marijuana and taoist meditation.

[Archaic17]

well...

 

is it ok to sometimes smoke it before meditation or should i stay away from it completely?

[secularfuture]

It's probably best to learn how to meditate without having to rely on too much extra like drugs, music, and so on so that it'll be easier for you to meditate anytime, anywhere, using just what you have - your mind.

[phore]

its good

 

it increases access to etheric reality, and energetic activity.

once youve got enough chi you can trip pretty hard. angelic visions, kriyas, ect.

 

[Stigweard]

well...

 

is it ok to sometimes smoke it before meditation or should i stay away from it completely?

My opinion: Stay away from it completely.

 

Marijuana is a power herb and is Yin in nature. That said, thinking you need an external substance to achieve "other states" is delusional and is a sign of dependency and weakness. You are basically saying you need a crutch because you can't do it yourself.

 

I often find people who try to experiment with these drugs are looking for the "buzz" of phenomena without doing the proper foundation work first. Thus when you do get the phenomenon you are not prepared to handle it with the right sobriety and distortions can take place. Also, with the loosening of the etheric layers you open yourself to perhaps unwanted influences and can cause damage due to, once again, ill-preparation.

[Thunder_Gooch]

There is absolutely no need of marijuana, if you learn how to go deep enough into the emptiness the abyss or void, and how to breath slowly abdominally you will feel more pleasure than you've experienced via pot or sex. I recommend reading chunyi lin of spring forest qigong material, there is also a book called the tao of meditation which is worth purchasing. centerpointe level one can help you drown out your thoughts if you still need training wheels.

[King Kabalabhati]

I used to smoke and do certain exercises like Pranayama walking. That's where I got my first taste of the Kundalini power, a thick "lightning" struck from my tailbone to my head.

 

It was a good experience because it made me more certain that there's greater powers in me than I had previously felt. Then after I started with Tao Yin and the Inner Smile, I became friends with my liver who told me to stop smoking and immediately after that I quit. It was very easy though I'd been smoking on a daily basis for over 10 years.

 

When I smoked, I had more motivation to meditate. It seemed much more tempting to fall into the inner space, and sometimes I felt the energy flow in the MO so strong as if it could have cracked my skull. I'm not sure if those were false experiences caused by being high. I think all in all it was a meaningful stage of my practice but now I'm comfortable without it. I still need develop that kind of motivation for sitting down though.

 

BTW freeform, are you sure it's yin by nature? At least it's heating in the liver and in ayurvedic terms it raises the pitta, which governs fire.

[Capital]

No one around me meditates. No one believes in inherent energy. It's either Christianity or post-Christianity Atheism/Agnosticism with everyone I meet.

 

It was only due to weed, quite honestly, that I ever realized how silly my own post-Christianity Atheism was. Just because the majority of those in the Judeo-Christian sects are narrow-minded and hateful of the unknown doesn't mean that 'god' is instantly a lost cause for me.

 

I started meditating, out of the blue, while under the effects of cannabinoids; I made some of my most deep-felt acceptances of nature under the same effects.

 

To be clear, I agree that marijuana (and any drug with ranging hallucinogenic effects) are not needed for meditation, and certainly do cloud perceptions- and increase fear and paranoia needlessly, but I would also say that for those of us with no possible connections to anything esoteric perhaps a mind-altering substance is quite needed.

[buscon]

I used to be a tabac and marijuana smoker since a long time, about 12 years.

 

Two weeks ago I gave up both, was kind of spontaneous after some months of

kung fu, qigong and meditation.

 

The main problem was addiction and not experience: if you wanna smoke, do

it, but try to understand every slightly effect; afterwards try to understand

what do you want from it and why.

 

Start qigong or other form of meditation, and then you'll keep smoking or stop

it consequently.

As the Tao te ching says: taking no action, order wil prevail

 

 

Cheers

[Chen]

Ones I had a conversation with a respectfull instructor of inner arts, that told me that.

-"Using drugs in meditation is like jumping in deep water without knowing how to swim.You may lern it that moment ,but the most possible is to be drawn."

[Eternal_Student]

Marijuana flares the ming men fire out of its normal position.

The Ming Men fire resides behind and around your kidneys.

It is a false sense of awareness because the extra heat rises up the Du channel and gets into your head.

While there, it ups the amount of seratonin you produce, momentarily.

After long term use, you slowly drain the good feeling hormones from your brain and adrenals. Eventually leads to insomnia and depression without the drug. The addiction comes from the lack of stimulation on the adrenals, not receptors in your brain.

 

In terms of spiritual growth, it can give you a glimpse though the keyhole. That's all.

But it leaves you open and vulnerable because while the ming men fire is in your head, its not powering your wei chi, your defensive energy. Leaves you open to energetic, emotional, psychic and pathogenic influences.

 

The ultimate goal is to be able to alter your own hormone system without any external influence.

So I am capable of getting "high" by tweaking my own pituitary and pineal glands. Its way cheaper than relying on external sources, energetically and monetarily.

[Encephalon]

That marijuana can enable you to relax is a fact beyond serious dispute, and as we all find out sooner or later, learning how to relax is the first step toward feeling our internal environment. Does that mean you should enlist mj?

 

My readings on the history of mj in early China was that the plant was just too unpredictable. During the era when all plants, animals and minerals were being classified into the yin/yang categories, MJ resisted easy classification, and so it fell out of favor although it clearly played a central role in early Chinse shamanic rites.

 

If you absolutely must continue to smoke, follow Dr. Weil's advice; do it once a week. Pick your saturday afternoon and set it aside for some kind of body/mind discipline. The goal for the following week is to reproduce without MJ the same level of relaxation and inner awareness.

 

If you can't restrict your use to once a week, it could mean that you don't possess the maturity to use this plant in the best way it can be utilized. I asked Gary Clyman to clarify why he doesn't approve of it; was it because it introduces phantom energy experiences? No, he said. It just kills your volition.

 

That being said, MJ is going to play a very prominent role in the medical system of the future, and I wish like hell that people would just wise up and get over it, but the war on drugs is mighty profitable for a huge sector of our society.

[markern]

Marijuana flares the ming men fire out of its normal position.

The Ming Men fire resides behind and around your kidneys.

It is a false sense of awareness because the extra heat rises up the Du channel and gets into your head.

While there, it ups the amount of seratonin you produce, momentarily.

After long term use, you slowly drain the good feeling hormones from your brain and adrenals. Eventually leads to insomnia and depression without the drug. The addiction comes from the lack of stimulation on the adrenals, not receptors in your brain.

 

In terms of spiritual growth, it can give you a glimpse though the keyhole. That's all.

But it leaves you open and vulnerable because while the ming men fire is in your head, its not powering your wei chi, your defensive energy. Leaves you open to energetic, emotional, psychic and pathogenic influences.

 

The ultimate goal is to be able to alter your own hormone system without any external influence.

So I am capable of getting "high" by tweaking my own pituitary and pineal glands. Its way cheaper than relying on external sources, energetically and monetarily.

 

You are a great resource for the Bums. Please keep posting

 

 

 

 

My readings on the history of mj in early China was that the plant was just too unpredictable. During the era when all plants, animals and minerals were being classified into the yin/yang categories, MJ resisted easy classification, and so it fell out of favor although it clearly played a central role in early Chinse shamanic rites.

 

If you absolutely must continue to smoke, follow Dr. Weil's advice; do it once a week. Pick your saturday afternoon and set it aside for some kind of body/mind discipline. The goal for the following week is to reproduce without MJ the same level of relaxation and inner awareness.

 

 

 

 

The chineese never seem to be too happy about unpredictability of any kind

 

If what is said about moving the ming men fire is true, then learning to replicate the same thing mentaly without the drug might not be such a good idea. You don`t get toxins of course but you are still going into patterns of awareness and energy that, although usefull in many ways, might still be unhealthy long term.

[DalTheJigsaw123]

I don't think you do. However, it is not bad to try it a few times to see what it's like. You can also say, "It works for some and it doesn't work for others."

[doc benway]

Marijuana can sensitize you and assist in your ability to "feel" the qi circulating. It's important to recognize that this is an artificial "advantage" and will not be valuable in true development.

At the same time, it is a powerful distraction, alters your "natural" experience, and makes you think that things you are experiencing are more significant than they really are.

 

When you are first getting started, the increased sensitivity can be useful in visualizing/feeling the Qi flow but it must be let go or you will make no meaningful progress. The more serious you are about cultivating Qi and following this path, the more important it is to do so without any distractions or artificial agents. To meditate when intoxicated with marijuana or any other drug may be entertaining but it is not an effective method to make progress in cultivation.

[宁]

i was starting to believe there's a fashion amoungst the ttb's to smoke pot and doze off in 'meditation'

good then, i'm relieved now, i see more voices against than for it. goodie, good

associating drugs with meditation is pretty silly, if you ask me

[Marblehead]

associating drugs with meditation is pretty silly, if you ask me

 

Amen!

 

Peace & Love!

[NeiChuan]

Marijuana flares the ming men fire out of its normal position.

The Ming Men fire resides behind and around your kidneys.

It is a false sense of awareness because the extra heat rises up the Du channel and gets into your head.

While there, it ups the amount of seratonin you produce, momentarily.

After long term use, you slowly drain the good feeling hormones from your brain and adrenals.

 

I thought something towards that point.. Ming men activity being I mean.

 

Anyway in my opinion to use any over stimulation for meditation isen't well.. Its not wrong but its completely unneeded.. Also sorta've swaying you away from all you need in the practice.. Its self discovery lol.

 

I try not to meditate until after a few days after I've smoked (when I do - I rarely ever do) because I dont want to go into a bit of a clouded meditation.. Same with to much energy drinks and such.. All the same to me and all unneeded for what im doing.

[Deepbluesea]

All good posts.

 

My use has waned almost to nil in the last year and not because I have tried to reduce it. I've just been getting better results of relaxation and sincere touch within my body and with the cosmos through guided meditation alone. It just doesn't interest me anymore.

 

I hesitate to say it, but it was a gateway for me to real psychedelics. Pot never did but others showed me a world that I never knew existed. Upon further investigation I discovered other meditation techniques that have bettered what I had ever felt with LSD, psylosybin and others.

 

I can't ever tell anyone not to do it because to some degree I'm not sure I would be where I am today spiritually without it, and I am pretty happy with my spiritual path (though ironically, mostly without it).

 

Refer is social drug. It is here to stay. The problem is that for every person that I know that uses it on a daily basis and has a job and a life, I know twenty that are 35 years old, live with their parents and just can't seem to get their shit together. Its the new alchoholism. I can't discredit it because I really do feel like it was a rung on my ladder but it was simply only that for me -- a rung on the ladder. And, for me (and everyone is different), without leaving it behind, I would not be twice as high on the ladder if I had for some reason stuck with it.

 

I reached a point where I was able to deepen my spirituality without it. Weed and other stuff might get you on the road or show you the light, a light which you may have never seen otherwise and for that reason it is beneficial. But to get to that light and beyond you have to venture into yourself and into the cosmos absolutely naked, without alteration, in perfect sobriety, to be brought to your knees with the greatness within you and all that is around you, shatterered with unhazed clarity with a fire that consumes you.

 

The mellow intoxication of bonghits never got me there. Good luck!