I was wondering if anyone had any specific diet, supplement, practice, etc that they have found particularly helpful that they would like to share.
Hi KingMe. Thank you for this topic.
I can only speak for myself regarding diet and supplements in connection with meditation -- which have been incredibly rewarding, for me. Everyone is an explorer and will find their own paths ... which might be 180-degrees different than mine.
Diet:I've been a vegetarian for 45 years ... and pretty much a vegan in the last 20 years. Most of the food I eat has been organic that I grew myself, in my own back yard. But I'm no stick in the mud, as I'll enjoy junk food from time to time (as long as its vegetarian) -- especially when around family and friends who don't give a crap about what they eat.
For me, the diet has proven to produce great health as I've not been sick in 45 years and have only seen a doctor once (and that was for a vacectomy).
The diet has also produced no physical and psychic stress, and has encouraged my body-mind-emotions to be naturally calm ... which allows me to meditate for hours in a wide-awake, alert and relaxed state of being.
Supplements: Until a month ago, I've not taken supplements at all. And, the supplements that I'm taking now, are not for reasons of health, but as an experiment to see if they cast an influence over the subtle psychic mechanisms experienced during meditation. I came up with this combination of 3 supplements during research of ethnobotanicals.
I found that the combination below casts positive influences for me, during meditation. The supplements are safe, vegetarian, and are found in most good-sized grocery and drug stores -- fairly inexpensive, too. Take on an empty stomach, 1/2 hour before beginning meditation. I'm 175 lbs and so please adjust your dose according to your weight:
100 mg tablet of 5-HTP
500 mg tablet of Magnesium
100 mg tablet of Niacin
5-HTP is made from the seeds of an African plant called Griffonia simplicifolia. When digested it raises serotonin levels in the brain (a neurotransmitter that relays signals between brain cells). Serotonin helps regulate mood and behavior, and has a positive effect on sleep, reduction of anxiety as well as appetite, and soothes pain sensations.
Magnesium is for general relaxation. I probably don't need it in this combination, but I tossed it in just for backup. I believe it has a more enduring effect, as compared to 5-HTP. The long-lasting effect is beneficial as I'll meditate from 3 to 6 hours in the wee hours of every morning (between midnight to sunrise).
Niacin (aka B3) calms the nervous system while increasing blood flow. It open small arteries and capillaries, and raises the electrical potential in cells. You may get quite a tingly physical rush when the niacin kicks in, which is good. A niacin rush can really make you wake up and be sensitive to the most delicate inner experiences.
I think that most people who take this combination will not be consciously aware of its effects. But for those meditators who easily float in the silence and emptiness of the Universe within, as if it is their original nature -- will probably sense a lovely, soft relaxation of the energies in what I call the "Transition Zone."
The Transition Zone is a place that you experience during meditation, when you are wide awake and ultimately relaxed, completely focused inside ... you are a functional center of awareness floating in infinite inner space. There are none of the common bold conscious thoughts, dreams, imagination and memories ... but of course, you can't stop them all (especially the tiniest softest ones) nor do you try. And so as you, the Presence, is floating there in the timeless emptiness ... a soft little thought is born, it lives for a while, then it disappears back into the infinite silence.
And so the Transition Zones are the 2 spaces where you have your attention at both ends of the thought -- the beginning, or birth of a thought -- and the space where the thought disappears. Your attention
transitions from being focused purely in experiencing the serenity of the emptiness within, then it begins observing the thought, you experience the complete life-cycle of the thought, memory, or imaginative movie, then the thought disappears ... and finally your attention effortlessly returns to floating unattached in the exquisite silence.
Of course the idea in meditation is to not attach your attention and energies to the thought ... and simply let it go. Let it live for a while and then disappear into the infinite vastness, within.
Again: in my ongoing, repeat experiences during meditation, that combination of supplements cast subtle relaxation energies across the organs of inner perception, during the Transitions Zone experiences.
Topic: Supplement Recommendations? (Read 1839 times)
November 29, 2008, 08:34:46 AM