Bruno Loff:
I don't know if you have stream entry yet. If you can detect the pulse coming from the middle of the brain, then perhaps the following information is of use: recently I was contacted by a guy who ignored my recommendation of being not overly focusing on that area, and in fact did quite the opposite, spending up to ten hours a day in meditation, perhaps half of these just observing this pulse; after three-four weeks of this, it seems, he got stream entry.
For him, stream entry happened when that part of his mind slowed down, and it suddenly seemed that the pulse was happening in an infinite open space (his words), and then there was a time-gap, followed by the usual post-fruition and then post-stream entry stuff.
So perhaps there is really nothing to avoid. At the time I wrote the recommendation to avoid this sensation, I was having quite severe pain and tension in that place, which would worsen to debilitating levels if I practiced even for half an hour.
I personally find Nick's advice ("riding the wave") hard to follow, as the segregating process of the mind stil happens all over the place. Also there was some point when trying to follow this advice was completely impossible, rather than just hard, and in fact would result in further conceptualization, which, as you probably know, is not the point at all. It should perhaps be added that by the time Nick could simply "ride the wave," he had practice meditation quite intensely for over nine years (if I get the number right), and was accomplished in attaining all sorts of refined states of mind.
Yes, I probably overlook and do not consider the past conditioning in place to be able to do the riding the wave thing successfully. HAIETMOBA is useful for recognizing a few fleeting moments of that if one is able to simply allow the mind to recognise exactly what is arising as one asks it.
Learning to let go as opposed to grasping at the resolution of some 'thing' is also another way. I guess if one finds they cannot do any of the above, they will have to learn the hard way, meaning the intense amount of effort that can result in 'tension' in various places in the body including the head must go on until there is a natural 'giving up' or 'surrendering' of such 'mental exertion' out of sheer frustration and/or exhaustion (which I have had personal experience with and has actually led to baseline shifts).