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Ok, Sketch, thank you very much for your input. While I'm unfamiliar with Alexander technique and Emilie Conrad's Continuum practices, I have tried Daoist six healing sounds and I found the bijas more powerful/effective. Now, two things in your reply resonate with my practice: 1. There's definitely focus/circulation of energy in body areas, tissues, bones for each bija. Like each one would activate a specific circuit, a particular modality. 2. Interior sound !? That's a deep one... Sometimes the bija is not so much sounded as thought/invoked before and beyond mere uttering. Secondly...I think I can talk to my body (the physical one) in a "language" that's before words...I can't put into words the feeling. Now, my practice as I have navigated through it: 1. I do it for 30-90 min at a time, 2-3 times a day. Possibly because of my health problems....I need a stronger dose. 2. First Stage: clarity in uttering the bija (inner sound, I do not use chanting). By clarity I mean the uttering has some crisp clear quality like outrightly speaking....and the bija vibrates all body. 3. Second Stage: bija starts repeating itself....I have reached this...from time to time. 4. Third Stage: mind (as in buddhist mind, that's all being) gets fully focused...eventually absorbed/immersed in the bija....I had only a glimpse of this. Basically....that's my experience...I must admit that sometimes I feel like there is a threshold I can't pass through...maybe the health interfering ?! I don't get Second Stage on a regularly basis....Third Stage remains only a dream for me. Any input on the above ?

Allow those beings to come to you, and embrace them lovingly. If you are aware enough to remember mantras, then you are almost lucid. Just remember it’s a dream and accept them. I find it interesting that your “demons” come from the attic. And that you have a pain in the root chakra. What if your pain is not due to a root chakra blockage at all? What if it is congestion because there is no where for the energy to go?

Okay , in your dream they where 'in there ' , but do you remember anything about them or what they appeared to be doing . And did that old house have a basement ?

So I was in this dream version of an old house that I was a kid in. So I'm in the house and I get the feeling something strange is going on in the Attic. When I look at the Attic these two creepy Spirit witches are in there and they look really creepy and weird and scary and they start coming at me but I'm saying one of my mantras to keep them away but I can tell they're looking for a way to get me. So anyway this goes on for a few minutes and then I wake up and I can feel something really bad in the room with me so I do the mantra for real and then it goes away. Coincidentally my daughter said that she had a weird dream last night that involved zombies.

What where they doing in your dream ? This is significant , I feel . As you say its really weird and unpredictable ..... but not to me it isnt .

In my dream they were. When I woke up I still felt something bad in the room with me. It went away with the chanting.

Hi natural, Yes. I love you ~ Bro. You have done your family proud. Now I am going to sleep and dream about success ~ the natural way. Good night. - Anand

Maybe I was thinking of this post.. or from this interview with her- https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/35367-taomeow-ttb-interview/ ".. 9. You talk about ganying. Which feels to me a little like luck. How do we increase ganying or synchronicities in our life? Ganying is certainly an important component of “luck,” but “luck” is, in and of itself, a major notion of traditional taoist thought -- and a separate science, an application of certain universal relativistic, stochastic principles to personal human concerns. Ganying is understood as a kind of resonance, a fractal of reflections of events and phenomena into different scales and dimensions which on some level appear “similar,” “related,” “patterned on each other” and on some other level, blatantly “the same” – like the sound produced by plucking a string is the same sound of the same string whether you hear it from within one inch or one foot or a hundred feet away from the source. Whether there’s an amplifier in between or a soundproof wall. To learn to discern ganying, resonating meaningful relatedness of phenomena that don’t appear related to a superficial analysis by inadequate methods -- “coincidences,” “similarities,” “sameness” of phenomena -- one needs to learn to listen. It’s like with music – you recognize a melody, and then a style, and then a performer, and then an emotional or creative or mood-affecting, heart-affecting, etc., impact of music on your life, by listening, paying attention, and internalizing the patterns. Perhaps you can even learn to play an instrument. Perhaps you can become a true virtuoso if you practice daily and put your body and soul into the practice. Then you won’t have to rely on luck to hear your favorite guitar piece or violin concerto – you can produce it, anytime you like. That’s the relationship between ganying and luck.." <brilliant stuff, imo> We have one word for luck and tend not to delve into it to much. Interesting to see other cultures and how they relate to luck. The closet I get to it, is when I play Life as Dream; looking at life, interpreting it, as if it was dream. Where happenings are full of symbolism, messages and synchronicities.

Most importantly by teaching me it is my responsibility to develop absolute certainty in what it is to be deluded and what it is to be free of delusions. I then at least know the direction to go in. Staying there always in waking, sleep, dream, and death is then up to me and my karma. By encouraging us to make a ngöndro a lifetime path. Ngöndro is what differentiates delusion from non-delusion. Through the example set by our teachers and the stories of masters of our tradition. The attainments and the humility. Through the teachings. Every major teaching I’ve attended and studied had admonitions regarding arrogance and narcissism, ignorance, and related delusions. Through the practice itself. This is the connection to non-delusion. The view/practice/actions/fruition are undifferentiated and must be precise. Through recognizing, continuing, returning... And through the cultivation needed to stabilize. I wouldn’t make it my project. Your attainment is yours alone and my own is all I can influence. I don’t need yours as a reference point so there is nothing more to be said or done. Having certainty in my own view is all that is necessary. It cannot be discerned via forum, it cannot be proven by quorum, nor judged by sly practitioners, even on the holy day of Purim! So worry not of others’ minds dear One, though hold them in your warm embrace. I will return when you’re still enough to have me, ... and if you don’t come easy, I may need smack your face.

With those edibles I mentioned earlier, I gradually worked my way up to 1 full gummy (5 mg active ingredient). I don't like the effects during daytime, but I do when I take it half an hour before bed, chased with a drop of cognac. Once in bed, I turn on a sci-fi audiobook, on very quiet, and fall asleep into the plot. My mind collaborates with the narrative by creating its own plot lines, then the next evening I rewind to where I fell asleep and compare. Here's an example: The plot: George Bush, while president, has a tooth installed by an undercover Russian agent posing as a dentist, which is a kind of very intricate radio that can be receiving voices transmitted via special equipment (on just one specific wavelength, so there's no interference from any other sources). The FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia) find a guy with a very powerful and artistic voice, and train him with daily seances combining a sensory deprivation tank, a cocktail of psychedelics, and readings (right into the inside of his head -- he has the same kind of radio tooth installed) of all the most prominent religious texts ever produced -- chiefly biblical but also a bit from other traditions. The goal is to get him to tap into the "voice of God" that would sound absolutely genuine and then start transmitting right into Bush's head, impersonating God and giving him instructions. And so on. Then my dream-mind has a lot of fun with all the variables. ))

A hairdresser’s dream! She called, and told me of it. ”Yes, I dreamt it too.”

All tree, no forest Is that like all hair, no skin? A hairdresser's dream!

All tree, no forest Is that like all hair, no skin? A hairdresser's dream!

All tree, no forest Is that like all hair, no skin? A hairdresser's dream!

I like this line of reasoning. If we are dreaming and know everything is a dream and cannot hurt us, is there still fear? I would say fear stems from attachment. If we do not have an attachment to something, is there any fear involved if that thing is compromised.

I had been going through a period when my meditation was not going well. I usually do breath counting and sometimes metta bhavana. I was going to stay at a community in the countryside, which had a building set aside for meditation. Each morning there is a one hour silent meditation. I thought this was just what I need. First two days, just an hour of monkey mind each morning. In the house that I stayed in there was a large collection of books which I enjoyed browsing through. I saw a quote in one book that struck me as really beautiful and I had the idea of meditating on it. So on the third morning I gave it a try. I don't recall anything except a sort of day dream in which I was standing in a wheat field. The sun was very hot and was hurting my eyes a little. I was clothed differently, my arms and legs were bare. Then the gong sounded end of session. A whole hour had gone in what felt like seconds. I was a little puzzled but had a very strong feeling of peace which was with me for most of the day. That was about 5-6 years ago but when I think about it I can still feel the sun on my face and the wheat against my legs and left hand. It was all so incredibly real. Strangely I could not recall a word of the quote nor could I remember which book it was from. I have no idea what I experienced that morning.

Even psychologically oriented healers are getting more and more into the body these days because body-level healing works. In fact, there´s a whole discipline dedicated to healing emotional difficulties through body awareness -- somatic psychology. Witness the wild popularity of Bessel Van Der Kolk´s tome The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. There are lots of people who wouldn´t dream of telling you about their childhood abuse but don´t mind mentioning that their stomachs hurt. For this reason, the stomach provides a way in. Insisting on staying on a psychological level -- talking about feelings -- can be subtely disrespectful and, in any case, doesn´t work. Just bringing someone´s awareness to their body and helping them stay there is often profoundly healing. I´ll venture that often enough that´s all that´s really needed.

My recommendations: 1984 by George Orwell Archipielago Gulag (just the first part) The Prince by Machiavelli Plato's Republic Also you can watch the movie Requiem for a dream

I is actually more of a collection of clingings, which can be very subtle. Clinging to flaws, clinging to virtues, and clinging to various activities. I recently actually had a dream that involved clinging to love. In which it was revealed that an unhealthy relationship/love seems to involve ownership. However, I think division is the worst kind of clinging. Besides the story, the 2nd paragraph reveals how deeply these clinging can subtly stand. Concepts like I, etc are not natural. They are gained and only seem natural due to constant reinforcement. What is natural is beyond the tides of what has been gained and lost.

My experience is cannabis makes thoughts stickier and brings up some repressed emotions. It also delays recognizing when I’ve disconnected and followed thoughts. It colors the clarity I can access. It has a major effect on my sleep and dream cycle - not at all good for dream and sleep yogas. Generally speaking it does nothing for me to enhance meditation, quite the opposite, but it can be taken onto the path like anything else.

Greetings spiritmovesyou. That sad story is beyond my experiences. Hope outside most members, what a horrible situation. Thus any advice you get here will probably be highly speculative. Have you been involved in the whole scenario of curses and protections etc.? I've been cautioned against it. Entangling oneself in such beliefs can be dangerous. It'd be interesting to hear others viewpoint. <course as I wrote that, a black fly came at me(its winter), I swatted, it fell to the ground, placed a tissue on top then squashed it. I'm willing to play Life as Dream scenarios for many things, but for negative happenings, I usually won't play that game. Not wanting to plant things in my subconscious> We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team At your leisure, please review-

It means its a very special dream that you need to pay close attention too. When it has happened to me, I've always thought another being potentially assisted by turning up the energy in order for it to be so vivid giving you the ability to remember it.

Hi dwai. Yes I remember the mantra vividly, every syllable. I would prefer not to disclose it, even in a PM. I've heard it before, many years ago and also seen it in written form, but mantra is not a practice which I have as part of my cultivation routine, which is what has me so intrigued. Also the clarity of the whole experience. Like a dream but not a dream. Very difficult to put into words. After writing the OP, I did some searching online. Some were of the understanding that it is a very auspicious sign that should be pursued.

Something being an illusion does not mean that it does not exist. That is only the way it appears on the surface. By looking a little deeper, you may see a different picture entirely. How can I describe to a blind man what it is like to see? I describe what I see myself, and yet it is taken as a fantasy! How laughable indeed! It would be worth looking into Plato's Allegory of the Cave, friend! I believe that it can describe this better than I would on a forum post, but unfortunately, that in itself is simply "what you read"! I think you're uncomfortable looking past the cover of the book, and that is fine. It's perfectly natural to want to stop at the brink of the unknown, and come back with the experience of coming close to it, but it is quite rewarding to take that one extra step in. As for time itself, look at dream time. Look at the differences in how we "experience" life day-to-day, as the years go by. A year for a child feels like an eternity, and yet a year for an adult feels like nothing at all! A minute of anticipation lasts much longer than ten minutes of fun, and yet funtime is much longer objectively! Some dreams can last years while only taking an hour to conjure, and some martial artists can enter a time-free state via focus. Time is something entirely irrelevant to experience, and yet we always attempt to place our experiences in time itself.

Hi Ghostexorcist, I think many people here dream of going East, teaching English and visiting exotic sites. So, to many of us, you're living the dream. It'd be fascinating to hear more about your travels. Welcome to the board. We're an eclectic philosophy forum for learning, discussing and cultivation. Below are 3 important sections: Our Rules, The Insult Policy and our 3 Foundations. Before you join give them a read. Most of it boils down to being respectful. No name calling or trolling. Post as if your mom's looking over your shoulder. Discussion and arguments are what the board is about. Keep it civil, don't get personal. Don't be a troll or one issue zealot. We're here for good conversation and making some friends along the way, to be a community. Jump right in, start threads, ask questions, look for interesting threads and post your (relevant) thoughts. For the first week you will be restricted to ten posts per day but after that you can post as much as you like. Also, until you’ve posted fifteen times in the forums, you’ll be a “Junior Bum” with somewhat restricted access and will be allowed only two private messages per day. TDB team At your leisure, please review-