Feeding Demons: Immediate Release Of Stress & Anxiety

This goes far beyond the usual mindfulness meditation and releases stress and tension immediately.

In this course, we will rediscover a Buddhist technique that dates back to the 11th century for resolving inner conflicts. With this, the suppressed parts of our personality - fears, illnesses, negative feelings such as hatred and discontent, named collectively by C.G. Jung as "shadows" - can be recognized and accepted.

The method we will learn enables us to release the negative energies, such as fear, depression or illness, and transform them into positive ones. Because if we deny or fight our demons, we only give them more energy. If, on the contrary, we accept them and give them loving attention, we can dissolve them.

The idea of the demon is an expression of our thoughts and emotions held in the body-mind complex. When we think about energy movement to transform negative energies into positive ones, the form of the demon, for example, is the form of anger that you hold in your body-mind. By then feeding it with a different energy, this body of the demon is energetically affected in a positive way, which causes a change in its structure and can allow the anger to dissolve and give you immediate joy and power.

I did the research and recording for this course in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Lección 1: Welcome To The Kathmandu Retreat

In this course, we will rediscover a Buddhist technique that dates back to the 11th century for resolving inner conflicts. With this, our often suppressed parts of our personality - fears, illnesses, negative feelings such as hatred and discontent, summarily named "the shadow" by CG Jung - can be recognized and accepted.

The shadow he describes is made up of the parts of ourselves that the conscious mind finds unacceptable. The shadow contains the repressed ego, the denied aspects of ourselves that are incompatible with our personality. It is what we don't want others to know about, and it often appears in our dreams and then does things that we would never engage with in consciousness.
We often have no idea of the shadow parts of our personality because they elude our consciousness.

We all suffer from our demons at times, whether they are demons of confusion, anger, self-hatred, hurt, longing or loss. The concentrated power of these demons causes tremendous suffering.
To alleviate these forms of suffering, we must confront the demons of greed, hatred and delusion from the bottom up. This transformation is the very core of Buddhist insight, the realization that liberation is to be found right where we are - not in avoiding suffering in life, but in turning to suffering with a wide heart full of compassion. And by stopping to hold on to suffering, we gradually learn to transform its energy and find freedom in the midst of suffering.

Those who use this method report that chronic emotional and psychological problems such as anxiety, eating disorders, panic attacks and illnesses have disappeared or greatly improved. It has also proven helpful in dealing with short-term turbulence such as the break-up of a relationship, the stress of sudden unemployment, the death of a loved one, and interpersonal problems at work or at home.

Lección 2: Meet The Demon

The method we will learn in this session enables us to release the negative energies, such as fear, depression or illness, and transform them into positive ones. Becoming aware of the shadow that weighs on us reduces its destructive power and releases the life energy stored within it. By making friends with what frightens us most and demands energy, we find our deepest wisdom. For if we deny or fight our demons, we only give them more energy. If, on the other hand, we accept them and give them loving attention, we can dissolve them.

Before we do the whole exercise together in one piece, I will take you through the parts in this course. We learned about the attunement yesterday, where we breathe into and release physical, emotional and mental tensions. In this exercise, we are already locating our demons, scanning the body and making the shadows visible.

We now invite these in, for a celebration. The hateful enemies, the blocking circumstances and stray attitudes.

Lección 3: Ocean Of Nectar

Talking to our demons, enables us to release the negative energies such as fear, depression or illness and transform them into positive ones. Making the shadow that weighs on us conscious reduces its destructive power and releases the life energy stored in it.

The idea of the demon is an expression of our thoughts and emotions held in the body-mind complex. When we think about energy movement to transform negative energies into positive ones, the form of the demon, for example, is the form of anger that you hold in your body-mind. By then feeding it with a different energy, this body of the demon is energetically affected in a positive way, which causes a change in its structure and can allow the anger to dissolve and give you immediate joy and power.

Modern science has infiltrated our imaginations to an almost unrecognizable degree, but our lives are still full of demons. What happens in the mind affects the cells in the body and vice-versa. A visualization that brings forth an emotion from the unconscious affects the cells. It is all interconnected. It is a system that is guided by consciousness at all levels. This intelligence, this awareness or presence is what we would call the nature of the spirit. The demons are energy that is blocked in various ways. So when we work with the power of imagination, we free this blocked energy.

Lección 4: Demon Practice Session

This will be your first entire practice, talking and feeding your demon. Don't be scared. This will be amazing. Enjoy!

Please share your experience about your demon in the comments.

Lección 5: Pushing Through

Our normal behavior would be to withdraw, to hide from negativity and fear. But in this practice, we lean into it. We lean into what is frightening. We lean into it and push through it. We actually move through the fear, into a place of fearlessness, not because we weren't afraid, but because we actually went into our fear, met it and met it with compassion, and then, can let it go. So it's about going into the fear and then moving through it. By going into what scares us the most and moving through it, we find some peace.

In traditional Tibetan practice, which is also practiced here in Nepal, there are wonderful stories of monks going to the most frightening places. To wild places with dangerous beasts and practice taming their demons there.

Lección 6: Kopan Monastery

I would like to give you some more information today so that you can understand the demon exercise even better and be able to develop it for yourself so that it becomes even more effective. The Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung said, "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by becoming aware of one's own darkness."

The exercise of talking to and taming our demons has two benefits. Firstly, it transforms our demons into allies, so that we are no longer subject to inner and outer struggles, but can harness the energy that is bound up in these conflicts.

The second benefit of the exercise is less obvious, but almost more important. This is the opening in the last step where we let the demons go and it becomes quiet around us, without music and drums, without chatter, emotional distractions that rule our daily lives.

In this last step we feel like after hard physical work, completely exhausted, but the exhaustion is not physical but mental. We simply let go in this moment. It is a state of peace, relaxation and immeasurable vastness. It is a void, a space that arises between our thoughts. In this emptiness, we rest and even if the open awareness lasts only a few moments, it is the beginning of the realisation of our true being. When we become comfortable with this empty state, we let go of habitual attachment.

Usually, our difficulties and thoughts take over so much that we don't experience this state, but when we rest in it, it's like floating in the ocean and letting the waves rock us instead of giving in to our fear of drowning and fighting the water.

Lección 7: Demon Practice Session

To further hone your skills at identifying, being aware of, and at peace with your demons, we'll be repeating the demon practice today.

Please share your experience about your demon in the comments.

Lección 8: Shamanic Roots

The demon practice is a subtle blend of the Buddhist path to enlightenment that comes from India and an ancient form of shamanic ritual added by Machig Labdrön. It was the merging of these two streams that led to the actual emergence of the practice, used by today's yogis in their desire to attain enlightenment by the shortest route.

According to the beliefs of Tibetan mystics, the physical world perceived by our five senses is only a small part of the whole reality in which we live. All around us, there are invisible entities; types of "beings" or "spirits" that we cannot see. These entities exist in parallel, but separate, dimensions or worlds of their own. Yet all these "parallel" realms are part of the same planet. What appears to be a river to us may be a stream of color and energy in another realm.

Lección 9: Mara, I Recognize You

Machig identifies four main categories of demons: outer demons, inner demons, demons of proud arrogance and demons of self-centeredness.

The four categories are not meant to commit us to looking at our demons in any particular order, but are there to give us an overview of how demons can be classified as reactions to external situations such as blame, for example, or as subtle inner stirrings that culminate in the demon of self-centredness, the hidden core of all other demons.

Among these four categories, then, the outer demons are the most obvious. These include illnesses, specific fears, addictive behaviors, relationships and family demons. They all seem to come from the external world. We go a step deeper when we move from the outer demons to the inner demons because, there, we deal with the spiritual level. The inner demons of anger, fear. Shame and depressiveness do not need an outer stimulus to appear.

Once we have recognized our outer and inner demons, there is a risk that our spiritual success will go to our heads. Demons of the third category, the demons of proud arrogance, are a cautionary reminder of the pitfalls that may await the seeker of success, whether spiritual or worldly. In the pride in one's achievements and in the self-importance that often accompanies it, the demons of proud arrogance show themselves. This applies to monks as well as laypeople. Arrogance towards other people but also towards everything living in nature belongs to this category.

Finally, we come to the category of demons related to the origin and very basis of all our experiences in the world. This is the deeply ingrained idea of being somehow separate from what we experience as the "other." This is the source of isolation, alienation and conflict, and without the demon of self-centredness, there would be no other demons at all. And if there were no enemies, what would we be fighting against? When we deal with this demon, we gradually see little pieces of the infinite blue sky flashing through the clouds of day-to-day suffering.

Lección 10: Direct Liberation

If we spend some time with our demons, we recognize them as they arise and we can say like Buddha: "Mara, I recognize you!" We learn to perceive their appearance and to recognize when they take possession of us. Then we can liberate the demons while they are still arising, without having to do the demon exercise fully. This is the direct liberation. This direct, simple way of releasing demons begins right with the last step of the exercise.

Immediate release is deceptively simple. The prerequisite is that you become aware of a demon and then give it direct attention. This is like stopping a sailboat while it is sailing by turning it directly into the wind and letting the sails flutter in the wind like flags. The wind force passes by without power being transferred to the sail and boat. The source of propulsion is thus neutralized.

Similarly, an emotion no longer develops if we give it our immediate attention. The technique of immediate release is comparable to fearfully suspecting a monster in the dark until we switch on the light. As soon as it is bright, we see that there is no monster at all. We drop the light on the demon and he is gone.

Reviews

Fascinating course! Much food for thought here. Highly recommended.🙏🏻🪷☯️

Great course - learn to skills to face your demons 👹 Ralf offers a unique approach, which improves with practice.

This course has been transformative for me! I've already experienced transformation and I have further topics to study. Thank you.

Very good practice. It can be easily customized and many variations can be invented. Will practice more

Beautiful terrifying and enlightening. The recordings are masterful
I suspect I’ll be coming back often, for refreshers, thank you thank you thank you

Wow, the demon practice was enlightening to say the least. I encountered two different ones in separate practice and look forward to exploring this more.

Thank you. A most enlightening way in approaching my demons.

I was introduced to this practice by Tsültrim Allione. To me this course adds an extra depth in my practice by connecting it to the environment of Katmandu and hearing the horns and the drums of the ritual. It's also helpful to be able to connect to other people's experience and doing the practice in the format of a course, that breaks the experience into pieces of digestible information. Thank you very much and Namaste 🙏🪷

Abyssus abyssum invocat, the abyss of hell calls upon the abyss of Love 💜 Thank you and may you always walk on warm sands 🙏

Thank you for this course recommendation. There were times I found it very challenging to confront a manifestation of an embodied car demon from the hit and run I experienced while crossing the street a few years ago. I came to some sort of personal realization that the man who hit me and left me dead on the side of the road for 2.5 minutes, until I was brought back to life by the paramedics, didn’t wish for me to die. I plan to take this course again and share my experience in the classroom.

Wow! This course was much more than I expected. I thought I’d be hearing some nice gentle ways to look at life. What I ended up doing was confronting the weakness in my own self and learning how to deal with that with some self compassion. It took a surprising amount of strength to do that! I didn’t know I had the ability in me! Right now I have a lot to think about but I think that when some time has passed I will take this course again.

That was a fantastic experience!

Literally perfect! Ralf is an absolutely amazing teacher and I can not wait to further explore his other courses!

Thank you for a wonderful course. It caused me to want to return to Nepal and Tibet.

Truly enjoyed this course, I learned a lot. Loved the creative approach of visualizing our demons and allies. That turned out to be an effective way of dealing with and solving of negative emotions. The recording of local Buddhist activities added another dimension. Thank you!

Fascinating intriguing. Embracing my demons is a fairly née concept for me. I really enjoy the music. Thank you for sharing

Eye opening!

I really enjoyed learning about Tibetan culture and Buddist teachings

I really enjoyed this course! It is definitely different than other courses I’ve taken , but the active exploration of my mind, heart, body and demons is a welcome growth and new dimension in my practice.

I absolutly loved the recoridings from Katmandu, it made the course very unique. I also liked the demon practice and the information around it.
I found some parts a little repeditive though.
But all in all an amazing course.