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Wow, I thought the world only has few people like "us." Mine happened (kundalini energy rising) when I was 18. After waking up from a dream, dream of my past life (at least one of them). I am in my late 30s.

Hello, I decided to sign up because maybe it is the time I should seek some clarity about my life experiences. A bit of my background. I am in my lat 30s and lived in USA. When I was 18, I experienced the Chi energy or Kundalini energy rising after I woke up from a dream. I dream that I was a scholar warrior back in the Han dynasty. It seems like in the dream I was circulating the micro-cosmic orbit by jumping up from the bottom of a cliff. Did a twist in the mid air and landing on the ground...while my point of vision or focus was on my navel area. I saw 2 men in front of me. Then, I woke up and the Chi energy was engulfing me all over for 4s. I was HOT and on fire. Blue and whitish lighting intensified on my forehead. When I opened my eyes, I could still see the light. Later, I was told, I was seeing the color of the Chi energy. After this experience, I got interested in meditation, something simple and without any clear ideas what I was doing. However, I could reproduce the micro-comsic orbit within 5 to 10 minutes of meditation, for several weeks. And the Chi energy was always hot but with a very short duration. Before this experience, I went through a process of deep self reflection and analysis, while I was in college and majoring the wrong field. Back then, I have no ideas what was happening to me. I could consistently reproduce the experience until I transferred to another college. Obviously, my chakras were all open and obviously, as you guess it, I began to have dreams about my past life (I think). I left this college because my spiritual experiences as well as the emergence of my past life seemed to be in conflict with the college's academic agenda (another major life challenge I was facing). I left this college and transferred to another and finally got my degree, which I cared little about. At this point, I tried to put everything behind me and getting a job and to pay my bills. 3 years ago, I got laid off by the company I worked there for a long time. It has been in these 3 years I begin to study in meditation and to further examine what I was experiencing. And trying to understand the implication of my past life and my past life karma. Something I have been dealing with over 10 years. Only recently I have been reading up the works by William Bodri. I finally have some ideas about my own dharma. Up to the age of 18, I was practicing the Mahayana school of meditation, without knowing it. Although I didn't actively practicing meditation in the traditional sense, I was meditating either in my dreams or in my sleeps. After years of intense mental examination about my life (before I turned 18), I was awakened and initiated into my first samadhi. When the vision of my past life emerged, I was going into another stage of samadhi, which I think I am only now slowly coming to grasp the nature of it, after more than 10 years. Knowing what I know now about my life, I am finding it hard to set myself a new life's path. I am at lost at the moment because I feel that I know where I want to go but not sure how to get there. Sorry for writing up a very dense post.

Greeting Cruhcy Chocolate. I recomend you the book "Healing with whole Foods", which contains a section dedicated to to a "liver cleansing program" which takes about three months, and the author emphasizes the imprtance of cleansing the Liver. Funny enough I was diagnosticated with Fire in the Liver, but I still did not start my cleansing program, I don`t know if it is the same as your case. But during a Vipassana retreat I actually had a dream that I had a tumour in that area, (I believe it is an energetic tumour). Any ways, I wil start the cleansing program and am making an approach on the Shen aspect also, which might be useful for you too. I noticed that I felt alot of hate also, which was kiond of hidden but always present inside, and it seems that all my practice was actually expanding and feeding this baseless hatred. So I finally had an insight on the so.... so important concept of Yama and Niyama which are essential before an adept of Yoga starts his practical cultivation of Spirit. But it aint that easy, I had to discover what really is meant by equanimity (Wuwei - non action - or non reaction) and stay vigilent 24hrs a day... as soon as any hate thought appears, you should empty yourself energically and refute it straight away, before the seed grows... but the best way is to not fight against it, just simply don`t feed it. it is very tyring in the begginning, but you must be vigilent... Actually you should do this with any pre-conceptions of any kind with any person... For example... No. 1) You see a person who does not have virtue developed on the street, he is clearly a show-off and you identify it. As soon as you start thinking something such as "what an idiot" or anything of that kind, you refrain yourself and empty your mind of such thoughts energetically, eventually you will cease to see his inferior personality and start seeing his hidden spiritual being, and feel compassion for the person, because she suffers for not having discovered this inner spiritual being. No 2) (sorry for any Marxist materialst in the forum)... If you see someone of a lower social class, and start fitting that person in one thousand social theories thinking things such as "oh, this person suffers so much because of his terrible fate, the world is so unfair, he hsould fight for his rights..." and so on... immediately empty your self from those "preconceptions" enertgically... after slot of vigilancy 24 hrs a day, you will start seeing things without preconceptions of any kind. note: I don`t mean that i don`t believe in any social theory. After you are established in Emptyness / equanimity, you can jump too and fro from the Emptyness-Contemplative-Spiritual perspective and the Knotted-congested theories and thoughts. I say this because by what you said, you practice alot of Qigong, etc.. which means that it is important that you discover Equanimity before "increasing the energy in the system". Equanimity is like the railroad that takes to Spiritual Knowledge, if the train is not on track, the increase of energy will accentuate the errors. this is the recipe for curing the Liver from the Shen point of view, to complement the Diet and more material treatment. You have Liver Stagnation. Preconceptions of ideas are nothing but a form of stagnation. Spiritual empty contemplation is pure fluidity. When fighting any preconception and Rage attacks remember the wise frase "it is not the poison of the snakes that kills us, but the way our body reacts to it", and empty your self form the poison`s action, and remain present, and equanimous. hope it helped/ best

more_pie_guy, thanks for the links. Those people basically has the similar idea like me. We're the producer, consumer and food. Trinity. We're the coder, code and decoder. Trinity. We're the heaven, earth and human. Trinity. Wer'e the doer, doing and watcher. Trinity. We're the dreamer, dream and observer. Trinity. We're living in a world that was directed by ourselves. It's a feedback system. Our desire provide direction for the next chapter. Our karma decides the actual outcome. If we stop desire for a long time for the past outcome to catch up, we can see and feel the direct feedback loop. If we desire water, if we have good karma, water will appear somehow. If you have bad karma, the water is nowhere to be found. Back to topic. WillingToListen is part of us. Each of us who's reading this thread and noticed WillingToListen suicidal thought must have suicidal though occassionally ourselve. I know I do. Though I don't want to kill myself for sure. But I'm not value my own life too much either. Deep in my heart, I just want to quit. The good thing is his name "willingToListen". That implies that we don't want to die. We're looking for reason to live. We can all help WillingToListen in two ways. Of course, talking to him and encourage him to live is good. Another way is to get rid of our own thought of suicide. If you don't have any suicidal thought, you either don't find WillingToListen post anymore or WillingToListen doesn't want to suicide anymore. Love Conquers All.

Ok Just to start with Id like to say. Some people go on and on about emptiness. Like Nothing really exists, everythings just an illusion, detach from everything. Imo this can very quickly and easily become concepts themselves and false. I mean I have a mind, I have a body. People know what the sun is and what a dog is. Bushmen Shamans the oldest tribal spiritual peoples emphasise the importance of feeling love in their shaking ceremonies to open the heart. Sufi Mystics also focus on love first to open the heart. Native Americans use plenty of prayer. Imo someone trying to access certain states of being without love or connection of the heart is doing it wrong. This can easily become nihilism, depression and dark. I mean you can observe it in the aggressiveness of some of the people who claim to be spiritual masters but attack anyone who disagrees with their views on this forum. I know people will likely ignore this. But I just felt like giving my view. When I do spontaneous movements if my heart is open and I feel love its a mystical experience if not it is a completely different one. I am not actually giving an opinion because one can also say that emptiness is all there is and be happy in pain. The Challenge of Healing Native American healing is not an academic discipline that can be learned from books. Nor can it be grasped by participating in rituals, visiting power places, or following in the footsteps of other healers. The lessons are learned from nature, from the original elders: stone, water, earth, fire, air, animal, and plant. Their power enters into the soul through dreams and vision- seeking and during times of sacrifice and fasting. We fast from food, from water, from words and busy-mindedness. In some traditions, a seeker also fasts from light, meditating in a dark chamber or cave. Healing power comes as a grace to those who are humble enough to listen and courageous enough to express and act on their vision. The Native American way is not for everyone. We each have our unique talents, gifts, and life purpose. Health is enhanced by discovering that gift and expressing it in a way that brings harmony and happiness to our communities and world. "You don't choose the medicine," said Keetoowah, "it chooses you." This is especially true of spirituality, the medicine path that leads people to the Divine. Don't pursue God like an object that you can grasp; rather live in a good way and you will receive what is needed. You may find that your medicine is Jewish, Christian, Celtic, Norse, or African. It is most likely the religion of your ancestors. However, it is also possible that your path is unique and not easily categorized. No spiritual gift or life purpose is better or worse than any other. In fact, each facet of the human spirit fits together like a puzzle-- like the continents that were once joined. After all, even science must now admit that people are more similar than different. There is greater genetic diversity between two lowland gorillas living in the same habitat than between an Alaskan Inuit, an Australian aborigine, and an Italian. If we have a single genetic ancestor, then perhaps we also share a common, though fragmented, spiritual teaching. A phrase from the original instructions is written in every soul. The path of a Native American healer is not easy. An invitation must be extended by an elder or a spirit, and/or one may be compelled by a vision or deep intuition. And tests must be passed. The healer may find him or herself wounded and challenged as Spirit offers lessons in compassion and fortitude. I had to symbolically face North, the direction of Winter and death, during a seven year period of illness and personal hardship. I was lucky and passed through my "dark night of the soul" to stand in the East, the direction of Spring. Some people are not so fortunate; they face North and die. I am not trying to scare you away from Native American medicine if that is your calling. However, it is important to understand that although all paths are equal, they are not equally smooth or easy. I remember sitting with Keetoowah and a group of spiritual seekers one day. A young white man asked Keetoowah, "What do I need to do to become a medicine man?" Keetoowah scolded the man for his presumption, "I wouldn't wish that curse on anyone. And you can't do anything to become a medicine person!" How to Learn About Native Culture We do not have the right to trespass on Native American sacred sites or ceremonies any more than we may enter a person's home without permission. It is not that particular ethnicities are excluded because of the color of their skin. The problem is that many people have a romantic or stereotyped view of Native Americans, and thus pursue teachings for the wrong reasons. Rather than following an authentic inner voice, they believe that Native ways are adventurous, fun, and exotic and that it is their right to imitate and appropriate them. Remember, also, that Native healing is only one aspect of Native culture. There are many respectful ways to learn about Native American culture, including: Reading. There are many excellent books about every facet of culture. See the resources at the end of this article for some that I especially recommend. Observing or participating in intertribal dance, music, and cultural gatherings known as pow-wows. When the master of ceremonies announces, "Intertribal. Everyone dance!" that includes you! The location and dates of pow-wows can be found in News from Indian Country and Native Peoples Magazine, listed in resources below. Enjoying the arts, culture, and history presented at Native American art shows, galleries, trading posts, and at museums such as the National Museum of the American Indian, the Gilcrease Museum, the Pequot Museum, the Heard Museum, the Iroquois Museum, and the many fine museums of individual Indian nations, often located on reservations. Listening to Native American music. Music is an important key to culture. You can find Native music in trading posts and most music and museum shops. Vendors at pow-wows have the largest selection. Offering financial support to organizations that defend the land and rights of Native peoples, such as the Native American Rights Fund (1506 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302). Learning how to be a better protector and caretaker of your local environment through peaceful political activism (including voting) and ecologically responsible behavior that reduces consumption and waste. Exploring "primitive," that is, primal survival and living skills, such as building shelters, starting fires with a wooden drill, tracking, and recognizing and using local healing herbs. If an invitation is extended, observing or participating in Native American ceremonies. Many of these, such as the Sweat Lodge, are widely practiced and sometimes open to non-Native people as a way of building cross-cultural bridges. Learn the proper etiquette and protocol for the ceremony by asking more experienced participants or your host. Beware, however, of individuals who charge money for sacred ceremony. Educational seminars may require tuition; but according to Native tradition, it is immoral to equate healing or ceremony with a specific bundle of "frog skins" (green currency, or any other color of money). Sharing the Wisdom Certain aspects of Native American culture can and must be shared if humanity is to survive. Native traditions can teach us how to live in harmony with the land and each other and to prevent the widely prophesied "Earth Changes." The foundation of Native American culture and healing is traditional values. When Seneca elder Twylah Nitsch was a young girl, her grandfather placed twelve stones on the ground in a circle and described how each symbolized a gift along the Pathway of Peace, a road to balanced living. I use a similar wheel to teach my students, derived primarily from Grandma Twylah, but also from the teachings of other elders. The gifts are: Learning. Learn from all our relations, from mountain, plant, animal, human, from dreams, from elders and children, from stories and life experiences. Good learning creates connection and caring; poor learning is intellectual baggage. Respect. Honor all forms of life; do not be careless in your thoughts, words, and actions. Respect yourself; low self-esteem insults Creator's precious gift of life. Acceptance. We cannot grow unless we accept who we are and have the courage to face and learn from our weaknesses and shadows. Spiritual Sight. Sight and insight are equally important. Spiritual sight means ridding the mind of mental screens, so that we perceive the world without preconception, stereotype, and prejudice. Listening. The spiritual person is a good listener. Native American elders sometimes test prospective students by observing how comfortable they are with silence. The narcissistic person is always thinking and speaking and thus has nothing to express but his or her own opinions. There is no silent space in which to simply listen and experience. Speaking. If we can hear the truth but are afraid to express and live it, even when it goes against the crowd, then we can never find inner peace. Walk your talk, and talk your walk. Love. Keetoowah once said to me that he used to fight his enemies, but later decided he was going to love them to death! Love is for warriors, not whimps. Indian healers like to remind Christians that Jesus' love did not prevent him from throwing greedy merchants out of the temple. Actions that increase love are good; actions that decrease love are evil. Service. Service is more than "helping." Some people help from a position of superiority and expect something in return. True service is selfless and without ulterior motive. Relationship. Native American prayers frequently include the expression "All my relations." We are all related, like plants growing from the same soil. The action of any member of a community affects all members. We are accountable to each other and to all of nature. A feeling of connectedness is the source of responsible action. Creativity. Nature never repeats herself. Although we are all related, we must each find our own path to Creator. An Innu elder once told me, "If you sing someone else's song, you are called a liar in my language." Creativity means allowing the mind to soar like the eagle. The eagle does not follow any one else's ruts and leaves no track in the sky. Dynamic Spirituality. The spiritual person does not sit in a cave and wait for "enlightenment" before doing good in the world. A medicine person is in the front lines. A warrior like Geronimo would lead his warriors, not watch from the hill top. Spiritual warriors stand up for what they believe in and fight against injustice. Gratitude. Gratitude is more than saying "thank you." We can express gratitude through music, song, prayer, dance, and art. When we are grateful to Creator for our gifts and blessings, we strengthen those blessings. If you receive a meaningful dream, thank Creator for the dream, and it is more likely to come true. If a deer crosses your path or an eagle flies overhead, thank these "creature teachers," as Twylah Nitsch calls them. Spiritual powers that appear in vision are more likely to hang around when they see concrete expressions of gratitude. They don't like to be taken for granted. Closing Words Like other spiritual paths, Native American tradition emphasizes ridding the mind of selfishness and egotism. "Ego means Edging God Out" -- ego blocks the voice of spirit. Even if you are not invited to a Sweat Lodge or Sacred Pipe Ceremony, you can still learn the wisdom of Native American healing. Have the courage to meet life face to face, nakedly, as in the Sweat Lodge. Become a hollow reed or pipe through which the Creator can send His/Her sacred breath and guidance. Resources Suggested Reading Cohen, Kenneth. Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing. NY: Ballantine Books, June, 2003. Beck, Peggy V. and Anna L. Walters. The Sacred. Tsaile (Navajo Nation), AZ: Navajo Community College Press, 1977. Four Worlds Development Project. The Sacred Tree. University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, 1988. What is Native American Healing?By "Native American" I mean the indigenous people of North America, as defined by Native American nations. Only these sovereign nations have the right to define tribal identity. And I use the term "healing" to distinguish it from curing. Curing is the domain of licensed health-care providers, such as physicians. It means applying a therapy with the purpose of eradicating disease. Curing can be measured and replicated. Healing, on the other hand, means to make whole and holy, to establish a greater connection between self and nature, self and community. It focuses on qualitative change more than quantitative, on spiritual well-being more than cure. Of course curing disease is a desirable outcome or side effect, but it is not the primary purpose. In fact, only the Great Spirit knows the ultimate purpose or outcome of a Native healing ceremony. Native American healing is part of Native spirituality. It goes way beyond science and medicine. In other words, we should not attempt to license medicine men? The very idea is absurd and I would even say insulting. Neither licensing boards nor government agencies, whether state or federal, should interfere with Native American spiritual practices and religious freedom. You can't test or expect uniform answers from healers who are given unique instructions by the Great Spirit! Also, each of the more than 500 tribes in North America have their own culture, language, and healing traditions. Are you a medicine man? In my view, the term "medicine man" is an honorific, a title conferred by a Native elder or community because of a person's healing knowledge, wisdom, courage, and selfless attitude. It is not proper for a person to call him or herself a medicine person. How old is Native American healing? Do you believe that it was already in existence when Native Americans crossed the Bering Straits on their way to the New World? No one knows the age or origin of Native American healing. It has been practiced in North America for at least 40,000 years, and possibly for much longer. Anthropologists are now forced to admit that they seriously underestimated the antiquity of the occupation of North America. Some tribes' oral traditions describe volcanoes that have been extinct for one million years. How do you explain that? I can'tWell, here's my version of the Bering Straits legend. Native Americans started in North America. They traveled from North America across the Bering Straits many years ago, when North America and the Russian Far East were connected by a land bridge. They didn't like what they found there, so they came back. And that's why you find evidence of cultural diffusion going both directions. Honestly, I think the Bering Straits nonsense was created by Europeans to prove that, since Native peoples were not originally in North America, the colonizers had as much right to the land as they. With this kind of logic, it is more correct to say that both Europe and North America belong to Africa. After all, geneticists are certain that homo sapiens originated there. You call your book Honoring the Medicine? Does this title have a special meaning?Yes, the medicine is that which inspires a sense of the sacred. It is a power in people and in nature. It is the breath of the Great Spirit. The purpose of my book and the dedication of my life is to honor the medicine. Honoring the medicine is also a principle in Native American healing practice. Healers teach their patients to discover and honor their unique medicine-- their life purpose. Honor the medicine by living it, by having the courage to express it and use it for the good of others. To honor the medicine is to live a satisfying life. What, from a Native American viewpoint, are the primary causes of disease?People become sick because they do not follow the Creator's instructions. They bend to the conditioning influences and pressures of educational and religious institutions. They fill their lives with things and their minds with noise rather than silence. They forget how to listen to the deepest voice, a voice that is both inside and outside. I would say that this is the primary cause of disease. Yet Native people, like modern physicians, recognize that there are many causes of disease. It is never simple. According to Native teachings, there may be physical reasons for disease, such as exposure to viruses or bacteria; emotional factors like depression or anxiety; and spiritual factors such as living without gratitude, breaking taboos, or vulnerability to negative or even evil forces. How do Native healers treat disease?There is no universal method. It depends on the culture of the healer and his or her training, sensitivity, vision, and connection to spirit. However, if we look at Native cultures generally, we can say that certain methods are extremely common-- and these are explored in detail in my book. For example, all healers pray; most sing and use sacred instruments such as the drum. And many Native healers practice, counseling, ritual, massage or laying on of hands, and herbal medicine. And, by the way, most healers use therapeutic humor. I've learned most of my jokes from Indian people. Have Native healing methods changed over time, or are the methods today the same as those practiced in the past?Some methods have remained relatively unchanged, but many have evolved because of innovations and visions of influential healers and because of cultural exchange between healers from various tribes. Also, Native healers do not live in a vacuum. They are part of both the modern world and the ancient world. Today, it is not uncommon for a healer to pray over a prescription drug to increase its efficacy or to refer a patient to a physician to treat the medical side of a problem. Have you performed any miracle cures?Well they may seem like miracles because the Great Spirit is beyond our knowledge. For example, after one brief ceremony, a man with advanced multiple sclerosis was able to walk normally. A Vietnam vet overcame many years of post traumatic stress disorder after a ceremony in which he asked forgiveness of one of his victims. A drug addict stopped using drugs and got off the streets after an exorcistic ritual. I recount some of these stories in my book, but please remember that I did not perform the cures. The Great Spirit is the doctor. I just helped to make a connection with His/Her miraculous power. What do you charge for a consultation or a ceremony?Nothing. Nothing?Yes. Now, I can only speak for myself. I am not saying that other healers shouldn't charge for their services. But as I have been taught by my elders and instructed by Spirit, it is wrong to charge money for a traditional healing. When a person is sick we should not take advantage of him or her. A doctor should be generous and thus must be willing to be the poorest of the poor. I have never charged a fee for Native American medicine. Yet, this does not mean that healing is free. Some sacrifice, some offering must be made by the patient. Perhaps a pilgrimage or a fast, perhaps a donation to a Native charity-- something to demonstrate dedication, resolve, and good will. The patient may also need to pay travel expenses for a healer and his or her helpers and host a feast. In the old days, a patient might give horses and blankets; today a patient might offer personal gifts as well as money. But I personally feel that it is wrong to set a fixed fee for traditional healing. Does Native American medicine include practices that people can do for their own healing?Of course. For example the Lakota holy man, Fools Crow would doctor himself by sitting in the sunlight and using his hands to energetically remove unneeded or toxic forces. But the most important self-healing practices are 1. learning how to maintain inner silence and 2. spending as much time as possible in the wilderness. Herbal medicine and diet are also important components of a Native American self-healing program. I am a proponent of natural foods; we should eat fresh, seasonal, local, and organic. And stay away from the three whites: sugar, salt, and white flour. What about "bad medicine" or sorcery. Do you believe that it really exists?The human mind has the power to influence its own physiology in a positive or negative way. We also have the power to influence others. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility to use it correctly. I know people who have been the victims of curses. It is real, and curses work whether the victim believes in them or not. I tell several stores of curses and cures in my book. Are there any dangers? For example, do Native American therapies produce side effects?Before I answer this question, let's look at the record of western medicine. More than 200,000 people die each year in hospitals because of unforeseen effects of medication. Many people also die from surgical complications. And if we look at subjective reactions to western medicine, it is even more grim. Patients generally feel worse after seeing a physician. Taking penicillin or having blood drawn or one's anatomy probed is not fun. By contrast, Native American medicine is generally safe and free of unpleasant side-effects. Of course there are some commonsense precautions, such as not advising an anorexic to fast and not feasting a diabetic on donuts. Significantly, patients generally feel better after visiting a Native healer than they did before seeing him or her. Is Native American healing used as a stand-alone therapy? What do Native people think of Western medicine?No person or culture has a monopoly on healing wisdom or technique. Is Western medicine a stand alone therapy? Or does the patient need the loving support of his or her family to truly overcome disease? Does the patient require counseling or lifestyle changes? Perhaps the patient must take herbs or yogurt to heal his intestines after a course of antibiotics. What therapy on earth is a stand alone therapy? Native American philosophy is pragmatic. If it works, use it. Native medicine men do not hesitate to personally visit doctors for bacterial infections, trauma, diabetes management, and many other conditions. They go to the optometrist and the dentist, just like you and me. What illnesses can Native American healing cure? Is there scientific evidence?I have personally facilitated healings from cancer, arthritis, chronic pain, encephalitis, migraine, Crohn's Disease, fibromyalgia, diabetes, chronic fatigue, asthma, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other conditions. Not all aspects of Native healing are subject to measurement. For example, we can measure distinct changes in brainwaves, blood chemistry, and skin conductivity in both the healer and patient, but we cannot measure the Great Spirit or his power directly. We can determine the biochemically active agent in a healing herb, but cannot measure how the prayers of the healer empower that herb. Some of the best healing research was conducted at the Menninger Institute during the 1980s and early 1990s. Compared to untrained people, exceptional healers were able to produce unusual electrical currents on the skin and electric fields around their bodies. The results were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. How many healers were tested?Nine. You were one of those healers, weren't you?Yes. The Personal Side Your last book was about qigong, Chinese healing therapies, and you are well known as master of qigong. I understand that you even speak the Chinese language. Is qigong related to Native American healing, and how do you manage to teach or write about these two different subjects?There are two major similarities between qigong and Native American healing. First, both qigong and Native American medicine are ancient and indigenous healing systems. Second, people who pay close attention to their bodies and to nature discover similar things. Thus, both cultures recognize the existence of subtle, invisible life currents, connected with the breath. And they independently created similar methods of balancing these life currents with acupuncture and massage. The Native American and Chinese healing systems are complementary. There are, however, some important differences. I feel that Native American healing is more truly holistic. It examines not only the energetic components of disease-- the specialty of qigong and acupuncture-- but also the emotional, mental, spiritual, and environmental. It also places a strong emphasis on the intuition, visions, and dreams of the healer. Why should it be difficult to write about or teach both Chinese and Native American traditions? If I told you that I was teaching French and Tibetan, you would say I was "talented." If I had graduate degrees in psychology and theology and taught courses in both, you would not assume discord-- provided that I didn't speak French while teaching Tibetan or confuse the psychology of Freud with theology of Hassidism! I teach and write about two different but related subjects. As an educator I keep them distinct. I see no need to fit myself into a box. Specialization is a European, colonial concept. How do Native people feel about you writing about Native American medicine?Elders have encouraged me to share what I know. A Cree medicine man did a ceremony over the title page of my book. The spirits blessed it and told me to publish. I had the same positive reaction from the many elders I visited or asked to review my work. They know that I am aware of traditional protocol--there are many things that I will not write about or allow to be recorded. Some teachings must be earned or only given at certain times. How did you become interested in Native American medicine?The medicine chose me. It is not a matter of interest or choice. I do what I have to do. To live any other way is to be disrespectful to the powers. If you are asking about the particular circumstances that clarified my life path-- that is easier to answer. When I was in my twenties I went on a pilgrimage, a search for life purpose that led me to a very special place-- a lake at the top of the continental divide, the home of Thunderbird, spirit of the West. Here I was given direction and purpose. How does a person become a medicine man or woman?Some people are born with the gift; it is in their blood and family line. Some receive it ceremonially, in a kind of initiation or transmission. But, to me, the most important way to become a medicine person is through personal training and sacrifice. How were you trained?I have been initiated into various Native American medicine societies. Elders have also transmitted the power of sacred stones and plants into my body and spirit. And, my formal adoption by a Cree elder was certainly a kind of initiation. I carry songs and teachings from my adoptive family. But, as I said above, the most powerful way to become a healer is through personal training. I have apprenticed with elders, participated in ceremonies, fasted, and prayed for a vision of my life purpose. Are there any teachers that had a particularly strong influence on your life, and could you tell us something about them?I tell stories about my teachers in a lengthy chapter at the back of my book. One of my most influential mentors was the Cherokee healer Keetoowah, who gave me my Indian name "Bear Hawk" and first taught me doctoring. He was a powerful and kind person and full of humor. He once told me that he'd done everything in his life except scalp a white man. He used to be quite a warrior, but in his old age, he said, "I've decided to love my enemies to death!" Any closing words or advice?Very few people are called by spirit to become medicine people, and even fewer survive the tests and tribulations of this path. But everyone can benefit by learning the values and ancient wisdom of Native peoples. My book emphasizes these values and teachings. My ultimate goal in writing Honoring the Medicine was to inspire people to live with greater honor and to respect themselves, each other, and the earth.

well precognition freaks me out. The first time it happened to me was a dream more real than being awake and so I immediately wrote it down and wrote I thought it would come true. Three years later I got this eerie feeling and I drove up to my parents, started paging through my old journal and bang - my dream had come true. I had a dream that my activist friends were with Native Indians on the roof of a house holding a banner to protest for the protection of an old growth forest. That dream was in 1995 and in 1998 I was looking at a photocopy of a newspaper photo of the exact same image. So then I was listening to Coasttocoastam and someone called in mentioning they had a dream that came true in detail three years later. So I knew I was not alone. But still if that can happen then it means we are dreaming now but not as intense as when we can see the future in our dreams -- a sort of spiritual consciousness more real than being awake.

The cat I loved and lost as a little girl did give me a full blast spiritual experience, which I expressed in a poem, whose free-form translation I post below (the Russian original is rhymed iambic hexameter). "Bars" was his name, it means snow leopard in Russian and Mongolian. My Bars, I've had a great mystery revealed to me, so I've come to believe in paradise with a sign over the entrance that says, "Pets OK." I am willing to share the vast spaciousness beneath the eternal celestial dome with crazy cat ladies, spinsters and bachelors, mad Englishmen, with anyone who'd loved a cat or a dog for their devotion and devotedly shares paradise and ephemeralness with them, my Bars, philosopher, sybarite and Casanova, I had a dream, a far-away future year carved in a tombstone and above that number, my own name, but, Bars, you won't ever be a senior's cat -- with you, I will be ten years old again, so wait for me biding your time, hunting the pious rats in the fragrant groves, and pray, as is the local custom, for the sinful and the mangy, the skinny, the stealthy, the stray -- for they're all kin after all. There's fluffy herds of your lovers roaming around, or rather packs, and there's hundreds of ladders and roofs and windows, and, my Bars, I believe in a paradise that never shoos cats away -- if it exists it does not, and exist it does.

I'm on day 4 of another water fast. I did try the salt water flush recipe as mentioned in this thread. It made me close to vomit, so I am leery of having another try, though it worked well. It comes out as mainly dirty water, I was hoping for more solid material. I am also learning Spanish using fairly unintense methods, DVDs of television series that have Spanish dubbing and English subtitles. Water fasting has so much time to spend, one has to plan for alot of boredom. Last night in my dream, a monk was reciting mantras to me, and this morning I woke up in a better state, more positive, mentally free of the issues that have been hedging me in. One of the reasons I chose to fast was to re-center and balance myself, since it seemed to be the result of the last fast I did. I dont think enemas or saltwater flushes are necessary based on the research I have done, BTW.

Sounds familiar to me! My post above was a rant, not really responding to your excorsism dream. I have been reading "the Tibeten yogas of dream and sleep" I will make a post in the book section once I am finished with it. I have effectively practiced guitar and studied for a class in my dreams. Depending on how lucid I am, I can make real progress in something I am familiar enough with while in conscious life. Maybe you can now rid people of demons? I had some pretty intense visualizations before sleep the other night that I couldn't seem to stop, and they were very frightening, I felt like I was being attacked. It's sometimes good to get that stuff out into a visual field I Think. I think.....

Interesting dream. It gave me an idea that if creative energy is enhanced with "spiritual practice", and if someone is not accustomed to it, it would have a profound effect. If we are infinitely connected inside and out with the universe, then any experience, not just a supernatural event is a manifestation of creative energy. I have come to the idea that life is subtle, the way it is lived by us humans, and that sometimes the patterns experienced are the closest to consciously realizing the divine nature of all. When we realize that we are floating on a giant mass of matter that has been here for billions of years, it makes it almost a spiritual experience to wake up in the morning. It's sometimes fun to visualize dragons and spirit guides, but I'm convinced they are a creation of the mind. I just don't know how it is possible to have an experience to solidify a belief system without already wholy subscribing to that belief system. It's a catch 22 for me, and I'm not trying to be obtuse, or exercise dialectics. Some people "find" jesus, or experience the buddah nature, or they realize they have a soul and leave their bodies, changing and forming a belief. But doesn't that attachment further a dual nature? It's as if the experience would give a foothold to climb higher, and I have seen the effects of those who became attached to a natural event or thought process leading to a belief system only to later realize that a tree can have the same effect on the energetic system as a bible. ^another thought, I think group behavior can lead to someone having a spiritual experience, think of the energy produced in a southern baptist church, or pagan ceremony with very intense individuals.

I'm somewhere midway with all this. There are so many overlapping systems in which we (or I suppose I can only speak for myself:-)) exist and they interact with each other through our individual consciousness and often unconscious. I've found meditation a way of becoming more aware of them as they operate in/on me. Money is one of my favourite examples of something made up that has actual material implications and effects on living people. Scientific practice to me seems like the ideal solution to apply to myself. But I also have to be careful of 'science' because it gets passed through the consciousness and subconscious of others before reaching me. In that it has some similarities to the issue of creating a belief system out of a mystical experience like the OP describes. Imagine, just because some people decided however long ago to establish a belief in an ultimate authority 'creator god', I had to get indoctrinated into this belief system without asking to be indoctrinated. And when I protested, I was punished for it. I described a dream I had recently in another thread. Perhaps I should now qualify myself to teach exorcism? Or tell people to stay away from paintings? No, I'd need to learn the entire system before I could do that:-) And if the entire belief system is really only in my mind, what a disservice to others! People will often say 'ah, but science is aware of its own processes of gradual discovery' but that doesn't stop people using scientific proof as if it were gospel to justify certain actions, much like appeals to the gods' authority have been used. Still, I'm attracted to empiricism and researching what other people have had to say about their own experiences of meditation. I think it's fine to be used by a person as they see fit. But don't insist or force or coerce anyone else to do it. ---very personal opinion---

You are absolutely correct. This is why you really need a one on one discussion with someone who knows the territory perfectly well. Its not a formula, one size fits all. However, once you recognize, then its known. Then you find your own ways to trigger this again and again, short moments, many times until stable. The state is always stable, as the Basis doesn't change. But what is not stable is the absence of mind. The mind comes and goes, not rigpa. Get that? The biggest aspect of the mind that comes and goes is the sense of a "me". That is a subconscious projection that "you" do not control. That projection exists because the dumb mind consciousness doesnt know its situation properly. It mistakes the body, mind, thoughts, memories and self-image to be an existing "me". So it projects this historical "me" entity. It is created the same way that your self in your dreams at night is created. But when you wake up, you don't notice the subconsious is projecting another dream identity. That projection is "you", your current experience of "me" identity. Observe this sense of self, differentiate it from the empty observingness that is not a projection, when successful you will pop back into what you always are when not day dreaming being someone else: rigpa. I can dialogue to expose the "I" projection with you. Its like when the mind ceases believing that a rope in a dark room is not a snake when the lights are turned on. Likewise suddenly the mind realizes there is no "personal" self... poof!

What a beautifully framed question - and i am in the same quandary as you. i have always liked the vegetarian diet and now the vegan diet for so many reasons but I become a methane plant on these diets. When I first started very intense practice (40 yrs ago) I became a vegetarian for 4 years - the methane problem never left me - but is was less then with the dairy and yogurt and kefir. I read a good book then called "Are you confused" , it set the basis for pretty much the rest of my life. I tried the meat/fat thing for some time - probably because I like bloody meat - but it is simply unhealthy and I don't like the "low" it puts in my energy mix. Forks Over Knives in conjunction with the China study and the piles of other studies make very convincing cases with many excellent case studies for long periods. The Paleo Diet is popular now and plays on logic but it looks more like a salesman's dream than a great diet. Regarding Olive Oil - Coconut is apparently far superior - at least make sure your Olive Oil is fresh and keep it in the refrigerator - it oxidizes pretty swiftly. Presently I am Vegan and leaning into Gluten Free - I feel very good at this time - but frequently make the paint peel with the side effects. Today I went to my sons school play and had to plan in advance not to eat much of anything because I did not want people to suffer from my diet. (I am exaggerating here a bit because vegetarian gas does not generally have the sulfur odor that is the real killer) Sorry to be so morbid. From a meditative standpoint - vegan has been the best for me and so I am tweaking it to fit. It take time to develop a full fun easy experience - Trader Joe's makes it seem pretty easy. Now here is something of interest - I had a "live blood" analysis done recently and I have decided to purchase my own Live Blood / Dark Field microscope because of the analysis I had done! (I manufacture specialty underwater cameras and scopes so I don't have to pay the big bucks they want for them in retail) What an eye opener - a good friend was so impressed with the one he had done that I did it to! You can actually see how you (your blood) are doing inside in real time up on a big screen - check into it online - it has been used in the east for quite some time.

Are you missing alot?,...no,...but I did observe enormous barriers that you appear to be unaware of, and which must be transcended. First,...any serious practitioner of understanding the Nature of Reality must realize that we do not observe the world that surrounds us, but merely the world that surrounded us. That is the point where one realizes that science cannot determine the truth of (absolute) reality. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Charles Townes was correct when he said, "Many people don’t realize that science basically involves assumptions and faith." The best of scientists have pointed to something other than what science deals with,...for example, "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such." Max Planck, Nobel laureate Or,... "True reality lies beyond immediate sensation and the objects we see every day." Georg Hegel I can understand Marblehead's feelings about the senses,...but both enlightened and open-minded folks gave different responses to that,...for example, "the ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle; totally fascinated by the realm of the senses....if anyone threaten it, it actually fears for its life. Let this monkey go. Let the senses go.....the only way to understand [the Tao] is to directly experience it." Lao Tzu Or the Father of the Scientific Method, René Descartes, articulated, "All that I have tried to understand to the present time has been affected by my senses; now I know these senses are deceivers, and it is prudent to be distrustful after one has been deceived once." In other words, and I'll be blunt,...it is impossible to understand reality through the 6 senses. "As soon as one sense-organ returns to the source, All the six are liberated." Avalokitesvara One must be liberated from the 6 senses before even a single truth is realizable. It is impossible to has a direct experience through the 6 senses,...all experience born of the 6 senses can only be experienced through the conditions of the 6 senses. Although astral projection is a fun diversion,...it is, nevertheless, a diversion. Imagine McKenna's response to "the serious seeker." Do you think that someone serious about understanding the Nature of Reality would be involved with astral projection? I used to do astral projection 30 years ago,...would meet several friends on a regular basis,...in different places,...both worldly and other worldly. However,...it will not devulge anything about the Nature of Reality,...and not much about the Nature of the Dream. A real Seeker of Truth does not seek truth,...they seek and dissolve all they can find that is not not truth. A Buddhist said, "The real seeker of truth never seeks truth. On the contrary, he tries to clean himself of all that is untrue, inauthentic, insincere - and when his heart is ready, purified, the guest comes. You cannot find the guest, you cannot go after him. He comes to you; you just have to be prepared. You have to be in a right attitude." Even some airy-faery New Agers got that one figured out,...as Eckhart Tolle said, "we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself"

I'll add one. I don't know that it counts as it was during a dream. For whatever reason I make distinctions between dream happenings and otherwise but this one had a 'realism' to it. Anyway, so in the dream, I am asked to assist someone in an exorcism. I walk into the place where the entity is (some kind of ethereal golden something appearing inside a painting) and I think to myself 'What an easy gig this is' and 'it's only a dream' then the ethereal thing speaks in very stereotypically demonic voice and I say to myself 'Oh no, this stuff is for real and who on earth was I kidding when I said yes I could help?' I woke up in terror. But the end of the story was we did exorcise the whatever it was. So I reassured myself that I could do it, the fear dissipated and I went back to sleep. I remember making a choice between discounting the dream entirely or allowing that I'd done an ok job on my first exorcism. I can't say which choice is the better one. I still consider the event a dream. So I found it weird I'd prefer to go with the exorcism story as having a decent outcome. Maybe because it dropped the fear better than saying 'it was just a dream'. Or, did I really help out on an exorcism? I guess I won't know till I start get calls for repeat business haha.

Hi Owledge Yes, fear. I've had it lots. Stopped me many times.. After I 'met Jesus' and got annointed by the Holy Spirit, I started to see demons. One night I had prayed in tongues for two hours. Then I went to bed. Just as I was ready to fall asleep, a small boy floated up beside the bed. I asked it "Who are you?". It said "What does it matter?". I said "I bind you in the name of Jesus Christ", and then suddenly the image of the small boy vanished and I found myself looking at what resembled a demon. It had a long snout like a crocodile, and big long teeth. Reptilian. It took a snap at me with it's jaws and then turned and vanished. After that I was binding everything I saw in the astral.. At first there was fear, but after I realized that Jesus is always there, always there, I no longer feared. However, the whole notion that perhaps demons actually did exists, and that perhaps some of what the Bible was saying might have actually been true caused me much grief. So, gradually I abandoned the whole religious thing. However, Jesus is always there, even now.. and the Holy Spirit too. There are many beings in the higher planes.. Another time, about 20 or more years ago, I wanted to know what the star was above the head. Everybody was talking about it. So, one afternoon I sat on my lazy body and said to myself, "I'm not getting up until I realize that star on the top of the head." So I sat there and focused on the point about 1 foot above the head and just kept focusing there with all my might. Well, three and half hours later I 'popped' out of the top of my head. I found myself in this huge open dark blue space, like I was in outer space. I had the immense fear that I had died. I could not overcome it. I quit the meditation and got up out of the chair. It took me a few years to get over that fear.. actually, more like 15 years.. In later meditations I came accross the same open space, and once I had overcome my fear of dying, I even jumped into that void. I did 'bounce' right back out, because it actually isn't just open space. There is a kind of clear luminous cellophane which prevented me from falling out of the location where my body should have been. Another time, recently, when I was practising "neither grasping nor averting" during a late night meditation, the whole top of my consciousness dissolved downwards into the heart. It felt like I was dying or going to pass out. No more consciousness. So, I stopped the meditation. But then, I researched that experience and discovered that Alan Wallace talked about exactly that experience. It is the moment when coarse consciousness dissolves into the alaya or substrate consciousness.. Gradually, I discovered more sources on the experience and convinced my mind that it really wasn't going to die. That's what I do. If I have an experience that causes me confusion or fear, I research it and learn as much as I can about it. That is all in an effort to convince my and help it assimilate the experience.. Sometimes it takes a long time.. There was one experience that still causes me 'fear'. It was when i was doing a practice of changing my visual focus every 1/2 a second, while walking through a lovely trail in the forrest. After doing that type of practice, not remaining on any one visual scene long enough for the conceptual mind to firmly grasp onto it, I went shopping. When I entered the store, all of a sudden the whole inside of the store appeared to me as if it was a dream. It was like looking at the bakery section from inside a tunnel or condensed image, like I had fallen asleep and was dreaming being in the store. That caused me allot of fear. I waited for about 3 minutes and fought real hard, then gradually regained normalcy. But, the whole idea that I could be doing something and suddenly the whole of reality could 'condense' into the tunnel-like vision that resembled a dream scared the shit out of me. What if that happened while I was driving? Or crossing the street? However, that practice, being in the present moment and not giving the mind enough time to grasp and start the conceptual dialog, is a practice that Eckhart Tolle wrote about in "Practising the Power of Now". And, as it turns out, it is also the 'secret Buddhist/Dzogchen' practice called "fresh awareness" or staying in the first moment when you refresh your awareness and take a new interest in the absolute present. I think that practice is probably the most powerful one for shattering the mind. And, it helps if you do it in circumstances that you love, like the forrest, or a natural setting.. (and then don't drive for a few hours after doing it.. LOL) And, yes, I have had experiences that I thought I was losing my mind. Especially after witnessing miracles, like healings and bizarre cases of synchronicity. But it always seems to come back.. I think it helps that I don't drink, don't do drugs and haven't for over 35 years.. And, I have a very strong mind and will. And, actually, if you have a strange experience, just start researching Buddhist writings. You're bound to find the experience written in some of the books. It's all old hat to them. TI

yeah Jim Nance said I think too much. Chunyi Lin said my mind was confused but that was right after he said I had an enlightenment experience but then I had stopped practicing so my energy channels closed up. It's cuz I was thinking of Emptiness as a static realm beyond good and evil but actually as Master Nan states there are different levels of Emptiness and so further purification is always required. So then I continued researching to discover the time-frequency principle as the secret of yin-yang resonance using non-commutative logic from non-western music theory. I feel very satisified now that I clarified my research but it took ten years of getting feedback online from people debating me and trying to debunk me. haha. I went to every library and bookstore in the Twin Cities - by bicycle -- sat in full lotus while reading one scholarly book a day -- and then dumpster dived for food. About as wild as you can get while living in the city. Yeah I still ate organic food and then was "flexing" my pineal gland doing free healings all day long for five years. So now my jing energy is low -- I have to eat a lot of meat, eggs and dairy to get my jing energy up every day and then I burn it off fast. Yeah last night I had a sex dream but I had internal orgasm in my sleep -- which was pretty cool - I woke up thinking I had lost the alchemical pill - -but instead the climax was internal. That's a good sign as I've been practicing more since getting the c.d.s for practice and getting my mom to attend the Free Friday healing so she could experience the Jim Nance "free sample" healing. haha. Someone said Master nan said he no longer needed to sit in full lotus. I find this hard to believe - but I didn't know he was also smoking. Yeah when I did intensive training I was not posting on forums -- I only used email and not for any personal use -- so also very little social interaction and with no females -- just read meditation books and then meditated six hours a day and was on a pure diet -- no salt - just lots of organic broccoli and brown rice and tofu and bragg's sodium and salt-free organic corn chips sometimes -- lots of organic vegetables -- cabbage, etc. I would just steam vegetables in a tray with the rice cooker -- also only worked 2 days a week on the weekend when no one was around - and barely exercised - just biked a mile when I worked. Best of all I attended Chunyi Lin's classes and guild meetings on the weekends -- so at least once a month got the qigong master transmission. I had a car.

Hi I wrote this back in 2009. So even if the writing is in present tense, it was from over four years ago. It does give some insight in what you can see with your eyes closed (and open too). Note: I am not bragging nor trying to bolster my own ego by posting this. I am presenting these experiences here in hopes that they give some perspective to others' experiences. For, it is by sharing experiences and comparing notes that we can learn more about the wonderful beings we truly are. Hi Everyone From time to time, someone here posts a question about "seeing" visions during meditation. I too had many questions about what I was seeing during meditation. These are my findings and comments. First off, it is important to understand the concept of awareness or attention so that it is not confused with the physical act of seeing through the eyes. Awareness or attention is like a very small video camera that has infinite speed. Whatever this video camera points to is what you are aware of. It can focus on a range from a very small point to a very large expansive area. It is extremely fast, faster than the speed of light, and in most people, it flits about pointing to whatever it is attracted to or is in the habit of pointing to. Awareness is attracted to the world of forms: thoughts, objects, body sensations, touch, taste, sounds, memories, movement etc. One of the main attractants of awareness is light. Another main attractant is anything that feels good like love, bliss, joy and pleasurable sensations. Concentration is the ability to focus awareness on one thing (or a group of things), whether that thing is a thought, object, visual field, sensation or anything else in the world of forms. By "world of forms" I mean anything that has manifest itself from the formless deep vast ocean of deep silence. Imagine a Tibetan bell ringing. Before the bell sounds, the ringing does not exist. As the bell is ringing, the sound is perceivable. As the sound dies down and fades away, we have to listen more intently. Listening more intently is a way of focusing or turning up our awareness. Finally, when the ringing sound is gone and returned to the formless or deep silence from which it was born, we notice that our awareness has increased. But the effect does not last long. Meditation is the practice of focusing and stabilizing the little video camera in your head. When your eyes are open that little video camera, although it is still flitting about pointing at thoughts, sensations, sounds and more, is pointing mostly outwards through the eyes. When you close your eyes during meditation, the visual stimulus is greatly reduced and that little video camera starts pointing more often at other things like sounds, sensations and thoughts. At night, when the sun goes down, that is when you see the stars. If you keep looking through your physical eyes with your eyes closed while relaxing the body, paying attention to the visual field, eventually you will start to see pulsing colors that come in waves and disappear into the distance. These lights are often green and purple and are rounded (like the shape of the eye). These colored waves are a physical phenomenon related to the cranial sacral pulse (my opinion) and it's effect on the pressure in the eyes. There is no mystical or spiritual significance to these types of visions. Best to ignore them, or use them as an indicator as to how relaxed the body is because you only see these pulses of light when the body is very relaxed. A similar phenomenon is that you will see lights when you press your fingers lightly on closed eyes. The extra pressure stimulates the light-sensing cells at the back of the eye and this causes the light show. So, during meditation, or not even during meditation but if you just sit in the dark with your eyes closed, you should try to let go of the physical intent of looking through your eyes. You do this naturally when you fall asleep. The eyes will also shut off by themselves from prolonged lack of stimulus. One way to manually shut off the eyes is to roll them upwards and pretend that you are going to fall asleep by focusing on the swirling eddy of energy about 1 inch behind your eyebrows inside your head. When you do this, you will notice that your awareness, that little video camera in your head, is still working away transmitting input and flitting about. True visions arise when the little video camera is the recipient of the information. Perhaps most people think that if they close their eyes and see a vision, face, scene or what not, that they are seeing through their eyes. Not so. It may seem like you are seeing the vision through the eyes because it is very hard to get the eyes not to follow the little video camera. I've noticed this when practicing spinal breathing, sending your awareness or attention up and down the spine while performing sambhavi. There is a natural tendency for the eyes to follow awareness. In other words, the eyes want to follow the little video camera up and down and it takes some effort to break this habit. When you dream, even though your eyes are shut off they still want to follow the little video camera that is recording the dream. This is called REM sleep: Rapid Eye Movement. So now that we are clear that it is the little video camera in your head (or heart) that perceives visions, and it is called awareness or attention, let's discuss the different visions that may occur during meditation (or other times) and their significance. When I first started meditating regularly, sometimes I would see a face looking at me! Sometimes it was a male face, or a female face. Sometimes it was a young child. Sometimes there were many faces. At first I was very cautious and would "bind them in the name of Jesus Christ" and ask them to go away if they were not from the highest purest realms of being. After this pronouncement, some faces disappeared, but most remained. Occasionally I would ask the face a question or two and then wait to see if anything popped into my head. Most faces would answer my questions (their answers kind of pop into your head) but I quickly lost interest in communicating with them because I've always believed that "just because you are dead doesn't mean you are enlightened". What are these faces that appear? There are many theories. Some say that they are beings from other planes. Some say that the faces are what you look like in your previous or future lives. I did find one reference to these faces in something written about Edgar Cayce and meditation. It stated this (link:http://www.near-death.com/experiences/cayce12.html .. no longer works): "We may at this point be fascinated by the many faces appearing, or numerous pairs of eyes staring. We may even hear our names called; we may feel as if we were in the midst of a crowd, listening to chatter and laughter. We must not stop there, for we are not yet in real meditation. Of course, it is fascinating at first, for it is an entirely new experience. The sounds, the voices, the pictures, the eyes and faces may all belong to souls already in the beyond who, having seen the light pouring through the open door (the spiritual center), have been attracted. It is much akin to the sensation of looking through a strange keyhole, only to see another eye looking back. Intriguing, perhaps, but neither stands to gain much from such a restricted encounter. We must leave this entertainment behind and "press on to the mark of the high calling," his mark, the superconscious mind, the Christ Consciousness, the Holy Spirit, the "hill of the Lord." " Later on in my meditations, I experienced persistent visions. At the time I was practicing Kunlun as a supplement to my practices. (Kunlun is a practice of pranic breathing followed by reflexive shaking of the legs followed by storing the prana at the lower dan tien). These visions were persistent visions. I would see, for example, a sun over a blue ocean with a clay Buddha floating just above the calm water and that scene was easily visible for several weeks, any time of the day or night. I could tune into it and watch it with great clarity. At other times I've seen suns, moons, stars, planets that resembled earth and sometimes perfectly round discs of light. The persistent visions are a different class of vision. Perhaps the brain, when filled to excess with pranic life force, manufactures these visions or perhaps they indicate a hole into another plane burned out by extreme concentration and improper practice. I have no idea. I did find a book about visions called "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond" and learned about nimittas and jhanas. A nimitta is a mind object which is born from the natural state of mind. What this means is that if you let go and relax enough, to the point where your mind is just about to stop, that natural state will manifest mind objects relative to the degree of concentration and absorption of the meditative practice. They are not visions you see through your eyes, they are seen only by the little video camera in your head. But they 'look' like scenes, lights, discs. According to the book, Buddha said that you should meditate on the nimitta until you either merge with the nimitta or it explodes propelling you into a state of jhana. The states of jhanas are said to cause enlightenment. I have not yet managed to get a clear enough nimitta on which to meditate and propel myself into the state of one of the jhanas. I still get too excited. Recently I have been distracted by pleasurable kundalini activity anytime I stop my mind even for a split second. Dreams: While meditating, a person will pass through the realm of dreams. If one pays attention to these dream visions, one will be dragged out into the dream and the meditation is lost. I used to use this technique to revisit landscapes or dreamscapes: While lying in bed I would remember the scene that I wished to enter and visualize it. Once I could 'see' it I would simply imagine myself flying into that scene on an exhalation of breath and before I knew it I would be in the dream. During meditation, to keep out of the dream state (I discovered this during one meditation which consisted of watching my thoughts) you have to control your breathing. If you let your breath go completely it is very easy to get sucked into a dream. If you take an active part in your breathing (you do the same thing whenever you are really concentrating) then it is easier to stay out of the dream. Sometimes thoughts will drag you into dreams. Another method of not getting dragged into the dream is to simply ignore and continue whatever you are doing, be it the mantra etc. Chakra visions: Some interesting visions have occurred for me concerning chakras. Again, these are not images you see through your eyes but through awareness or attention (that little video camera). After one "I AM" meditation I was sitting on the bathroom floor having a smoke and I noticed that I could see what I believe to be my root chakra. It resembles a golden square, somewhat pyramidal and it has four dark red petals } around the base. There is a fine white thread coming out from the centre top progressing upwards and I could also see two white droplets of liquid just sitting on the thread. Ever since that day the ability to see this chakra has not diminished. Sometimes the drops are red... Another time, due to excess pressure in the lower abdomen causing natural root lock , I saw a luminous 'straw' leading upwards from my root chakra inside the center of my body where the thin thread used to be. The straw shone with pastel colors of red, white and blue, like clouds over a sunset sky. the 'straw" was about 1/4 inch thick. I could only see it up to the heart chakra. However, a few minutes later I saw multiple planes of existence and myriad beings and this vision lasted for quite a while, even with my eyes open. This was kind of disconcerting for me. We really have no privacy (understatement here..) One time during Samyama, I released the sutra "Love" and my heart exploded with white light, shooting out forwards and backwards. I could see the beams and I also saw other planes and universes inside my heart. I saw beings dressed in long robes in strange new lands. A few times when I was practicing chakra meditation and a certain kundalini meditation, after activating the crown chakra, the crown became a wonderful luminous cap of white liquid light. It looked like I was wearing a bathing cap of leaf-like petals that were wrapping around the outside of my skull coming down to just above my ears. Also, the center of my head, inside more towards the back, has a triangular liquid light center. It kind of looks like a white-light strawberry. I believe this is the pineal gland. Other Beings and Angels: Once, in a church called The Victory Christian Center, I saw Jesus. It was at a Wednesday night prayer session. I made an effort to contact Jesus and raised my right hand in the air. A small light appeared that gradually became a face with long brown hair and a beard. The face smiled at me. The face kept descending and became the full image of Jesus, wearing a red and white robe. I heard him say "You are saved". After that I couldn't move for around 40 minutes. I sat on the bench and had tears streaming down my face. Waves of something were running through my body and I couldn't stand up or move my body. On another occasion I saw a bright round light with wings floating above the congregation. It was shooting beams of light at the top of peoples' heads. This produced small wings of light on the peoples' heads. That whole sermon was about the Holy Ghost. Again, these visions were not seen through the physical eyes, but with the little video camera in my head. It feels like you are dreaming while you can still see the surrounding outer environment. One time, after a deep meditation, I was sitting on the bathroom floor having a smoke and a being of white light appeared. It resembled a translucent angel. It looked liked a being wearing a long white see-through gown. There were two large wings extending from the back. The outline was made of luminescent currents of moving light that bled out into the surrounding space. When I first saw it I knew that it was pure and divine. I could feel the love that it emanated towards me. It was a very profound emotional experience and I cried a long time. Several months later another angel visited me as I sat on the chair in my living room. It looked pretty much like the first angel that I have described here. I like to believe that it is true that as you progress along the spiritual path you attract higher and purer beings. Kundalini visions: At the time during my meditation history when I was experiencing flames up the spine at one point I started seeing visions of female anatomy. Full frontal displays of female genetalia were appearing before me with exquisite detail. Female torsos in various positions, each revealing their own erotic flavor. I would be meditating and suddenly the lower half of a female body would appear, with legs spread wide open. At other times a pair of buttocks would appear, bending over with legs spread. These images were amazing to me and very stimulating. Eventually though I had to make a real effort to ignore them because I did not think that that was the purpose of meditation. Every now and then I still see those kinds of visions. Perhaps their purpose is to stimulate certain energy flows that are needed to evolve one's meditations? Or perhaps they are beings from other planes trying to suck out my sexual energy? I don't know. One time (again while smoking on the bathroom floor) I saw a "live" vision of a beautiful Indian woman dressed in blue silk harem-style dress. She had bells in her hands, and wore gold necklaces and an ornate gold head band. She was absolutely gorgeous. I asked her who she was and she said that she was Kundalini and that she had come to dance for me. She would twirl around and dance about, quite seductively I might add. Kundalini danced for me many times during a two month period. I am so lucky to have had Kundalini dance for me! Looking with the Heart: I once read that you can see with your heart. What you are supposed to do is try to feel your surroundings with your heart (instead of looking through your eyes). One day I decided to try that practice. As I sat on the grassy banks of the river on a beautiful sunlight summer day, I closed my eyes and felt the scene with my heart. I was enjoying it immensely when some sun bathers about 100 yards away made some noise that caught my attention. All of a sudden this round circle opened up in front of my face and I could see the sunbathers close up through this circle. It was like I was looking at them through a telescope! I could not believe it. It was like I was standing three feet above them looking right at them. Since that time, I've had two other experiences of seeing from the heart. The resolution of that type of vision is very clear and bright and it looks like you are really there in real life. The world is full of mysteries. Too many visions: After meditating consistently twice a day for about 1 1/2 years (and doing other practices), when I would meditate while putting the tongue on the roof of the mouth and focusing the eyes towards the third eye, I would see massive amounts of visions. I saw everything imaginable, scenes up scenes, faces, moving pictures, people, places, events and more all whizzing by with great speed. It was overwhelming. It was as though someone had turned on one thousand televisions in your head and was switching the channels. After a couple weeks of experiencing this phenomenon I had to quit focusing on the brow during meditation. Not only did it seem pointless, but it was extremely distracting and produced a lot of stress. I finally told myself that that was not meditation. The Light: About a month and a half ago I started practicing the "sensing the inner body" routine as explained by Eckhart Tolle. I sit in easy posture and relax. I put my hands on each leg, palms facing upwards. At the bottom of each breath I let go and try to relax deeper and deeper. I let go and feel my hands until they become clouds of magnetic fields. I then add on feeling my feet and legs. Gradually I expand the sensing of the presence or life force to encompass the whole body. I monitor my breath because the quieter the mind gets, the slower the breath becomes. And, the more relaxed I become, the longer the pause becomes at the end of the breath. It is also during this pause that my perineum starts orgasm-ing or releasing waves of ecstatic energy. This meditation is so blissful, relaxing, warm and tingly, secure, friendly and feels so great that I just love doing it. I'm not even that good at it yet. Once you have a consistent feel of the whole inner body you are supposed to listen to silence intently from the whole body. What I've noticed is this. There is a set pattern to what occurs in the visual field as this meditation progresses. Even though I'm not focusing on the head (no tongue on palate or focusing the eyes on the third eye), my brow still becomes a huge magnetic hole that feels like it has a lot of pressure in it. Even though my eyes are pointing downwards, faces and visions still appear at the brow region. If I see a vision or a scene I use that as an indicator that I'm not focusing fully on sensing the presence in the body. Even with this behavior I have noticed that I still see faces, then scenes, then lights. A consistent vision that occurs near the end of each 50 minute 'sensing the body' meditation is "a bunch of little square flat dancing lights". I don't know what they are but it seems to be the result of a good session where I had become a solid cloud of magnetic bliss. I'm thinking that the square lights are crude nimittas. The other phenomenon that I've noticed is that when I'm very very relaxed, a brilliant white light appears at the center of my head (usually accompanied by kundalini in the root stirring and releasing some ecstatic conductivity... yum!) Well, that's enough about visions. To me, visions are part of spiritual development. They serve as sign posts that say that you are progressing and doing something right (or wrong). When your consciousness and awareness expand you will perceive other dimensions of existence and realize new phenomenon. Some visions can be viewed as distractions and a waste of valuable time. But even then, like the stars that appear at night, they are signs that the sun has set or is going to rise. Other visions such as nimittas can be used to propel one's self into higher states of jhana. The visions of other beings from other planes are fascinating to me and I certainly do appreciate meeting every being that I have met so far. We are not alone. Hopefully this write-up has helped your understanding of visions. Oh, if you see Jesus in one of your meditations, say that I say "Hi". OM SHANTI TI

dream within a dream you wake and are suspended by your testicles. (just hanging guys, just hanging)

no one will get hurt it's just illusion, you know dream within a dream

ummm. ... well.... Master Nan said there has to be mind yoga -- the source of the I-thought -- but Master Nan also says that if the body is sick then the mind can not be emptied out to achieve true samadhi and so the spirit or shen energy sinks into oblivion at death. I don't know - he died from pneumonia so it appears he was not able to carry through his teachings. He lived long -- 95 -- but I think he got mobbed by students and so was not able to practice enough. Master Ni, Hua-ching (a Taoist teacher) has moved from L.A. back to China -- and was born in the early 1900s - so he is achieving longevity by cutting ties with the world so to speak.... Chunyi Lin said his dream is to do a year long fast full lotus non-stop meditation in the mountains of China - I'm guessing maybe with Master Zhang of http://qigongmaster.com Anyway yeah the source of the I-thought is the key -- I wish I had known that - I discovered Master Nan, Huai-chin right after I came out of bigu samadhi -- I was desperate for answers. I read his books three times each -- before I finally grasped the concepts he was conveying. But as he states almost all practitioners "fall back into worldliness" as soon as spiritual powers are achieved. Yan Xin emphasizes also practicing in secret to store up the energy. So yeah thetaobums does not allow this as the information exchange drains too much energy. haha. My own research has finally leveled off - as Chunyi Lin said I was researching the quantum physics side of things -- and so basically for me it has been "intellectual self-defense." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxilks2HNQ8 oh thanks!

We can talk about what people can do before coming to Dzogchen. Some things may seem helpful, some not so helpful and some things increase confusion and suffering. There is no need to construct an intellectual view of Dzogchen first. There is no need for any pre-requisites in a general sense. Realizing two-fold emptiness is not a pre-requisite to Rigpa. Two-fold emptiness is an "unestablished" condition of Rigpa. Each situation is different. If the "direct introduction" does not bring this "wisdom" shift, then perhaps you could say the "direct introduction" wasn't so professionaly delivered. The teacher should have great insight into the needs of the student prior to the direct introduction. The error is with the teacher, not the student. In Dzogchen the actual tradition is: First we do "direct introduction". That's the way of Dzogchen Ati-yoga. Rigpa is not an intellectual break-through into realzing the nature of "emptiness" as an insightful understanding that results in "rigpa". That is still a revelation of intellectual clarity, not rigpa. Dzogchen is not and never was a gradual path. Why not? Because there is not an entity that gradually "gets it". There is no "getting it", because there is nothing to get nor anyone to "get it". This is all clear just from the Prajnaparamita Sutras alone as well as from many early teachings of the Buddha. There is experience, yet "no self, me or mine" that can be found either before, during or after investigation. In transmission or illumination this is known directly, not like having graduated from "No self" or Dzogchen 101. The whole notion of a step by step path is absurd. Why? Because it assumes there is a "traveller" to travel on a path and a goal to be reached. Its a sad state of affairs that for many teachers and students Dzogchen has been relegated to the lower yanas of "cause and effect" teachings and practices. No one attains "enlightenment" nor does anyone realize rigpa. The whole idea is anti-Buddhist in structure (anatta). Simple Jack, you asked: " Do you have a sense of an abiding "rigpa/awareness," when encountering sensations, sounds, thoughts, etc.?" How ridiculous! You mean you still have a sense of "encountering" sensations, sounds, and thoughts? Let's ask instead; when you Jack are busy "encountering" sensations, sounds and thoughts, are you, during this dualistic experience, recognising the true nature of sensations, sounds and thoughts to be "wisdom" as "effulgent rigpa" itself? There is no need to have a great deal to say about Dzogchen, the less the better. None of what you say or know is relevant. Its all conceptual sem, ALL of it. That's why the "direct introduction" is so necessary, and I don't mean some hooky transmission you receive over a webcast to hundreds of people. The "direct introduction" has to be personal and one on one. In this initial flash, a clarification and sorting out occurs where rigpa becomes differentiated from sem or afflicted mind. This is the essential "Khorde Rushen". When that happens all that intellectual gathering of insights and information regarding Dzogchen and Buddhism including "emptiness", collapses... completely gone, and is seen to be so many meaningless movements and manuevers in a "day dream". All of it was a waste of time. Nothing got "you" closer. If you don't know that with certainty than Rigpa has not arisen.

There is the quiet nothingness that we slip into during the duration between dreams. Then there is the sense of awareness, creativity and the desire to share that is within us when we are awake. And then there is the dream state which is somewhere in betwee. All of this I believe provides clues as to the nature of the origin. I do not believe that the Dao is elusive (we are part of it) nor must we follow it (we are part of it), nor must we seek to return to it (we are part of it). We are all aware of it (ourselves) but it is indeed difficult to understand. In Hindu it is called the Maya-Lila (Hidden Play).

Flolfolil pretty much nailed that on the head. Now regarding jerks and tremors - they are caused by so many things that it is far too vast a subject for the topic at hand - though I would be very interested in hearing more about what jerks or tremors Flolfolil had and how he got rid of them in 3/4 of a year. Actual practical info may be very helpful to someone in this topic. Only some seizures involve spirit possession - a very good friend and former teacher Lewis Bostwick was a very powerful psychic all of his life and studying seizures was something he did and that we talked about on occasion. My 3rd eye opened when i was 22. I met Lewis about 9yrs later. We also lost a friend to a violent seizure attack. In studing transmediumship and working with transmediums as well as working with beings without bodies, I became very familiar with vibration - lower - higher - finer coarser - earth - cosmic etc. Meditation - the type that does not include trance - I say this because the distinction has been blurred - is very helpful to everyone. What is not taught in the books and what very few masters would have a chance to say to a student with a propensity to seizures is this: Student initially starting on the path always do the following - and it is only right that they do this - we all try to feel something. We would like to see something as well but at the very least feel something. A chakra spinning, some meridian, perhaps a smidgen of someones aura - even a pets aura - any aura will do. It would be fantastic if our teacher would just levitate and dispell any doubts we have. Touch us with their Chi - read our mind or send us on a through a wall and into another dimension. They don't - at least not too frequently. So we are left at this very wide entry gate looking at all the different paths and we devour everything we can in the way of books and local lectures, demonstrations and now - all the online YouTube stuff - some of which is off the wall excellent. We start meditation - maybe Yoga - Qi Gong - maybe 20 things at once. We buy a crystal because we hear that they amplify energy and we play with holding it in one hand and moving it over our finger tip chakras or our palm chakras. (most of us have a crystal somewhere in our drawers) As we begin actual practice we invariably tend toward wanting to open everything - our chakras, our channels, and we also tend to want to "raise our vibration", and some of us want to speak with "angels", do astral travel, healing work, chanting etc. By the time we actually start we have become somewhat of an "authority' on many metaphysical things (that is of course until we are standing in front of a real teacher and we quickly come to understand that if we put all of our "knowledge" into a thimble it would not be visible to a eagles eye. (do not misunderstand me - you should prepare yourself - you should intend to study and not be duped by yourself and others - you will find here and there in the writings of almost all the sages - that a good and healthy intellect is often considered as key in attaining enlightenment). And of course - as soon as your start working with a teaching and a school the first thing you need to do is "stop all the banter" - "quit thinking so much" - "just stop, breath". So here you are - practicing for real - it is amazing the way you feel - you didn't do practically anything and already you feel like never before!!! Perhaps you have a dream - a trance experience - you feel so much energy - like a rocket ship! Perhaps for the first time you are "really letting go of the pain" or "the past". Whole vistas start to feel achievable - !!! You want to grab your friends and wake them up to this stuff - thier are not enough hours in the day! And you like to leave all your energy fields on as much as possible - opening up is what its all about right?!! Actually - what you are doing is leaving all the doors open to your house - at the same time you are leaving all the lights on and playing the stereo at full blast (this is pretty much how us guys do it - women are a bit more subtle but not by much - they don't usually play the stereo as obnoxiously loud). Forgive me for this phenomenally long post/novel When you do your practice - be aware of starting and ending points. Be aware of your diet - all of your diet - the food, the media, the air, the friends etc. Your energy will increase many fold within a very short time. You may not even notice just how much it has increased, and this is for several reasons. Lets say you used to "live" in a very limited portion of your space. In that space you felt very much alive but missing something. Now, your energy encompasses much much more of you and you are really owning that space, but you are not as vividly pointed as before. So you may actually be filling the whole glass now but the grounds are no longer visible. For those of you here - concerned about seizures - you already know about your food diet and the importance of watching it. You will also want to take special care in opening and closing your doors. Walking around with "your space wide open" is not good for anyone - and most teachers overlook this or do not understand it much but know that continuous work along the path will take care of it - which is true for all but those who end up in the loony bin or commit suicide or are suddenly able to drink about 4 times as much alcohol. More on this later - I have to go ...

I apologize if anyone has already responded by saying that the late psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung came up with the idea of synchronicity and he named it such. One of his patients, a woman, was describing a dream she had about a dove and then a dove flew thru the open window of his office. (I think that's how it happened) Once one begins to take note of synchronicity it's quite surprising how many incidents there are in a week.