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Dharma Diagnostic Clinic, aka "What was that?"

Each meditation session begins with pleasure and moving energy

Anyone have ideas about what's happening?

At the beginning of each meditation session I experience extremely pleasurable sensations, feel energy moving in a circular pattern through my body, sometimes feel/see white light or coloured light coursing through me. It makes me laugh and smile. Sometimes I want to make vibratory sounds of changing pitch (so I do). My heart feels open and expanded. Sometimes my body feels much bigger than my physical body, or I feel like I'm floating. I can call up this experience pretty much any time - particularly when walking, riding a bike, feeling the wind on my skin, or seeing/smelling beautiful flowers.

After meditating for a while these sensations fade to a calmer state. Sometimes I have mild physical discomfort, but the overall feeling is gentle and stable.

My guess is that I begin meditation in the Arising and Passing Away. But I've read that starting in A&P happens after stream entry. I recently had a cessation experience during an ayahuasca ceremony, but beginning each meditation session with these intensely pleasurable, blissful experiences had been happening for a while before the cessation experience.

I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone wants to share with me.

RE: Each meditation session begins with pleasure and moving energy
Answer
8/8/12 2:16 PM as a reply to diotima.
Sounds like a great start to your meditation sessions. Whether it's A&P or not doesn't matter too much, because the next step is the same in any case. Even if it is, that doesn't imply that you've reached SE. There's a lot of individual variation in the stages.

RE: Each meditation session begins with pleasure and moving energy
Answer
8/13/12 3:45 PM as a reply to fivebells ..
Thanks, fivebells. Enjoying what's happening and continuing to sit is definitely good advice. I've also been reading the chapter on raptures in Jack Kornfield's A Path with Heart, and it's clearing some things up too.