Hey, everybody, sorry, I'm running a little bit late. We've got 110 mile an hour. Winds here outside of Boulder and a massive, like evacuating whole cities. Like just six miles from where I live. So the whole the whole sky is eerie. Kind of burnt orange and a little dicey. So that's why I'm running a little bit late and if I have to run out that's why the Tonda superior is a totally evacuation thing. There's three fires in the area north of Boulder to south of Boulder, with just colossal winds. So a little bit edgy here in Colorado right now. But anyway, nice to see you. All. I've been out of commission a little bit with my retreats in Mexico, but I'm back. And this is the first time we've convened and some three, four weeks maybe. And there's a lot of really awesome questions that came in. So I'm just going to turn right to those. And then if you're new to this event, what we do is I respond to the written questions that came in and then I'll turn it over to any live q&a That might be coming in for you who are actually in attendance here. And so with that said, and I'm also not in my usual computer setup here as well. So I'm just going to go ahead and jump right into these questions and then if you all have anything like say I didn't want to say a one or two things the interview was for me server Priya nada, which I did. We could go for those of you who are not club members that should be released like If it hasn't, it's going to be like ASAP. And there's also a couple other really cool interviews that are coming up. I think Alyssa if you can't if you can post the two little menlove Bob Thurman events. There's a wonderful kind of a new year's event that he does every year that starts I think later, even today or tomorrow. I'm doing something with Bob on Sunday with this one. We're having a little conversation together. And then he's doing a really quite a nice kind of death and dying thing towards the end of January that I think Alyssa also has a link that she can put up here. For you all so anyway, with all that said, I'm just gonna go ahead and jump right into some of these questions. Excuse me one second. I do need to get a little bit of water with with all the things happening here. I didn't get everything quite set up. I'll be right back.
It's kind of amazing how unsettling wind energy is, especially when we have these show notes here. When big funds come in around this time of the year, the the winds race off the top of the mountains which are just 10 minutes from where I live, and they just come screaming down the front range and we've been in a pretty acute attack extreme drought here. We haven't had any real precipitation and you have months and months and months so everything is just an absolute tinderbox in the area. There's a lot of grasslands and dried up stuff as well. So it's a things are a little bit a little bit edgy. So anyway, I wanted to get to some of these questions, because they're really some good ones. Not in any order priority. Of course, but this first one is from Mike. Uh, yeah, actually. Yeah, this is an appropriate one for the theme for today how to maintain a sense of humor.
When inside,
feeling the horror of darkness of all Yeah, that's yeah, how to maintain such a humor well. Well, first of all, I can't be forced, right? I mean, I'm always interested in word origins and humor comes from a root that means liquid is in the Quiddity. And so I guess, Mike, in terms of like, the ultimate sense of humor comes from the big crack up that occurs when you realize that appearances are not in harmony with reality. So that's the ultimate one is realizing that on an absolute level, everything really is just one big kind of joke. But all kidding aside, this is something that they really cannot be forced. There has to be a sense of internal levity and equanimity that comes from a deep understanding of the nature of things. And so that really comes Mike from from exploring the nature of things looking deeply into states of mind into states of reality, what's really going on. And interesting that you're discussing, because even in the in the non dual wisdom traditions there are frequent references of masters talking about you might as well just burst out laughing when you look at the nature of things. So how do you maintain a sense of humor when feeling inside? The horror? First of all, I would maintain an honest connection to what you're labeling as the horror what is it that you're feeling the heart of darkness as you put it? What exactly is that to you? First and foremost, just pay allegiance to what you're feeling, but without indulging it. So that's the first and foremost thing don't try to replace it with some kind of artificial sense of levity or humor. Just pay attention and honor what you're truly feeling and then as I was alluding to earlier, probably just a deeper invitation for deeper exploration for why in fact, are you feeling this particular sense of horror or darkness? What's that really about? What is horror? What is darkness? Who is feeling it? So those are the sorts of things Mike that I would play with along those lines, maintaining a sense of liquidity flexibility, how does the saying go bless it or the flexible for them, they are never bent out of shape. So this overall sense of kind of going with the flow can help you lighten up in that sense. So without being patronizing about the severity of what's happening in the world today. To me, it's the juxtaposition of these relative and absolute views that on a relative level, we really do have to pay attention to everything that's happening like these fires that are burning 10 minutes from my house. But realize in a larger context and perspective that that might not be as heavy and as serious as you might think, in the long run. Okay, so here's one from Joe. Last night I had these interesting questions. I didn't get the chance to look at all these in advance, but I did glance at a couple. Last night I have an experience I had never had before and I'm trying to figure out where fits in with electrical experiences. I woke up at about 3am Feeling very peaceful and feeling like my mind and body were in harmony. Cool. Good for you. My thoughts were I wonder if I'm dead. I've had those thoughts before actually, really in the middle of night? If not, what is the state question right. I continue to remain completely peaceful and unattached, not wanting to change anything and curious what the state was. Maybe like a scientist just observing my state. I drifted in and out asleep with these thoughts each time I became conscious. This continued for almost three hours. Until I got it for the day. I was aware I was in bed all the time, not sure what to make of that or how to label it. What did I experience? Oh, you know, Joe, hard to say for sure. But I can just give you my first thoughts around the sorts of things that I often will have experienced as someone analogous to this one when I wake up in the dead of night in the middle of the night.
Sometimes wondering, and I've shared some of these stories before like wondering like, where I am, who I am. If what I'm clicking on here, Joe, is that what I experienced these sorts of things. It's really because the narrative structure of ourselves sense has been arrested, right? I mean, that's really if we didn't have that interruption when we fell asleep, we wouldn't fall asleep. And so when when we have these liminal experiences so this is a kind of liminality that you're talking about. It doesn't it doesn't sound like you're in a lucid dream. It sounds like you were in this hippie hippie gotcha kept Apothic space ie liminal space, not awake, not asleep. And somehow, the usual narrative was suspended. That's what brought about the question retrospectively, I wonder if i Dad, what is the state? And so again, I can't say with complete authority, what it is exactly that you experienced, but this is what it sounds like to me that you were in some kind of liminal space, threshold space, not awake, not asleep, where the narrative structure of the self says was temporarily suspended. And then law because of that, as a direct consequence of that you felt a kind of resonance between body and mind a sense of harmony, because that said storyline had been temporarily arrested. So I would simply say Good for you. And if we have the right kind of inquiring mind, playful, humorous mind. We can really look forward to these types of experiences and do exactly what you did just kind of hang out and observe them, like you said, like maybe like a good scientist that was observing the state. That's the type of witnessing awareness that's really the way to deal with this. Is just simply watch it as a dispassionate but interested observer. And simply realize that the play of your mind in this particular arena can be really interesting and even illuminating. It may be pay attention next time it happens to how much of your sense of self was actually present or not because I would suspect that part of the active expression of this the fact that it felt peaceful, calm tranquil, was actually do in fact, like I was alluding to earlier, that this narrative structure was temporarily arrested. This stuff gets super interesting to me. That's one of the really interesting things actually about liminality altogether, because you don't have that much ability to do this in the dream state. Because at that point, usually the narrative structure in the dream is back online. And so liminality which is often glossed over to me is a very interesting and sometimes underutilized space, where you can watch the pages, the construct the storyline of yourself, scents are torn out, they're suspended, they're arrested. And it's a very interesting way to see how you go offline. And then how you then reboot and come back online and so somewhere in there you are offline. And I suspect that's what made it feel so cool. So to look at this a little bit deeper look at the interview I did with Jennifer do pair on liminal dreaming. She has a book on this topic and she writes a fair amount about it but that's just what it sounds like to me. Okay, so this is one from Van Sant and Sanjay ricetta. Happy Holidays Andrew, Happy Holidays to you, my friend. I'm going to shorten this a little bit I belong to a study group under the guidance of Trungpa Rinpoche very cool. He's one of the supreme masters. I have a really great connection with him. He's the guy who put me into my three year retreat. I know him pretty darn well. He's a wonderful guy. This group meets every other Sunday cool. All members are enrolled in your living and dying class. Very nice. Thank you for doing that. Each meeting two members are assigned to discuss the units in your course cool. We are now Unit Four after the course in living and dying. We shall proceed with your dream yoga course I'm interested in learning sleep yoga. Okay. As you mentioned, sleep is 1/3 of our lives in so important to harness. I'm 74 years old aside from lucid dreaming and Dream Yoga. Do you also teach sleep Yoga I do. Please let me know if I need a transmission or apartment to do this. No, you don't think you require since eg Bartow. Yeah, so actually the question then seems to be about sleep yoga.
I do teach it but I don't do it a lot. Because it's so subtle. Dream Yoga is challenging enough. Sleep yoga is even more challenging. This is where you maintain awareness and acidity, not just in the dream state but in deep dreamless sleep. That's that's like getting a postdoc That's not easy. And so if you're interested in exploring that I can refer you to some sources. I don't overtly teach it. Directly. I teach it in the consequence of Dream Yoga programs. I riff on it in my book, Dream Yoga, I have an entire chapter on sleep yoga, and you can learn about it I'm trying to think of other sources there's no god no booze book, Dream Yoga, the practice of clear light, I believe it's called. So what I would recommend my friend honestly not to discourage you from exploring sleep yoga, I would spend your time working with with liminal dreaming limo dreaming and Dream Yoga. And then if that really clicks for you, then the higher stages of Dream Yoga like stages eight, nine Hold on just a second.
Sorry, little pet that was getting out of control. I would recommend developing some facility with Dream Yoga. And then if that really speaks to stages eight and a particular nine or segues into sleep yoga, but perhaps even more importantly, is to work with something that's much more accessible, which is the formless meditations that are the supports for sleep yoga. That's That to me is really the key for you. Especially you mentioned here so I'm interested in that Bardot's as well. Sleep yoga is is really the ultimate preparatory practice for death in many ways during yoga as well. So sometimes because of their the inaccessibility, especially if sleep yoga. The way to really work with it during the day is with the formless meditations, because that's what's actually introduced in the deep dreamless state or the formless dimensions of your mind. So work with those during the day. Mr. Student of Trungpa Rinpoche budget Vidya spend time doing really your your station in life. I always recommend people get down to the real heart essence of it, which using the languaging and the tradition you're associated with would be Maha Mudra. So those teachings, the practices that work with these formulas dimensions, so sleep yoga, for sure, it's great. If you can do it, go for it. But it's generally pretty tricky because it's so bloody subtle. And so therefore, just to reiterate, I would work with Dream Yoga if you're interested in doing this with a nocturnal meditations. But even more directly, I think analytically, work with the fornals meditations during the day and because of your experience, seemingly with Toggler, which, in Tibetan Buddhism, I would do this the Maha Mudra and so chat. Okay. All right. So let me click there's some more questions that came as I need to just transfer over okay, connected hula because I'm in a new computer setup here, things are a little bit out of kilter for me here Okay, so these are I got a flurry of these questions just within the last half hour. So this is from Amanda. Can you please say more about the pulsations and vibrations you mentioned before? Okay, Amanda, my guess is you're alluding to my interest over the last year with what's called the spunda tradition. This is a subset this is super interesting school. This is a subset of Kashmir Shaivism or non dual Shiva Tantra. there that we talked I talked I talked a little bit about this with Swami said we're pre Ananda. So Amanda, if you're part of the nightclub thing, and it sounds like you are, we riff a little bit about this in that conversation but basically, there are at least five main schools of non dual Shaila Tantra and in one of the foremost of those is the spanda or the doctrine of vibrations. This is a really interesting school and and I'm diving into it pretty deeply now because there's nothing quite like this in the other wisdom traditions I've studied, including Tibetan Buddhism, they don't have a riff on this. And so the sponder doctrine, in particular was called as bomba Calicos, which is a classic meditation texts based on this tradition. Literally called the doctrine of vibration talks about the vibratory nature of reality, that everything pulses that awareness pulsates. That everything basically fundamentally vibrates, and this has a tremendous connection to even things like quantum theory were. Give me just a second again, I'll be right back. Sorry.
So part of what I'm dealing with is very interesting. Sorry for the interruptions today. Every once in a while I give these it's called BPPV some of you may struggle with is called Design per accessible positional vertigo. Does anybody out there have this condition? Yeah, it's like no fun, right? What happens is it's your the crystals in your inner ear get wigged out. And every once in a while you get these incredibly acute dizzy spells. Usually they're associated with with positions like I'll turn my head and all of a sudden it just goes ballistic. But for some reason, I'm getting a major headsman so if you don't mind, just, you know we could do is just for a few minutes because often it's self limiting, it will pass so if you just hang with me what we can do is maybe just practice together. Because otherwise if I open my eyes, the room right now is really spinning. And so maybe we can just sit for a second or two together and hopefully this will just pass and I can return to the questions but right now if I open my eyes, the room is really ripping. So if With your permission, let's just sit for a minute, maybe the silly thing will just pass That's getting better. I don't know if you've ever had this but it's really uncomfortable. Because you get this immediate intensive nausea I first started having it about six years ago and about every four or five months I get these episodes and and I have to do what's called an Epley maneuver. Those of you who know you have to do this weird kind of lying down slipping posture, which helps kind of recaptured the crystals. But when it comes on it's intense.
You literally can't see straight. Okay,
so I'll do my best to get through these. It's definitely better. Hopefully, it'll just subside. I might have to do some of these responses with my eyes closed. Sorry. But yeah, so the spanda doctrine is one of five main schools of Kashmir. Shaivism literally means a doctrine of vibration. And it's an incredibly interesting set of teachings that I alluded to a little bit earlier has tremendous relationship with even things like quantum theory, one of the more kind of compelling descriptions of quantum physics these days is somebody might heard the notion of string theory, that in essence, what particles are and therefore what all of matter is including all of us. Is irreducibly just nodules of vibration on this quantum field. And so the pulsation thing is incredibly interesting. If you're interested in this sort of thing I'd recommend marcha Koski has written a couple books. One is literally called the doctrine of vibration. It's not an easy read, it's pretty darn thick. But it's incredibly interesting where he talks about the vibratory nature of reality at every level, that awareness pulsates that the phenomenal world itself just kind of pulsates. And so short of going into that teaching in tremendous detail, which is a little bit above my paygrade, I might refer you to Mark's work. I think also my friend Chris Wallace, on his site is given some courses on the spunda teachings, but I find it has tremendous explanatory power and it Rennes lens a deeper, deeper understanding appreciation. For even things like mantra, that if in essence, reality is the kind of vibratory or Sonic in nature, then the great ciders who tune in to this vibratory reality kind of hacking into that code. extract that code and translate it and think in terms of things like mantra, it really empowers my understanding of mantra, and that's kind of what got me into it. After I was reading cashmere shadow stuff. And then I interviewed Kobe Chowdhury on our site. I started becoming more more interested in a deeper appreciation and understanding of sound. This ties into my background as a musician as well. You know, the music of the spheres kind of thing. And so this stuff has deep connection to the nature of reality, the nature of languaging altogether, the nature of sound mantra and all that. And So Amanda, if you really want to go there, look up SSPA en da spa, and then a commentary, that's the caracoles the spawn the Karakas is the commentary on that doctrine. I recommend it it's super cool stuff. But because the topic itself just leads to so many different types of other topics, I'm going to let that one go and if you're here and want to follow up on it, just come on and we can discuss it. So let me see what else we have here. There was one about fear Where did that one go? Hold on a second.
Here we go.
Yeah, okay. So from Jim. Fear so rampant everywhere today, that's for sure. individual societies and the whole world at large. It's a major issue. Totally. What actually is fear? Okay. I basically thought of a psychologically is the emotional reaction to perceive threat to the ego to enough if to our meditation and spiritual practices, we can start to see through the illusory nature of the ego perhaps we can also start to see through the fear proportionately, in the same way, spot on. What is your view on the Tibetan Buddhist perspective of this timely issue? Yeah, this is another big one, Tim. It's such a big one that I did an entire course on it. My friend is on my site, working with fear and anxiety and uncertain world where I talk in great great length about both fear and anxiety. And, again, I talked a lot about this. I'm going to refer you to some of those sources, but it's a big deal. It's the fears is the primary effect of expression of ignorance. It's at the root of the whole samsaric agenda. Fear is at the core of the relative self sense. My friend Ken Wilber talks about his fears the mood of the self contraction. So everything in the relative world is based on this primary reaction to emptiness to egolessness to selflessness, and so we spend literally the entirety of our lives. This is what it means to be asleep in this deepest sense and a very sophisticated set of avoidance strategies to avoid this fundamental fear, which at its deepest possible level is the fear of emptiness, the fear of the radical, noble truth of our inherent existence. So that's where the fear comes from. It's fundamentally the fear of death. And so it's a major issue. Is it's because there's a roof, foundational emotional samsara it has then countless other iterations that you see on the world today. You can campaign on it, it's contagious. It's epidemic. And so what actually is this fear? Well, it's it's just basically egos like you're saying egos unskillful relationship to open space, because there's no room for personal identity in this open space. And so therefore, ego lives in this constant state of subacute panic, which for Buddhists out there, this is what actually frees the space and the first ganda. That's how deep it goes. So this is this is a really big deal topic. And I recommend, if you're interested, honestly go into this one, follow your fear. How much older and has made a career and this sort of thing, go to the places that scare you. Fear is always a minion of ignorance and so if you really want to usurp transform ignorance, go to the fear that that is that is his expression. So what you say is basically right on if we understand, especially my rendering of it and Tim I also write about this in my book last year. Dreams of light I have a quite a section on this an integral relationship to fear. That fear on one level on a biological level is absolutely critically important. If we didn't have fear. We wouldn't be here talking about the nature of fear. So we need here we need it, we still need it today even to survive. But the issue is that fear at this biological realm continues to exert its colossal influence in psycho spiritual realms, and that's where it becomes a problem. And so therefore, the idea like everything else is not to get rid of it, but to understand it. And to me, an integral approach to that understanding is key. That we need it we need to understand that fear is critically important but fear protects form. Ego is exclusive identification with form. So when you're trying to go from ego to egolessness How is that perceived for the ego? It's a death threat. And so therefore, ego is incredibly fears incredibly effective, and keeping Dettori acts as a deterrent for authentic growth. So if you really want to grow this life, follow your fear, go to the places that scare you, because that's where the truth is really waiting for you. So great question, Tim. But since I write about it in dreams of light and I have an entire course on it, I kindly refer you to those resources. Okay, but Okay, here's another one. This is a great one. These are all great, but this is a good one from Kathy. This is a big one. If the self we normally see does not exist, I'm gonna read the whole thing and then read it again and run commentary because this is a big one. If the self we normally see does not exist, there is no soul in Buddhism. And we are the sum of the five aggregates who reincarnates also, since our mind is projected, the university we continue incarnating until our universe ceases to exist.
Oh, Kathy, these are great questions. Are you sure you don't want to add a few more in there? Playing with you just because these are really great. So if the selfie normally see does not exist, okay, yes, it appears that's relative truth. And we have to honor that relative appearance. If we take a deeper look at that fear, as you say it does not exist, it appears but it does not exist. And that's important. We have to honor the appearance otherwise that the nihilistic approach to things but as you correctly say here, the wisdom traditions challenge the status of that appearance. So the self is absolutely positively a construct. Totally. This ties into the first question that if it is a construct, it can in fact be deconstructed. Okay, so to consider you have the self we normally see does not exist. That's true. That's what we're so afraid of. Oh, how can this be how can this be I don't exist. Well, take a close look. You can find this thing called self give back to me. You'll be the first person in history to have done it. Than to continue and there is no soul and Buddhism. Yes, but that doesn't mean there isn't an essence. So this is when you start asking these deep questions they need deep refined answers, in my opinion. So yes, so is a four letter word in Buddhism Because soul as an ottoman, the Hindu analog, suggests a reified, irreducible self sense there. There is no such soul. But that doesn't mean there isn't an essence. And that essence is in fact emptiness. So even though there isn't a soul, there is an essence. It's just not a reified self sense as we normally think of the word soul. We are the sum of the five areas so these are the these are five aggregates of the five skandhas or the five heaps. This is a Tara Wagner Henny on a way to talk about what the Buddha discovered when he looked closely at this nature of self to realize it doesn't exist as an independent entity that is actually the aggregation of these five keeps form, meaning body, feeling which is a prototype relationship to that form, perception, which is more articulate evolved expression of seconds calendar, formations, some scour and then the fifth kind of consciousness. So, we are, we are the illusion of the self. The Buddha saw is one way to describe it is in fact as the as these five aggregates. So the question is Who reincarnates? Well, the question is erroneously positive. Kathy, you're asking the wrong question. And this This may seem kind of sophist and philosophical but it's actually quite important. The way you ask the question is important because it sends your mind in the wrong direction. Just by the nature of asking the question Who reincarnates you're you're already implying a set of principles that are not resonant with reality. There is no who that reincarnates a more perhaps, interesting question would be and this is in fact, one that the Buddha did address what are the causes and conditions? confluence of which creates the illusion of a continuity of consciousness or the illusion of a who? And now you're asking the right question. Now you're asking something that's really interesting and that you can get some real answers to because if you ask who there is no who and you can see this now you don't have to wait till you die to discover this. This is what the path is about. discover that there is no who right now, this ties into the earlier little riff on fear. That's what we're so afraid of. There is no who, even right now. And so in relation to reincarnation the death thing, my friend, David Loy, as a fantastic summary statement about this, where he says
How did he put it?
Such as the Buddhist goal, to discover that which cannot die, because it was never born. Let me say that again, such as the Buddhist goal, to discover that it cannot die because it was never born. So who is it that reincarnates first of all, it's not a who. It's a set of predispositions momentums karmic propensities. It's not a reef identity. It's not a soul. It's not an AI. And this can be addressed more specifically on relative and absolute bandwidth on an absolute bandwidth, what reincarnates what continues literally is literally this is what Tantra means the indestructible continuum. That's that's rigpa that's the nature of mind. That's what continues but it's not an yet. So on an absolute level, that's what reincarnates that's what actually doesn't die because it never comes it was never born. On a relative level. Who is it the reincarnates well jump from che had the genius answer here when he said, your bad habits. So fundamentally, what reincarnates is your habitual propensity is your habit patterns. So this is a question that's definitely worth pondering because it leads deeper into the question of the nature of identity. The nature of reality, the nature of mind. So it's difficult to answer a really deep question like this with a couple Clippy sound bites here, but I really encourage you to look at this very, very deeply because in so doing, you're you're going to be heading towards truth. The part of you that actually doesn't reincarnate, or the part of you you can save you define it differently. That is always reincarnating. But again, you don't have to wait for me, Kathy, the point here is you don't have to wait till you die to work with us to explore what reincarnates look at this issue right now. phenomenologically what is it that's reincarnating even now, you're not even the same person you were when I started riffing on your question four minutes ago, so you've actually been reincarnating over the last four minutes. You're doing this biologically is your cellular structure is going under rapid death and regeneration constantly. You're doing it psychically. So the process of rebirth. Reincarnation is taking place all the time. Look at how it's manifesting right now in your life. Okay. Also, since our mind has projected the universe Well, it's not your mind. That would be a solid cystic version of reality and that's wrong cops ism is just wrong. So your mind has not projected the universe your mind colors, the universe. It projects it in that sense. So the world is an expression of mind but it's not your mind. It's not Oh, this is where it gets so tricky. It's not your mind small you. But it's mind we can only say big you. So these questions are they point to some pretty darn big topics right? Your mind does not project the universe, your mind colors, the universe in your image. So you don't have that kind of solipsistic power. So even right there, so that then kind of questions the second part of your question, but just for completeness, since our mind is protected the universe not quite true. Do we continue incarnating until our universe ceases to exist? Well see now with everything that we have
discussed in the last five minutes, this question just doesn't even make sense anymore. There is no you that continues reincarnating and you know the universe itself in your relationship to it is now a radically in question. So that's what comes to mind around this Kathy if you're on and want to unpack some more of this in more detail. I'm happy to do it. We will continue to take rebirth involuntarily, non lucidly driven by karmic impulse until we wake up to this process. And as long as we continue to incarnate involuntarily, we will continue to project our version of the universe, not the universe itself. And so when we wake up our version will cease. That's a little Rhoda. That's cessation, Nirvana. That's actually part of what's extinguished or cease that that moment of awakening is you and in the projections and the storylines that imputes on this background of something there is something out there, for sure. It's just not a thing. It's just not physical. Its mind and then what what that mind is, whoa, I mean, that's something that really needs to be centrifuged out and really talked about. So when you start getting into these really deep questions, every single word has to be examined when I did my debate training. You have to go through every single word that you use, have a completely articulate definition to it have agreed a set of principles on how to engage in debate. And so at these really, really deep levels, Kathy, every single word has to really be taken apart and looked at very closely. And if you if you take the trouble to do that, then these types of questions are these are the big questions. I mean, these are the ones that can really lead you to insight and reflecting on them very deeply. In itself is a profound practice. I mean, it's a practice of contemplation where you can use these reflections and contemplations to actually lead you directly into the reality that the question of the contemplations and questions are guiding you towards. So in short, the questions are fantastic. The questions in many ways are actually more important than the answers because they set the mind in the right direction. So I would say continue to ask these questions and continue to refine your understanding of the question and the supposedly answers that are derived from these questions. So I'll see if anything else came in. But in the meantime, Alyssa if there's any live q&a, I'm happy to ping those while I see if anything else came in. Okay.
Let's see.
Thank goodness, this dizziness went away. That was no fun.
Yeah, I can't even imagine. I don't see any hands up yet. I haven't seen any more they come in. We'll give them a second.
Okay, I just got one more from Florida. So I'll ask I'll answer this. I'll see if anything else comes in. Okay, two questions. So are you familiar with James Nestor in his book breathe I am I noticed that you are in his lengthy bibliography. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, I kind of sped read the book. I didn't even realize I was in it. That's kind of cool. So I'm wondering if you know, James or his book. I don't know him, but I know the book. Obviously, I didn't read it very well. Because I didn't even notice I was in it. I found his explanation of nose breathing and vasopressin very helpful. And they've been taping my mouth shut at night for three weeks. Yeah, there are lots of friends who tell me I should take my mouth shut not only at night, but during the day flora. So maybe I'll take your tip and use it I'm just playing with you because you're a wonderful soul. So let's see here. Yeah, what a difference to stop the mouth breathing thing. Oh my gosh. Okay, so a little bit about mouth breathing for sure. It's a bad thing. Yeah, their mouth breathing is just like a good not a good thing. It has just a cascade of negative or low effects. Systemic biological effects, psychic effects all the meditations with the exception of some of the deep breathing. More aggressive breathing exercises are all breathing through the nostrils. So those breathing is a really big deal. Learning how to breathe is a really big deal. So I'm really grateful for James and his book. Okay, less less tips to the bathroom and better hydration just like he says yes. So question number two, have you ever tried keeping your mouth shut? That night? I have not. But honestly there there is. It's not James. There's other people that also recommend this sort of thing. And hey, if it works, who am I to criticize it? Right? I have not done it. But it's a good thing. I mean, I shouldn't say it's a good thing. Whatever we can facilitate or invite. Breathing through your nose instead of breathing through your mouth is a really good thing. Or any other suggestions while jogging or cycling? No for jogging or cycling? I haven't. But maybe I need to look at that book again. Yeah, I just I just kind of sped read it because it was somebody loaned it to me. I only have like a day with it. So I have to read it really pretty. Quickly. What I saw in it I found quite impressive. I thought there were some really interesting tips in there and my friend Charlie Morley in his recent book riffs about this in fact, the two interviews prior to the one I did with Swami several Priya Nanda was with Amanda Morley and Charlie Morley and a big part of both of those conversations for if you ever listened to them is about breathing. Probably 80% of what I talked about with both those guests was on breathing. So I recommend you listen to those and see if you can gain some insights. But basically in short, that's what I pick up from your questions. Okay. All right. Let me just go through the chat column here. See if anything else comes up.
Perfect. Oh, see, oh, Amanda, has her hand up. Let me go Hello.
Hi. About the pulsations and vibrations. Oh, yeah, the sponsor stuff. Sure. Yeah. Well, I was thinking also from the practical perspective of the land that one lives on. I'm always very aware of how important that is to our physical well being, you know.
Did you say I'm sorry that you land
where one lives the land? Oh,
so like the the vibration of the land is that?
Yes, yes. Yes.
I'll say more about that.
Just when I used to live on the Big Island of Hawaii where there's an active volcano, and you could really feel the force you know, it the energy of the environment. It's fantastic. Really, you know, yeah,
yeah. Well, again, I think I think intuitive psychics, those who are open, literally tune in to the vibe and I don't have a great deal to say about this sort of thing, Amanda, right. Outside of the fact that that Yes. I think that once we impart in the play on words here, once we shut down our iTunes, I couldn't resist right. Once we shut shut down our iTunes we can start to tune in to all kinds of wonderful vibratory components and levels of these are like wireless communication systems. That's the way colori Choudry talks about mantra. There are other forms of this wireless communication system and tele psychokinesis and the way people can psychic is one and the reason I made it is now I'm reading this amazing book. It's the third in a trilogy that's blowing me away. I mentioned it earlier called unbound awareness. I think it's an astounding collection is the third in a series of remarkable books that have been coming out over the last 20 years. The first one is called irreducible mind. Second, one beyond physicalism. And then this one consciousness Unbound, you know, each book is 600 pages, but for the deeper divers, oh my gosh, it's so well worth the read. And part of the reason that I mentioned this is that each one of the volume volumes brings forth incredibly interesting heavy research scholar, scientists type data about things like Phi Psi, psychic phenomena, precognition, clairvoyance, telepathy, all this kind of stuff. That in a materialistic universe is just ridiculous and poopoo did best. But in an idealistic universe, a universe made of mind becomes incredibly interesting. And so the reason I mentioned this is that for people perhaps like you, who were more in tune with it intuitive, you can pick up and glean this kind of vibratory communication with the land with people you get a vibe from a person. Yeah, that's part of when you're reading their, their Sonic field or, you know, this kind of you can actually look at karma as being a kind of Sonic phenomena. I think you can really talk about acoustic theories of karma that whenever you do something currently negative that what you're doing, you're not, there's no judgment that's coming from outside you creating a dissonance in your own vibratory field. That then that dissonance is going to work on the ground, your unconscious levels to create its karmic discord in your life. And so in short, the whole span a thing has tremendous power and applicability. I don't have that kind of tuning in capacity with the environment as a lot of people do. Even though I have intuitions about entering spaces, or like, well, you know, just like everybody, or maybe many people, you know, this just doesn't feel right. I don't like the vibe here. There's something genuinely happening there. There's a level of transmission and communication taking place that's being registered, kind of even beyond our usual sense faculties. And so, for people like you or others who go to the Big Island or go to other places where you can kind of pick up on the vibe of the atmosphere. To Shay, I think it's great. I think that's part of what defines is the psychic capacities altogether is the ability to open to kind of be able to tune in to this vibratory phenomena that's taking place around us all the time. I mean, we basically live in just even physically the whole electromagnetic spectrum. You know, from super long radio waves, all the way long to super short X rays and gamma radiation waves. The entire display of the phenomenal physical world is is vibratory in nature. And so that's why I grew on this stuff. I mean, mandus explanatory power, all the way from particle physics and string theory, all the way up to mantras and the vibratory nature of reality itself. So yeah, that's what comes to mind. I think it's really interesting stuff.
There's one other practical thing I was going to mention that's about doing physical yoga, that the pulsation of the energy going through that, you know, the through the night isn't everything, it really does help to clear the mind quite quickly. And so it's it's kind of a real special tool, you know, when you do some of the movements and some of the mudras and yeah, so it's fantastic because it can shortcut a lot, you know, can get into a state of clarity quite quickly, really with that. So I think it's informed all this vibrational stuff. Yeah, as you say, music singing all of these things.
humming.
Yeah, yeah. When you were assuming Asana mudra posture, whether it's physical or mental. It's almost like you're, you're you're creating a tuning fork with your body mind that then creates the kind of the capacity for resonance or sympathetic vibration. So that's why when you do things like mantra and mudra and Asana, this, these aren't just ritualistic devices. These are ways to actually invite this kind of resonance using body speech and mind to help you resonate with these archetypal energies. So yeah, I know I can say is keep humming along. This is really Yeah.
Yeah, thank you. You're
welcome. Okay, let me just go through these the chat column here. All right. Oh, yeah. So the name of the webinar it's not a webinar. Karen was Jennifer do parents dump RT she was an interview guest on my club. She wrote this book called liminal dreaming that I think is really quite fine. Yeah, there it is. Tiny and Jennifer do pair. Yep.
I think there was a podcast that I linked to. Yeah, that's it. That's
it. Okay. Yeah,
thanks, Stephanie. But not benign positional vertigo. It really became like a blast furnace. Now it's gone. So after I finished the session with you, I go up and I do my silly little Epley maneuver, and hopefully it won't come back again. Today. No fun.
Yeah. Eppley yet, there it is. Okay.
Yep, yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Epley maneuver. Thank you everybody.
Okay, he's finishing this just going through the chat column,
so I'm quiet. So if anybody else has a question they want to dial in while I finish the chat column where they're welcome. Cool
yeah, it looks like you may have got everybody today.
Awesome. Great. Thanks everybody. Sorry for just speaking of weird energy with the wind and the this eerie kind of orange glow because the sun is shining through this colossal cloud bank. And I have a lot of friends who live in the area where the fires really raging. So I'm just hoping their houses haven't gone up in smoke. So it's kind of a weird savvy scene right here with 100 mile an hour winds. But anyway, hey, nice to see everybody. Happy New Year to you all. It's always a very interesting reflective time for me to when that when the we take another circle around the sun, it's always very interesting to look at endings and beginnings and that's why Bob Thurman does his thing every year. So again, if you're interested chime in he Krishna Das is doing some stuff with him. Who's wonderful Sharon Salzberg. I'm chatting with him on Sunday. He's got some really fun people that are involved there. But thanks for hanging in there with my little dizziness. It's definitely a little bit better. But until we meet again, in this capacity in two weeks, we're alternating every Thursday. Next Thursday will be the book group. In the evening of Thursday after that will be another q&a, like we're doing here. So I appreciate the great questions. They're really spot on. We will this is recorded. We'll cut and paste some of the questions so people have a sense of what we discussed. But between now and next time, everybody have a wonderful, Happy New Year and may 2020 to be the best year ever right? We make the aspirations Okay, everybody, all the best Happy New
Year.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Much love Thank you. Happy New Year
especially a pretty fun surprise. Really think it's not exactly in person but you
