Reddit reviews Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict
We found 10 Reddit comments about Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Little Brown and Company
i've been dealing with some similar things. i found Peter Levine's work on trauma to be eye-opening. this book, for example. he offers some practices though i haven't actually tried them.
Tsultrim Allione provides a modern layperson's interpretation of Tibetan chöd practice which directly addresses this kind of thing. it's kind of intense, but then so are our demons.
it's often said that trauma is stored in the body. there are a lot of somatic meditation techniques available out there. i'm a huge fan of somatic work, especially for its applicability to this kind of thing. Touching Enlightenment is an excellent introduction to somatic meditation from a Tibetan Buddhist point of view.
hope you find something in there that's helpful. best of luck.
edit: clarification: Tsultrim Allione isn't a layperson. her book is written for the laity. :)
>I honestly believe meditation is only ONE tool that helps us face our shadow.
Agreed, shadow work in conjunction with meditation can bring true benefit.
Meeting the shadow is a great book on this topic. Here are some quotes:
"The shadow cannot be eliminated. It is the ever-present dark brother or sister. Whenever we fail to see where it stands, there is likely to be trouble afoot. For then it is certain to be standing behind us. The adequate question therefore never is: Have I a shadow problem? Have I a negative side? But rather: Where does it happen to be right now? When we cannot see it, it is time to beware! And it is helpful to remember Jung's formulation that a complex is not pathological per se. It becomes pathological only when we assume that we do not have it; because then it has us."
"This brings us to the fundamental fact that the shadow is the door to our individuality. In so far as the shadow renders us our first view of the unconscious part of our personality, it represents the first stage toward meeting the Self. There is, in fact, no access to the unconscious and to our own reality but through the shadow. Only when we realize that part of ourselves which we have not hitherto seen or preferred not to see can we proceed to question and find the sources from which it feeds and the basis on which it rests. Hence no progress or growth is possible until the shadow is adequately confronted — and confronting means more than merely knowing about it. It is not until we have truly been shocked into seeing ourselves as we really are, instead of as we wish or hopefully assume we are, that we can take the first step toward individual reality."
There's also a meditation practice in the Tibetan tradition called Chöd that is very similar to shadow work. Tsultrim Allione describes this practice as "feeding your own demons"
If it feels natural, and you both are aware of the best and worst traits without trying to hide them, that that's great.
The kind of stuff I was describing are more like ... pathologies in unhealthy relationships. So read on only if the healing aspects calls to you :-)
There's a practice I suggest to empaths who aspire to be healers. It is called Demon Feeding. The first half of the practice is a great exercise in being able to discern exactly what kind of energy signature, some aspect of someone really needs.
Just like you can hear someone say something, and their body language says something else, there is often an underlying energy that may say something else all together.
Likewise, when someone wants something, there are sometimes an underlying need that is different from what they say they want. Then, there is asking how someone would feel after they get what they need. That resulting feeling is the true experience of what they are really seeking.
In the first half of demon feeding, you tune into specific sensations, and then ask it to personify. Then you ask those questions. Then you trade places -- this is an exercise in empathy -- and ask those questions again. (This takes someone even deeper). In that last part, that resulting experiencing that they seek is the energy signature that, when fed in a certain way, can dissolve this.
Most people have some disconnect with what they really need. They tend to seek out the surface want, not knowing that it is driven by something deeper. However, just because they are not consciously aware of those deeper drives, does not mean it is not active. This is where it starts distorting relationships. It will feel like a form of attraction, but it is not -- more like hunger, obsession, and so forth.
If you are interested in this practice, you can find the outline here:
https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-feeding-your-demons/
The full book is here:
https://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Your-Demons-Resolving-Conflict/dp/0316013137
There is also an audio workshop for that, on Amazon somewhere. (It might be the audiobook).
If you like that kind of stuff, Tsultrim Allione also has an interesting book called Wisdom Rising ... I haven't read or practiced it yet, though I did hear an interview with her where she talks a bit about it. It is a mandala practice accessing the five elemental Daikini in the Tibetan Vajrayana way, and can give access to tremendous amount of energy. She made it available because she saw a number of female activists coming out in the past several years, and wanted to contribute something so that can tap into the power to make these changes in our society.
This reminds me of Feeding Your Demons. If imagery works well for you, then you might appreciate the methods in this book.
> a smile I think I never saw her make for me
I think that it is significant that you said this at the end. The bride image you saw at the end is not really your ex-girlfriend, but an idealization that just happens to look like her. I would go back down that staircase and keep looking deeper. I bet there is something more to the bride image than you have discovered.
>Dhammarato's message seems to be that most forms of therapy are like going into the garden and taking a long, hard look at the weeds, while correct practice of the dhamma is like rooting up the weeds and throwing them over the wall.
I think that's one helpful way of looking at it, if it's assumed that one is primarily relying on therapy without practice. Perhaps there are areas of the garden one doesn't know of or doesn't care to look, and then the scope of dharma practice is limited to what one is comfortable with. With my own experience of counseling, I found that it helped bear the weight of all the stress in my life, freeing up energy and space for practice (rather than relying on practice to take care of everything). In an understanding the mind sense, I saw how defensive I'd get when I talked about practice and worrying that my counselor would think I was crazy, which was awesome insight practice. Plus, there is a lot to be said for the sacredness of someone holding space for all you are, given that it isn't easy to truly speak our truths to those close to us given karmic ties.
Some other considerations include the fact that there are buddhist counselors / therapists, and that there a variety of therapeutic modalities beside talk therapy, which is what I see comes under criticism mostly.
>I can absolutely see the potential to overlook/bypass what I'm experiencing, and yet here I am, engaging with this stuff fully and investigating.
I didn't mean to suggest you weren't, but that sometimes aspects of our psyche lurk at the edges of the unknown, and a therapist can help one walk towards and through that out our tease out blindspots.
>Yes. I'm always grateful to have access to more resources, especially on recommendation from others here in this community.
Focusing is a practice borne from Eugene Gendlin observing what made therapy effective: the capacity of patients to feel into their bodies and acknowledge their feelings in a conversational way. Judith Blackstone, a psychotherapist with experience in Zen, Dzogchen, and Mahamudra, created a system that emphasizes integrated non-duality from a somatic perspective. Finally, Feeding Your Demons is fantastic as well. If you're left wanting other recommendations do get in touch.
One final note: I don't disagree with your comment that dharma could potentially take care of this matter all on its own. However, it's useful to consider the variety of modalities that can remove obscurations from another angle, of having a variety of tools so to speak.
Wishing you success in your journey – take care.
I would say some insight meditation might help with the anger- first the 'floating above it all' kind (where you view things arising and passing away with the same emotional weight with which you view the weather). Second, go with it- explore that anger, wallow in it. Own it lest it own you- feed the demon and thus put it in its place in a tantric kind of way. You might want to give this a look: http://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Your-Demons-Resolving-Conflict/dp/0316013137
Okay, I hope everything goes more smoothly for you soon.
I keep running into obstacles myself. Now that I'm getting over the mental obstacles, I'm old enough to be hitting the physical obstacles of growing older.
Do you think I should delete this thread? It doesn't seem to be generating any advice from anyone who knows about such an idea as "archons" in Buddhism and I'm not sure the idea has helped you any...what do you think? Did it give you a clear idea to work with or did it just make your worst fears about the situation even worse?
In my opinion, a healthy attitude toward such things is found in Aristotle's quote:
>It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
In other words, if it is useful to us and we can not prove otherwise, we can act as if we are facing obstacles from such beings in order that we can work with that idea in some positive way. One benefit I can see right away is that it frames the predicament in such a way that it motivates us to practice and we can stop feeling guilty for falling into such ruts by realizing it is not your choosing. Even if it were to turn out there are no such beings, it is clearly not your choosing to feel this way, so it is accurate enough to frame it this way.
If this seems 'crazy' to anyone, keep in mind we personify things quite a lot in daily life without even thinking about it. We personify our cars when they won't start, for example. We really give "old Bessy" a feeling of hope and faith and love on a cold winter morning when we pump the gas pedal just right and gingerly turn the key in the ignition. She starts and we cheer for old Bessy. Then, we promptly shift out of "crazy" mode and into sensible thinking again. But, when old Bessy doesn't start, we are profoundly disappointed and sad...and not just because we will be late for work and see an auto mechanic bill in the near future. When the car fails to start, before we dissolve the idea of old Bessy as a living car with feelings, we feel flashes of disappointment that she let us down, sadness that she is dying and empathy for that old car that served us well for so many years and maybe even a tinge of guilt for being angry at her for not starting.
It might be beneficial for you to check out the Feeding Your Demons book. I'm not sure. I checked it out but decided it wasn't for me.
I did read Uncle Ramsey's Little Book of Demons and found it fairly entertaining and informative. It's not a Buddhist book, but if you could relate to the idea of "old Bessy" it might interest you.
Oh, wow, so you're both dealing with depression.
I definitely can understand how she's feeling. For me, I didn't really get anywhere with talk therapy until I had the right combo of meds.
If she's doesn't want to try medication, I found this book, "Feeding Your Demons," to be ver helpful. It's basically a guide to journalling and meditating your fears.
You may also consider giving this a listen, or buy the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Your-Demons-Resolving-Conflict/dp/0316013137
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEbJ_maF_fo
A short description:
"Tsultrim Allione brings an eleventh-century Tibetan woman's practice to the West for the first time with FEEDING YOUR DEMONS, an accessible and effective approach for dealing with negative emotions, fears, illness, and self-defeating patterns. Allione-one of only a few female Buddhist leaders in this country and comparable in American religious life to Pema Chodron-bridges this ancient Eastern practice with today's Western psyche. She explains that if we fight our demons, they only grow stronger. But if we feed them, nurture them, we can free ourselves from the battle. Through the clearly articulated practice outlined in FEEDING YOUR DEMONS, we can learn to overcome any obstacle and achieve freedom and inner peace."
-- From amazon Review