Micheal Kush:
So after reviewing and taking some advice, i believe i stumbled upon something during meditation. As i meditated, following the breath there arose a strong pressure on the bridge of my nose and it seemed to embody it. It wasnt of any particular factor like warmth/cold, pleasure/pain just a neutral feeling. Remembering that i read a post asking about the same description and wondered if theres any signifigance to forward my attention to that sensation?
Also, i know that im not suppose to drop the breath but maintain concentration while being mindful if the sensation. However, out of curiousity and just for expirementation, i decided to drop it and follow the sensation. I ended the session with nothing attained because my time expired.
Though i do have questions, is that sensation of any particular signifigance? And am i totally to remain on the breath as the sensation persists? And if you must know, my breath became more subtle throughout this phase, very hard to pinpoint.
Best wishes, mike
Here is a good example of developing metta in conjunction with your concentration practice.
The pressure in the nose thing: you want to know if it's significant, right?
Well, I'll say that I've commonly felt a little 'click' in my sinuses when in meditation, and then the sinuses seem to open. Is it significant? Well, I know that it has regularly happened, and I think it relates to some aspect of my practice. I do not think all meditators should or would feel a sinus click. Not significant and not non-significant. It just has happened. May not happen tomorrow.
There are a lot of sensations that are perceived during mediation. It is easy to gratify oneself with sensations and use this pleasurable gratification to avoid/shun other arising thoughts and feelings. This is why it is good to meditate when you feel irritated and tired after eating a heavy meal (I refer to your other thread here): those unpleasant sensations are bringing up actual feelings and thoughts to which you are playing the aversive bouncer at the door of the Gratification Pleasure Bar ,"Get lost you irritated feelings arising from overeating heaviness and tiredness. Go bloat, be gone! My meditation is for gratifying, pleasure feelings!"
Here is what is significant in this post, in my opinion: wanting to measure significance. The desire to value-measure this experience. If the experience "is significant" you will feel some gratification. If it is not significant, what will you feel?
It is totally natural to want to value measure many things in life, and it has an apt and skillful use. For example, addicts-in-recovery are encouraged to hang out with people who are also addicts-in-recovery versus active addicts.
But in meditation, value-measuring an experience as "significant/insignificant" is not necessary, may hinder insight and may be dangerous.
Not necessary: it's just not necessary to measure events going across the mind. It is necessary to observe the connection one has to events (such as, the want-connection to gratifying thought-feelings and the not-want connection to disappointing thought-feelings) crossing the mind.
May hinder: measuring experiences in meditation (versus just paying attention to them with neutral-metta awareness) is causing one to overlook what else is happening. One is trying only to meditate when the mind feels its own conditions of pleasure. One is gratifying themselves when meditation feels good and avoiding meditation when it doesn't look very gratifying. This is a fine way for a beginner to start. You know, kayakers start in nice conditions, but if they keep kayaking off the coasts of England, say, they really should take a BCU 4-start training on a few really shitty days or not kid themselves into thinking they are a 4-star paddler...
may be dangerous: ...one skillful consequence of a concentration practice like anapanasati is it develops equanimity in regards to all thoughts and emotions arising and passing from the mind. In paying attention to physical sensations you can create many senstation-based experiences: See Bhante Yuttadhammos' youtube talks on coffee and on astral body. When a meditator develops ability in sensations without equanimity in their own arising thoughts and emotions, dangerous releases may happen during the exploration of sensations. It can cause a psychotic break.
So, it's skillful to have observed the sensation in the nose/subtle breathing, and its very skillful to acknowledge any emotions and thoughts that are attached to that experience and are otherwise generally arising and passing in the mind.
There's also the subtle danger of not dealing with everything that arises and passes in meditation with metta-equanimity: one wastes their time and remains in delusion.
Makes sense?