What does your Meditation feel like?

[thelerner]

When you are meditating, what does it feel like?  

What do you experience? During.. after.

thnx.

[Bhathen]

I have been meditating consistently only for a few years now and is a daily practice. The meditation I practice seems to open up different layers of the mind and sometimes sudden insights come up to show me the entirety of a situation. Traversing through the past currently and healing taking place. Sometimes it just a silent traversal to some inner layer or experiences of sense withdrawal, awareness etc. might come up. The practice begins with a connection and prayers to the higher beings and the universe; ends with silence and a no-mind or rather a spacing of thoughts (depending on the energy level).

 

Have begun to understand the need for balance in the body, mind and thoughts resulting in increased awareness. Currently working on that.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Bhathen

[stirling]

Meditating off and on (definitely on now) for about 25 years. "Method" is Dzogchen/Zazen/Open Awareness. In these practices there is ultimately no technique, there is just letting "doing" drop away until the mind has become still. There is resting in an awake awareness, eyes open or closed. 

 

Meditation is still, panoramic, empty of subject/object. Sensations, "mine" or what is happening "outside" arise and fall where they are and do not belong to a sense door, or an object. Perceptually time is still, space becomes flat, and "self" and body drop entirely away.

 

Afterward there is a deepened awareness. Things retain their deeper stillness. Sight is 180 degree panoramic and sharpened. If I can manage to sit multiple times a day I can keep this deeper stillness with me all day, and sometimes into sleep.

[whitemic]

Meditation is to the mind as defragging is to the computer.

Nothing happens, but that is the magic that allows my mind to see itself.

I imagine it's like floating through space, but I've never been outside the earth to confirm.

[Sketch]

Like a lava lamp 

In a library.

 

 

[Taomeow]

Generally, the way it's done in my tradition is from the simplest to the most arcane, with constant returns to/revisiting the simplest in between mastering any next level of the arcane.  If you liken the arcane ones to piloting your spirit into otherworldly dimensions, the simplest are like going back to the recharging station before your next journey.  This is a rough sketch of course, in reality the journey and the no-journey may converge into something that is both and neither...  indeed, hard to put into words.  But they are also sort of opposites: you do no-focus, no-concentration on anything, no-guiding anything, surrender and perceive (but also do the not-perceive while at it), dissolve into nonbeing, in absolute stillness.  And then the other one -- absolute focus, peak concentration, guiding everything consciously, make it surrender to your will, perceive everything, in absolute motion-within-stillness.  The first one feels like it doesn't matter what it feels like.  The second one feels like all that matters is what it feels like.  Now I'm sure I've confused everyone.      

[silent thunder]

awake

Edited August 30, 2021 by silent thunder

[RobB]

Currently, it's about seeking stillness. Every session I set myself up, find the stillest bit of me and dive in. Let the stillness envelop me and await developments. Sometimes its a physical reaction - a realignment, release whatever. Sometimes it's my mind that starts to come up with stuff. I try to stay vigilent and sincere. When I realise my focus has drifted elsewhere, I seek out the stillest point -whether that be in my mind or my body, rinse and repeat.

 

I'm really surprised this is turning out to be such a physical process. Sometimes it's about stting in the stillness and appreciating that my body and mind need to sort themselves out and find their way towards joining me.

[effilang]

Expansion, Power, Knowing, Connection and Love.

[liminal_luke]

My dad wanted a son who would stand up strong and be a man but his ragefulness taught me to submit. His ragefulness taught me how to scan a face for danger and talk in soothing tones. I learned how to use the appearance of weakness as a survival strategy, that I could calm my environment down by making myself small, that the only way to win the family game was to lose it. Spunkiness would get me punished.

 

I´m 55 today but the scared little boy I once was is still very much with me. He´s with me when I allow injustice to go unchallenged or clamp down on righteous anger. He´s with me when I don´t groom myself properly or keep my apartment clean. Though I will always carry that scared little boy in my heart, I can no longer permit him to run my show. His way of approaching life no longer suits my purposes. Today I want to live big and bright, with purpose and intention and courage, to stand in the naked light of my own spirit and claim my right to life. Sorry kid. I love you but I can´t live in a tiny room boxed in by fears. Can you remember the Before Time? A time when you were overflowering with the power of your own juicy desires? My loyalty is to that Luke, a Luke who felt deserving, confident, present. The Before Time Luke still exists – I am certain of it. Sometimes, after a long meditation, I sense him whispering to me still.

Edited July 21, 2021 by liminal_luke

[manitou]

It feels like absolutely nothing.

[Geof Nanto]

On 22/07/2021 at 2:07 AM, liminal_luke said:

The Before Time Luke still exists – I am certain of it. Sometimes, after a long meditation, I sense him whispering to me still.

 

When I read this post of yours yesterday, it reminded me of a song of your namesake which has been on my mind lately. I was tempted to add a link but refrained as it’s well off-topic.  Physical abuse of children is universally condemned as abhorrent. I’d say emotional abuse is far more pervasive and likewise leaves deep inner scars.  I never suffered physical abuse as a child, nor obvious emotional abuse, yet very much so on a more subtle level. And most of all, I relate to how Luka holds his hurt deep inside. 

 

 

 

[liminal_luke]

@Yueya  Oh, I love that song!  And yes it does speak to me so thank you.  I used to play it over and over.  For clarity´s sake, I should say that I wasn´t physically abused.  My dad was very rageful and scared me often but he didn´t physically beat me, like so many others have experienced.  I think most people have suffered some kind of trauma in life, often very subtle, and sometimes not subtle at all.  It´s natural to compare ourselves to others and ask who had it worse, but in general I don´t think that´s a useful question. 

 

The thing that I´ve always found difficult -- but also useful -- about spiritual practice of all kinds is that it brings me up against my pain.  Meditation and qigong show me where I´m blocked.  This is never pleasant but this awareness can be a gateway to an underlying freedom.  We are all more than the bad things that have happened to us.  

Edited July 23, 2021 by liminal_luke

[Geof Nanto]

 

24 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

Oh, I love that song!  And yes it does speak to me so thank you.  I used to play it over and over.  For clarity´s sake, I should say that I wasn´t physically abused.

 

I very much like that song too. Although it speaks of physical abuse, its vibe evokes emotional trauma. That's why I posted it. (And yeah, I knew from your description that you didn't suffer physical abuse.)

 

29 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

The thing that I´ve always found difficult -- but also useful -- about spiritual practice of all kinds is that it brings me up against my pain.  Meditation and qigong show me where I´m blocked.  This is never pleasant but this awareness can be a gateway to an underlying freedom.  We are all more than the bad things that have happened to us.  

 

Yes, absolutely! 

[manitou]

And the things that are the most unpleasant to go through are the things that bring us the most relief, IMO.

[awaken]

I have been practicing for thirty-two years.
At the beginning, there was a lot of energy and light, mainly purple light.
This situation lasted for fifteen years, and it didn't change until I realized "wu wei".
I have been practicing for thirty-two years up to now, and the phenomenon is that not long after qi and light perception, I enter samādhi. The feeling of "samādhi" is that there is some faint awareness, but in fact the senses are asleep, much like the body is asleep, but the heart is awake. After waking up, sometimes there will be a phenomenon of "Yangsheng". That is to say, there will be some special interior scenes, stars, moons, suns, geometric figures, mandalas and so on.

 

Of course, in addition to this, there are many special states, too many, I can't finish talking, I can only talk about the process that occurs in the normal state.

 

 

我練了三十二年了。
剛開始有很多氣和光，主要是紫光。
這種情況持續了十五年，直到我悟出『wu wei』才有了改變。
到現在為止我練了三十二年，現象是氣和光感沒多久之後，就入定。 『入定』的感覺是有一些淡淡的覺知在，但是其實感官是沈睡的，很像身體睡著了，但是心裡是醒著。醒來之後，有時候會有『陽生』現象。也就是會出現一些特殊的內景，星星，月亮，太陽，幾何圖形，曼陀羅等等。

 

當然除此之外，還有許多特殊的狀態，太多了，說不完，只能說常態發生的過程。