Extreme Practices and What Feels Missing

The teacher reflects on the value of extreme practices like fasting, and how to discern whether such practices arise from genuine exploration or from a sense of lacking something.

Look at what the energy is, where it's coming from, what it's trying to get, and what it feels like it's missing.

Maybe you opened up something. Extreme practices are good for creating contrast. Then we can see: "Oh, that feels this way, and now it's a different kind of hot tub to sit in." Those experiences are good to explore and experiment with. But they should always have the other side of the coin, which is introspection and the intention to look at whether the thing you feel is missing is actually missing at all.

The introspection behind the impulse

The more you can genuinely see and feel that nothing is missing, the more clarity you gain. Maybe you'll feel, "That fasting was something I don't need to do." Or maybe you go through the storminess that came up and you love experiencing that in your life, but not because something is missing and you're trying to get it.

You're welcome.