From this picture, you may be thinking that I was ready and confident going into my first Ayahuasca ceremony. But this was not the case at all. I was very nervous and had no idea what to expect. I really don’t blame myself because I was in the middle of the Amazon rain forest, where the closest form of normal civilization was miles away, and I was about to take one of the most powerful hallucinogenic substance known on Earth, with people and Shamans I had just met. Luckily for me, some of my family members were with me which gave me comfort, but I knew they were just as nervous as me.

I did do extensive research on Ayahuasca and knew the ins and outs of it. I also did read up on hundreds of experiences to get a feel of what to expect. I realized now that this did not help me prepare much and I really had no idea what I was getting into.

MY FIRST CEREMONY:

It was dark. Sounds of animals were emanating from the jungle around me. I went into the maloka (a place where ceremonies were held) and waited my turn to take a shot of Ayahuasca. It had a deep, dark red color to it and tasted horrible. Imagine drinking boiled tree bark. I was sitting there waiting for the trip to come on. After about 15 minutes I could hear the jungle sounds getting more and more vivid. I was becoming more and more aware of how much stuff was actually going on around me. The jungle noises were furthering my experience. The birds, insects, monkeys and whatever else was out there created a jungle symphony. It was like I was aware of the jungle and it was aware of me.

Then things started to get a tad bit insane. I started to see these tribal snake like patterns. The only way to describe these visions would be to say that there were these intense, vivid, colors behind my eyes. But it wasn’t like watching TV, I was fully immersed in these visions and at the time seemed as real as reality itself. These snakes started to wrap around my body and I started feeling this immense pressure in my body and in my forehead region. It was as if these tribal, vivid colored snakes were squeezing my body. Surprisingly I was not too frightened by this, but it was very intense, uncomfortable, and a lot to handle.


Then I started to really lose my grip on reality. I was freaking out. This all was too much to handle. After this point I am not sure if the events are in correct order; I just have memories of extremely intense moments. The Icaros (songs shaman's sing) had not begun yet, and I was waiting for it. It felt like eternity, and I was thinking this whole thing was a sham. I kept asking in my head why they weren’t singing. I started losing my grip on reality. I was lost in this crazy world of absolute darkness, and did not have a ground on reality. I was terrified. Then the Icaros began. It was very odd and profound at first. I was wondering how someone could sing something so beautifully, but I was still freaking out. I was thinking there must be a mic and speakers somewhere I couldn’t see. My senses were extremely heightened and this could have led me to think this.

Then things started to get really insane. Keep in mind that during an Ayahuasca ceremony you lose your perception of time. Everything got magnified by a billion. When I say everything I am referring to everything in my awareness. Every thought I had was leading me to the exact same feeling of being magnified a billion times. I completely lost my sense of reality and had no idea where I was. I was stuck in some cycle and I felt like I was going around a race track at the speed of light, over and over again. To say it was extremely overwhelming would be an understatement. At this point, I was terrified and I thought I would be stuck in this loop forever. It truly felt like an eternity. While all of this was happening, I was also throwing up vigorously, and moaning at the top of my lungs. It felt as if my insides were my outsides and my outsides were my insides, almost like I was turning inside out from within.

The more I yelled, the more I would hear a voice telling me to be quiet, and calm, saying I was disturbing others. The more I heard this voice, the more I wanted to yell. It was just pure insanity. I had no idea where this voice was coming from or who was speaking. It was like a roller-coaster ride, and I kept moaning as I was launched higher and higher. There was such a vivid smell of the Ayahuasca coming out of my body when I was throwing up. It was almost kind of nice, and I will never forget that smell. I kept trying to find peace, but I couldn’t. It was too overwhelming, and I couldn’t handle it. I would moan, throw up vigorously, be so overwhelmed, throw up some more, cry, and then laugh about how I was stuck in this cycle. It really felt like an eternity. A voice told me to focus on the Icaros. As I did, it guided me through, but I could not focus on it with all my effort. My reality was too distorted.



It felt like an eternity. Finally, I started getting moments of peace, and when I found that first moment of peace, I knew everything was okay and that I was fine. I was still going through this cycle, but I had moments of peace. These moments of peace were getting longer and longer. I finally felt this calm feeling. It was okay, and I was okay. Then I was getting a grip of myself. I started drifting toward reality. The rest of the trip was pretty smooth. I kept thanking Richardo (the Shaman) in my head for guiding me through this and making it easier. I was so grateful that I had a grip on reality. I became tranquil. I was like “wow, how did I survive that?” I was so glad I did.

The ceremony finished. I walked outside, and it was so bright. The moon and stars illuminated the atmosphere. I started to understand that I had to focus on myself and not worry about others. This worry from my experience was what I do subtly in real life— worry about what other people are thinking too much. I feel like this is why my experience was extremely rough. Ayahuasca was cleaning me of that. Apparently I was only going through that cycle of throwing-up and moaning for about 15 minutes. To me it felt like I was stuck in that cycle for eternity. I went to bed but couldn’t fall asleep properly until the sun rose.

I was in Peru for 9 days and partook in 5 ayahuasca ceremonies. My trip to Peru completely transformed me and the way I view life. It was a very difficult, terrifying and uncomfortable experience to say the least but the gains I got from it heavily outweighed the pains. I really understood myself more on a whole new level and developed this sense of inner peace which is still growing till this day. This is just a brief overview of what happened in my first ceremony. I went a lot deeper into the experiences in the ceremonies that followed.


You can check out my book “Trip to the Infinite – The Ayahuasca Experience” available on amazon.com to learn more about what ayahuasca is; how it affects your mind, body, and soul; my detailed ceremony reports explaining what exactly happened to me in the South American Jungle; and the ways in which I transformed afterwards.

I also included some ways to prepare if you are looking to have an ayahuasca experience of your own.


Author : Amar Sahota, http://asahota.com/




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India is the only place where our gods must dance. If they cannot dance they cannot be a god! This is because the closest analogy you can give to the phenomenon of creation, is that it is like a dance. Today, modern physicists are using such words – they say creation seems to be in a dance. If you observe a dance, on the surface, there seems to be no logical coherence to what is happening. But if you look closely enough, there is a very profound system to the whole process.

Creation seems to be absolutely random and accidental, but with closer observation, everything seems to be synchronized in some way.


For example, in Indian classical dance, the dancer may seem to be just moving their hands and legs about at random. On the surface, there seems to be nothing to it. But if you watch closely enough, there is a very deep coherence to everything that is happening. If that coherence was absent, you would not enjoy the dance. To be able to do seemingly illogical things like throwing your hands and legs around, but still have an absolute coherence to everything that you want to depict takes years of training and practice. If the dance has that geometric aesthetic, it will impact the viewers in a certain way, though they may not know the story or understand what the dance is. The same goes for music in a different dimension.

Physicists are also coming to this. Creation seems to be absolutely random and accidental, but with closer observation, everything seems to be synchronized in some way. There is some kind of coherence to everything, which they are still not able to figure out. The only reason yoga is even possible is because there is a coherence between the individual life and the larger manifestation of creation. If there was no coherence, you couldn’t become one. There would be no possibility of union if there was no coherence.


Microcosm and Macrocosm

One of the theories that is being thrown around in science over the last few years is Constructal theory. What they say is that whether you take an atom, a human being, an elephant or the cosmos – the fundamental design is the same. It is only the complexity that increases in sophistication.

"We said anda, pinda, and brahmanda – the ingredient that makes this life, the individual person, and the cosmos – are three manifestations of the same thing."

This is something we have always said in yoga. The microcosm and the macrocosm are essentially the same design. It is from this that the yogic practices began. We said anda, pinda, and brahmanda – the ingredient that makes this life, the individual person, and the cosmos – are three manifestations of the same thing. They are all in the same synchronicity. And because it is the same design, you can put one into the other. You can eat a carrot and make it into a human being because it is the same design.

So, the nearest analogy and the closest description you can give for the way the cosmos is functioning is that it is a dance, because it all seems to be at random, but there is perfect organization and synchronicity behind it. It is just that most people’s idea of organization is too intellectual and divisive. For example, let’s take a nice, manicured garden and a forest. A garden means everything is organized. A forest means no organization. But if you don’t attend to the garden for three months, it will be gone. But a forest can live for millions of years without your attention. So which would you consider as better organization?

Nataraja – The Cosmic Dancer

So, because creation is a dance, we said the divine is a dancer. If he is not a dancer, how could he make this dance happen? When we say Shiva is Nataraja, we are not talking about an individual dancing. You might have noticed that in the depiction of Nataraja, there is a circle around him. The circle is always the symbol of the cosmos because when anything moves, the most natural form that happens in the existence is a circle. Anything that happens by itself is a circle or an ellipsoid – which is a slightly distorted circle –because a circle is the shape of least resistance. The planet, the moon, the sun, these are all circles.

This is why the circle around Nataraja symbolizes the cosmos. He is a cosmic dancer. That is how he is always described. This is not about an individual dancing across the cosmos. We are saying the cosmos is in a dance and the dance is guided by a certain intelligence. Since we are individuals and we understand everything as separate life forms, we individualize it as Nataraja for our own perception. The word “Shiva” literally means “that which is not” or “that which is nothing”. It is nothing, it is empty space, but it is dancing. Because it is dancing, everything is happening.

Become the Dance!

You cannot understand the dance because everything that you understand will only be a wrong conclusion. But you can experience the aesthetic of the dance, or you can become the dance. If you experience the beauty of the dance by observation, we say you are a seeker. In society, you may be called by different names – maybe a scientist – but still you are a seeker. You want to know what it is, so you are paying attention. If you become the dance, you become the divine, you become a yogi.



Author/Source : Sadhguru/Isha Yoga

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Why you should learn more about vaporization?

Vaporization is becoming more and more popular in Europe and has been a smashing hit for a while now in USA, Canada, Holland and UK. Unfortunately, it's still hard to find reliable information about vaporization. We want to explain in this article why vaporization has become so popular and why it's worth getting to know it better.

If you're reading this text, you probably use marijuana. And if you do, you've probably heard of vaporization before. Vaporization is a process during which the temperature of herbs is raised up to 180-220 degrees Celsius and the active substances from marijuana – cannabinoids – get released in the form of vapor. What's most important – the herbs don't get burnt so while vaping, you don't inhale any tar substances, carbon monoxide or other toxins (including the carcinogenic ones), which is the case whenever you smoke.



What do you gain when you vaporize?

What if someone told you that you can reduce the absorption of harmful substances released during smoking by 99%? And that you can forget about smoker's cough, the morning phlegm accumulation or blocked lungs?

When you switch to vaporization, you notice a significant improvement in the condition of your lungs. Thanks to vaporization, the inhalation of cannabinoids from the herbs doesn't influence the state of your lungs or your circulatory system so you can enjoy the beneficial properties of the plants with no harm to your health.


Remember about the savings

Every person who smokes regularly knows that the expenses related to the herbs can badly affect the budget. And if I told you that you could reduce those expenses by half? You can achieve it thanks to the high efficiency of vaporization! First of all, when you smoke, a part of the cannabinoids goes to waste because they undergo the process called pyrolysis in the high temperature. As a result, you only absorb a quarter of the cannabinoids contained in marijuana. When you vape, there is no pyrolysis, which allows you to absorb as much as 80% of the substances. What's more, when you smoke, the herbs are lit up and are getting burnt even between the drags, which doesn't happen the in the case of vaporization. This means that vaporization is much more effective than smoking – you get much stronger results with the same amount of herbs. What follows, if you want to get the same result as when you smoke, you need to load your vaporizer with a much smaller amount of herbs. That's why you should remember that vaporization = savings. The amount of herbs you'll buy can drop almost by half!

Unforgettable experience

When you read about vaporization, you can see comments saying that you will only get to know the real flavor of marijuana once you vaporize it. And that's true. The majority of the terpenes – the chemical compounds that carry the flavor and aroma – gets damaged by the high temperature when you smoke herbs. In the case of vaporization, the temperature is much lower, which lets you enjoy the delicate flavor of your favorite type of marijuana.

Another very important advantage is the lack of smoke, which makes vaporization a very discreet process. What does it mean exactly? The aroma of the vapor disappears almost immediately when you vape outside and it stays in the room for not more than a few minutes. It doesn't get absorbed by your clothes or furniture and it doesn't bother your curious neighbours. It goes without saying that it's a huge benefit adds expert from online store VapeFully.

Switching from smoking to vaping equals a wide range of benefits, related not only to your health and your budget but also to the quality of the inhalation experience and the possibility to keep your habit inconspicuous. The best part is that all you need to enjoy these aspects is a vaporizer. As long as you choose a good quality device, you will be able to take advantage of the easy and comfortable vaporization of cannabinoids from your herbs.


Don't use low-quality vaporizers!

Even though vaporization is quite a recent fashion in Europe, the market is already full of devices that differ not only in terms of prices, but also the performance, the quality of finish and the materials they are made of. While choosing a vaporizer, you must remember that the cheaper models – as tempting as they might be due to the price – are not able to guarantee all the benefits we mentioned above. What's more, the low quality of the materials they are made of can pose danger to your health. And obviously, everybody wants to inhale the aromatic vapor from marijuana, rather than the fumes of melted plastic or – in some more extreme cases – lead and mercury. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you use some cheaper models that are so popular on the online auction platforms. The danger related to the usage of such devices results from the fact that the cheapest vaporizers are made of the cheapest subassemblies (it's logic) that have little resistance to high temperatures required for vaporization. Still, many stores fail to pay attention to the quality of the products they sell and they offer both great quality vaporizers and some cheap ones that may be simply dangerous to your health. A beginner has no clue how to tell the difference between a safe device and one that will not only underperform but also do harm to the health. That's why when you choose your first vaporizer, go to a store that sells only tested and safe models and that offers professional assistance.



No risk purchase

Whether you choose a portable or a desktop vaporizer or you decide to get a convection or conduction device, depends entirely on you. I can recommend store that sell only safe devices – www.VapeFully.com. Other stores, unfortunately, offer – among others – some models of a very low quality (e.g. Titan 2 Hebe or Snoop Dogg G-Pen), while with the above-mentioned store you don't run this risk. From my experience, I can tell you that the staff in VapeFully are helpful and they know what they are talking about. That's why I can recommend this one with a clear conscience. You don't have to worry about the warranty either – store is authorised seller so the products you buy are protected with the manufacturer's warranty.

Remember that you are only one step away from being able to enjoy all the above mentioned benefits. Health, discreteness, amazing vapor flavor, savings and – above all – pleasure! What more could you ask for?


VapeFully

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