To: K-list
Recieved: 2004/08/25 08:35
Subject: RE: [K-list] new to list - K and insomnia?
From: Gustaf Grefberg
On 2004/08/25 08:35, Gustaf Grefberg posted thus to the K-list:
Here are some ideas and suggestions! I'm no guru or super-enlightened
person or anything like that, but I can share with you what I've learned..
If you are still interested in meditation practices, maybe you could try out
Japa meditation? This is a very good and "safe" technique in many ways, and
I will give you an idea of how it works and why it's considered to be good
in conjunction with K and other awakenings..
Japa is the rotation of a mantra, where you rotate a mala in your hand and
repeat the mantra each time. Depending on if your mind is very noisy or not,
you can practice it aloud, whispering or mentally. With the breath also
works. If you are one who believes in an external guru, it's a good idea to
get your personal mantra from one. If you are very intuitive, you can find a
mantra in a dream. If neither of those work with you, you can chose your
own, one of the universal mantras, like AUM or So Ham.
I don't know how Zen meditation practices are built up, but in yoga they
recommend absolutely no more than 10-15 minutes in each sitting (one in the
morning, and possibly one in the evening, too) in the beginning, and then
gradually progress. The vast amount of time as in 2-3 hours is only done
after many years of practice.. The body, the mind and the pranic network
needs time to adjust to the changes in energies.
* Japa works as an anchor before, during and after different stages of
awakenings and transformations, and it helps to "shake loose" things within
you that are stuck, such as blockages of energy, mental patterns, etc. The
anchor can be very helpful through all stages of awakening.. Before an
awakening takes place it's very hard if you don't have a point to which the
mind can return, since it tends to wander around like a drunk elephant.
During awakenings itself there is often as most here on the list have
experienced a lot of confusion and disorientation, so here it's very helpful
to have an anchor as well. It can be very hard to surrender all at once,
after all. =)
* Japa is not a direct practice. It will not hamper the flow of kundalini or
prana from any direction, it creates a connection to the most inner depths
of your being. It works on you indirectly.
* Japa works on the heart. If you have sincerity in the mantra, it will aid
awakening taking in your heart, which is very warm and tender (At least the
experiences I have had are very warm and tender.. And absorbing to say the
least)
* Japa can be practiced in conjunction with other practices too, wheter it
is yoga or zen or jogging. It's often recommended to practice an indirect
meditation technique like Japa before taking on more intense practices..
Of course, these are all just recommendations, some my own, others that I
have read/learned that just make sense to me from the different experiences
I've had.
Like many others here have said I'd warmly recommend a more physical yoga
program too. Weekly is fine, but daily is even better. 15-20 minutes is
well and enough in the beginning. =) Do a forward bending, back bending,
twisting, inverted and lengthening asana, the sun salute is also good as an
over-all practice.
With love
Gustaf
Hi Doug:
It indeed may not be K - I am open to any reasonable possibility, and
I'm
not afraid of any lables if the understanding they bring helps me
navigate
through this better. My discipline in zazen over the years was largely
the
result of the positive impacts of zazen on depression I used to suffer
from.
During my first few years of zen practice, my regimen was more along the
lines of an hour/day, and depressive episodes persisted (though they
were
alleviated when I spent a year on Zoloft, but I don't consider SSRI's as
a
viable long-term solution to depression). The alleviation of depression
did
not happen till I upped my regime to 2hrs/day. But for now, I do plan on
doing much more body practices and eliminating the zazen for a while.
However, I found that Astanga Yoga seems to exacerbate the energy -
something about the combination of the breathing, concentration, and the
vigorous physical exertion. Exercise seems to do the same thing - a few
months back, I spend the better part of a day climbing a mountain, and
it
sent me off on a weeks worth of near-sleeplessness (I was sleeping fine
before the hike). Tai Chi sounds beneficial though - it does not have
the
same extreme physical exhertion component. I'll try some of those B
vitamins too.
Thanks much for your thoughts and opinions!
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Fraser" <doug_fraserATmicrocinema.com>
To: "PJM" <pjm1ATsurfglobal.net>; <k-listATKundalini-Gateway.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 12:48 AM
Subject: Re: [K-list] new to list - K and insomnia?
> At 08:47 PM 8/23/04 -0400, PJM wrote:
> >If this is kundalini, there is very little about it that I find
> >enlightening - it is for me one big struggle, and a huge
disappointment,
> >because the spritual dimension of my life has become one of the most
> >important things in my life. Other than a few "alternate reality"
dreams
> >(one of which was precognitive) and an episode of sleep paralysis - ,
this
> >has been little more than a trial of endurance. I had no idea my
practice
> >would come to this sort of crisis - I get little help from my zen
teacher
> >- he once said he has no idea what is going on (an admission that I
am
> >somewhat disappointed with but also respect). As much as I have
taken to
> >Zen practice, Zen really does not have any kind of a roadmap for
dealing
> >with difficulties like this.
> >
> >So I'd be interested on hearing from other folks who might have had
> >expereinces similar to mine (at least in terms of insomnia, and what
can
> >be done to help)
>
> honestly, it does not sound very much like kundalini - I am not an
expert,
> so other people may be able to point you
> towards some definite info that will shed some light on your situation
> (like that top down awakening). It sounds like
> you have some prana related issues, but prana does not immediately
equal
> kundalini
>
> But I can tell you for a fact that meditation does have a dark side
which
> no one much likes to discuss (and not many
> know about either) - one can trigger off psychotic episodes, if one is
> prone to it - so some people shouldn't meditate.
> It sounds like you may have slid into that territory a bit for
whatever
> reason - I am not casting aspersions on your sanity
> or anything - I am using "psychotic" in the clinical sense as in
> "unexplainable, must be in the patient's head, "modern"
> Western medicine doesn't understand it, so lump it all under
"psychotic"
> and give the patient Valium"
>
> But my interest is in transpersonal psych, so I have heard of things
like
> this. And been thru similar...
>
> But I think it's irrefutable that meditation, long term, can cause
changes
> in one's biochemistry and so those changes feedback
> into your psychology as well as biology - it sounds like your
biochemistry
> has hit some sort of black ice (to be metaphorical)
> and so you need to stop braking so hard and start pumping them instead
(or
> steer in the direction of the skid)
>
> So I am not surprised at your symptoms, unlike your zen teacher
>
> Your discipline certainly is admirable. I wish I had it. But my
advice
is
> to stop with the meditation if you think it may be
> a cause of things. Get more into the tai chi/yoga (body oriented
stuff) -
> qi gong (the little I understand of it) is more
> concentrated on breath, etc so it's more like mediation. My intuition
(for
> what it's worth) says you may need to switch
> to something that is more body oriented / all over encompassing (mind
+
> body) - zazen being primarily mind oriented.
> Go get some bodywork, too.
>
> I too have wrestled with insomnia - it was not k related, it was more
a
> side effect/cause of depression, which all over
> was more like a "dark night of the soul" (it wasn't just a
biochemistry
> thing, I feel) You don't sound depressed, but I am
> sure the stress of everything is just compounding on itself and now
you're
> stuck in some sort of tailspin.
>
> I would recommend B vitamins - I found they were useful when I was
having
> my problems - B vitamins are useful wrt to
> stress and depression and I found they helped with my insomnia.
Valerian
> as well - and no more sleeping pills (long term
> they thoroughly disrupt your sleep such that the body can't get into
the
> deep stages of sleep which one really needs - they
> only put the body into the shallow stage of sleep and then you get
> habituated...)
>
> hope some of this helps,
> doug
>
>
DISCLAIMER!
Home | Archive Index | Search the archives | Subscribe
K. List FAQ | Kundalini FAQs | Signs and Symptoms | Awakening Experiences | K. list Polls | Member Essays | Meditations | List Topics | Art Gallery | Cybrary | Sitemap | Email the moderators.
symbol.