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aleksiL comments on Vipassana Meditation Open Thread - Less Wrong Discussion

3 [deleted] 18 October 2010 05:01PM

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Comment author: aleksiL 08 May 2012 10:52:09AM 1 point [-]

I've been meditating for about two weeks now, and been progressing surprisingly quickly. Concentration came easy, and I started having interesting experiences pretty much straight away. I'd like to share my latest sitting and hopefully get some input.

I sat cross-legged on my couch and started concentrating on my breath as usual. Soon there was a discontinuity: my concentration lapsed, it felt as if my attention was fully in a nonsensical, dreamlike thought for just a second and suddenly I was in a clearer, lighter, easier state. It's happened similarly several times before, but I haven't been this fully aware of it earlier.

I continued meditating normally for a while; the clear state tends to be pretty stable once I enter it. Then I tried to let go of my awareness/concentration (never tried that before) and things got interesting. I was still aware, possibly still centered on my breath, but everything started to change. It felt as if my body was shifting, twisting, turning. I knew I hadn't moved but my body position seemed contorted, even impossible, as if different body parts were turning different ways, almost as if I was swirling. There was a sense of facing in two directions, alternating rapidly, maybe 30 degrees apart.

The rest is harder to describe. I was aware, but there was a sense that the awareness would've been unusually hard to locate. I'm not sure if I tried, though. After a while it seemed attenuated, somehow. There was a sense of not wanting to let go, not sure of what exactly. Possibly myself, or awareness of what was happening. Overall there was a sense of... something. If "something" is even a right word for it. Over or in-between everything else that was going on.

After a while things started settling down a bit and I felt tired, so I ended the session. It had lasted about 20 minutes.

Thoughts?