Spiritual fitness – the Tibetan practice of 100,000 prostrations #happiness

Posted on January 12, 2019 by

I am not a big fan of exercise. But make it a spiritual exercise like Tibetan yoga or prostrations and suddenly I am all for it. Is there such thing as a spiritual gym? 🙂  I’ve recently started 100,000 prostrations, the Tibetan buddhist practice. I do it to show love and respect for all living beings and to send positive energy to those around me – I use it as a form of physical prayer or body meditation. I do 20 prostrations in the morning, 20 in the evening, so it will take me around 7 years to complete this practice 🙂

Since every sentient being has Buddha Nature, bowing to any person can be thought of as bowing to the Buddha Nature in all of us.

In Tibetan, the word prostration is translated as chak tsal. Chak means to “sweep away” harmful actions and obscurations. Tsal means we receive the blessings of an enlightened body, speech and mind.

Posted in buddhism, learn | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sense of non-sense – Alan Watts on reassuring purposelessness of our existence #happiness

Posted on January 6, 2019 by

Recently two things happened – as part of the UK Psychedelic Society’s reading list I discovered The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts and I had a heated philosophical debate with an ‘old soul’ friend of mine about life purpose and it exists. As you may know, the question of life purpose acutely interests me.

This led to inspired googling and discovering Sense of Nonsense: Alan Watts on How We Find Meaning as well as Alan Watts’ lecture on life purpose below. His intriguing perspective on how we can arrive at meaning by surrendering to meaninglessness has surprisingly reassured me and given me a no doubt temporary sense of meaning. And in the world of creation for the sake of creation, this is as good as it gets. I should stop clinging to structure… I’ve included some of the best quotes from The Book below.

Continue reading →

Posted in philosophical, video | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Mind Explorers: A Psychedelic Weekend #documentary #psilocybin

Posted on December 22, 2018 by

And here it is – the culmination of my ‘magic mushroom’ retreat with the UK Psychedelic Society in September. The film made by Rebecca Coxon. In most of my appearances I am weeping and in one manage to sob while laughing. Perfect. Crying is a natural way of purging (another one is vomiting, eg like with ayahuasca) so it’s normal that I created a mini flood 🙂  Share your thoughts or your mind expansion experiences in the comments.

Posted in plant medicines, self, video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Michael Pollan’s ‘How to change your mind’ and theory of the entropic brain #happiness

Posted on December 15, 2018 by

I continue to explore the new world that opened to me. I heard that Michael Pollan’s ‘How to change your mind’ was a sort of Bible of psychedelics so I borrowed it from the local library (interestingly, it had a long queue of reservations). I consumed 414 pages within a week and I feel like I know everything I need to know, ever. It’s a very balanced and science based historic summary and experiential account of all things psychedelics. I was pleased to see multiple mentions of British researchers in the field. Below I share 2 quotes on the theory of entropy from a British researcher Robin Carhart-Harris that as a person who tends to overorganise and overthink I found really useful. Sometimes all we need is a bit more chaos, organised of course 🙂

20674-How-to-change-your-mind_Michael-Pollan-1-1500x1500 Continue reading →

Posted in addiction, book, plant medicines, quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How can someone figure out their purpose in life? #happiness #quora

Posted on December 8, 2018 by

I grappled with this question for years. Of course the answer is as simple as it’s difficult. And it’s only recently that I actually felt it. Below is an extract from Jack Kornfield’s book titled ‘After The Ecstasy, The Laundry’ that I mentioned last week. It’s a Zen story (koan) on what the purpose of life is.

Got it? There is no purpose, just life and you live it the best you can – doing good, helping people, nurturing your spirituality, just living. So yeah, this is it, just go do what the moment demands (and non doing is as valid as doing), whatever your heart/ soul call you to do and do it in the most awakened, conscious way with as much love as possible. This is what I think.

Posted in quotes, self | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mind Explorers screening – my 15min of fame :)

Posted on December 2, 2018 by

Yesterday was the day – I had my 15min of fame first as a (mostly sobbing) character in the Mind Explorers documentary where we attempt to challenge the stigma around psilocybin and promote its use as part of mental health treatment as well as spiritual growth, and then during Q&A on stage of Rio Cinema. I was a nervous wreck, gladly most of the questions were addressed to the actual experts – a psychedelic guide and a neuroscientist. The documentary goes live on Youtube on December 13th, I will share the link here. Interestingly, this article came out recently and it’s about the same retreat that I went to – psychedelics on Forbes? Plant medicines are going mainstream, folks.

2ce85d2e-fec7-476f-b261-0128e10abdf6

Posted in plant medicines | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chores as a way to enlightenment. Washing dishes as a meditation #happiness

Posted on November 24, 2018 by

These past couple of weeks I’ve been reading like mad. Suddenly there is so much new stuff to learn and the books landing on my radar are just amazing. If you are interested in a book carefully cataloguing various stories of spiritual enlightenment (and ways to achieve it), read ‘After the ecstasy, the laundry. How the heart grows wise on the spiritual path’ by Jack Kornfield. Below are 3 quotes on how to transform boring tasks or chores through mindfulness. Washing dishes or folding the laundry will never be the same!

Continue reading →

Posted in quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment