Hitherto, both the autonomic nervous system and innate immune system were regarded as systems that cannot be voluntarily influenced. The present study demonstrates that, through practicing techniques learned in a short-term training program, the sympathetic nervous system and immune system can indeed be voluntarily influenced. Healthy volunteers practicing the learned techniques exhibited profound increases in the release of epinephrine, which in turn led to increased production of anti-inflammatory mediators and subsequent dampening of the proinflammatory cytokine response elicited by intravenous administration of bacterial endotoxin. This study could have important implications for the treatment of a variety of conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation, especially autoimmune diseases in which therapies that antagonize proinflammatory cytokines have shown great benefit.
From the Wim Hof endotoxin study. Wim practices a form of g-Tummo yoga, the same tradition as the monks studied by Benson in the OP.
Decades ago (pre-internet) I read about men that sat in caves in India and put their bodies into some super sloooooowed down state through meditation. They didn’t eat or drink water for months. If they were bitten by a venomous snake, it had no effect. It seemed like it couldn’t be real, and I never came across a mention of it again. This was some spiritual/religious practice.
The OP is about a school of Tibetan yoga called g-tummo, but there are many different schools which follow different practices and traditions, leading to different outward attainments. I can’t place exactly what you’re talking about, but those all sound like effects related to slowing down of the metabolism, which is common to most all deep meditative practices.
One interesting yogi to look up is Milarepa, if the less documented but more awe-inspiring stories strike your interest. He seems to have led an incredibly interesting life.
Richard Alpert recalls giving his guru in the Himalayas several (4?) doses of extremely potent lsd and it having no perceivable effect. Anecdotal, sure. But the secrets of the mind seem to be buried in these remote areas and disciplines.
Hah, I forget where, but I read a similar anecdote once, I can’t remember who it was about but it basically boiled down to “this was his normal state of being”.
It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some real overlap between “psychedelic” and “spiritual” phenomena. Anecdotally that seems clear, but it would always help to have some quality data. Unfortunately this kind of research threatens to upturn too much of “modern society” that it never gets funded and stays relegated to “woo”
I almost put exactly that but I couldn't remember if I read that or came to that conclusion myself.
I think that was exactly the message tho. Richard claimed the problem with acid was he always came down. He wanted to find a way to stay in that state and that search led him to the Himalayas where he met neem karoli baba, his guru. He eventually learned how to attain that state naturally through meditation, and returned to the states as Baba Ram Dass, essential preaching the path to get there.
I feel like psychedelics just show you that state of existence is real. You can get there on your own.
As Timothy Leary said regarding psychedelics, once you get the message, hang up the phone.
I bet there is too. I have read about people who can enter psychedelic mental states voluntarily and without substances, once they become familiar with them.
I can't remember where I read this anecdote, though I may if I begin writing it out - It was observed by a foreigner that some monks in the Himalayas who were building a monastery on a high up cliff, could levitate and direct large blocks up to the cliff from below using a specific orally delivered tone directed by long mouth horns of some. Maybe I read it it on a website that was talking about that Russian guy who used insect outer shells to build a levitating platform. I forget his name too. I'll update this if I remember either.
Could it be related to Coral Castle? I feel like I also read that anecdote you’re talking about, could it have been from one of u/axolotl_peyotl ‘s “high octane” posts? Sounds familiar for sure...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4034215/
From the Wim Hof endotoxin study. Wim practices a form of g-Tummo yoga, the same tradition as the monks studied by Benson in the OP.
Decades ago (pre-internet) I read about men that sat in caves in India and put their bodies into some super sloooooowed down state through meditation. They didn’t eat or drink water for months. If they were bitten by a venomous snake, it had no effect. It seemed like it couldn’t be real, and I never came across a mention of it again. This was some spiritual/religious practice.
Maybe this is something similar?
The OP is about a school of Tibetan yoga called g-tummo, but there are many different schools which follow different practices and traditions, leading to different outward attainments. I can’t place exactly what you’re talking about, but those all sound like effects related to slowing down of the metabolism, which is common to most all deep meditative practices.
One interesting yogi to look up is Milarepa, if the less documented but more awe-inspiring stories strike your interest. He seems to have led an incredibly interesting life.
Richard Alpert recalls giving his guru in the Himalayas several (4?) doses of extremely potent lsd and it having no perceivable effect. Anecdotal, sure. But the secrets of the mind seem to be buried in these remote areas and disciplines.
Hah, I forget where, but I read a similar anecdote once, I can’t remember who it was about but it basically boiled down to “this was his normal state of being”.
It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some real overlap between “psychedelic” and “spiritual” phenomena. Anecdotally that seems clear, but it would always help to have some quality data. Unfortunately this kind of research threatens to upturn too much of “modern society” that it never gets funded and stays relegated to “woo”
I almost put exactly that but I couldn't remember if I read that or came to that conclusion myself.
I think that was exactly the message tho. Richard claimed the problem with acid was he always came down. He wanted to find a way to stay in that state and that search led him to the Himalayas where he met neem karoli baba, his guru. He eventually learned how to attain that state naturally through meditation, and returned to the states as Baba Ram Dass, essential preaching the path to get there.
I feel like psychedelics just show you that state of existence is real. You can get there on your own.
As Timothy Leary said regarding psychedelics, once you get the message, hang up the phone.
I bet there is too. I have read about people who can enter psychedelic mental states voluntarily and without substances, once they become familiar with them.
I can't remember where I read this anecdote, though I may if I begin writing it out - It was observed by a foreigner that some monks in the Himalayas who were building a monastery on a high up cliff, could levitate and direct large blocks up to the cliff from below using a specific orally delivered tone directed by long mouth horns of some. Maybe I read it it on a website that was talking about that Russian guy who used insect outer shells to build a levitating platform. I forget his name too. I'll update this if I remember either.
Could it be related to Coral Castle? I feel like I also read that anecdote you’re talking about, could it have been from one of u/axolotl_peyotl ‘s “high octane” posts? Sounds familiar for sure...