latter stuff is "chick crack"; its a matter of being skillfull. If you feel the need to blurt out the truth of "the real you" then thats probably just appeasing your ego's need for acceptance and praise.

Mantra might be the right way to go, worth a shot. Show him the David Lynch clips on youtube about "diving within" as he has been using TM mantra, and he is more compelling to the average person, non-cultivators. You never know what is going to click with the person though, for example he may have negative reactions to his own internal voice. In that case perhaps change his mantra voice to a deeper tone. I am not going to state what I feel about the reticent people who always advise caution and to put their faith in physicians.

It sounds like lucid dreaming. Some of my lucid dreams start in a really similar fashion. This lucid dreaming may be a subset of, or contained within a larger 3rd eye openeing process. Stay tuned!

The priciples of focus on one thing is the same as in alot of meditations. Last year I read a bit about Matreya Buddha using sound as an object to acheive enlightenment, so I spent some time listening to the gurgling water fountain. I wasnt quite sure if I had gotten it right, because there are so many ways to apply one's concious attention to an object. But nowadays, I can guage the effectiveness of a meditation as I immediately feel the qi flow and its level of intensity. Its an ideal litmus test for meditations. The way to listen is this: you have to plant your attention on the sound that is coming out of the speakers at that very moment: now, now, and now, or if you are listening to the guitar solely, then listen to the variations of the tone etc. in only the present moment. Its sometimes interesting to listen to the sounds of the vocals but not paying attention to the words, its sometimes interesting just to listen to the drum beat, and having a void-like mind in between the beats. The difficult bit is that your attention will not want to stay right on the music, it will flit from music, and will come back to your body feeling for a second, check it, and then go back to the music. It may shift momentarily to your thoughts as well. This is not what you want. It will take some effort to get those micro-second attention shifts ironed out, so that your concious attention is solely parked on the music, and it doesnt have urges to shift here and there. But once you are there, and only there, you can enjoy your bed and music. Personally I listen to pretty lively "classic alternative" music, like the Chilis or Smashing Pumpkins, not theta waterfalls in the rainforest mood music. It doesnt matter because the meditation is done by your mind. Crutch-free. There are ways to get fancy with this meditation, like moving the sound into your body, as if you were sound itself. Also you can breath into the sound as if the sound were your body. But the main results, that of single-focus on the music is caused by keeping your attention on that which is being played right now, and by not moving your attention from it. When your mind is on one thing, the qi in your body can flow stronger and better. This is the underlying priciple of single minded focus. An analogy is like a small flow of water over a glass pane; if you think thoughts or move your attention its like shaking the pane so the water flow is interrupted and splashes here and there; and when you hold your mind in one place the flow of water goes in a smooth flow (in the case of qi it goes about intelligently to its most important task at that moment.)

I think the "9 bottled breath" meditation should help, which is a variation of left right and both nostril pranayamas. Its meant to clear passages. As far as TCM, most dont know about energetic problems of cultivators. I had a similar problem and went to a TCM doctor and she didnt know jack shit. They are trained in regular people problems. And most people who gave me advice were talking straight out of their arses, even the people who know about energy things. The reason is, its more complicated than what they think. I can say the ants feeling is normal for Kundalini people and its qi breaking through the skin. The fact is you can practise or meditate through it, and better to not wait for a savior that probably doesnt exist. How else do you plan on making progress so that the qi doesnt affect your skin nerves as it does? In time these guests will leave. There are many different kinds of meditations. I'm in the same boat as you, and I think of this issue very often. If you find a magic wand, let me know.

Looks like a scam. Why do you give a shit about how big your penis is anyway?

Thanks for posting this Pietro, I was thinking about the information yesterday, and it even made it into my dreams last night--a good indicator of some serious subconcious-level change. I have had my own anecdotal evidence, as well as the sayings of Zen etc, but this kind of presentation can really shore up a vague belief, and allow one to fearlessly evaluate choices in a better way. I think it isnt the whole story though. I think for example there is happiness/life value in the dynamic of doing something new, breaking one's patterns. Combine the two beliefs for some really powerful motivation: no matter if I take a risk or not, succeed or fail, I'm still going to be happy.

I agree with YM, its been there, especially in the East. Its been staring at us right in the face all the time, but due to Christianity's highjacking, and heavy handed tactics towards any spiritual path besides their own; and scientific materialism that our society is still stuck in, our minds have been programmed towards selective ignorance.

Your poll is negative biased: 4 negative options phrased in clever, compelling ways versus 2 positive options using the same word "better". This poll aint worth the pixels its printed on. TTB's rocks, just look at the accelerating membership.

The way I see it, teachers have mortgages and families too, plus they spent alot of time on a non-career oriented spiritual path. If you cant give to a teacher, then you must really have an attachment to money. Alot of people have the assumption that anything Buddhism Taoism qigong must be free if its authentic. These are people not quite behind the 8-ball in spiritual path 2008 reality. Sure, the basic stuff is all free on the net. What I see is that some of the more secret stuff from Asia, energy practises and transmissions, sometimes can be available to us if we are lucky enough to find it. Now we have not done years and years of devotion to earn these things, but if the teachers are willing to part with it for cash, then that is lucky, and a quirk of living in a capitalist reality.

I use a pillow against lower back and lean against sofa back or wall. The purists can whine about this not being proper posture while I clock in many many hours of comfortable stillness.

I agree with the pudding proof statement. I think alot of people are not so convinced that mantra is effective. It seems counter intuitive as a way of stilling the mind by filling it with a broken record. But it does work well, I feel the energy flows rise, and it is a shortcut to a heightened qi level, or deeper meditational state. Theres little effectiveness in doing stillness if your mind is nattering along, and I find its best to switch to mantra. NLP: At some point the mantra is going to act as an anchor to the meditational state, so doing a few mantras will fire off that anchor of mental focus/physiological relaxation and boom you are there. Another thing is anchoring the inner dakini, which to me is some combination of love, sensuality, feminine qualities. As far as primordial sounds and special contact or help from the deity, its quite hard to independently judge the validity of that. But given the long history of mantra, you'd have to be some kind of clown not to believe it.

This is my take: Sitting and forgetting is a kind of focus on letting go of thoughts, the object is on the gently popping of bubbling up of thoughts, with no attention to what the body is or isnt. When the mind is calm, I become aware of the vast spaciness around, no fixed position or object (except the implied vastness.) The emptiness is a priori imagining the empty body, invisible perhaps. So its starts off as a mind-projection (until you have surpassed the skandha of form), and that gently leads to an object of the feelings associated with an empty vessel. Culivators of different levels get different effects, and the higher one goes the emptiness or forgetting space is less a mental projection. In my own experimentation, I feel the energy moving slightly differently with each meditation. And just my experience that sitting and forgetting is less powerful for beginners for getting the qi moving and the ethereal body activating, and a continual pointed focus is better.

I can relate to this. Why go out when my body is hopped up on energy? Its as if it becomes an excuse to not do things. Like Shon, Im attracted to spiritual-minded people, but I dont know many in town. I think I would socialize more if I actually seek these people out. Its terribly rare to find people who give spiritual cultivation more than just bleary-eyed lip service. Like Lin indicated, my mind is not seeking out distraction. Like last night, I was thinking of the new Woody Allen movie, but decided I dont really want the little escapism the movie gives. But Im sure its a good film. Another thing is hormonal swings, sometimes yin is dominant and its nice to stay at home. But when yang and testosterone builds, I get an edgyness and its hard to live with the tranquil habit patterns of a meditator. This is really important to notice and address, because at these times if you dont express yourself, it will lead to frustration and negativity. If I find myself saying something like, ah fuck this bullshit meditation and being impatient, I immeditately start checking for other other signs of a rise in sexual energy. As for alcohol, I cut drastically. I get more of an altered state buzz from meditation. Booze seems like I'm slumming now.