/dep/ - Depression

>>303398
>Box breathing/ four square breathing and tri breathing
Something common to many initiation and books on societies and magical lodges is breathwork. One of the most common techniques is box breathing and variations of it with visualizations or movements and concentrations similar to tai chi chi kung (or more scientifically, they can be somatic exercises).
I don't have to explain much, picrel explain it.
you can change the times and second, just try yourself.
>Why?
It focuses the mind and relaxes the body. Nervous people are naturally in a state of poor breathing in some situations same with sad people. It takes time to master, but everything can be achieved with repetition.

>>303398
>Tatrak or Kasina or Wall gazing and eye exercizes or use any item
>Kasina
Many people are familiar with Buddhist meditation techniques, the most famous and popular being anapasanti and vippasana. Breathing and purifying the mind. The problem is that the original Buddhist techniques also included one that was eventually ignored by the vippasana and mindfulness movement. Kasina makes use of pure colored discs that you focus your gaze on and exercise your concentration.
The idea is to absorb (or rather, burn your retinas as if you were looking at a bright light) and see the opposite color of the disc in your eyes. This technique is a meditation technique, and keeping your eyes still is very relaxing.
use a smart posture, mid lotus, dyana or any you want that is safe for you.
>Tatrak
Similar to kasina, but you look at a candle in the dark. The direction from which you look at it changes, but it is practically the same as kasina
>Zen Wall gazing
Zen buddhist use this technique, just gaze a wall or a point in a wall
>Eye exercizes
There are many eye exercises with routines that promote relaxation. Looking to the left for a while is one way to exercise the vagus nerve.
>use any item
The jewish cabalist of today use a technique that gaze a jewish letter similar to these meditation-magick techniques for training visualization an concentration. some chaoist and post-moder magician use sigils to focus the mind, same method.
You can use any item, from a toy to a point in a wall or anything.
>Also
Just remember to sit in a comfortable position, that you can blink, and that eventually your eyes will water and you will be able to go longer without blinking. Don't strain your eyes and take breaks. If your head hurts, stop for a while. you can combine it with breathwork.

>>303398
>Metta
The practice of metta is never taught properly for westerns, and yes, it's sound so cringe.
Get into a comfortable position, close your eyes, relax using one of the many techniques I am going to teach you, concentrate, and start repeating beautiful phrases to yourself in cycles, such as:
>May I be healthy.
>May I be love.
>May I be peaceful.
>May I be happy.
But that's it not all (and yes, you can use any best whises phrases)
>why?
You need to focus in Vowels, how? just sing with a low voice or mid the vowels and extend it from A E I O U like a gregorian chant or monk chants. you can move your body while singins like a stims or a somatic exercize (jews do something similar to this called shuckling)
>Metta to others
the same but change the objetive of best wishes to others that you like, dont know, hate… from family, friends or political groups or normies. if you hate all just try with animals.
if you have aversion for yourself and hate you or feel cringe, just try another thing.
>Also
You can place your hand on your heart to feel the warmth of your chest and your heartbeat, and another on your stomach if you want to feel your stomach as you breathe.
The best time to do this is in the morning and before bed because we are more suggestible then.
You can extend the practice to objects, such as when you wash the dishes, you give them a blessing in your mind, such as (may those who use this dish have a nice day), or when you walk down the street wishing others well in a low voice or in your mind.

>>303398
>Mantra silence concentration and relaxation
Take any mantra or make one up, even a silly one. Even a famous one, even if you don't know the meaning in Sanskrit or how to pronounce it correctly, like the Tibetan mantra om mani peme um.
just repeat fast and trying to find relaxation and as time pass just try to find the silence in the mantra
like this
>Om mani peme um (repeat a lot fast)
>Om mani peme um (keep doing)
>om mani peme um (keep repeating and you're going to do it more slowly just by tiredness)
>Om……..mani………peme……um (you now start to feel the silence)
>Om…….
>…. (absolute silence)
as time passes the mantra go away and you going to find the silence, this aquiet the mind and stop the internal monologue that arouses the mind. you can meditate, do breathwork or do any activity after this.
>also
you can use any mantra, like banana-split-banana-split eco-eco-lol-lol or wathever you want that sound fun or make sense or sound smart to you, even just silence-silence-relax-relax (this turn around into a hypnosis technique)
this is a buddhist practice, not the typical mantra focus of a yoga school but still useful.

>>303398
>Vagus nerve stimulation
Vagus nerve stimulation is used in many therapies and even in meditation and magic techniques. There are several ways to stimulate it.
>Directly with your hands touching the nerves or massages
cardiologists do this, as well as using technology-tools-gadgetz to stimulate the nerve directly.
>Somatic exercises or body movements
somatic exercises or even cardio exercises
>Moving your eyes to the left for a while
1 minute or a little more would be enough
>Breathing
box breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, a lot of techniques of breathwork do it.
Tibetan Buddhists, thanks to visualization techniques, suggestion, low-oxygen breathing, and ideas of the subtle body with visualization, achieve high temperatures, in which they exercise the vagus nerve. And yes, the Wim Hof method uses this, but the truth is that it is not relevant to the topic. I only mention the Tummo or Wim Hof techique if you're curious.

>>303402
I Forget this, the practice of metta singing vowels stimulates the vagus nerve, just as normal singing does.

>>303398
>Somatic exercises
Surely more than once you've seen Chinese people and strange folks doing woo-woo New Age stuff or tai chi. Science already knows that these things are relaxing, but it's not necessary to believe in their energies (although they sometimes see it as a form of breathing, hypnosis, or even a form of subtle body training beliefs).
There are exercises focused on relaxation without the need for those primitive beliefs (which I respect). They are called somatic exercises. People with autism sometimes do these movements unconsciously as the so called for them stims, and they are very relaxing and low cortisol and anxiety.
>Also
Here is a video for you to try them out.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LXklv3el1jw
Even relaxing your body standing at home and moving your arms as if you were a child playing or balancing on your feet is a form of somatic exercise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3MoE6JdlsQ
For example, I just lie down and bring my legs together and move them from left to right for a while. It's quite relaxing, similar to rocking in a chair.

>>303398
>Sunbath
This star in the space give us Vitamin D, Vitamin D helps with sleep and metabolism, and even the heat caused by being in the sun for a few minutes relaxes the muscles and helps you sleep.
The best thing you can do if you wake up early is to sunbathe between 6:00 and 10:00 a.m. (after thats hours, the sun gets stronger and UV rays increase). I recommend sunbathing with 50% of your body exposed to sunlight, so take off your shirt and stay in the sun for just 10 or 15 minutes and that's enough.
Even looking at the sun out of the corner of your eye increases your perception of color and slightly improves your mood.
>Touch grass
Touch the grass with your feet for a while. Don't ask what it does, best find out for yourself.
>sky and clouds gazing
gaze the clouds and the sky is incredible relaxing, tibetan buddhist do this for some meditation techniques and rituals.
>sky night and stars gazing
just watch the night sky sometimes, it's mesmerizing. the moon is beatiful.

>>303398
>The stupid question
Many times it has happened to me that I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, and the first thing that comes to mind is that I am a shit, i feeling bad, sad, I have depressive or suicidal thoughts, and that I am a bundle of nerves and i hate myself and i a loser.
but…
Some of the books I have read about relaxation and other topics use something basic that makes sense. just a self question that sound cringe.
>I need something now?, or am I lacking in some physiological need right now?
It sounds absurdly stupid, but with this you sometimes come to the conclusion that i just needed to drink more water, go to the bathroom, get away from a certain crowd of people, fix clothes or try more smart clothes or do something or sleep more.
And what happens to those dangerous feelings caused by anxiety and hate and sadness? They go away or fade away.

>>303398
>More breathwork or breath techniques
There's a lot of breath techniques
But if I had to give you some advice, when you have a panic attack or feel very nervous, hold your breath.
If you want to try something, try breathing only through your nose for a while, placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth and relaxing your jaw (this is common for all meditation techniques)
>Also
you can breathe through your nose and mouth and exhale in the same way at the same time through your nose and mouth. it feels different.
A well-known technique is to inhale and exhale while saying MUUUU or OMMM, followed by an affirmation with your body leaning forward while saying aham. You may even smile unconsciously after doing this because it sounds silly.

>>303398
Well, now im going to share some books.
I had a post explaining the different types of books, but I lost it. Well, I'll explain it again, there're books that are >direct to magick and relaxation techniques (chaoist magick and post-modern focus)
Some books are like this just to you make your own personal rituals. They use meditation, focus techniques, Hypnosis and induction, trance theories, shamanism ideas, somatic exercises or energy work, breathwork, subtle body ideas, visualizations, and psychodrama and method acting (and some exposure therapies ideas maybe)
>Fluff (have some religious or cult things of magic lodges or organizations with their dogmas, more dogma, less direct to techniques and more to read)
Golden Dawn, Thelema, Wicca, UR Group, etc. They use techniques but with more dogmatic thing around their religion or group.
>New tought
Books of new age type or with techno psychobabble, they have new age dogma and sometimes new tought dogma. Example Goddard and etc. They believe in general something like LOA (law of attraction)
>New age
Same as the up but more hippie, generally they use visualizations and some breathwork with subtle body and self help
>Woo woo
These books are pure psychobabble with technobabble dressed as self-help books with quantum mysticism like deepak choopra and etc. I dont like these books, sorry.
>Old occult books
These books are hardcore magic of evocation or schizo rituals like the goetia or the magus, these books doesn have techniques and are very advanced on topics.
>Also
I shared a very cool useful book here >>303443

>>303446
First, biographies that can be helpful. You can ignore them if you just want magick n cope techniques but these are fun to read.
>Cosmic trigger 1: The final secret of the Illuminati by RAW
Fun read, i recommend you. Anyone can like RAW, not so much magick but useful.

>>303446
Another biographie but this time with magick and ceremonial magick experience
>My life with the spirits by Lon Milo DuQuette
Fun read, i read somewhere they read it in some universities in USA. Have some magick and experience around fringe things like evocation and invocation and others things like LOA. The good thing its the author doesn take anythinh too seriously and is fun to read bacause of that, cool guy like RAW.

>>303446
Well, now im going to share some books around relaxation, cope and initiation into magick.
First something let call it

>Scientific approach

>The Science of Self Hypnosis (Scientific CBT approach) by Adam Eason
This book is great for relaxation and a start path into magick and Hypnosis and talk about topic like myth of hypnosis, coue method, suggestionability and other things.
Yeah, magick is hypnosis if you're into that.

>>303453
>Scientific approach

>The Charisma Myth How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane
This book take scientific studies around the topic of charisma and let free some myths around the topic. Its a very good read, even have some incredible good techniques. Its have techniques for relaxation, visualizations, coue ideas (hypnosis) and something like acting method techniques.
Its have different types of charisma and dosnt have woo woo or new age babble, it have good citation of scientific studies.

>>303446
Now i going to share the AvPD library link to help for anxiety and other things.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Avoidant/wiki/library
I reccomend you to read Workbooks and Worksheet sections (skills, techniques, cope mechanism and alternative cope mechanism and other things)
But all the sections are useful maybe.
>Also
Brené brown (is) kinda a shit sometimes, i dont reccomend read that succubi but you can read it.

>>303456
Well, now
>Direct approach (Chaos magick and post-modern focus)

>Six Ways by Aidan Wachter
Very good book for initiation, if you learned self-Hypnosis you're going to get it easy.

>>303446
>Direct approach (Chaos magick and post-modern focus)

>Visual Magick: a manual of freestyle shamanism Jan Fries
Good for initiation, more focus on visualization and training, very large to read but easy.

>>303446
Last book of
>Direct approach (Chaos magick and post-modern focus)

>High Magick by Damien Echols
Good book for initiation, check the story of this guy (one of the victims of satanic panic) it have good relaxation techniques and some mid focus to Golden Dawn and Thelema, sometimes sound more traditional ceremonial but still good.
It have good tips for visualization training.

>>303460
>>303446
Uh no, this is the last book to direct approach, sorry.

>Direct approach (Chaos magick and post-modern focus)

>Hands-On Chaos Magic Reality Manipulation through the Ovayki Current by Andrieh Vitimus
This book is amazing, just read it (its one of best of this section of direct approach in my opinion and are at same level as six ways)

>>303398
Ok, now Fluff books
>Fluff (have some religious or cult things of magic lodges or organizations with their dogmas, more dogma, less direct to techniques and more to read)

I have some books of these but its kinda useless to share here, so i going to share just one of UR Group.
>Introduction to Magic Julius Evola (and others of UR Group)
The UR group is a Magick lodge with a lot of high level autism with intellectuality, good read but to religious and fluff to me. But if you're into that… Golden Dawn and Thelema and Wicca are in the same way this theirs jargon and things. You can read theirs books and things in any Occult library in internet or even can download their books on internet web archive. There's somewhere books of the Equinox of Crowley (first act of direct approach to magick by Crowley from fluff to just techniques)
Others like pseudo-hermetism of Bardon but i dont like bardon that much bacause to much fluff.
Other like Dion Fortune psy n magick but i dont like that much. And Crowley… eh, cool, but Fluff with edgy poetry sometimes.

>>303446
Ok now, the common books
>New tought (Books of new age type or with techno psychobabble, they have new age dogma and sometimes new tought dogma. Example Goddard and etc. They believe in general something like LOA (law of attraction)
I dont have much books of these but this one is a introduction to the topics of new tought if you want to read it.
>The Miracle Club How Thoughts Become Reality Mitch Horowitz
Ah, and remember that some new tought and LOA writers are a fraud lol (yeah, i roast sometimes to crowley, any thelemite do that bacause the beast was a asshole.)

>>303446
>New age books
I dont have that much new age books, im not into that but i have some ritual-mid fluffbunny thing if you want.

>Spells for Good Times Kerri Connor
It have good affirmations, rituals, tips and thing and sound very wholesome sometimes (no, its not a wiccan succubi feminist book) but yeah sometimes these books give the vibe fluff of "witchcraft" or wathever.

>The other books (woo woo and old traditional magic)
I have those books, but I don't think it's necessary to share them here. What I've already shared here is enough.

>>303398
>Anxiety, relaxation and cope techniques
If you're only interested in relaxation and anxiety control techniques, just read these posts and PDFs.

>Scientific approach
>>303399 (box breath)
>>303404 (somatic exercises)
>>303403 (Vagus nerve stimulation in various ways)
>>303453 (introduction to self-scientific hypnosis CBT model, even hypnosis is a form of meditation)
>>303457 (AvPD library with a lot of techniques for anxiety and relaxation, cope techniques and alternatives techniques)

>The more meditation way
>>303401 (Metta)
>>303400 (Kasina, and some other meditation as reference)
>>303402 (Mantra and silence focus)
>303406 (Grounding technique)

Ask me anything you want if you have any question.
>Also
Here's again the cope skills book. The Avpd library have a lot of these type.
>Also of also
If you want a cool magick and mind-shift life-change perspective book i recommend you to read Prometheus Rising by RAW (the other books of 8 circuit model are fun similar)

>>303398
That's all.
if i find something worth to sharing i will share here.

Personally I have two main strategies to deal with stress:
1. My cat. When he lays on my lap or next to me on the couch I always feel relaxation and calm very fast.
2. Isolate in room, make it dark, close curtains, lay down, complete silence, close my eyes and put myself in some fantasy world and try to avoid any thoughts regarding the real world blending it off as not existing. Bonus points if falling asleep like that.

>>303481
>1. My cat. When he lays on my lap or next to me on the couch I always feel relaxation and calm very fast.
Cat whispers sounds and warm they give are a nice relaxation stim, when i alone, i sing to them like if there babys (yeah sound cringe but its a vugus nerve exersice maybe same as hugs)
Try Blink slowly to them, this nake them happy crazy its like a hug of confidence and love to them, dont do it to much sometimes they become little exalted or feared if you keep too much visual contact.
>2. Isolate in room, make it dark, close curtains, lay down, complete silence, close my eyes and put myself in some fantasy world and try to avoid any thoughts regarding the real world blending it off as not existing. Bonus points if falling asleep like that.
Curtains down for dark is good but let your place stay fresh in air every day. There' you say something interesting
>lay down, complete silence, close my eyes and put myself in some fantasy world and try to avoid any thoughts regarding the real world blending it off as not existing.
This is close to a Magick-Visualization-Meditation-Hypnosis techniques.
All techniques are related or same.

>Pathwork (by controlling mind -famous around ceremonial magician and magick)
Basically you make up a paracosm or fantasy world and try control it like a escenary or threatise, used in some hermetic Kabbalah practices (There's a rumor Tolkien used something like this)

>Active imagination (Jung)
by let imagination do random and not control it, swedenborg and Jacob Bohme have same or similar technique. Just let the mind play.

>Guided meditation (similar to hypnosis or same as focus)
if you use videos or sound or your voice trying to evoke sensations or places

>Guided Hypnosis (videos or do yourself with your voice and body gestures focusing)
every hypnosis is self-hypnosis, you can focus your mind during hypnosis and let imagination play or control it by voice and mind voice. You still can combine with the other techniques.

They use calm relaxation places like waterfall, baths, a ship in water moving, all are a form of visualizations.
>Also
If you control your visualization and engage in it (moving your body as a character of the threatise of mind and talk to others characters) its a pathwork

If you dont control it is a form of active imagination and just let the mind explore.

Hypnosis, Body scan or progressive body relaxation and meditation and relaxation is a safe and direct door to this state of mind. I shared a book of Scientific Hypnosis here if you want to read.

>>303481
>Isolate in room, make it dark, close curtains, lay down, complete silence, close my eyes and put myself in some fantasy world and try to avoid any thoughts


oh wait! I can do exactly that!

>>303551
I mean, it's the winter + there are utility room + employer is happy with my presence - not working - overtime

>>303453
>Self Hypnosis CBT Therapy
Very useful book.

>>303481
>>303552
>Isolate in room, make it dark, close curtains, lay down, complete silence, close my eyes
>Picrel Platanov (1959) and other former Soviet Union researchers on the topic of dark room for hypnosis
>>303525
Pathwork is a form of Hypnosis lol

I'm a happy drunk so alcohol works for me until it doesn't, when my body starts to feel like shit because of the drinking, which is my cue to quit again and why I could never become an alcoholic. Give moderate drinking a chance, limited time use item though.

A simplistic technique I use every evening is what I think they call grounding. First you tense up all your muscles, you can do this limb by limb or whatever you feel like doing, tense them all up making them all active, and then relaxing them. Face especially is a good one. Then for the mental side you want to start drawing a square in your mind and follow the lines, go clockwise for a bit, then counterclockwise. Anything works here as long as it qualifies as something that requires focus without information. The result of this isn't about attaining peace or relaxation per se, but it kind of resets you. You accumulate a lot of noise throughout the day, both physical and mental, and this flushes a lot of that out. It's a good first step before starting any of the other stuff in this thread depending on your needs. I myself use grounding to kill excess background information in my head to fall asleep quicker.

>>303679
The muscle tension technique is used by the military for tension release and sleep. I don't remember the name of the technique, but they also use it together with box breathing >>303399
>Also
Body scanning together with constant body relaxation (muscle by muscle) is also good.
Some hypnotherapists combine this, using an entry or (induction, although as I said, this does not exist in hypnosis bacause its just believe and roleplaying maybe, which makes sense according to clinical books of hypnosis) such as eye fixation and counting from 1 to 5 or 100 down to 1 with reinforcements such as “relax” with “very good” or “you/i become more and more relaxed —specify a muscle or not-.” and some relaxing movements if you want (swing the body slowly like shuckling or a somatic exercise)
If you say gentle phrases to yourself while relaxing your body, Metta is interesting for this. Some people count Christian or Buddhist rosary beads while doing this. this can turn into a meditation practice.
>Also
some therapies use shaking of body for trauma release (this can be dangerous)
this two techniques of swinging and shaking are one of the trance techniques suggested in one chaos magick book there (maybe it's this, i dont remember. i remember the book says it's a german trance technique) Six ways by Aidan wachter >>303458
Trauma release therapy use shaking (used for ptsd in army and etc) can be little dangerous if you do alone bacause you end shaking too much for some time and can hurt yourself, and maybe the thing can turn bad and feel very bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr2XFrinOlo
There're other variations of same technique with massage, stand or still in some way not just lay down position but still with shaking.
be aware of pseudoscience and quackery on youtube, check the source of the techniques if help.

I wonder if any wizzies can help me with this:
>try meditating in the afternoon
>usually exhausted from work
>when I sit too comfortably I start to fall asleep
>if I try straightening out my posture I get stiff and have to readjust for the pain
>not enough time in the morning between waking up and going to work to meditate
Anyone have any tips for sitting comfortably but not dozing off? I'm really trying to make meditation a key part of my daily life, but I'm struggling to really get it going.

>>303693
I follow Tai chi videos instead. But focusing on a candle in a dark room for 5 minutes might work in your case (low investment of time so hopefully won't fall asleep).

>>303693
>>303696
>Tai chi videos instead
Somatic exercizes in a way are similar or same (without belief of subtle energy body or use of visualizations) with more focus on the idea of vagus nerve and body trauma liberation tension >>303404
>focusing on a candle in a dark room for 5 minutes
Same as Tatrak, Kasina or wall gazing, Cloud Gazing or variations of same technique >>303400 >>303403
Metta can be a meditation if you get used to it >>303401 same as breath-work box breath >>303399
These techniques can make you be more aware of your body and relax the tension than turn you too much relaxed (and sometimes can turn some tension if you do it bad)
>Meditation posture
you dont need to do any of these lie down or on a Dyana, Burmese, Zen or any pose of meditation, you can do it stand or sit in a chair like westerns.

>>303727
>Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)
I recommend learning how to do PMR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_muscle_relaxation
https://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Progressive-Muscle-Relaxation