Association, Disassociation, Qigong & Mindfulness

[z00se]

Raising vibrations, association & disassociation. I wonder if people feel or label these things the same as i do, or if we all have different definitions. Also i wonder if these two common meditations affect people in the same way as me. It would be great if people could talk about if these different meditations make them feel different, and how, or if they both have the same result for them.

 

For me...

 

Mindfulness meditation is pretty widely known and most people have tried it and felt the effects. I feel like mindfulness meditation makes me feel disassociated from my body. Feeling disassociated i feel separate from my body and my emotions, i'm not carried away by them so it's fine to experience them, although i'm really not experiencing them deeply because i am disassociated!

 

I feel increased stamina but less empowered and alive. Stamina comes from being slow calm and relaxed. However clarity is there and a much wider picture can be observed - these are the things that come to my attention. I feel like i am out of my body, like a playing piece on the board. Strangely the perception is from the sides, and all around, or inside but not connected, depending on if i'm 'watching' or 'feeling, but in both cases definately 'here', or nearby.

 

Using qigong / MCO I feel my energy increased and the vibration rate increased. Then emotions and spiritual direction come to my attention, so the need for balance of organ energy and emotions becomes very important, or it's easy to get carried away. I have more stamina also but in a different way. The energy comes from a burning fire within. I feel deeply associated, like the feeling when you clench your fists and breath in quickly and deeply through your nose. When i practice lots i can start to feel disassociated, but it's different, I feel like i am in my body, a bit like a mech warrior (if anyone remembers that game) so to speak. With more intense practice i can feel like i am using a radio control to control the mech warrior from above, from very far away, but never from the side or all around.

 

Both can be done at the same time but that becomes a real challenge. Doing qigong lots i can start to feel disassociated also, but it feels differently. Doing mindfulness lots makes me feel passively empowered, but not actively empowered.

 

Anyone else?

[Lataif]

Mindfulness meditation . . . makes me feel disassociated from my body. Feeling disassociated i feel separate from my body and my emotions, i'm not carried away by them so it's fine to experience them, although i'm really not experiencing them deeply because i am disassociated!

 

I feel that's a serious problem with mindfulness meditation (and many other Buddhist meditations): you're not "really" experiencing your experience. 

 

I have background in an American Zen lineage that specifically addressed that with a zazen style that emphasized the experience of bodily sensation.  

 

It used to freak out new students when the teacher would explain that the style of meditation she recommended involved re-experiencing all the negative experience from our past (which will inevitably arise again if you sit still long enough).

 

That wasn't what they wanted to hear . . . at all.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Lataif