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Precambrian
wat


Registered: 11/04/10
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Want to meditate, but...
#14430785 - 05/10/11 04:57 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I want to start meditating regularly and generally change my lifestyle to a healthier, more spiritual one to help combat my anxiety issues and be happier. However after reading about the kundalini, I'm.... well, anxious about it. I read things like it causing serious injuries and diseases in people, and people around them dying uncannily, etc. As well as periods of psychological turmoil between intermittent periods of bliss. I know that it's supposedly all for the greater good in the end, but I'm uneasy about what sounds like a huge undertaking. Can anyone here shed some light on the true physiological effects of this "kundalini," or any other information that I could be missing? Is meditation not restricted to kundalini? Am I misinformed/disregarding the good aspect of it anyway? I'm pretty noobish on the whole subject so... enlighten me
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R2-D2
horseradish


Registered: 12/14/10
Posts: 945
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Precambrian]
#14431181 - 05/10/11 06:22 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder


Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Precambrian]
#14431319 - 05/10/11 06:57 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Precambrian said: I want to start meditating regularly and generally change my lifestyle to a healthier, more spiritual one to help combat my anxiety issues and be happier. However after reading about the kundalini, I'm.... well, anxious about it. I read things like it causing serious injuries and diseases in people, and people around them dying uncannily, etc. As well as periods of psychological turmoil between intermittent periods of bliss. I know that it's supposedly all for the greater good in the end, but I'm uneasy about what sounds like a huge undertaking. Can anyone here shed some light on the true physiological effects of this "kundalini," or any other information that I could be missing? Is meditation not restricted to kundalini? Am I misinformed/disregarding the good aspect of it anyway? I'm pretty noobish on the whole subject so... enlighten me 
Tantra focuses on Kundalini. Similarly, gTummo focuses on the Inner Fire in Tibetan Buddhism. But Yoga Tantra is certainly not the only kind of meditational process. Shri Chinmoy, whom I visited in the 70s wrote a little book: Kundalini: The Mother Power, because Kundalini is a Shakti Yoga, he describes as focusing on the turbulent energy on the surface of the Cosmic Sea. Meanwhile, other Yogas focus on the deep, still depths. Sri Ramana Maharshi would concur. He stated that the entire chakra ladder (an astral sheath phenomenon) is supported by the Hridayam, the Heart Cave, which is NOT merely the Anahata Chakra, but describes the Causal Sheath which is a deeper reality, just a Sri Chinmoy had said. If you read Sir John Woodruff (Arthur Avalon), he admits in his now classic book The Serpent Power, that Tantra is definitely NOT the only path to the ultimate spiritual goal. The ascent of the Kundalini-Shakti from Muladhara to Sahasrara is a path, and it is not equivalent to the Goal. When Ram Dass asked his guru how to raise his Kundalini, he was quoted as having said such things as "Love everyone," which is a Bhakti path. He said "Serve everyone," or 'Feed people," which are also Bhakti paths of devotion - an emotional path, not an intellectual one like Tantra.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the seed syllable OM stands at the beginning of mantras, because the experience of OM (Inner Fire is equivalent to the union of Kundalini-Shakti and Shiva at the Brain Center) is the end of the ascending "Path Towards Unification," but a descending "Path Towards Realization" (Lama Anagarika Govinda). That descending path, like the personification of Moses descending the 'peak' of Mt. Sinai after the 'Burning Bush,' is the completion of the process - back from the Supernal Realm to the Human Realm - from the Brain Center [OM] to the Heart Center [HUM]. BTW, profund psychedelic experiences that result in a Light and Sound unifying experience - a Nirvikalpa Samadhi of humming or droning tonal quality plus yellow-white light, is an experience indicative of the ascent and unification of Kundalini or the experience of OM. Instead of dissolving into that hyperpranic state forever (and dying), one must be re-constituted into one's egoic-mind and identity, and return to the mundane world, hopefully transformed by the experience of Unity. Then that 'vertical' experience needs to be Realized (made Real) in a 'horizontal' way by living out of a transformed Heart Center, out of Compassion. Or, one can take the OM (Heaven, Mahanirvana, etc.) on faith, and go directly to the Heart. This is what 'finding Jesus,' or being 'born again' means in practice.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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c0sm0nautt

Registered: 05/19/08
Posts: 10,303
Loc: The Astral Realm
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Precambrian]
#14432257 - 05/10/11 10:11 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Someone just starting with meditation shouldn't be concerned with negative effects of kundalini. That's like a kid just learning how to dribble a basketball worrying about making the game winning shot in the NBA final. Just start with some breath exercises or mantra to hone focus. If you ever feel uncomfortable in anyway you can always stop.
Nonetheless, here is a resource which may be useful: http://forums.astraldynamics.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12988
Edited by c0sm0nautt (05/10/11 10:23 PM)
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Jeerix
Stranger

Registered: 11/04/05
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My opinion on the whole ordeal is that Kundalini and other energy characterization, systems and mythology are all just distractions from the real deal reason why you should be meditating in the first place.
It's not that I don't believe in these things per se, I think they hold as much validity as our scientific systems, musical notation and standards of artistic merit etc. They may indeed be very beneficial to the understanding of your own organism and promotion of your own health.
But with respect to the here and now- the raw form of existence uncontaminated by symbols or preconceptions- it's all just fluff. Leaves in the breeze.
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Envix
Avoidant Disorder



Registered: 11/04/08
Posts: 18,206
Last seen: 10 months, 26 days
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Jeerix]
#14432727 - 05/10/11 11:42 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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if you're thinking about health & spirituality while meditating your'e not doing it right
-------------------- smack a hoe out this dimension continue my ascension -bhad bhabie rip. todcasil, acid sloth, st1llnox, zappaisgod, big worm (sketch), tim b
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p4kSouL
Animals Are Cool
Registered: 01/13/05
Posts: 3,666
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Envix]
#14433054 - 05/11/11 01:28 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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If your concerned about Kundalini sickness.
Reffer to this thread: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/14147850#14147850
In there is posted Kundalini safety techniques taught by "Gurus" who have effectively awakened 100's of people Kundalini safely. Kundalini is best awakened by moving meditation not sitting on the floor all the time, unfortunately people dont know this.
Edited by p4kSouL (05/11/11 01:43 AM)
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jivJaN
yes


Registered: 08/09/08
Posts: 4,245
Last seen: 10 years, 10 months
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Precambrian] 3
#14435275 - 05/11/11 02:50 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I will tell you what i have already told several people here struggling with anxiety and trying to remedy it with meditation.
Get some exercise. It is the natural anti anxiety medication and will overall make you happier and healthier. Retreating into yourself with meditation can potentially make it worse. Why try to shut out your thoughts directly when there are shortcuts ?
Try running a mile or two and tell me if you're still plagued with your concerns as you gasp for air.
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--------------------- All my posts in this forum are strictly fictional. They are derived from an acute mental illness , from which i am forced to lie compulsively. I have never induced any kind of mind altering substance in my life and i have no intentions whatsoever of doing anything illegal. If I have ever suggested such a thing it would have most likely been , due to my personality disorder and i probably do not remember it at all..
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Kickle
Wanderer



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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: jivJaN]
#14435358 - 05/11/11 03:12 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I agree jiv, that's a great alternative to brooding with thoughts. But I wouldn't write meditation off when the goal is to cease suffering. We can't always escape the problem. Dig far enough and none of us have the ability. There is nothing one can do to escape from the fact that life is suffering.
Physical exercise is great for taking the awareness that has been dedicated towards thought and putting it back into the physical body. A form of grounding in the moment of being alive. So I think it's real sound advice from that perspective
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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auxiliary
Mr.



Registered: 05/03/09
Posts: 2,278
Loc: Thatoneville
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Envix]
#14435516 - 05/11/11 03:55 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Envix said: if you're thinking about health & spirituality while meditating your'e not doing it right
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Envix
Avoidant Disorder



Registered: 11/04/08
Posts: 18,206
Last seen: 10 months, 26 days
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: auxiliary]
#14435675 - 05/11/11 04:28 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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u dont even need to exercise just stretch your limbs a bit and get flexible
strrrreeeettccchh!
flexible body = flexible mind = flexible soul
-------------------- smack a hoe out this dimension continue my ascension -bhad bhabie rip. todcasil, acid sloth, st1llnox, zappaisgod, big worm (sketch), tim b
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c0sm0nautt

Registered: 05/19/08
Posts: 10,303
Loc: The Astral Realm
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Envix]
#14435699 - 05/11/11 04:33 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Running is great. It's so easy to observe your breath when it is heavy and involuntary.
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Forever White Belt
Stranger


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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: jivJaN]
#14436206 - 05/11/11 06:10 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
jivJaN said:
Get some exercise.
Try running a mile or two and tell me if you're still plagued with your concerns as you gasp for air.
what an amazing idea!!!!
your awesome for saying this!
-------------------- The Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. J. B. S. Haldane The quest of the absolute leads into the four-dimensional world. Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington
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Moonshoe
Blue Mantis


Registered: 05/28/04
Posts: 27,202
Loc: Iceland
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Precambrian]
#14439313 - 05/12/11 09:36 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hi Precambrian.
It is good that you are interested in beginning a path of meditation and adopting a more wholesome lifestyle.
My advice to you is that rather than worry about kundalini at this early stage, start with a practice that is very simple, completely safe and very beneficial first.
I recommend you start with one of two practices, or both (one in the morning and one in the evening for example)
1. sit cross legged or in lotus and chant the mantra OM.
2. Sit cross legged or in lotus, eyes closed or half closed, and breathe in and out while focusing your attention on the in-going and out-going of your breath. While you breathe in think "i am breathing in" and while you breathe out think "i am breathing out". Breathe in and out through your nose and focus your attention on the feeling of the air passing in and out of your nostrils.
Both of these practices are venerable, tried and true, effective, totally safe and so simple that they can be done without any help from a teacher and with absolutely no risk of any negative consequences.
Namaste.
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Everything I post is fiction.
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Envix
Avoidant Disorder



Registered: 11/04/08
Posts: 18,206
Last seen: 10 months, 26 days
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: Moonshoe]
#14439865 - 05/12/11 12:01 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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all u need to do to meditate is not do anything
-------------------- smack a hoe out this dimension continue my ascension -bhad bhabie rip. todcasil, acid sloth, st1llnox, zappaisgod, big worm (sketch), tim b
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huxmush
Wanderer


Registered: 04/03/03
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: auxiliary]
#14443713 - 05/13/11 03:47 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
auxiliary said:
Quote:
Envix said: if you're thinking about health & spirituality while meditating you're not doing it right
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auxiliary
Mr.



Registered: 05/03/09
Posts: 2,278
Loc: Thatoneville
Last seen: 10 years, 6 months
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Re: Want to meditate, but... [Re: huxmush]
#14445043 - 05/13/11 11:28 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
huxmush said:
Quote:
auxiliary said:
Quote:
Envix said: if you're thinking about health & spirituality while meditating you're not doing it right
this
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