| | Just another opinion here, but that sounds like typical stuff encountered from the nana of 3 characteristics to the nana of arising and passing away. For me, doing noting practice, this is how it often goes:
-Bodily discomfort, itching, pain, odd tingling/pressure, a sense of intensity/mental agitation in the nana of 3 characteristics
-(sometimes massively intense) spinal shaking, feeling all the tingles and bodily sensations in the previous stage grow and enrapture my whole body, sexual/erotic overtones, the feeling like there is a black hole/massive gravity/massive pressure right between my eyes, eyes twitching and rolling up, spontaneous bodily jerks/twitches (and I noticed this off cushion after crossing A&P quite often in my earlier days), massive joy, feelings of interconnectedness, but also sometimes without the positive feelings...
Are you familiar with the nanas, particularly 1-4? It would probably be helpful/insightful to read about them somewhere, possibly in Daniel Ingram's book.
Try applying some equanimity... that is, no matter how odd, grand, enlightening, positive, negative, fun, or scary an experience is, just sit with it. Think about a very calm and compassionate teacher of young children. All sorts of kids will come, some will be boring, some will be a pain in the arse, some will be a great joy. But your job as the teacher (vipassana meditator) is to calmly watch them come and go. At the end of the day, they all go home. I found that the early nanas were the most fascinating and bizarre, being very easy to get fascinated with. Just tell yourself that you are allowed to experience these things, along with the doubt, fascination, unfamiliarity, fear, excitement, confusion, and whatever else comes with. Equanimity is evenness of mind. Think of a poker game, with all the highs and lows, things that feel at stake, etc... but even through all of this, a good poker player stays emotionally and mentally balanced even no matter what hand he gets dealt. Consider the cutting edge of your practice the hand you're dealt. You don't have much of a say about that, so invite these odd sensations in for tea, so to speak. They'll probably subside on their own and give way to new nanas once you become indifferent (equanimous) to the pleasantness/unpleasantness/intensity.
Alternately, if you're thinking you might be in A&P territory (or even if not), doing a simple concentration practice such as counting or watching the breath in a relaxed and solid way can in turn, do wonders for your vipassana practice. In my experience, jhanas are more accessible in this territory than usual. |