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All Disorders Are An Illusion And A Simple Energy Imbalance


one with nature

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sahaja yoga is a cult as the western buddhisd order/ osho/ brahma kamaris etc and many other " spiritual groups"..that teach meditation.

i think some meditation practices are good, but whatever the statistics are for increasing gabba and sorting out your 3rd eye, i think people need to be careful about joining a group when they are emotionally vulnerable, as when you delve deeper, there is almost always a "leader/founder/guru/enlightened one who is ready to take your money anf fuck your head up.. im speaking from experience of many years of searching for a spiritual path, now i listen to meditstion cds that i trust and do a bit myself,

but i wouldnt go anywhere near most spiritual groups.

also you saying fuck doctors cos they fuck you up, is simply not true for many of us here.. i got fucked up by a therapist who sexually assaulted me, so not all are good, but i have an amazing cpn and psychiatrist and gp who along with meds have helped me so much.. bpd is so complex and long standing, i think it takes a multi prionged approach to treatment.. it is too smplistic to say that a bit of meditation will single handedly sort out every complex issue we all have and also i find your replies have an undercurrent of anger, which is not very zen.

i am glad you have found what works for you, but to keep saying this works for everyone is harmful for those who need maybe some talking therapies to help unravel their emotions or to help clear old patterns, or who are highly suicidal, or psychotic, or who need some stabilisation on meds.. and could potentially make some people feel crap because a few omms and sitting breathing for 1/2 hour hasn't magically sorted out their bpd probs. also it could make some come off their meds suddenly which is highly dangerous. i love yoga, but i wouldnt post on here saying it is the answer to curing every mental illness.

you come across as evangelical about it being the solution for "everyone".. this post got my hekkles up as much as if a born again christian or western buddhist were to say that their way is the the only way to healing and enlightenment. we are all unique and complex beings who have different needs and respond differently to treatment approaches and therapies.. suppose someone was reading this who had been ritually abused and mind controlled with mantras or something.. then that path wouldnt be for them cos it may trigger them badly, and not everyone has a spiritual practice.. eg my bf was ritually and sexually abused by a catholic priest so naturally anything to do with churches, religion etc triggors him.so he rejects all spiritual practices and paths,

we are all different.

that's my 2 pence worth, bluebell x

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well, there's the fact that a lot of "therapies" will help you, but they can be lies just like any cult can lie to you. in fact, the government is just as bad as any cult if you ask me. there are a lot of people who can help you out, but when they begin to diagnose you, that means they're doing a bad job, because no good shrink will tell you your diagnosis. i was never told my diagnosis, although i guess what it is because i know a decent amount of stuff about this topic, and it's actually helped. it helped me disconnect from a need to call myself anything. it allowed me to tap into what i really had, and fix it for the most part. its taken a lot of meditation for me personally, a lot of impulse control, and a lot of discipline which i got from philosophy.

i think that once you have been destroyed, and you become nothing and are alone, you will be reborn, but for that to work you need the right philosophy of life, and that is one where you believe in an afterlife but see no trascendential meaning to life. in other words, you know there is an afterlife, but you live to be better in this life knowing it will help you avoid pain. thats the bottom line, you cant not believe in an afterlife, because then you will have the underlying though hidden in your psyche that keeps bugging you with the one question: what's the meaning of this?

i consider myself an atheist, but i have found a philosophy of an afterlife, which actually is quite convincing.

i have been broken down, but i've always been terrified of death or suicide. this is what helped me move forward, and if it had never happened, i wouldnt be like i am today. i personally think im better off than before, and better off than most people, because i have intense will to evolve as a being.

so philosophy will help all of you, i promise. you will become your own master by analyzing the universe and the psyche.

so yes, it does take a certain mindset to follow this meditative practice. you just have to never think of death as an escape.

i personally have experienced something very interesting and enlightening. after fighting off the impulse to eat (compulsively), engage in sexual activity (what a fancy term), and taken much time to meditate, as well as doing a lot of training for my mind, i have managed to realize that theres is no reason for compulsive will, no reason for negative emotions, and that all pain is an erronious outlook on life. i have managed to get myself into a zen state, where i dont have impulses (including anger, sex, food, etc.). i feel a great purity of my "soul", and clarity of mind.

some things i can suggest which have helped me is mental training. anything that requires energy and concentration, including reading in a mindful manner, making music in a mindful manner (meaning controlling your emotions and focusing on enotnation, tempo, etc.), doing painful workouts that require you to control anxiety brought by pain. and many other things. im active at all times, and thats how i have managed to get myself to a more enlightened position.

you have to let go of everything, and see this moment as it really is: absence of suffering.

buddhism isnt a religion, it's just a discipline that consists of intensive mental training to come to a self realization (enlightenment), and to achieve attention, focus, and discipline.

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Think there is maybe a correlation between your point of view and that of people that get help through traditional means therapy/medicine. I mean both routes are empowering, trying to take control of a situation that defaults to helplessness?

You are obviously very strong minded, but maybe it's the pro-active attempt to take control of the situation that is key, more than the literal mechanics of the therapy itself?

Just a thought?

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This thread really confuses me.

I have Reiki, I also use meds. I feel both help in their own ways. I also have talk therapy from my ASW. I think theres a place for everything, and a one sided approach doesn't help, well I *know* it doesn't help me.

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I personally think there is some truth in every field - every arena has something to offer, which can help put life into perspective, gain some control over one's life and find the way forward.

There is truth to be found from it all, whether it's knowledge gained from CBT, DBT, counselling, courses, anxiety management, anger management, reiki, aromatherapy, self help books, life coaching, music therapy, art therapy, self development, spiritual learning and aspects from all religions and all faiths etc. etc. etc.........Everything has something to offer.

We need to pick through the information available to us, take out the parts that apply to ourselves - the bits that make sense in our own individual case, work on our issues and behaviours, accept our shortcomings, make failures into opportunities, face fear and challenge ourselves. We know inside ourselves what we need to do - just need some guidance and assistance at times, until we find our own resources within us.

We all need to be independent and to be able to care for ourselves.

There is help from all sorts of sources - not just one. Self knowledge, understanding ourselves, and educating ourselves is what we owe ourselves and those we care about.

Sweeping generalisations either praising up one thing, or being negative about another - is not useful. Its a bit cult-like.

We are all on our own paths in life and must find our way through whatever medium we can - there are infinite possibilities, not just one. IMHO

I know what does it for me, but that wouldn't apply to everyone - that would be ridiculous. Noone has lead my life and had my problems, we are all unique but suffer the human condition - all trying find our own way along our path - or change it if needs be.

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We need to pick through the information available to us, take out the parts that apply to ourselves - the bits that make sense in our own individual case, work on our issues and behaviours, accept our shortcomings, make failures into opportunities, face fear and challenge ourselves. We know inside ourselves what we need to do - just need some guidance and assistance at times, until we find our own resources within us.

We all need to be independent and to be able to care for ourselves.

There is help from all sorts of sources - not just one. Self knowledge, understanding ourselves, and educating ourselves is what we owe ourselves and those we care about.

Sweeping generalisations either praising up one thing, or being negative about another - is not useful. Its a bit cult-like.

We are all on our own paths in life and must find our way through whatever medium we can - there are infinite possibilities, not just one. IMHO

That's a profound passage.

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All Disorders Are An Illusion And A Simple Energy Imbalance

I don't like the tone of this statement. Think it's almost to the point of being rude. I understand that you may have an opinion about this, but please don't assume that your opinion is the absolute truth.

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first off, let me state one thing. some people here think i am being rude or offensive. everything that has the capability of helping you will hurt some people to an extent. in fact, everything will hurt. meds will hurt a lot of you more than what i am saying here. they will not teach you about yourself.

the point is, there are things which teach you, and things which just cure you temporarily without giving you self knowledge. all of you seem to be looking at the concept of "cure" as being normal, like other people, but the point is, you will never be normal after what you have gone through. you will always have superiorities in some aspects and inferiorities in others. i went back to "normal", then just let it be as it is, and found myself with the tendency to go back to an obsessive compulsive personality. the thing is, i will never be normal.

when i say cure, i mean enlightenment, and a great self control over your mind with wisdom and self-knowledge. i mean ridding yourself of the ego completely, and understanding the unity of the universe to the fullest. let me explain this better before you call it a cult. lately i have realized that the greatest pleasure is that of analysis. all other pleasures are addictive, wether you think so or not, and you will always experience boredom living a normal life. intelectual pleasure involves simply analyzing things in an openminded way. as you do this, you begin to get rid of your desires for sex, food, etc. (this does not mean you dont have sex or eat, as i will explain). you begin to tap into your egoless self, and you begin to comprehend the unity of the universe, and the idea of eternal life. you begin to understand that you are just something that will later on die, and your essence will change and become something else (reincarnation). you will learn that everything is formed from an essence, no matter what religions say about the soul. you will learn that if you had an entity that is separate, it would be unaffected by the outside, and therefore every part of you is connected to the outside world. you will begin to tolerate others and feel a natural sense of compassion (which is different than the typical compassion one experiences). you will understand others as part of you and will naturally have will to help others evolve and open up to intelectual pleasure. you will also lose all boredom and will have the will to learn at all times. you will eat, although you dont feel an impulse to do so, and you will enjoy it just the same. you wil enjoy all art in a superior way than normal. you will become analytical of art and enjoy that.

in this state you cannot feel depression or negative feelings (as ive noticed) because all negative feelings are an erronious outlook at life. when you feel negative, you are not accepting things as they are, and therefore you feel bad. even if it doesnt seem like this is true, it is. i have found that even negative feeling that seem unexplainable are a cause of the ego, and when i open my mind, they leave.

what spike99 said is very true. you have to take control of a situation. but there are ways of taking control of a situation that require work, when you can just meditate it out. you can let things be and accept them, and your mind will naturally open up. even when you are stoned and drunk, you can meditate and your brain will adjust to normality (as ive experienced with marijuana). i have heard of people who basically meditate their way to sobriety. the mind has the capability to adjust to reality if you just let it be, and by meditating you are letting things be while retaining wakefulness. this is shown to create strong alpha activity, and eventually theta. this activity is known to open the mind up to the moment for the most part (not always, psychosis is an exeption). when you are "trying" to do something like take control, you are creating gamma activity, which is very complex. i have noticed that i cant try to get myself off an AIWS attack, i have to accept it and just let everything be to tap back into reality.

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Wow, interesting

I kinda hold myself to be a person that believes in the healing power of massage, I dance, I paint and play music, writing my own songs etc. I plant flowers and watch and feed birds, I have pets and love them dearly, I hate meds...but my disability hit me blindside. I worked in the mental health field didn't believe it could happen to me. I walk the dog I can't even tell you the joy I get from a nice country drive. But when I suddenly felt this hideous feeling that I could not stop walking and my bones were trying to tear out of my body with real pain and shakin like a alcohol rehab paitent, my blood pressure which is normally that of a sleeping person was suddenly out the roof. Let alone the fact that there are times that things happened that I do not recall at all (embarrassing to say the least).

I am sure that if I could run off to a beautiful life in the countryside and raise organic tomatoes this would all go away..but I live here and I can't and I have no backup, no support, and the wheels of the state turn slow. If you are homeless or drive without insurance your in trouble. Let alone the inability to pay the bills that you made while you were well. Then there is the hideous glance of the people and the unspoken discrimnation that go along with aging and disabilities and if your teeth aren't white enough.

I love and embrace your beautiful world...but it doesn't do anything when your cold and have no gas to drive to the next interview or doc appointment or no money to buy seeds to plant those beautiful tomatoes to sell to buy some planks to insulate you box that you have to live in.

Suddenly facing a disabilty is no walk in the park

Blessed be and hoping for the magical Santa Clause

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you know what i've realized recently? the helpfulness of jhana. its a state of mind where you are blissful and euphoric, you realize the one pointedness and inactiveness of the mind.

im sure some of you have experienced this in childhood at least. its like you suddenly feel relaxed in the afternoon or in the early morning, and you just have no will to move, think, and your mind is focused effortlessly on an object. you feel absolute euphoria.

this is called a jhana, and it is actually almost necesary to achieve enlightenment. through meditation you will experience it eventually.

everyone has the ability to have this. it is the simple nature of the mind when it ceases all efforts. its called buddha nature, and all beings have it. its the simple existance of mind itself, without excerting effort.

ive managed to partially achieve and maintain the first state of jhana. first i sat down with my back straight, then i focused on my breath and counted. i let go of all things which where bothering me, and realized that there was no reason why not to focus on my breath, since i could maintain my focus without effort. so i lost will, and gained one more aspect of jhana: happiness. so now i had happiness and a one pointed mind with little effort. joy came in here and there too. so i practiced this for a few days, and managed to retain it for quite a while. its useful to study or do whatever, since the object of meditation doesnt always have to be the breath. the mind must always be one-pointed and effortless, thus uninterrupted by other things (although you are aware of other things).

everyone can do this. its the basic nature of the mind without excerting effort. normally, we try too much to do something, which distorts our reality, even if we're not aware of it. if we're tense or having a reaction to something, its because our mind is active. you have to quiet that mind down.

a lot of you think that this doesnt work for everyone, which is wrong. doesnt your shrink ever tell you to relax? doesnt it help if you actually manage to relax and feel ok? of course it helps, and its in our nature. so dont go arround denying its existence when you have the ability to experience it.

a lot of you also say things like "well, i cant exactly meditate because i cant focus and i dissociate, etc.". well, you'll have to find a way arround that, otherwise you will never get cured. meds will not teach you how to live a better life. you can only learn that from yourself. and yes, it consists of that; living a better life.

and quit treating me like an evangelic buddhist, because theres no such thing. im simply telling you something which is in the nature of our very minds, and that is the mind itself in a calm state.

if you dont believe this, the maybe you can go read some Carl Jung, who took influence from Zen buddhism and was a friend of the Zen master Zusiki. i also suggest analyzing Freud, because a lot of his stuff also go into the nature of our mind.

these people invented psychology, and without them, the therapy all of you are using today wouldnt exist. it all consists of analysis, and looking into yourself to fix yourself. and what is meditation? calming the mind and observing it from an open point of view.

i myself have been cured of OCD, OCPD, serious attention problems, manic-depression, alice in wonderland syndrome, and pseudodepression by simply analyzing myself through meditation. this includes watching my impulses, which naturally calm the mind into a jhana state.

im just suggesting here. all of you have at least thirty minutes a day for meditation. if you cant sleep, meditate.

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I think the first hurdle for many is being grounded and in the body enough to meditate.

I meditate and can ground, simply pressing the point where my nose meets my forehead, which is a pressure point, gets my focus back and feelinng in my body.

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  • 2 weeks later...

well, there are many things i havent stated about meditation here yet, but you are right about what you say, and ill post something about it now.

the center of the body is the belly, which is the center of gravity, and our point of focus which allows us to maintain balance. but there is also another point in the center of the chest, which is the center of "vital energy", or as i would say "nervous energy". this is a psychological center. it is associated with the breath, and it is also where emotions and focus manifest themselves. when you are tense, this center is what becomes tense, and your breathing becomes "locked up" in a way. taoists emphazise this point of energy, and so do basically all buddhist schools. keep in mind that taoism is basically the driving force of many types of martial arts, like tai chi.

so this center is the center of the energy related with the nervous system, which includes muscles. this is why when there is something wrong with the brain, it affects these points of energy. anything that happens in one part of the brain tends to modify the entire brain. in fact, anything strange that is happening in one small part of the brain tends to be caused by an overall change in the brain, like lack of GABA (schizophrenia, depressive disorders, ptsd, etc.).

so most forms of meditation aim to bring balance to this point of energy i spoke of. this is why one watches the breathing. you dont try to change it, you just gain awareness, and as you gain awareness of it, you dont act upon it. therefore it comes back to its natural state, or as some new forms of physical-mental occidental training say, it creates the perfect muscle tone. all damage to the energy flow is caused by acting upon it, ether consciously or unconsciously. the key is to not act upon the energy flow.

its a lot more complicated. Jung had a lot of interesting stuff to say about this whole topic. but im not going to go into details.

there are many ways to focus. you should find your own if you cannot maintain a focus on meditation. listen to music (i prefer ether classical or celtic, but thats kind of up to you), and learn to maintain a naturall, effortless, focus on it.

it also helps to read and not become distracted.

but you should never give up on meditation, because that is the only way to completely empty the mind of everything.

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I certainly get a tightness in my chest and feeling like I might have a panic attack when I'm presented with something that is against being my true self. I listen to my body much more now. Although I can be really scared of doing something, I know it's right for me if I feel an excitement inside my belly area.

I work with my chakras and will ground from the base and feet chakras. The chest is the site of the heart chakra and is the emotional bridge of communication between the physical and the spiritual. Really interesting how it all corresponds.

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wow what an interesting thread

ive tried to read this thread a few times but have been particularly low lately and my reaction wasnt rational

now i feel as ok as i get so i reread the whole lot and know what it is that bugs me about it.

Yes the mind can heal the body, not all the time and not for everybody.

Yes meditation and zen like state can work wonders, but i find it hard to accept somebody who has achieved zen would use terms like "You people" and believe they have supirior and inferior personality traits. if this is working for you in the short term great. you are on a journey and want to share your success with the world, great fantastic big thing for you and i mean that, im not being rude, it is wonderful that you have found something that gives you temporary reprieve.

but in order to reach a true state of oneness you need to stop preaching, share by all means.

what works for you is just that, some ppl find drugs give them peace, i wouldnt put up with somebody saying canabis is the answer all you people need to take weed!

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Yes the mind can heal the body, not all the time and not for everybody.

That was the thought I kept having over and over. Nothing said above is concrete enough to apply to everyone all the time. One true way-ism is dangerous. I've been mixing spiritual practices (including Buddhist ones) and psychological treatments for years. There are scams and true help on both sides. It is intensely personal either way, and the fact that people are arguing over which is better... somewhat baffles me.

Note: There have been times that without meds/therapy/hospital/etc, I would be dead.

2nd Note: There have been times that without spirituality/mindfulness I would be dead.

I know when and what to be thankful for, and I'm not about to come down on someone else for their blessings.

Conclusion: fundamentalism is hardly a cure for anything.

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