The 'magic cactus' flower: sacred peyote

(Forgotten Crops) Why does this entheogenic cactus cause magical "hallucinations"?

Higher levels of consciousness

Ancient Egyptians took psychedelic blue lily

• Peyote
• Blue water lily/lotus (Nymphaea nouchali)
• Entheogen
• Carlos Castaneda
• Psychoactive drug
• Psychedelic experience
• Shamanic "sacrament"
• Banned by Spanish Empire
• Altered state of consciousness

Nature of Mind: Why thoughts never stop

(Buddhism Podcast) The Nature of Mind: Why thoughts never stop | Buddhist Wisdom

• Maha Kaccana or Kātyāyana (Buddhist monk)
• Mental proliferation: papanca

UCLA research on Easter Island finds meaning

We have degrees in looking good in bikinis!

Scientists believe they’ve uncovered the meaning of some of the Moai stone monoliths found on Rapa Nui, better known to Westerners as "Easter Island." Here’s the truth [so far].

Here’s what readers will learn when reading this story: Scientists believe they’ve uncovered the meaning of some of the Moai (giant stone statues) stone monoliths found on Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

• The scientists analyzed soil in the vicinity of two of the Moai statues and found traces of banana, taro, and sweet potato, according to research published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
• These traces indicate the statues could have been used to celebrate the crop fertility of soils in the region.
• The famed stone monoliths that tower over the island of Rapa Nui—colloquially known as Easter Island—have puzzled scientists for centuries.
• But archeologists and soil scientists studying the ancient Moai now believe they’ve uncovered the meaning of the famous statues.
• Clues in nearby soils suggest the statues may have been placed there to celebrate the fertility of crops in the area.

Remote island research is the best kind of work

For more than three decades, Jo Ann Van Tilburg of UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) has studied the origins of the Moai along with Rapanui artist Cristián Arévalo Pakarati and other members of the local community.

They recruited soil scientist Sarah Sherwood, of the University of the South in Tennessee, to analyze the soil the base of two statues found peculiarly perched upright in the Rano Raraku quarry on the eastern part of the island, where most of the more than 1,000 Moai statues originated.

Moai create energy field around Easter Island

(The scientists suspect that work in the quarry began around A.D. 1455). The team analyzed soils at the foot of two of the structures, which archeologists believe were erected by or before A.D. 1510 to A.D. 1645, and found chemical evidence of common food crops.

The soils revealed traces of foods like taro, banana, and sweet potato, according to research published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. More

• Archaeologists found Ramesses II statue in part

Breathwork for pineal gland: open third eye

(The School of Breath) Breathing techniques (and bandhas or chakra locks) to activate pineal gland and open third eye (with instant results).

A bandha (Sanskrit बंध) is a kriyā [simple action] in Hatha Yoga, being a kind of internal mudra [disposition or pose] described as a "body lock" [1][2].

It is done to seal or lock the vital energy (prana) into a particular part of the body, such as the area of one of the spinal chakras or energy wheel centers. Bandha literally means bond, fetter, or "catching hold of" [3][4][5]. More

Mindfulness of breathing is letting go of control

Mindfulness in Plain English

It is easy to misunderstand and mistakenly think that we are being "mindful" of the breath by controlling (holding it in, exhaling out, making it long or short or like a bellows). This is completely wrong. To be mindful, we radically allow, accept, and observe it as it is, however it is. There is no attempt to control it. By watching it with great interest but noninvolvement, not wishing for it to do anything different than it is doing, we radically accept it and remain observant. This kind of watching, observing, keen interest will bring us to stillness (right-concentration, samma-samadhi, coherent all-togetherness of mind, super consciousness).

Uddiyana bandha in a Western yoga class (wiki)

Breath work, on the other hand, is manipulation of the breath (retention, expulsion, tightening, speeding up, bellowing, etc.) for some other purpose, such as wrestling it, forcing it, extending it, and so on in the play/work of yoga (union with spirit or spiritus, the "holy spirit" that is the subtle breath sometimes called pneuma or prana).

When it is time to practice mindfulness (satipatthana) of it, just watch. But keep watching no matter how fine it gets, even when it seems to disappear for stretches. Remain at the tip of the nostrils waiting for it, like a shepherd who has no need of going out to find wandering livestock, knowing that simply waiting by the waterhole, such livestock will surely return of their own accord. This sort of watching of the breath is then broadened to other parts of the

1. body
2. feelings
3. mind
4. phenomena (dhammas, not the Dhamma or Dharma).

All of this is spelled out in detail in the "Discourse on the Fourfold Setting Up of Mindfulness," popularly known as the "Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra" (Satipatthana Sutta), of which there are two, one a little longer than the other.

• The School of Breath, YouTube; Yogi Dhr. Seven and Yogini Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly