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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 11 2012 : 3:34:09 PM
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Just wanted to share something. After recent awakening experiences and going heavily into non-dual teachings (which can, when you take them at the level of words, be rather life-negating), I ended up in a state of imbalance.
There was a flow of witnessing states and non-dual states, the personal self no longer seemed to be in the picture. The times were of ease, bliss, surrender and a deep peace and inner silence. There was a total collapse of seemingly ego-centered motivations, and a rise of much more ethical behavior. Healthier living became much more natural.
All good stuff. On the flip-side, I became a bit disembodied. Not caring about anything, contented, content to flow with life like a leaf on the wind. Taken to an extreme this became laziness and passivity, with no vigor, strength or creativity. Introspectiveness turned to introversion, and I slightly preferred silence to expressing myself. I got a lot of overload in the head area, an overactive crown chakra I believe, and this made meditation difficult.
All the positives of the awakening type experiences taken to an extreme became imbalance.
At first, I got slightly 'stuck' in a non-dual perspective. It seems in fact, that many people (including teachers) who get to non-dual states anchor down there, and negate anything to do with duality or living regular life as just meaningless and false. I realized there was an imbalance.
If life has taught me anything it's that you can't dogmatically anchor yourself to a particular perspective or point of view, they are all just concepts, they may reflect certain aspects of the truth, but words themselves should never be believed so much that they limit us and make our perspective inflexible.
Long story short, I took action to balance my lower chakras, and found this really helpful. These tibetan bowls, each tuned to the frequency of a different chakra, were exceptional so check them out if you like. I feel grounded, back in the body again, and loving life in an engaged way, without the need to retreat from it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dlinDMio1E throat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw3y...feature=plcp root
If you want the others, just click the username who posted these, and you will get all her youtube videos.
I know AYP - particularly SBP is meant to stimulate all chakras in a balanced way, but for me, SBP and DM would just lead to more imbalance in the head area. Sometimes taking things into your own hands is helpful. |
Edited by - mr_anderson on Nov 11 2012 3:37:00 PM |
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kami
USA
921 Posts |
Posted - Nov 12 2012 : 2:20:59 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
If life has taught me anything it's that you can't dogmatically anchor yourself to a particular perspective or point of view, they are all just concepts, they may reflect certain aspects of the truth, but words themselves should never be believed so much that they limit us and make our perspective inflexible.
Hi Josh 
The above is very wise and very true. Interestingly, I've had a very similar experience as yours. For a while, I was stuck in the non-dual perspective to a point where nothing seemed to matter and there was a general passivity about things. Around that time, I began having severe crown symptoms with headaches and other interesting sensations. When I could not ignore the symptoms anymore, I was forced to look around and found that I was completely out of balance.
For me, what is really helping is understanding and applying the principles of Ayurveda. The more I study it, the more astounded I am at its beauty and simplicity in explaining the interface between the body and mind, and in turn, their relationship to Awareness. I have come to see the cause of my imbalance. And implementing simple things in my daily routine (appropriate diet, exercise, rituals and selected herbs) has made a remarkable difference. A month ago, I would get major crown symptoms with any focus on third eye/crown areas. These days, I am able to practice shambhavi without any problems. Those symptoms are back today however, after nonstop Diwali worship this past weekend
Ultimately, it is all about balance and finding it on a constant basis. It is tricky, because it requires us to be in tune with ourselves on an intimate level.
Thanks for sharing.
Love,
kami |
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Parallax
USA
348 Posts |
Posted - Nov 13 2012 : 4:53:19 PM
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Hey Josh!!
I've been lurking in the shadows for awhile, enjoying watching your unfoldment...glad to see you doing so well!!!
Been going throu a lot of similar stuff recently (not the nondual stuff, not there yet), but coming back to a grounded/balanced way of living after having the energy "stuck" in the higher chakras for awhile. Was wondering what you did to balance your lower chakras? Just the Tibetan bowl stuff? Or were there other things you worked with?
One thing I do periodically, is what I call alternate leg breathing. Inhale, and draw energy from the earth through one foot up the leg to manipura, and on the exhale, breathe it down the other leg out the foot and root it into the ground. And then repeat going the other way. Similar to alternate nostril breathing but visualized through the legs. Seems to help. I thought I invented it, but mikkiji told me at a retreat that I hadn't. Guess I can't trademark the technique as Parallax breathing 
Living a balance between inner and outer is such an amazing thing!
Love to you |
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Parallax
USA
348 Posts |
Posted - Nov 13 2012 : 4:53:51 PM
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 10:42:40 AM
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Hi Parallax,
Thanks nice to hear from you! :-)
I literally just did the tibetan bowl thing. And some hot yoga.
Also relevant (requires a bit of explanation) -
I feel like before meditation, on an energetic level, we are like an incredibly tangled and knotted piece of string.
As witness consciousness arises, the knots and tangles are seen clearly, from a dis-identified perspective. Under non-identified witnessing the knots and tangles just naturally unravel and vanish. And each time a knot unravels, we feel just a bit more right somehow.
The witness consciousness continually refines itself, and as it deepens, we gain the capacity to perceive knots and tangles, as the non-identified witness, on an increasingly subtle level. The sensitivity of the witnessing expands.
The tiniest, barely perceptible sliver of aversion now arises to the witness. We notice ah-hah! Normally when this almost imperceptible energetic trace of aversion arose my attention would escape out of the present moment and into a thought. The flow of energy would become constricted by this almost imperceptible resistance.
And when this is seen through the witness, the subtle knot vanishes.
So getting to the point now, I realized I was experiencing a lot of subtle knots of resistance about the energy of the lower chakras. Meditation, and the subtle intoxication of inner silence take me up into the higher chakras.
I have a subconscious habit to rise up into the higher chakras, in a subtle aversion to the lower chakras, anyway. The ego was subtly co-opting inner silence to perpetuate a felt-sense of peace and stillness, and avoid the knots around the lower chakras.
Or something like that anyway  It was all felt on an energetic level, so trying to describe felt perceptions of energy ain't easy :-)
I intellectually understood what being grounded meant before, but I have a deeper felt-sense of the related energetic states now.
Kami - Thanks for sharing. Can you recommend any good sources for learning more about ayurveda?
love to you all
josh |
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Parallax
USA
348 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 7:25:02 PM
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Hey Josh,
Thanks for the wonderful response. Pretty awesome description of the process...the "seeing" of the knot with Awareness being also the releasing of the constriction.
I think I also have a subconscious tendency to focus on the upper chakras, where the energetic sensations tend to be the strongest, with the attention only serving to intensify the energy and keep me a bit ungrounded. So sometimes I'll spend a little time breathing through manipura and it helps to pull the energy down.
Btw, did you just listen to the tibetan bowls forthe root and throat? Or did you do all of them. How much time would you spend listening to them?
Thanks for all of your insights Josh |
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 11:48:15 PM
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Don't let the lopsided non-dual approach steal your thunder, man. You gotta use your emotional energy in a vibrant, active way if you wanna stand a chance of fulfilling the divine plan for being a human being. We're evolving, remember? This game is changing, and the world is ours to shape according to our vision and ideals. Otherwise, just turn on the TV, watch some sitcoms, and numb your mind. The same can be accomplished in a zendo if the goal is to erase the world and your ego.
What more evidence do we need that both our personal bodies and the earth itself is wreckable? Who of sane mind and body can honestly say that free will is not in play here? How can we deny that God/Spirit/Stillness has granted us the freedom to ride His/Her/Its wave...like cosmic surfers adapting spontaneously, creatively, lovingly?
Earlier tonight I was feeling the onset of some depressive, apathetic thought patterns and feelings (masked in the guise of no-ego, non-duality, doublespeak), so I had to go outside and yell across a pond...listening to the echo of my voice travel across the water and reverberate off a structure several hundred feet away. That popped the bubble. I witnessed my voice carrying far beyond what I usually deem to be its scope.
In other words, there's power in an individual's vibration. "Made in God's image"...rememeber.
Anyway, I'm just tangentially rambling, but I'm glad to hear that you're popping your own bubbles and not succumbing to a passive trance of non-relational self-inquiry.
Move, flow, play, adapt, be...from stillness. 
"Behold, I have become human. If you do not become divine with me, you would do me wrong." --a possible quote of Jesus cited in the documentary Into Great Silence...about Carthusian monks in France. |
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Self Pacing & Chakra Balancing
