Author Archives: Senior Researcher

Body Hack VIII: Using Blowfish To Cure Hangover Symptoms

This post has to do with a recently FDA approved over the counter drug called “Blowfish” which is supposed to be able to reduce the symptoms of a hangover after a big night of drinking alcohol. I remember seeing articles about Blowfish last year and I always thought that it was a smart little trick that one should have if they drink a lot.

The official site for Blowfish is HERE. You can ever try out the pill free for yourself. I wanted to post only 1 great article I found on the review and analysis of this hangover pill. There are many other articles but I chose the specific article because I felt it was  a little more informative and objective in analysis than the others.

From ABC NEWS  . For other reviews, go to Daily Mail UK and EMaxHealth

‘Blowfish’ for Hangovers: Cure or Red Herring?

Katie Moisse

By Katie Moisse
@katiemoisse

An Alka-Seltzer-like tablet that claims to cure hangovers is set to hit New York City drug stores in January.

The tablet, called “Blowfish,” combines aspirin, caffeine and an antacid to fight the headache, fatigue and upset stomach typical after a night of drinking. When dropped into a glass of water, it fizzes up a lemony brew that packs the hangover-fighting power of two extra-strength aspirins, three espressos and a greasy breakfast.

“It’s the only over-the-counter drug that’s specifically hangover related,” Blowfish creator Brenna Haysom told ABC News. “The [Food and Drug Administration] has specifically said our formula is effective for treating hangover symptoms.”

The FDA did not immediately return ABC News’ requests for a comment. Contrary to recent headlines, the agency did not approve the drug. Because the over-the-counter formula combines drugs that are already approved, it didn’t have to. It does, however, regulate the manufacturing process and the drug’s packaging.

“Like all drug packaging, it has a lot of warnings for people with certain conditions,” said Haysom, describing the health risks of aspirin – a blood-thinner – for people with bleeding conditions.  “And pregnant women should not take it, but hopefully they don’t need to be taking it!”

A hangover is a collection of symptoms that emerge when alcohol’s intoxicating effects start to wear off. Research on hangover treatments is scarce, but alcohol is thought to trigger an inflammatory response – a process blocked by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin. The inflammatory response is similar to the body’s defense against flu, and is linked to lethargy – an energy lull boosted by caffeine. Finally, the chemicals produced by the body to break alcohol down are hard on the stomach – collateral damage tempered by an antacid.

But it’s unclear whether Blowfish, which contains acetylsalicylic acid and citric acid — both of which could mitigate some of its stomach-soothing effects — is better than the age-old hangover remedy: Aspirin and a cup of coffee.

“Almost no research at all has been done on the hangover state,” said Dr. Timothy Collins, associate professor of medicine and neurology at Duke University Medical Center’s Pain and Palliative Care Clinic. “One of the things we know from headache clinical trials is that at least 25 percent of patients getting a placebo say it worked really well for them. One in four people are going to say this helps, but we just don’t know.”

A two-tablet dose of Blowfish (which is what the makers recommend for a typical hangover) contains 1,000 milligrams of aspirin, 120 milligrams of caffeine 816 milligrams of sodium and 25.2 milligrams of phenylalanine. The makers, West Village-based Rally Labs, are so convinced of their product’s hangover-quashing effects they offer a money-back guarantee.

“People are skeptical because there have been so many weird hangover cures over the years,” said Haysom, describing herbal hangover remedies not controlled by the FDA. “Word of mouth is really important for us.”

Other purported hangover treatments have to be taken before a night of drinking – a forethought that doesn’t always come easy.

“Out of personal experience, the worst hangover is the one you didn’t expect on a morning you have to do stuff,” said Haysom, who abandoned her job in finance to create Blowfish. “It really came out of my own experience of wanting to go out but having to work really hard the next morning.”

Because it’s marketed as a hangover treatment, Blowfish has sparked worries that people might be more inclined to drink too much.

“Anything you advertise as being effective is going to be seen in some areas as promoting the overindulgence,” said Collins. “There’s this perception that if you drink too much and have a hangover, you deserve it.”

Blowfish is already sold at Ricky’s in New York City, and will be sold nationally early next year.

Mind Hack V: Using Qualification, Commitment And Consistency, And Breaking Rapport To Make People Like You More

I decided not to leave this post empty because the techniques, ideas, and methods I would have given out would be too powerful and dangerous for most people to learn or have. The techniques have been used in the past in social engineering, to manipulate other people, and do evil actions.

Maybe one day I will come back and write (and/or copy and paste) this article about how these things are done but just not right now.

Body Hack VII: Using Sodium Pentothal, Sodium Thiopental Or “Truth Serum” To Induce People To Tell You The Truth

The first thing that might go through your might when you first read the title is something like “Bullshit”, or “No way”. If you ever wanted to get the truth out of a person, and make them more receptive and talkative, this was the chemical of use for a long time.

From the wikipedia article about the compound HERE…

Sodium thiopental

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone sodium, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anaesthetic. Thiopental is a core medicine in the World Health Organization’s “Essential Drugs List”, which is a list of minimum medical needs for a basic healthcare system. It is also usually the first of three drugs administered during most lethal injections in the United States.

Barbiturates

Main article: Barbiturate

Barbiturates are a class of drugs that act on the GABAA receptor in the brain and spinal cord. The GABAA receptor is an inhibitory channel that decreases neuronal activity, and barbiturates enhance the inhibitory action of the GABAA receptor. Barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and alcohol all bind to the GABAA receptor. Barbiturates that act on the barbiturate binding site of the GABAA receptor directly gate the chloride ion channel of the GABAA receptor, whereas benzodiazepines acting on the benzodiazepine site on the GABAA receptor increase the opening frequency of the chloride ion channel. This explains why overdoses of barbiturates may be lethal whereas overdoses of benzodiazepines alone are typically not lethal. Another explanation is that barbiturates can activate GABA receptors in the absence of the GABA molecule, whereas benzodiazepines need GABA to be present to have an effect: this may explain the more widespread effects of barbiturates in the central nervous system. Barbiturates have anesthetic, sedative, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant and hypnotic properties. Barbiturates do not have analgesic effects.

Uses

Anesthesia

Thiopental is an ultra-short-acting barbiturate and has been used commonly in the induction phase of general anesthesia. Its use in the United States and elsewhere has been largely replaced with that of propofol. Following intravenous injection the drug rapidly reaches the brain and causes unconsciousness within 30–45 seconds. At one minute, the drug attains a peak concentration of about 60% of the total dose in the brain. Thereafter, the drug distributes to the rest of the body and in about 5–10 minutes the concentration is low enough in the brain such that consciousness returns.

A normal dose of thiopental (usually 4–6 mg/kg) given to a pregnant woman for operative delivery (caesarian section) rapidly makes her unconscious, but the baby in her uterus remains conscious. However, larger or repeated doses can depress the baby.[citation needed]

Thiopental is not used to maintain anesthesia in surgical procedures because, in infusion, it displays zero-order elimination kinetics, leading to a long period before consciousness is regained. Instead, anesthesia is usually maintained with an inhaled anesthetic (gas) agent. Inhaled anesthetics are eliminated relatively quickly, so that stopping the inhaled anesthetic will allow rapid return of consciousness. Thiopental would have to be given in large amounts to maintain an anesthetic plane, and because of its 11.5–26 hour half-life, consciousness would take a long time to return.

In veterinary medicine, thiopental is used to induce anesthesia in animals. Since thiopental is redistributed to fat, certain breeds of dogs – primarily the sight hounds – can have accelerated recoveries from thiopental due to their lack of body fat and their lean body mass. Similarly, overweight or obese animals will have prolonged recoveries from thiopental. Thiopental is always administered intravenously, as it can be fairly irritating; severe tissue necrosis and sloughing can occur if it is injected incorrectly into the tissue around a vein.

Truth serum

Thiopental (Pentothal) is still used in some places as a truth serum to weaken the resolve of the subject and make them more compliant to pressure.[21] The barbiturates as a class decrease higher cortical brain functioning. Some psychiatrists hypothesize that because lying is more complex than telling the truth, suppression of the higher cortical functions may lead to the uncovering of the truth. The drug tends to make subjects loquacious and cooperative with interrogators; however, the reliability of confessions made under thiopental is questionable. Sodium thiopental features as a truth serum in several Hollywood films, in comics and other literature, and even in popular music.

Me: Now we see from another source, the io9 on what they say

….Like heroin, sodium pentothal is a brand name. The drug was manufactured and trademarked by Abbott Laboratories, and its free-for-all name is sodium thiopental. It’s a barbiturate, a drug that acts on the central nervous system, which it depresses to calm anxiety, induce drowsiness, eliminate pain, and sometimes entirely knock someone out. That is not why it’s become world famous. Sodium pentothal made its name in detective, spy, and pulp novels, where it was famously used as a ‘truth serum.’ Novelists weren’t making it up. Psychiatrists and police officers both swore by it in the first half of the twentieth century – but whether it which of its powers were fact and which were fiction is still debated.

But Does It Work?

Well, it might. If someone is dead set against telling your their secrets it might make them so disoriented that they’ll spill something. It’s just that, to make it at all effective, you have to positively know what you’re looking for already, because if they tell you that, they’ll generally tell you a lot of other things as well. And you’ll have to work on your tone, because someone under the influence of any of the ‘truth drugs’ will most likely tell you what you want to hear. The drugs make people a little more obliging, but mostly they suppress the parts of the brain that have to kick into gear if a person is to assess what’s wrong with a question, articulate it, and assert themselves to their questioner. It’s easier just to let their imagination go with the flow and tell the questioner exactly what they want to hear.

That is not a problem if all the questioner wants is a confession, right or wrong. If they want information, though, sorting out a person being honest, being imaginative, misunderstanding the question, and outright lying because it’s easier, is tough to do. One of the reasons Multiple Personality Disorder was nailed down as only being cause by severe child abuse is Doctor Wilbur insisting that that was the only cause. Earlier patients mentioned mildly traumatic events in childhood but not necessarily direct abuse, nor was that trauma the only cause of the split in personality. Wilbur then founded an organization which trained therapists to use drugs and hypnosis and probe for childhood abuse. After many leading questions, patients would finally go along with what their therapists were saying, the therapist would declare that a memory had finally be recovered, and the cause of the illness would be reinforced. Recovered memory abuse would range from Sybil’s false memory of being flown to (occupied) Holland during World War II to help an English officer smuggle out his wife, all while in the persona of a twelve-year-old, to fantastic stories of Satanic cults sacrificing humans inside regular towns. When cases against parents started falling through, and lawsuits started piling up, truth drugs fell from favor fast. Meanwhile, when the Supreme Court declared that confessions under the influence were coerced, which was unconstitutional, and the easy confessions turned into a lot of freed prisoners, with occasional scrambles to collect old evidence.

In the end, sodium pentothal proved useless not because no one could get information, but because everyone could get too much. It gave questioners information in endless streams that were near-impossible to sort into fact and fiction. It dangled exactly the reply people wanted in front of them, but made anyone who was informed about the drug question if it was only there because they wanted it. It can’t offer any certainty that information gotten out of a person was anything more than fantasy. And since certainty is what ‘truth serum’ is supposed to be all about, then it definitively fails.

Me: I guess I was wrong and maybe should change the title of the article. It seems that the chemical compound can not really get the truth from someone else, mainly because the person will indeed become more talkative, but in the pricess will say many things and the person asking the question will not be able to separate the answers they want from the other things the person being questioned says.

Mind Hack IV: Using Neuro-Linguistic Programming Swish Pattern Technique to Remove Negative And Traumatic Past Memories And Thoughts Instantly

One of the most common technique from the study of Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the Swish Pattern Technique. The article posted below is from the Personal Development Planet

What is the NLP Swish Pattern?

(in English, please…)

The objective of this article is to introduce you to the NLP Swish Pattern, which allows you to install an automatic, positive response to a certain stimuli – which has previously provided you with a negative outcome.

Ah, simple! Hmm… as with much of NLP, this sounds like jargon. To put it better, an NLP Swish Pattern is a cheat to acting ideally in a situation that you generally under-perform in. Think selling, getting fit, chatting up members of the opposite sex, speaking to groups, asking for a pay rise, eating healthily – even sex. All can be improved with this little gem of a technique.

The aim of this article is to demystify the Swish Pattern – and demonstrate the numerous benefits and applications of using it. In the next article, I’ll show you How To Use the NLP Swish Pattern.

By using this technique, you’ll embed a new automatic and positive response into your subconscious – which means that no conscious thought or willpower is required to make the new response permanent. You’ll just start to act in the new way you decide. This can be a little overwhelming a first, but you’ll soon get over the shock and start enjoying your new behaviour.

How Does the Swish Pattern Work?

You act the way you do now in any given situation because your subconscious believes it is the most appropriate way for you to act, based on all your years of experience.

If you’ve been highly confident, assured, charismatic and utterly bedazzling throughout your life, you’re in for an absolute treat – your subconscious will make you act like this on demand.

For the rest of us, who have ballsed up in epic proportion over the years – embarrassing ourselves in front of strangers, the opposite sex, friends, Romans, countrymen and everyone in-between… Well, this is a technique that can help.

When you next find yourself in a situation that used to cause you to under-perform, rather than thinking about all your past failures, mishaps and misdemeanours – and living them out again – with the NLP Swish Pattern a new and compelling image will fly into your brain at breakneck speed – of you feeling brilliant, confident and performing at your best. It’s fair to say that it’s much more likely that you will perform to your potential if this is the case!

What Makes You Act The Way You Do?

To perform at your best in the future, first you will have to find out whichexact external stimulus triggers you to act a certain way – and then we will arm this trigger with a new, improved picture of yourself that helps you to act in the way you want to.

For example, if you want to exercise more, you can use the NLP Swish Pattern to change a dread of the gym into an excited desire to work out. When you think of the gym, what used to be an image of you struggling on the treadmill – sweating, hyper-ventilating, exhausted and miserable – will be replaced with a picture of you after the gym – grinning, buzzing off endorphins and feeling brilliant about yourself for being such a wonderfully motivated and healthy human being. Having this pop into your head at the moment you make the decision whether to go to the gym or not is sometimes all it takes to get you there – and at the very least, it will be a gentle kick up the backside.

Another example is if you constantly snack on crisps, chocolate or other unhealthy crap. You can use the Swish Pattern to replace the desire for unhealthy grub with a craving for healthy fruit and vegetables – even exercise. I kid you not – it actually works, and I’ve tried it out on myself and a fair few friends.

One girl used to love her chocolate, for example. She loved it so much, I couldn’t even get a bite. Now, when she thinks of eating a chocolate bar, an image of her feeling happy, healthy and utterly amazing flies into her brain – instantly cancelling the urge for the snack. Best of all, I inherited all of her surplus stock.

What Can I Use The Swish Pattern For?

You can use the this technique for pretty much any situation which is causing you grief.

It should be noted, however, that I’ve found it most effective for relatively “small” changes, rather than gigantic life-altering 180 degree turnarounds. Big changes will require more than this – which is effectively a bit of a brain trick. Try it out on smaller problems first – and test the results.

It’s a little complex, but the technique really seems to work – particularly in conjunction with other techniques such as Creative Visualisation.

If you’re intrigued and want to give it a go yourself, click on the link below to learn how to do a Swish Pattern now.

I’d recommend reading through the instructions fully before you attempt to play with it, and then give it a go – I’d guess it will take you about 20 minutes all in all – which is not long at all for the benefits you can expect. Enjoy!

How To Do An NLP Swish Pattern

(With Only Limited Jargon & Confusion)

This exercise will show you How to Use the NLP Swish Pattern – which will help you to act ideally in a situation which is causing you problems at the moment.
If you follow the instructions below, you will discover the cue that makes you act out your undesired response at present – and learn how to replace it with a positive and empowering self image – which will help you to perform at your best.

If you’re not sure what this means, click on this link to find out more about the NLP Swish Pattern.

NLP Swish Pattern 1: Identify the Problem Behaviour

Before you use the NLP Swish Pattern, you have to know which problem behaviour you are looking to change.

This could be one of the examples listed in my Introduction to NLP Swish Patterns (link above) – such as you don’t exercise enough, you eat too much crap – or it could be a fear of meeting new people, of speaking in public, or a fear of failing at any particular endeavour.

All that matters is that it’s an exact behaviour that you would like to change – to replace with a new positive and empowering response.

Pick a specific problem you are looking to solve with the NLP Swish Pattern before you move on.

NLP Swish Pattern 2: Find The Cue

Your current problem behaviour is likely to be triggered automatically by a specific stimulus. This means that you don’t consciously choose to act the way you do, you just do. It’s an automatic response – just like when the Doctor bangs your knee with a hammer and your leg shoots up.

There is a certain trigger for you that causes you to act out this problem behaviour. If you can identify the trigger, you can change the response with an NLP Swish Pattern.

For example, if you’re putting off going to the gym, what is the exact moment that you decide not to go? It could be the thought of packing your bag and walking to the gym that makes you decide against it. It might be the mental image of you struggling on the running machine that saps your enthusiasm. It could even be the “better” thought of you lying on the sofa, junk food and TV remote in hand, as a preferred way to spend your afternoon.

Either way, there is a specific cue that generates the automatic response. Find this before moving on.

If you’re struggling to identify your specific cue, try this little exercise –imagine that you have to teach me this problem behaviour.

Imagine that I want to learn how to avoid exercise, or how to eat more crap, or how to be petrified of speaking in public – or whatever your particular issue is.

What is the one image that I would need to picture that would absolutely decide my hand for me? Which pictures, sounds and feelings would I have to replicate in my brain to confine me to acting out the undesired response? If you really, truly wanted to convince me why you act the way you do, how would you do so? What do I need to see and feel to make me act this way?

That should’ve helped you to find your trigger! If you haven’t identified your cue yet, simply imagine performing your desired response now… what pops into your mind first? How do you manage to convince yourself that this better and more beneficial behaviour is a bad or scary idea?

When you’ve identified your cue, jot it down on a bit of paper and break state – this simply means clearing your brain and doing something else for a few seconds. Jump up and down on the spot, hum a song, recite the alphabet backwards or look out the window for a while… Whatever you fancy. Just think about something totally unrelated for a minute before proceeding. This helps your brain to reset before you go on to identify the new behaviour you wish to install.

NLP Swish Pattern 3: Choose Your Ideal Response

Choose a suitably compelling snapshot of you performing at your best now – a picture that excites and motivates you.Now we get to the fun part. Here, you get to choose the self image that you will install in your subconscious – the positive response you will generate automatically when the cue occurs from now on.

For example, you might see yourself immediately after a gym session – buzzing on endorphins and feeling wonderful. You might imagine a slim and healthy you who is eating healthily and feeling awesome. It could be a confident and assured you who has just delivered an engaging and well-received presentation to a crowd of strangers and received rapturous applause. Whatever the response you wish to install, get a clear picture of it now.

All that matters is that this response is powerful for you – it has to motivate you and you only.

Now… ramp it up! Make the picture big and bright and gorgeously compelling… make the sounds brighter and clearer… and thoroughly indulge yourself in every last glorious detail of this wonderful picture… and make sure you feel exactly how you would feel if you acted in this ideal way in real life… better, in fact.

Now, locate where the feeling in your body is, give this feeling a colour, and double its intensity and brightness… and then double it again! Make yourself feel awesome now by seeing yourself performing at your best – and living it now in the present.

Absolutely wallow in this gorgeous collection of images, sounds and feelings. Make yourself feel as amazing as you possibly can… and then double the intensity of the feelings again! Make sure your brain is filled with a gloriously bright, crisp and powerful image of you at your best – and feeling on top of the world.

When you’ve got this wonderful image sorted, break state. Count to ten in Japanese. Converse with a pet. Contemplate the nature of the universe… whatever takes your fancy.

NLP Swish Pattern 4: Time To Swish!

This is where the magic happens! What you are going to do is take the original cue image from step 2 and replace it with the new, empowering picture from step 3.

So first, get the old cue picture in your mind. You should be associated – which means seeing it through your own eyes. Make it big and bright and see every little detail.

Now, take a postage-stamp sized picture of your new, powerful self image, and plonk it in the corner of your vision. Make it small and dark and disassociated for the moment – which means looking down at yourself from a third party perspective, not through your own eyes.

Now, we’re ready to Swish!

Take the postage sized picture of the new you and push it further and further away from you until it is just a tiny speck. I like to visualise this little picture stretching all the way back to the moon, where I load it with an unimaginably powerful rocket launcher. (In a second we’re going to need this image to absolutely fly at you, growing bigger and brighter and more compelling by the millisecond – and I find the best way to do this is by imagining the new picture has a rocket strapped to it. Some people prefer pretending it’s on an elastic band – work out what’s right for you!)

When you’re ready to Swish, fire your rocket or elastic band at full power. As the new image comes hurtling towards you, becoming bigger and richer and bolder – send the old cue image in the opposite direction, armed with its very own rocket launcher, making it darker and smaller and less powerful and flying away from you.

Some people like to make an audible “Swish” sound when they do this – I guess it’s the sound you’d imagine these memories to make as they fly past each other.

As the new self image hits you – associate. See it through your own eyes! Imagine every last glorious detail again and make it big and bright and bold and beautiful! Feel all the amazing feelings rush through your veins… And think how good it would be to behave like this from now on.

Take a few moments to revel in the wonderful feeling of this new self image. This is key – indulge yourself. Don’t rush this bit… enjoy your success.

Now, break state.

NLP Swish Pattern 5: Embed The Change

(Don’t moan! It will only take you ten minutes tops – and if you’ve come this far, it’s bloody worth it!)It’s now time to thoroughly embed this change. For the NLP Swish Pattern to work, you need to repeat the last step 10 times, breaking state in between each one. You’ll find that you’ll do this quicker as you progress.

So, load up the old cue image – put the new empowering belief as a speck in the corner – push it back as far as it can go – load it up with your rocket or spring – and Swish! Send the old memory to the moon, and bring the new memory crushing home to you!

Take a few moments between each attempt to really enjoy the feelings… you should be having fun when you do this.

To finish, when you have Swished 10 times, think of the cue and then try and think of your old problem behaviour. If you’ve done it correctly, it will be quite tricky to even imagine the old behaviour – and even if you can, it’s most probably lost the majority of its strength. You might even find it a bit funny to imagine yourself behaving in the old way… Success!

You’re now left with a new way to act whenever you experience the cue – so enjoy the results from this NLP Swish Pattern!

Body Hack VI: Using Tibetan Yogic Practice Of Tummo To Increase Internal Body Heat And Temperature

This yogic technique called tummo has been practiced by the monks and yogis of Tibet and Nepal for centuries. The technique increased one’s internal body heat.

From Source 1

WHY TUMMO MEDITATION TECHNIQUE IS PRACTICED:

This Tummo meditation is based on the ancient tantric teachings and the teachings are based on the common belief that we as a human beings are born with free flowing energy and we waste it by worrying about different sorts of things in our daily life. So, instead of worrying Tummo meditation is practiced to concentrate and burn all those worrying thoughts and keep our mind and body healthy. So, it is basically channelize all those worrying energy into productive ones.

HOW TUMMO MEDITATION TECHNIQUE IS PRACTICED:

Tummo is basically a breathing technique. We need to sit in a mat with your legs crossed over one another and with your hands placed over the knees. Then close your eyes, try to concentrate by kicking out all the thoughts out of your minds which are emerging from various directions. When we breath, the noticeable movements happens in our bowel, i.e., it comes up and down. So, concentrate on the movement of the bowel during the inhaling and exhaling periods. Slowly then start coming up and concentrate on your nose and feel the breath while inhaling and exhaling. Once you are able to concentrate without any straying thoughts, imagine your body as a hollow balloon and visualize that a hot lamp is placed at the center of that hollow balloon discharging heat. Slowly, your body will start heating up.

NOTE: IT WILL TAKE TIME STILL YOU MASTER THIS TANTRIC TECHNIQUE AND START GENERATING HEAT.

From Source 2

nner Heat Meditation (tum-mo)
From How to Meditate: A Practical Guide by Kathleen McDonald (Wisdom Publications).

Sit comfortably in your meditation place and generate a strong positive motivation for doing this inner heat practice. Determine to keep your mind relaxed, concentrated and free of expectations for the entire session.

Start by visualizing the central channel (shushuma) as a transparent, hollow tube, a finger’s breadth in diameter. It runs straight down through the center of the body, just in front of the spinal column, from the crown of your head to the base of your spine.

Next, visualize the right and left lateral channels (nadis), slightly thinner than the central one. They start from the right and left nostrils respectively, travel upwards to the top of\ the head and then curve over to run downwards on either side of the central channel. They curve inwards and join the central channel at a point approximately four fingers breadth below the level of the navel.

Take as long as you like to construct this visualization. Once it is stable, imagine a redhot ember the size of a tiny seed inside the central channel at the level of the navel. To strengthen this visualization, imagine reaching into a fire, taking out a tiny glowing ember and placing it in your central channel. Once it is there, really feel its intense heat.

Now, in order to increase the heat, gently contract the muscles of the pelvic floor, concentrating on the internal rather than the external muscles, and in this way bring air energy up from the lowest chakra (energy wheel or center) to the ember.

Next, gently take a full breath through the nostrils. The air travels from the nostrils through the right and left channels to where they enter the central channel just below the level of the navel. The air joins with the heat there and with energy brought up from below.

As you stop inhaling, immediately swallow and push down gently with your diaphragm in order to firmly compress the energy brought down from above: now the air energy is completely locked in, compressed from above and below.

Now, hold your breath as long as it is comfortable to do so. Concentrate completely on the ember in the navel area, whose heat is increasing and spreading as a result of the compressed air energy.

When you are ready, relax your lightly tensed muscles and exhale gently and completely. Although the air leaves through the nostrils, visualize that it rises up through the central channel and dissolves there. The heat emanating from the burning ember at the navel continually increases and spreads and starts to burn away the blockages at each chakra and starts also to warm the concentration of silvery blissful energy found at the crown chakra.

However, the focal point of your concentration is always the heat of the burning ember in the navel area. Once your first exhalation is complete, again tighten the lower muscles, inhale a second time, swallow and push down with diaphragm, thus again compressing the air on the heat, then exhale, releasing the air up the central channel once again.

Repeat the entire cycle rhythmically seven times altogether, the intensity of the heat growing with each breath.

At the seventh exhalation, imagine that the now burning-hot ember explodes into flames. They shoot up the central channel, completely consuming and purifying the delude energy at each chakra. At the crown, the flames finally melt and release the silvery blissful energy, which pours down the purified central channel giving pleasure at each chakra it passes.

Finally, when it meets the blazing ember at the navel chakra, there is an explosion of bliss. This blissful heat flows our to every atom and cell of your body, completely filling you, making your mind very happy.

Concentrate on this pleasure without tension or expectation, without clinging to it or analyzing it. Just relax and enjoy it.

You will notice that, no matter how strong the pleasure is, your mind and body are calm and controlled, unlike our usual experiences of physical pleasure when the mind is excited and uncontrolled.

If your mind should wander from its concentration to other objects – the past or future, objects of attachment or aversion- focus your attention on the subject of the thought, the mind that perceives the distracting object, the thinker. Watch the subject until the distracting thought disappears, then concentrate again on the blissful feeling.

Analysis of feeling: Having reached a state of clarity, it is good to use it to discover the nature of your mind. After concentrating on your feeling, being absorbed in it for some time, analyze it by contemplating each of the following questions. Take as long as you like.

Is the feeling permanent or impermanent? How? Why?
Is the feeling blissful or suffering? How? Why?
Is the feeling related or unrelated to the nervous system and in the mind? How?Why?
Does the feeling exist inherently, from it own side, without depending on anything else, or not? How? Why?

Examine each point from every angle. Finish the session by summing up your conclusion, and then dedicate any positive energy and insight gained during the meditation to your speedy enlightenment for the sake of all living beings.

Mind Hack III: Using Salvia Divinorum To Induce Astral Projection And Out Of Body Experiences

More than a decade ago, when I was still in High School I read a lot about the occult, mysticism, and the paranormal. From what I learned, one very interesting plant compound that I found was Salvia Divinorum. The main reason I was interested was that I wanted to have a OOBE, an out of body experience.

If you have any interest in mysticism or the paranormal, give this compound a drug. You can easily find Salvia extracts around the internet like Ebay or Amazon.

From resource 1…

For hundreds of years people have apparently been using the leaves of a plant called Salvia to induce Astral Projection and/or spiritual growth. It’s being marketed and sold today for this purpose or it’s just sold as legal high. Most people smoke the product.

Salvia is legal in most countries at the time of writing and is sold in varying strengths as an extract. Salvia Divinorum Extract can 6x, 10x or even 20x the strength of the original leaf or even higher. I’ve seen videos of people under the influence of Salvia, some appear to be frightened in a similar way to having a “bad trip”, others just appear totally out of it. I don’t recommend you take this substance without a sitter who isn’t under the influence unless you’re very experienced and know exactly what to expect. If you must use, then use with extreme caution and respect. Don’t use unless you’ve got a clear head and are in a good mood as more likely to have a bad experience. If in doubt, don’t touch it, there’s other more natural ways to experience Astral Projection.

If your conciousness really is transported to the Astral Plane after smoking Salvia, then it’s understandable that it could be very frightening, especially if the person doesn’t know what to expect. Salvia could be potentially sending people into the Astral who aren’t ready for it and can’t handle the experience. Also if you haven’t got a clear mind in the Astral, you can create your own demons and not see the Astral as it really is, in a similar way to a dream or even a nightmare. When you induce Astral Projection using meditation techniques, you automatically have to have a clear mind to start with, with Salvia, this often isn’t the case. Also if you enter the Astral during meditation, it’s easy to return to your body, with Salvia, this may not be so easy controlled, although you will definately return eventually. It’s also worrying that while experiencing Salvia and allegedly the Astral, people are often still moving about physically. I can’t explain this as it doesn’t seem to fit in with normal Astral Projection and it could be potentially dangerous, E.g. you could have a physical accident. This is one good reason why having a sitter is highly recommended for your own safety and piece of mind.

Okay, back to the question, can Salvia Divororum induce Astral Projection? Well, see my journal below which details my controlled experiments and first hand results.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR 1ST TIME USERS:
If you’re still considering using Salvia, please read this great user guide first a thttp://www.sagewisdom.org/usersguide.html, it’s very helpful and unbiased.

For even more information about Salvia and how it can allegedly induce Astral Projection, please take a look at http://www.salviadragon.com, but bare in mind that they’re are trying to sell you Salvia and are going to be very one sided. If you’re in any doubt about trying Salvia, then my advice is to avoid it.

KEEP WATCHING FOR MORE JOURNAL UPDATES BELOW DETAILING MY FIRST HAND EXPERIENCES!

Journal  – A 1st Hand Study Into The Effects Of Salvia When Smoked

30th May 2008 – Preparation and Contemplation

1 Gram of Salvia Divinorum 20x extract arrives in the post. Now I’ve got actually it, I fear using it, worrying about the unknown. What will it be like? Will it be enjoyable or unpleasant? Will it be frightening? Will I be able to control and handle the experience? Will I really Astral Project? The fear stops me using it immediately, but I’m so intrigued and excited that it’s impossible for me to leave it for long. Yes I will try it, but I need to take every precaution possible first, I know this drug deserves the greatest of respect and must first arrange a suitable sitter. In the mean time, I start studying a great on-line user guide (as recommended above). I continue studying this and any other information across the Internet while trying to build up my courage. I must take the plunge the next few days.

From Resource 2

Salvia Divinorum Can Lead to Spiritual Awakenings

Throughout human history, we have used plants in order to enter altered states of consciousness and accelerate our spiritual quests. Shamans, healers, and spiritual seekers have used peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis, and salvia divinorum to tap into the collective unconscious, experience astral projection, and find peace and tranquility. Despite the negative connotations associated with the use of plants in spiritual quests – largely by detractors of the so-called “psychedelic movement” in the late 1960s and early 1970s – there is a considerable body of research that substantiates the psychological benefits of ingesting psychoactive plants. In fact, there are many corollaries between the experiences of those who use plants in their spiritual quests and those who spend years engaged in meditative practices.

The Role of Salvia Divinorum

Although many of the substances that have been used for thousands of years are now illegal, there is one plant that can legally be used to enhance spiritual growth. Salvia divinorum, which is more commonly known as Diviner’s Sage, is a little-know entheogen that comes from the sage and mint families and that was originally used by the Mazatec shamans of Mexico.

Those who buy salvia report a variety of experiences. Some experience leaving their bodies and traveling in the astral world, while others report traveling back in time or to a point in the future. Sometimes the experience includes empathy with other beings, including seeing the world through their perspective.

Scientific research has substantiated a number of benefits associated with smoking salvia, such as increased insight, self-confidence, and mood, as well as improved concentration. Overall, many users reported common salvia effects like feelings of calmness and peacefulness.

Ingesting Salvia

Although salvia leaves may be chewed, the most effective way to reap the plants benefits is throughsmoking salvia. Although the dried leaves can be smoked in a water pipe, they must be heated to a very high temperature in order to release the psychoactive properties. For that reason, most people choose to extracts or preparations that are more highly concentrated. So, for example, they might buy salvia 10x, 20x, or 60x, with the numbers signifying the level of concentration.

Where to Buy Salvia

If you think that salvia is a tool that can help you in your spiritual quest, you are probably wondering where to buy it. It’s best to buy salvia online, from reputable sites that have experience in both selling the plant and using the plant. The best online salvia sources offer a few different packages. They may, for example, offer a package containing six grams of salvia 10x, 20x, or 60x that will supply you with 12 to 15 doses, as well as one ounce of premium salvia divinorum foliage.

Buying salvia is legal in virtually every country except Australia. Within the U.S., salvia is legal in 43 states. It is illegal in Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

If your life path is taking you on a spiritual journey, salvia can help you achieve the altered states of consciousness that lead to revelations and breakthroughs. Once you try it, you’ll understand why the literal translation of salvia divinorum is “sage of the seers.”