Edit: It's been a wild ride so far watching the votes go from the initial 1 down to -2, back up to 0, back down to -3, back up to 0, back down to -1 and so on.. Looks like this comment got zinged now too with a downvote. Thanks for the entertainment all. And yes, I'm aware it's in the HN rules to not make comments like this - consider it as peaceful protest for change.
> If our energy systems aren't flowing properly then our own magnetic field and energetic defences are prone, weak.
This is nonsense. I didn’t downvote you simply because that had already happened.
Edit: Thank you by the way.
Yes, there are studies that show acupuncture could help someone give up smoking.
But when you try to parse the reasons why, you end up saying things like "energy work", and "contemplative healing methodologies", which don't mean anything... or more precisely, they mean something to you, but every Alternative Medicine practitioner can redefine. So the words and language lose all meaning, its impossible to transfer knowledge or have a meaningful conversation without shared understanding of agreement on terms.
I might only be saying this because my aura is blocked, and my Chi isn't flowing correctly. But should I fix that with the Kundali method, Ayahusca, a copper bracelet, healing crystals, aromatherapy, or traditional cognitive therapy?
Since we're laying it out on the table, I'll comment on here about those different methods.
You won't be using the "Kundali" method (which I take it to mean "Kundalini"). That is a phenomena that is initiates a drastic transformation on the person's body and mind, and has its own way with the person. It may be induced and people can spontaneously have it kicked off.
People usually come for treatments for side-effects from that sort of spiritual emergence, and those side-effects are often knots of resistance in the mind or body.
Aura usually refers to a layer of subtle energy closer to the surface, and as such, something that as deeply transformative as Kundalini is overkill.
I can say the same about Ayahuasca. She is going to have her way with you.
Now, let's look at "chi isn't flowing correctly" and "it appears in the aura" -- which in the TCM modality would be the wei-qi, the guardian qi. The modern TCM practitioners will look at different physical symptoms and try to adjust things through acupuncture, acupressure, etc.
However, there is a smaller subset of TCM practitioners who can directly sense the flows of the qi. For those people, Metal qi feels like Metal, and it is distinct from Earth qi or Fire qi. Meridians for these people can be directly sensed within one's body and in others, and they more or less follow the pathways already documented. Through a combination of learned knowledge and intuition, there are some adjustments that can be made there.
That's not the only way. Specific qigong movements can affect specific meridians, and a specific set of qigong can be prescribed for someone to bring that person back to health.
Copper bracelet and healing crystals can have some effect. For people who can sense how those energies flow, they can tell what kind of effects that might have. (Note that not everyone is going to be able to sense in the same "spectrum"). It isn't just copper -- metal in general will change flows, and different types of metal will change them in different ways. The same with crystals. Someone who can sense these things and extract information can note the different "flavor" or "personality" of individual crystals of the same material, and that can affect someone.
I have not experimented much with aromatherapy.
Traditional cognitive therapy is interesting, and they can have an effect on people at the subtle energy level as well. That shouldn't be surprising as memory and cognition will take place in the subtle as well as the physical. It is possible that experiencing an insight in cognitive therapy will also unlock a knot in the subtle -- but it could happen the other way as well, where the loosening of the the subtle and physical body loosens up the mind enough for an insight (and attitude and behavioral changes) to emerge.
As u/hosh 's comment showed, the amount of work required to get to an agreed definition of terms, just means that these conversations are not ideal for this type of discussion board.
It is totally possible to do, but the length of each response means that these conversations are better served off line. Or with specific online communities who have already cut through a lot of the mess, to come to a shared understanding on some topics.
Sorry this is just a semantic argument, when you are trying to have a deeper one. But my only real issue with your last comment is that it is very difficult to read, and would benefit from some paragraph breaks.
Now I have to admit, that without any scientific knowledge this could sound quite plausible - but even if I, being a software engineer can't for sure reason why this is relatively impossible; I can definitely tell you that when I try to orient myself in a foreign town - I mainly pay attention to the sun, buildings and my memory, rather than general intuition (although that works too).
Before you go on an another Indian retreat - you should definitely watch "Wild Wild Country".
Because the brain works as "use it or lose it" - most of us in modern societies will never need to tap into this sense nor would it be reenforced by its use, if it is a thing for humans.
To me, it sounds like that friend didn't trust himself or his memory for whatever reason, so learned a dependance on a GPS navigator as a coping mechanism.
Re: General intuition - It could be that general intuition is simply trusting yourself, trusting that you're already paying attention to your surroundings (and being relaxed enough to take it all in), fully in the present moment - so in the case you reference, you subconsciously are aware of the sun's location, buildings, memory, etc.
I've never been to India - all yoga has been practiced locally, and ceremonies I've attended were within a few hours drive - sounds like an interesting documentary.
Thanks for sharing.
I don't know if it is because of the general contours of the land, or what, but I've heard this from a number of people around here. But no one can explain (or even show scientifically) that they can always find the Lake.
I have also directly experienced stuff that is not so easily explainable, and work with it regularly. No, I can't sense the magnetic fields like that so directly, though I know roughly how to develop skills like that.
I don't think whole area of consciousness and subtle energy is ever going to be scientifically valid. I think they touch on things that are replicable, but not objectively verifiable. There are very real lived experiences of those, and sometimes we can find foot prints left behind by people who walked that way. Generally, you won't know until you walk that way too.
> Human cryptochrome exhibits light-dependent magnetosensitivity
> "Humans are not believed to have a magnetic sense, even though many animals use the Earth's magnetic field for orientation and navigation. One model of magnetosensing in animals proposes that geomagnetic fields are perceived by light-sensitive chemical reactions involving the flavoprotein cryptochrome (CRY). Here we show using a transgenic approach that human CRY2, which is heavily expressed in the retina, can function as a magnetosensor in the magnetoreception system of Drosophila and that it does so in a light-dependent manner. The results show that human CRY2 has the molecular capability to function as a light-sensitive magnetosensor and reopen an area of sensory biology that is ready for further exploration in humans."
> https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1364
And I have heard of studies getting some effect by looking at people's orientation when lost, with and without big magnets strapped to their head, though I don't seem to be able to find it just now.
Yes, I have heard of teachers that would contra-indicate on people with schizophrenia as well. It's kinda hard to tell though. I was once in a Ayahuasca ceremony where many of the people were convinced someone was having a psychotic break ... but the person in question didn't seem to me to be acting in a way that I hadn't experienced. (That is, I was that person, playing that role before, having a rough ride). The person's inner experience was totally different than what everyone else was experiencing, and was expressing a lot of gratitude.
There are a lot of dark stuff buried in individuals and in the collective. Even just meditating will surface those things up. (Then again, something Adyashanti said in a podcast ... you go looking for content, you will find it. It's endless).
However, I also think that our modern notions of schizophrenia does not serve us well:
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/08/22/shaman-sees-mental-hos...
(There was a followup article interviewing the father of the young man in question, but I don't remember enough keywords to find it easily).
And no, I won't discount the magnetic field thing. I've got too many encounters with subtle energy and their effects, and work with them myself. I don't know if those subtle energies can necessarily be modeled mechanistically (I think the whole modern take on TCM and meridians a fool's errand since the body meridians lay in the etheric, whereever that is, and not really where the tangible flesh lay).
Thing is, until a large portion of the collective directly experiences it, the consensus algorithm in which our collective consciousness converges upon what is "real" will reject it. That's fine though.