My Influences: Yoga, Movement, Meditation, and More

As per requested by @kittyandcheese, I thought I'd give a bit of background on the people and things that have influenced my spiritual practice and lifestyle! @kittyandcheese requested yoga influences, but I thought I'd expand and list my influences for a few other topics. I see spirituality as all encompassing, so even things that may seem unrelated, like exercise or nutrition, have helped me on my path.

Photo by David Cohen on Unsplash

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Entheogens

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.”
― Terence McKenna

For some of you this topic may be controversial, for others it might be the strongest influence because of the direct experience involved with the consumption of entheogens. I believe entheogens, when properly taken, are one the strongest catalysts for a spiritual renaissance that we can find. They seem to be helpful in temporarily clearing away depressed and apathetic states, and bring us closer to unity.

This is where I got my start spiritually, my first experience with pscilocybin made me completely question everything that I assumed was true about how the world worked. Subsequent trips furthered that and left me searching. I started researching everything I thought might lead to answers - ancient civilizations, neuroscience, entheogen use, shamans, religion, the occult, and magic. Eventually it lead me to non-dual teachings which is where I stopped because I believe they are the fastest way to enlightenment.

There are countless ways of describing states similar to those found when using entheogens: flow, unity, ecstasis, etc. all of which can pop up in books seemingly unrelated to both entheogens and spirituality There are some major correlations with entheogen use and spirituality, I feel like they show us the potential of our consciousness, and it is up to us to raise ourselves up and meet it following the experience.

Plant Medicine I've tried:

• Psilocybin mushrooms
• Huachuma
• Vilca
• Salvia
• Cannabis

Non-Duality

“All that is necessary to awaken to yourself as the radiant emptiness of spirit is to stop seeking something more or better or different, and to turn your attention inward to the awake silence that you are.”
― Adyashanti

Non-duality put a stop to the seeking of information. Once I started reading and listening to some of the teachers I felt like all that I needed to do was apply their teachings. So I immersed myself in the material, getting to a point where the concepts of the teaching were clear and learning how to investigate my own experience. I feel that each teacher has their own way of pointing to the same thing, so i have read quite a few different books and implemented a variety of meditations into my daily life.

To me, the teachings here are just distilled/contemporary wisdom from other spiritual practices like Zen, Taoism, and Buddhism. Here are some of my influences:

• Adyashanti
• Mooji
• Jean Klein
• Rupert Spira
• Francis Lucille
• Alan Watts

Yoga

Photo by Henrique Junior on Unsplash

I didn't get into yoga until after I had glimpsed awakening. Once I did though, I found it to be an extremely useful tool in resolving mental and physical tension and clearing up my view of the world. My influences vary, the earliest I tried a yoga program was with p90X about 6 years ago, but I've also taken local classes, watched videos on youtube, like yoga with Adrienne, and explored on my own.

The most value I get is from a personal practice, just doing anything that feels helpful on my mat. I draw from other excellent movement practices as well, things like bodyweight exercises, myofascial release techniques, postural adjustments, and acupressure. I think we can get the same benefits of a traditional yoga practice doing other activities like dance and running.

I also took a lot of influence from the concept of re-tensioning muscle. The work of both Bob Cooley and Functional Patterns have influenced me, but I really think the concepts they promote are enough. I bought the 10-week course from functional patterns which I think could help most people looking to get healthy again. I have a post in the works that will talk about how I implement their ideas when practicing yoga.

Miscellaneous Books

Before I found non-dual teachings I was reading a bunch of other stuff. Books on "New Thought," the occult, neuroscience, magic, and more. Most every book I read on these odd topics seemed to have some truth in them, but nothing was as straightforward and easy to use. Here are a few books that I still find useful:

• How to Know Higher Worlds
• Initiation into Hermetics
• The Ideal Made Real
• Return to the Brain of Eden
• The Power - Can't find the link, but anything by Neville Goddard has the same basic concept
• The Secret Teachings of All Ages
• Dream Yoga
• Thought Vibrations
• DMT the Spirit Molecule
• The Biology of Transcendance
• Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm
• The Perennial Philosophy

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I Hope you all enjoyed reading about some of the influences I've had to bring me to where I am now. Maybe they can help you understand a bit more about my background.

What other kinds of posts would you guys like to see?

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If there are any particular topics you want to see from me, let me know! Otherwise, do a post on something you find interesting and I'll stop by and check it out! Here is my current "to-write" list:

• Learning to Die in Peru - Parts 2&3
• My family - Mila & Karen
• Psychadelic Use, Pros and Cons
• Running Mechanics
• Re-Tensioning The Human Musculature
• Some kind of contest