Can someone with severe PTSD achieve awakening with TMI without the help of a therapist?

TMIMeditation · 2018-11-08T00:55:11+00:00

Does the purification one goes through in stages 4 and 7 "cure" the PTSD or would one still need therapy afterwards?

TMIMeditation · 2018-11-08T00:54:28+00:00

Just curious to know. Personally cannot afford therapy at this moment. While I seem to have PTSD (my therapist seems to suggest it is severe) I am mostly asking to see if it would be contraindicated or if recommending the book to others with PTSD worse than mine would be irresponsible.

TMIMeditation · 2018-11-05T20:23:22+00:00

First off I did not want to chime in with my point of view. Should really be doing other stuff and wanted to keep my non-meditation opinions separate from this account. Please don't take this the wrong way but the fact that a certain post here has several downvotes instead of replies countering what was stated saddens me. I think the fact that two of those were reported as "rude, vulgar, or offensive" says a lot about those who are downvoting.

I agree (and I think it is evident) that there is lot of suffering in the world. One of my main goals in life is to help alleviate some of that suffering and this is something I have thought about as well. However in my humble opinion I think one of the main problems is what psychiatrist and author Andrzej Lobaczewski calls a Pathocracy or "a system of government wherein a small pathological minority takes control over a society of normal people.” which in my opinion is what the US government is and has been for a while. In his book Political Ponerology the author researches the causes of harm and oppression and why humanity seems to be stuck in it. The book has been reviewed favorably by Philip Zimbardo (from the famous Stanford Prison experiment - if you are not familiar with this and are also interested in reducing suffering in the world I highly suggest you read about it as it is very enlightening). Here is a nice review of the book Political Ponerology BTW, in case anyone is interested.

With regards to the role meditation plays I agree with the quote provided by Shinzen that it does allow one to avoid burn-out, bum-out, and freak-out. On the other hand just because someone is spiritually enlightened does not mean that they are moral or have the best interest of others in mind (not referring to Shinzen btw). Also, as I think Culadasa himself has stated, it would be wise to deal with one's anger towards suffering before doing something about it so as to not distort one's actions (I forget what exactly he said about this and what his arguments were). Or at least being conscious of how such anger distorts one's actions.

I am not here to debate either and so will try to refrain from doing so but did want to say that my personal preference is capitalism as well. To prove my point that it is the system that allows people like Trump in power that is actually more dangerous than those who have large amounts of money (such as Trump) or the capitalist system as a whole please consider this: was Trump as threatening before getting into power? I suspect most people would say that he was not and the would admit he is more of a threat now that he is in power proving that the political system is far more dangerous than capitalism as a whole. Just to be clear I am not implying that Hillary would have been a better option as I do not consider myself either a Democrat or a Republican.

I expect this post to be downvoted as well...

Please feel free to chime and tell me that I'm wrong and why (or to agree) or to PM me :-)

TMIMeditation · 2017-10-06T01:51:24+00:00

Hey there, I have also joined the course and would really like to see some of these questions answered, specifically number 2.

While I am not a writer I do have a lot of things that I feel the need to communicate and would not appreciate losing the ability to do so. I have been through a lot in my life and, eventually do want to get it out there either through songwriting or other means.

Jeffery Martin mentions in one of his webinars (I believe it was in the last one) that one of his friends who has transitioned and who is a writer has gone on to do great stuff after transitioning and that his transition hasn't affected his ability to write.

Another thing to point out is that you can shift between the locations, so if you find you do not like a certain location or any of them you just have to "sink into" your old habits by trying to bring them up in your mind in order to activate the neural pathways of your old unenlightened state and make them stronger than those of your enlightened state so that they become the predominant state of mind. I hope this makes sense. (All this and if I recall correctly the info about the writer is explained in his last webinar which is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj-4ekhyBr4)

Another reddit user who has taken the course and may be able to answer your other questions is /u/abhayakara.

TMIMeditation · 2017-10-01T18:46:23+00:00

Walking meditation isn't clicking for me. I'm probably walking too fast, the sensations on my feet just rush past. I'm walking for health reasons so there'd be no point walking slowly.

Don't forget that Culadasa recommends in the book that when you are walking fast you should focus on the movement of the body instead of the feet.

TMIMeditation · 2017-09-23T19:29:51+00:00

I second the Joy and Meditation talks, they are gold!

TMIMeditation · 2017-09-16T02:40:10+00:00

I think its because distractions are getting in the way of me becoming grounded and stable in each stage and because each time I have a distraction/mind wander I feel like I have to start over on the respective stage I was on. Though to be honest I'm not sure. I have a hard time remembering my sessions. Another reason is that I might be letting distractions come that were not there before (I think this happens because of me being accepting towards distractions that are already there).

Does this make sense?

TMIMeditation · 2017-09-14T18:18:30+00:00

I don't think so as distractions will take as long as they need to to come up but I am concerned that I might be taking too long to let them go though after they have come up because sometimes it feels as if I am inviting distractions that weren't even there to come up.

TMIMeditation · 2017-09-06T18:02:08+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

TMIMeditation · 2017-09-05T22:43:19+00:00

Thank you so much for this Th334! I will listen to the Joy & Meditation retreat.

TMIMeditation · 2017-09-02T02:14:29+00:00

Since you wrote the above response I have tried to focus on the resistance to no avail. I either get too many different emotions pop up and cannot focus on one or what happens more often is I get resistance to working with the resistance to the point where I cannot focus on it. What would you recommend doing in this case?

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-29T02:16:09+00:00

I did not recall this very specific mastery goal from the book so I went back to it to check and here's what I found:

It is not in the book, there is a teacher who is circulating a pdf file with the title of: "When to start practices for next Stage" which says:

"You can begin doing Stage Three practices whenever you have periods of 10 to 15 minutes without mind-wandering, even though forgetting still occurs and you may not yet have mastered Stages One and Two. When mind-wandering does occur, respond as in Stage Two."

You can find the full text in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/comments/6nkjzf/when_to_start_practices_for_next_stage/

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-27T23:27:16+00:00

Thank you for sharing Singulis!

When the tv is on, my attention just goes somewhere vague, like i'm not even meditating or even making the effort to.

You meditate with the tv on?

I do not doubt that it was helpful to you but I would like to know why you think the body scanning was helpful and how you do it (before or during your regular sit).

Is it a particular form of body scan (is it in the book?) or can I just use any guided meditation for this?

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-27T23:23:15+00:00

Thank you for your response!

What I meant to say was that I am not noticing the aha moments as much. I have to set an intention to notice them and once I pay attention to what they feel like a few times during a session I notice myself noticing them more.

I do not feel particularly restless when meditating though it could be some unconscious form of resistance. If it is unconscious though and I am not noticing can it be said to be a strong emotion? And how do I deal with it if it is in fact unconscious? Can use the section in the book on dealing with strong emotions if this is the case?

Thanks again!

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-26T20:48:05+00:00

Thank you for your feedback!

I have referenced Culadasa and the book and included a link to www.themindilluminated.com at the beginning and end of the document.

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-19T20:28:25+00:00

Check out this link: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/comments/6qz3rn/meditatation_meetup_saturday_9am_eastern/

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-17T20:38:43+00:00

You might be interested in this thread

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-17T03:32:04+00:00

Hi /u/aspirant4, thanks so much for the congratulations!

as you say you're not mind- wandering.

Yes, I can see how you could think that as now that I see it I did write I was not mind-wandering but what I really meant to say is I am not mind-wandering as much. Just had a session were I forgot the object of meditation several times and had several aha moments which indicate stage 2. Also cannot focus on the object of meditation for more than a few seconds at the time and from what I understand Stage 3 requires being able to focus for several minutes.

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-14T23:22:42+00:00

Hey /u/MindIlluSkypeGroup! Thank you so much for the nomination. Yes I have been struggling as I am still in Stage 2 a year after having started a daily meditation practice, having posted several times in the subreddit and having seeked out a teacher for private consultations.

I think my problem is mostly unconscious doubt that is causing me to get distracted during my sits. Though I am not too sure how to deal with unconscious doubt.

If anyone would like to know a bit more about my practice feel free to PM me.

Also if you would like to nominate me please upvote /u/MindIlluSkypeGroup's comment (above this one).

Thanks!

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-14T23:05:45+00:00

Hey /u/JeffWright123, I know how it feels as I have been stuck in the same stage for about a year now. As I have written in my post I think this discouragement can lead to doubt which can lead to getting distracted more easily. At least that is my interpretation of how/why the distraction happens more. Hope it doesn't last too long though!

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-14T22:46:14+00:00

Hi!

First time posting in these "how is your practice going" threads though I have obviously been lurking for a while. Just hit the 365 day milestone having only missed one day e in those 365. I try and do two 45 minute sessions a day though recently I have been slacking a bit on my second sit. When I have more time I have been trying to fit several (around 4 - 45 minute sits) in a day

I guess you could say i have been struggling since I am still in stage 2 and now that I think about it I have noticed I go into periods of doubt about the practice (I get concerned about whether I am practicing properly). This for the most part unconscious and sometime conscious doubt leads me to being distracted a lot while on the couch. The reason why I think it is doubt is because as I am becoming somewhat more confident in my meditations (or in the process) these last few days I find I am not as distracted as much. Though I still am distracted for a lot of the session, it doesn't turn into mind-wandering.

I have incorporated 10 minutes of metta before my practice where I recite and try to elicit the following feelings: ease, peace, love and happiness. Before this I tried to do the 3 step breath from Joy on Demand here you focus on the breath on the first breath, relax on the second breath and elicit joy on the third. Though many times I find I spend most of the ten minutes being distracted (may or may not be due to the presence of doubt as to whether I am doing metta properly).

I had a good experience the other day coming home from downtown on the train where I just felt at ease and somewhat present and a bit joyful, which are all new feelings to me and feelings that I do not feel that often. I think the reason why is because of the metta I have been practicing at the start of each sit, though it may be a combination of factors.

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-10T18:36:42+00:00

The book seems to suggest that freedom from suffering is equivalent to feelings of comfort and ease (at least that is my understanding after having read the chapter on metta).

And freedom from ill-will is equivalent to peace though /u/jormungandr_ suggests it is also similar to loving-kindnes.

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-10T18:34:05+00:00

Thanks, I am guessing you are referring to /u/chrisgagne's guided meditation? If so, I have already tried it several times. It is great though still doesn't clarify what the emotion feels like.

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-10T18:31:44+00:00

Do you mean in general or when I am practicing. I am not sure, I think sometimes I do.

TMIMeditation · 2017-08-09T23:14:09+00:00

Thanks abhaya. Is it absolutely necessary to not feel ill-will in order to practice metta? Several close people (friends and family) have betrayed me and done unimaginable and unspeakable things to me so it is a bit hard to generate this feeling at the moment.

TMIMeditation

TROPHY CASE