How to keep/enhance energy?

[awake]

Hi,

 

I am at a buddhist retreat (chanting mantras), and every day after it, there is this immense wonderful energy.. The first day was especially joyful, it totally takes me out of ordinary existence, however I have a hard time maintaining it - it will stay maybe a few hours (the first day was well over 6 hours and then woke up with it in the morning but proceeded to think my way out of it and into some serious suffering), and so I am wondering if anybody has any tips on what to do to stay in the energy and/or enhance it's presence/my awareness of it (feel it more).

 

Belief in my thoughts infringes upon it.. And it's hard not to have thoughts, especially of "greatnesS" like I achieved something..

 

The retreat ends soon, I hope I can have something to practice onwards with, please help.

Edited June 15, 2011 by awake

[RiverSnake]

From an energetic perspective you can look at ones thoughts as a form of energy.

 

-For example when were thinking about our best friend were giving our energy to him. Where your awareness goes energy follows.

 

-Much of meditation is keeping our awareness centered on the self. So in a way through meditation we are reclaiming all of the energy that we would usually be wasting on mulling over fears, thinking about chores, work...etc

 

-Also it is important to recognize in any practice that the "Higher the Highs the Lower the Lows".

 

-It is often more productive in the long run to make small and moderate steps towards are goals. Giant leaps in progress are often accompanied by giant smacks in the face. Better to inch our way forward and stay in the realm of moderation.

 

-Hope this helps, Peace

Edited June 15, 2011 by OldGreen

[Jetsun]

From the Buddhist perspective clinging onto that energy may be your problem, pushing away the negative states and clinging onto the positive is viewed as the fundamental cause of suffering.

 

One meditation I have been doing is to bring all the lousy rotten feelings in to my heart with the in breath and expand them without trying to escape from them, while with the outbreath letting go of any good positive states and energy and give it to the world, so it's a reversal of the normal state of mind so you cherish the bad in your heart and dedicate the good to others, which is form of Atisha's heart meditation. I'm finding it quite powerful so far and already feeling a reduction in stress and fear.

[C T]

Thoughts and thinking are not the cause of your anxiety. What is the basic cause? It could be one or a combination of ill-conceived expectations, a craving for permanency of a new-found state, a misplaced concept about the fundamental purpose of meditation, or plain ignoring what your heart is telling you.

 

The higher purpose in your life - what is it? Are you able to align your expectations with this higher purpose? This is cause for deeper reflection and contemplation. What is your spiritual thirst all about? Be honest in this investigation, and see what comes up.

 

If you are a practicing Buddhist, then you would understand change. What constitutes change? When things change, how do you cope? Do you grasp after the good changes? Avoid the bad ones? Look deeply why this is so, and the answer will pleasantly surprise you, provided again there is honesty underlying this self-appraisal.

 

What is the purpose of meditation and retreat? In relation to you, that is. We all have different motivations for such undertakings. Check the motives and the intents with an unflinching mindfulness - and again, listen to what your heart says. Are you being selfish, or do you have a more altruistic reason/s for such practices? Some people only care about their own awakening, while others, realizing equanimity, no longer differentiate between self-freeing and other-freeing; this means if one dedicates one's life to helping others find comfort and freedom from suffering, that is as good, if not better than finding comfort and freedom for oneself. In both instances, different motivations are involved, leading to different outcomes. Be true to yourself, first of all - strip off all pretenses. Very often, in retreat settings, people put up a lot of pretentious fronts - out of fear, out of needs to belong, out of desire to please, out of desperation to see immediate benefits... many factors are at play. It could be quite a bizarre situation that often produces results that are not congruent with one's basic self-view. This could be problematic, because after the retreat ends, people take away misconstrued benefits, which turn out to be poison instead of an elixir. Be very clear what you want. For example, chanting is very powerful - yet, for those who are not too clear, but still do it anyway, they will experience funny moods and sensations after it ends. Then no positive merit will follow, but instead, one ends up more confused, thinking that such practices must be so great, profound etc, yet do not experience the effects of profundity and as a result forming negative ideas around a potentially good practice. This is why its good to have a very concise and clear understanding of what serves you the best at this point of the journey.

 

Retreats are suppose to be an activity for introspection, among other things, so at the very least you have begun this process, and that's excellent! Perhaps a good follow-thru, until you can say with conviction that you really know what your path is all about, will serve you well in furthering your journey. In my personal experience with retreats, i tend to favor letting go all expectations, and let this openness be the ground on which the seeds of dharma get planted, and as much as possible, generate the faith that when the right conditions gather, these seeds will germinate and grow and bear the fruits that its meant to bear, and also, along the way, simply ensure that the right methods of cultivation are in place. More than this is not necessary... less, and the desired outcomes will not be felt and experienced.

 

Its hard work, quite challenging, but if you are very clear what your aims are, as far as a spiritual path goes, then when things do not pan out the way they are supposed to, at least you will not lose sight nor lose momentum, as long as you remain motivated in ways that do not bring about conflict as regards your aims, your thoughts and actions, and your daily mindfulness around these priorities.

 

Hope this helps.

[rex]

See if you can get advice from the retreat organisers on whether it is appropriate to do self-tonglen and maybe even full tonglen while you find yourself in the inspired state. If it is you can use uncomfortable mental states as fuel for your path by using the inspired state to absorb difficult states on the in-breath while sending out all the positive qualities of the inspired state to where tension is experienced on the out-breath. I think it is important to have at least a sense of the presence of the inspired state to do this - even more so if you ever feel inspired to do full tonglen.

 

All the best.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I like the suggestions above. When you have this positive state, use the compassion to wish all your merit from it be given to others. In line with this vehicle, when you have pain, wish that it will pay for the negative karma of yourself and others (all or specific people). This is known to be very powerful for some Native Americans as well who will endure intense suffering in hopes that the energy is transmuted into healing power for a loved one.

 

Needless to say, wishing all of your merit for everyone else will only replenish the well if this selflessness is truly sincere. Blessings .

 

The feelings of serenity will inevitably pass eventually (this is why Muslims pray 5 times a day, I presume). Practice Wu Wei -- translated often as actionless action, but really meaning something to the effect of attaining without grasping in a state of greed, covetousness, profiteering. Allowing things to happen in their time, thus flowing with the stream, over the rocks, rather than pushing at the rocks or destroying the banks to get through another channel (unless another channel was the natural "watercourse way" the way you wu wei).

 

When we attribute these successes to our personality we partake in egotism (really super-egotism) which means that, in reality, we have not achieved anything to be impressed with whatsoever :lol:

Edited June 15, 2011 by Harmonious Emptiness

[suninmyeyes]

Hi,

 

I am at a buddhist retreat (chanting mantras), and every day after it, there is this immense wonderful energy.. The first day was especially joyful, it totally takes me out of ordinary existence, however I have a hard time maintaining it - it will stay maybe a few hours (the first day was well over 6 hours and then woke up with it in the morning but proceeded to think my way out of it and into some serious suffering), and so I am wondering if anybody has any tips on what to do to stay in the energy and/or enhance it's presence/my awareness of it (feel it more).

 

 

This is how I do it.

Trying and sober myself up mentally and emotionally,so whatever needs to be done or wants to be expressed- I am trying to make sure that I am present ,checking myself out.Flowing in my stream letting go and dissolving disturbances.

I am not going to be a slave to nothing and noone .So being fed up with being a slave to system is good(social system,a thought system,emotional system,personal desire system etc..)to enchance awarness.

Slowly ,slowly though.

Maybe learn some practise(energetic or inquiry ..) you can do all day long even whilst you rare working/studying and just spin it all day long,if you forget start again,like this on and on.

[Sloppy Zhang]

I don't know what kind of practice you are doing over there, but as far as energy work and stuff goes, proper close down is a must. A proper close down could be as long, if not longer, than the actual practice, because you have to let the energy settle and integrate with your body. Again, I don't know what practices you are doing there, but in my experience, teaching events like that you have to balance teaching with the average person's pace- you may be above or below that, so you need to do what you have to do on your own time to settle outside of whatever activities you may be doing.

 

This is also a great opportunity for self examination. Nothing tells you where the leaks in a bucket are as good as filling it up with water and seeing where it escapes. Ask yourself what activities you do in the mean time, how do you feel in the before and after those activities? What activities literally "suck" the energy from you? When you do give your energy away?

 

And don't worry about it. The more you worry about it, the more energy you're going to lose.