Study Recommendations / Question about Chakra

[Nier]

Over the last few weeks I've had a few new weird experiences. 2 of which are that I feel like I have a lump in my throat and sporadic (only 5 - 10) hiccups that immediately go away. I'm completely physically medically sound, so I figured it was psychosomatic and start digging around online. I found a few articles about Chakras and I stumbled upon this video about Carl Yung a few months ago that reoccurred to me (linked). Around the 5:30 mark he discusses talking with a girl who talks about feeling there was a snake that started in her stomach and ended up coming out of her mouth after talking to him. This is almost how I describe what I'm feeling. Currently, it feels like there's energy in my solar plexus (which used to feel like it was in my genitals/lower stomach region until quite recently. I didn't notice the feeling was there until it wasn't anymore) and something in squirming in my throat. Someone in the comments stated this was her Kundalini rising. So I took the hint and figured it's about time I flesh out my understanding of Chakras. I don't even know where to begin though.

 

Does anyone have some insight into the lump in my throat and hiccups? And can anyone recommend some books or materials to start respectfully studying Hinduism, Chakras, meditation, yoga, etc? I'm not located in a place where I can physically seek out a teacher

 

[dwai]

23 hours ago, Nier said:

Over the last few weeks I've had a few new weird experiences. 2 of which are that I feel like I have a lump in my throat and sporadic (only 5 - 10) hiccups that immediately go away. I'm completely physically medically sound, so I figured it was psychosomatic and start digging around online.

Do you have any practices currently that would result in the raising of Kundalini?

 

 

[Nier]

56 minutes ago, dwai said:

Do you have any practices currently that would result in the raising of Kundalini?

 

 

I'm not familiar enough with Kundalini raising to know what practices would do that. I can rattle off some changes I've made for the last 9 months. I've given up alcohol and sodas, gone abstinent, meditate every day at least 30 minutes, exercise vigorously, restricted my diet, lost 30 pounds, went from barely able to to run a mile a year ago to running a marathon a few weeks back, been learning chi breathing, have been reading every holy text and major philosophical work I can get my hands on, been journaling my metaphysical realizations, started forming a couple of charities, started traveling to forests and mountains all across my country (used to be a hardcore homebody). That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[dwai]

1 hour ago, Nier said:

I'm not familiar enough with Kundalini raising to know what practices would do that. I can rattle off some changes I've made for the last 9 months. I've given up alcohol and sodas, gone abstinent, meditate every day at least 30 minutes, exercise vigorously, restricted my diet, lost 30 pounds, went from barely able to to run a mile a year ago to running a marathon a few weeks back, been learning chi breathing, have been reading every holy text and major philosophical work I can get my hands on, been journaling my metaphysical realizations, started forming a couple of charities, started traveling to forests and mountains all across my country (used to be a hardcore homebody). That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Looks like you've been very busy. I think of the list, the meditation and chi breathing are more significant for this case.

What kind of meditation and what kind of chi breathing are you practicing? How long have you been practicing both? 9 months or longer? Could you elaborate please?

 

Kundalini is not  an ordinary power that gets activated just like that. 

 

[Nier]

57 minutes ago, dwai said:

Looks like you've been very busy. I think of the list, the meditation and chi breathing are more significant for this case.

What kind of meditation and what kind of chi breathing are you practicing? How long have you been practicing both? 9 months or longer? Could you elaborate please?

 

Kundalini is not  an ordinary power that gets activated just like that. 

 

I don't know the name of the type or anything. I've tried to practice what I understood The Secret of the Golden Flower was talking about for meditation since 2016 when I got the book, but have been regimented about doing it since December. I've been meditating since 2012ish, just not every day like I'm doing now.

 

I didn't have a meditation school I was following before that, I just had 5 practices I tried to walk through whenever I meditated. 1 was the perception of time being faulty and accepted as an illusion to our senses so I would try to perceive time as slower and dilated. 2 was the flip and trying to perceive time as contracted and sped up. 3 was trying to realize the lie of the self and that senses get more acute as proximity to the "self" increases but happiness and sadness of others can be felt the same way and as acutely as our own emotions and we are all a part of 1 universe where division is an illusion. 4 was reflection where I tried to see my conscious self as another being to be interrogated and conversed with. 5 was perceiving the self that I had interrogated as "me," and who was actually observing my mind if the "me" of consciousness is being observed it must be by something else and tried to examine what this "consciousness without consciousness" was.

 

The chi breathing came from what I could scour online about chi gong texts and instructions, and I've been doing that since 2015.

Edited September 26, 2019 by Nier
to add to the meditation part

[dwai]

2 hours ago, Nier said:

I don't know the name of the type or anything. I've tried to practice what I understood The Secret of the Golden Flower was talking about for meditation since 2016 when I got the book, but have been regimented about doing it since December. I've been meditating since 2012ish, just not every day like I'm doing now.

Okay so you've been doing this for a while. 

2 hours ago, Nier said:

I didn't have a meditation school I was following before that, I just had 5 practices I tried to walk through whenever I meditated. 1 was the perception of time being faulty and accepted as an illusion to our senses so I would try to perceive time as slower and dilated. 2 was the flip and trying to perceive time as contracted and sped up. 3 was trying to realize the lie of the self and that senses get more acute as proximity to the "self" increases but happiness and sadness of others can be felt the same way and as acutely as our own emotions and we are all a part of 1 universe where division is an illusion. 4 was reflection where I tried to see my conscious self as another being to be interrogated and conversed with. 5 was perceiving the self that I had interrogated as "me," and who was actually observing my mind if the "me" of consciousness is being observed it must be by something else and tried to examine what this "consciousness without consciousness" was.

Very interesting. So what do you realize the essence of the meditation to be? 

2 hours ago, Nier said:

 

The chi breathing came from what I could scour online about chi gong texts and instructions, and I've been doing that since 2015.

Ok can you elaborate a little more about that? Also is it okay if I checked you out? 

[Nier]

2 hours ago, dwai said:

Very interesting. So what do you realize the essence of the meditation to be? 

This is tough to answer for me because I'm not sure I have the vocabulary to express some of the things I think I've learned, but I'll try. It's my feeling that the metaphysical can't interact with the physical or be grasped by the physical. I'd say the ego/self/consciousness is just a result of the biological processes going on in the brain and and has to be silenced to connect back with Ein Sof, Dao, Nirvana, whatever, since labels can't be applied to it since doing so would wrap a metaphysical "thing" in physical flesh so to speak. It's why logic of the physical fails to comprehend the nearly paradoxical nature of "IT". Through silencing consciousness, reason and the internal monologue, only then can whatever the expression of my existence ("soul" "spark of the eternal" etc) as a part be rejoined with the whole where consciousness attempts to cleave it away in an attempt to express itself as "I". Where every individual consciousness are waves cresting on the top of an ocean, only by looking deeper than the wave that I think I am, can I see the body of "life" that we are all expressions of. This is the essence of meditation, to extinguish the self's survival instinct to claw at the false illusion of existing.

 

Hope that wasn't too disappointing of an answer compared to what you were expecting.

 

3 hours ago, dwai said:

Ok can you elaborate a little more about that? 

I'm not sure my ignorance would reveal much except more of itself. I mostly did the exercises in this book https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Energy-Gates-Your-Body/dp/1583941460/ref=zg_bs_282936_28?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QYCG5AC3ZHF1QE2RZGF9 which just mainly focuses on breathing past the lungs into the whole body and the movements to supplement this.

 

3 hours ago, dwai said:

Also is it okay if I checked you out? 

how so?

[dwai]

 

46 minutes ago, Nier said:

Hope that wasn't too disappointing of an answer compared to what you were expecting.

I wasn’t expecting anything. But I like what you wrote  

46 minutes ago, Nier said:

I'm not sure my ignorance would reveal much except more of itself. I mostly did the exercises in this book https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Energy-Gates-Your-Body/dp/1583941460/ref=zg_bs_282936_28?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QYCG5AC3ZHF1QE2RZGF9 which just mainly focuses on breathing past the lungs into the whole body and the movements to supplement this.

Nice. I like this BKF method.

46 minutes ago, Nier said:

how so?

If you agree I can scan you and see if I can pick up anything in terms of chakras etc. 

[Nier]

9 hours ago, dwai said:

If you agree I can scan you and see if I can pick up anything in terms of chakras etc. 

Yeah, I would be fine with that

[dwai]

52 minutes ago, Nier said:

Yeah, I would be fine with that

I'm sensing some energy build up in the throat area and some tightness in above the left clavicle. I've noticed that this type of congestion could be due to not  sufficiently expressing oneself creatively, or even not expressing oneself to a sufficient extent. Does that resonate with you?

 

[Nier]

21 minutes ago, dwai said:

I'm sensing some energy build up in the throat area and some tightness in above the left clavicle. I've noticed that this type of congestion could be due to not  sufficiently expressing oneself creatively, or even not expressing oneself to a sufficient extent. Does that resonate with you?

 

My shoulders are always tense and my previously mentioned squirming throat, so yeah I can follow that. I've attempted to take up drawing in the last 6 months since I've always been a very "left brain" kind of person. I've always wanted to help people, though my experience has always been giving warnings or advice, only for people to not listen and then run into the problem I tried to warn against. This has bothered me greatly for 15+ years and I've slowly stopped giving advice to avoid the turmoil it causes me. I'm a very empathic person so their troubles bother me greatly and will keep me up at night, distract from my work, etc. I don't feel close or connected with my friends though they don't seem to share the sentiment. It feels as though nobody understands what I'm saying except my 1 childhood friend I'm very close to. They usually come to him for advice, and I speak through him. I've hoped I could express myself through art since I don't appear to be able to through words.

 

What is your advice for working on my chakras?

[dwai]

11 minutes ago, Nier said:

My shoulders are always tense and my previously mentioned squirming throat, so yeah I can follow that. I've attempted to take up drawing in the last 6 months since I've always been a very "left brain" kind of person.

Drawing, learning a musical instrument or even a martial art would be a good avenue. Maybe take up Taijiquan or some other internal martial art if you have the opportunity to learn. 

11 minutes ago, Nier said:

I've always wanted to help people, though my experience has always been giving warnings or advice, only for people to not listen and then run into the problem I tried to warn against.

I can relate to this. Even in my own home, I see this playing out over and over again. The problem isn't with you or me. It has to do with people generally being unwilling to listen to advice that is contrary to their existing beliefs. Unless you are presented as someone who is reputed to be a "wise person", people generally tend to discount what you have to say. Heck, most people aren't even really interested in hearing what someone else has to say most of times. They usually want confirmation of their own ideas and beliefs. 

11 minutes ago, Nier said:

This has bothered me greatly for 15+ years and I've slowly stopped giving advice to avoid the turmoil it causes me. I'm a very empathic person so their troubles bother me greatly and will keep me up at night, distract from my work, etc. I don't feel close or connected with my friends though they don't seem to share the sentiment. It feels as though nobody understands what I'm saying except my 1 childhood friend I'm very close to. They usually come to him for advice, and I speak through him. I've hoped I could express myself through art since I don't appear to be able to through words.

That's good. You don't have to be the direct source so long as your advice is helpful to people. The best work often happens anonymously. 

11 minutes ago, Nier said:

 

What is your advice for working on my chakras?

I would recommend the jnana yoga way for you, based on what you've outlined in your previous posts. Supplement that with Hatha Yoga or Taijiquan or some similar internal focused art. 

 

[Ancestor Paul]

4 hours ago, dwai said:

I'm sensing some energy build up in the throat area and some tightness in above the left clavicle. I've noticed that this type of congestion could be due to not  sufficiently expressing oneself creatively, or even not expressing oneself to a sufficient extent. Does that resonate with you?

 

May I recommend singing for the throat chakra, singing songs we love clears the throat chakra easily. I should also recommend voicing the OM mantra in meditation with focus on the vibration of the throat chakra.

[Ancestor Paul]

2 hours ago, Nier said:

My shoulders are always tense and my previously mentioned squirming throat, so yeah I can follow that. I've attempted to take up drawing in the last 6 months since I've always been a very "left brain" kind of person. I've always wanted to help people, though my experience has always been giving warnings or advice, only for people to not listen and then run into the problem I tried to warn against. This has bothered me greatly for 15+ years and I've slowly stopped giving advice to avoid the turmoil it causes me. I'm a very empathic person so their troubles bother me greatly and will keep me up at night, distract from my work, etc. I don't feel close or connected with my friends though they don't seem to share the sentiment. It feels as though nobody understands what I'm saying except my 1 childhood friend I'm very close to. They usually come to him for advice, and I speak through him. I've hoped I could express myself through art since I don't appear to be able to through words.

 

What is your advice for working on my chakras?

I send positive energies your way my friend, the empaths are always the black sheep of the family. It’s not easy being around family that do not see ahead like we do and  sometimes we feel guilty we can’t change them cos we love them so much. This is one major symptom of empathy , but I’ll say this, there’s a positive hiding in it all and that is to use all that negative energy, transmute it further to build our spirit. Any time we are in haste, we must cultivate more patience, anytime we’re  offended and looked down upon, we must cultivate more forgiveness, anytime we have doubts we must cultivate more belief, and anytime we worry that we can’t carry everyone we love along, know that God has given even man free will to do as they please, even though we empaths are always ahead and we mean well, to influence their path will be an infringement on their free will even if it’s for good intentions. At the end of the day we have to come to the truth that we do not live in the same reality, what we see as good others see otherwise.

So find ways and techniques touse their enerrgies to cultivate s strong spirit that cannot be affected by the affairs of the outside. I wish us the best in all our endeavors. 🙏🏿

[Nier]

On 9/27/2019 at 11:10 AM, dwai said:

Drawing, learning a musical instrument or even a martial art would be a good avenue. Maybe take up Taijiquan or some other internal martial art if you have the opportunity to learn. 

I would recommend the jnana yoga way for you, based on what you've outlined in your previous posts. Supplement that with Hatha Yoga or Taijiquan or some similar internal focused art. 

I will definitely follow your advice. I've made time the last few days to sit down to draw. I'm considering taking up a new instrument and I've selected several books related to Jnana and Hatha Yoga to put on my reading list. I've also started looking for a teacher for Taijiquan but that's probably going to be difficult to find based on where I live. I don't even have basic things like meditation schools or buddhist temples nearby. 

 

On 9/27/2019 at 11:10 AM, dwai said:

I can relate to this. Even in my own home, I see this playing out over and over again. The problem isn't with you or me. It has to do with people generally being unwilling to listen to advice that is contrary to their existing beliefs. Unless you are presented as someone who is reputed to be a "wise person", people generally tend to discount what you have to say. Heck, most people aren't even really interested in hearing what someone else has to say most of times. They usually want confirmation of their own ideas and beliefs. 

 

On 9/27/2019 at 2:05 PM, Ancestor Paul said:

I send positive energies your way my friend, the empaths are always the black sheep of the family. It’s not easy being around family that do not see ahead like we do and  sometimes we feel guilty we can’t change them cos we love them so much. This is one major symptom of empathy , but I’ll say this, there’s a positive hiding in it all and that is to use all that negative energy, transmute it further to build our spirit. Any time we are in haste, we must cultivate more patience, anytime we’re  offended and looked down upon, we must cultivate more forgiveness, anytime we have doubts we must cultivate more belief, and anytime we worry that we can’t carry everyone we love along, know that God has given even man free will to do as they please, even though we empaths are always ahead and we mean well, to influence their path will be an infringement on their free will even if it’s for good intentions. At the end of the day we have to come to the truth that we do not live in the same reality, what we see as good others see otherwise.

It makes me glad to hear I'm not the only one experiencing these various things. It often feels like I'm screaming into the wind. But learning to accept them making their own decisions, for good or bad, definitely feels like a part of my journey. I grew up wanting to change the world. Accepting it for what it is is extremely difficult and feels like apathy, which I've grappled with often. I guess I'm supposed to care but accept it for what it is, like a parent's love for their child. Whether that's the final destination or just the next stop, I don't know.

 

On 9/27/2019 at 11:10 AM, dwai said:

That's good. You don't have to be the direct source so long as your advice is helpful to people. The best work often happens anonymously. 

I'm fortunate in this regard. It feels more than serendipitous he and I are friends. He's definitely blessed with whatever that indefinable intangible attribute of leadership is. He respects my opinion, and I respect that his is the final word on business endeavors and joint ventures we work on. He accepts the credit and understands he also takes all the blame. I accept my contribution is ignored by outsiders but I thank I don't have to get slammed with the ignorant criticism that comes from people in general. It would bother me deeply and he shrugs it off, so it works out well. 

 

I appreciate you 2 hearing me out and giving me your advice.