Advice

[EarthApostle]

Hello all, I just had the most incredible experience this morning, and I wanted to clarify a few things before it fades.

 

I am just beginning to practice zen meditation in a modified lotus position, and today I experienced a multitude of things that I'm not sure how to interpret or deal with.

 

I am fairly familiar with relaxing and letting my thoughts drift away, but today I was kind of overwhelmed by a sensation of vibration and a total size distortion (i felt tiny and huge at the same time). I did my best to let this pass as i would a normal thought that has cropped up, but then I began to visualize that i was flying over a mountain range, and eventually settled in a wooded area (seemed like a temple), surrounded by other beings (people?). I felt at ease being there, but i had no idea what to do, so i just tried to meditate there with the others (like being in a dream within a dream). I stayed in this place for a while, but it was almost too much to deal with, so i tried my best to (respectfully) leave this place and make my way back to my own. It was difficult to find myself back in my own room.

 

any thoughts on how to deal with such overstimulating experiences while trying to focus on nothing?

my biggest concern was i had no idea how long i had been there, and i had no idea how to know when i had completed my task there (i probably could have stayed there forever!)

 

thanks

[Nanashi]

Hello, thank you for sharing your experience.

 

I've had that same sensation while meditating-- the "big and tiny at the same time". It is quite unusual and strange, but eventually passed. I haven't felt it in a long time.

 

As for the visualization vacation, I have not experienced that unless I will it: I'll picture ideal Chinese landscapes in an attempt to relax while on the toilet during a difficult bowel movement. Since these images arise from the mind, they can be tamed by no-mind.

 

There are some great meditation experts here, hopefully they will offer some of their advice.

[effilang]

I get the expanding and contracting feelings as well. I believe it is a common experience.

[Birch]

Yup I'd second that.

 

I went to yoga class today and after one asana my legs felt longer;-) Sometimes I feel as if I'm being stretched across the other side of the room;-) My explanation for this one is that the mind has its own "idea" more or less of where your body is or tends to be. If you shift where you are even by a really small amount through stretching and focusing on the stretch, the differential results in an exaggerated perception and so you "appear" bigger to yourself. I wonder if the same could happen just by relaxing into meditation?

 

For the floating away to distant places stuff, I think it's cool. Yes, it's mind-created. Not all perceptions and feelings have to be in words.

[Smile]

Ignore your experience and continue with your meditation. Experiences will come and go just like the view from the window of a moving train.

[Phoenix]

I've had the expansion/contraction thing too. If it gets too intense, stop straining and just relax. In any case, don't fixate on this stuff. It doesn't mean anything and it will likely pass as you gain greater meditative stability.