Hi all.
I'm wondering if anyone would like to discuss what is an area of significance in my vipassana practice, which is working with the heart/chest area, and the intense physical and emotional phenomena that can accompany this.
My brief practice history - five 10-day retreats in Goenka tradition. 14 months of a fairly consistent 2 hour daily sitting practice using a combination of Goenka style body scanning and Mahasi noting. Definitely had a few A&P events.
So, in my daily sitting practice I find myself returning time and again to the heart/chest area, and as my practice has progressed I have become more acutely aware of the sensations at this area continuously throughout the day. This area is a consistent source of heavy, intense, predominately unpleasant sensations, and sustained attention at this area invariably results in an intensification of these unpleasant sensations, from the physical, (which I may note, for example, as contraction, tightness, heaviness, aching, pain, throbbing, stabbing, piercing, blockage) to the emotional (fear, anxiety, panic, sadness, unpleasantness, aversion). At the times I manage to observe these sensations consistently and with equanimity the area will often open, leading to an emotional release, dissipation or dissolving of the unpleasant sensations, and a sense of lightness and relief. At other times the sheer intensity of these sensations can become so powerful that the urge to wrench myself away becomes unbearable. In the past while on retreat I feel that my greatest breakthroughs have come after sustained attention to the intense sensations and blockages at this area, as well as in the throat and spinal cord. (
See this thread for my description of an explosive energetic event that followed such a period.)
My foundation in vipassana has been through the Goenka school. In that tradition, practitioners are explicitly discouraged from maintaining their attention on any specific area or sensation for any longer than a few minutes maximum. The instruction in this tradition is that one should keep one's attention moving, in the body scanning fashion, part by part, piece by piece, and not stay too long with any one area or sensation. The stated reason for this is that if one stays too long with a particular sensation, there may be a tendency for aversion to arise towards unpleasant sensations, or craving or attachment to arise towards pleasant sensations.
While I understand the logic behind these instructions, it is my feeling that as one advances in practice, this approach can become a hindrance to progress. I guess I am wondering if anyone shares this view.
I came across an old thread where Tarin and Nick discuss the different approaches to working with the heart center. Here Tarin emphasized his view that confronting this area head-on was central to his stream entry breakthrough. I found this discussion particularly relevant to my own practice, and I'm wondering if anyone out there feels the same way, namely that this area can be the key to certain breakthroughs in practice.
Here are some quotes that I thought might be relevant to a discussion on this topic:
"sometimes...careful and directed attention is needed to open our repeated patterns and deepest knots...The patterns of holding in our body and mind are like knots of energy that have bodily contraction, emotions, memories, and images all intertwined. In this practice we carefully direct out awareness to each level of a knot, feeling into the very center of the pattern. In doing so, we can release our identification with it and discover a fundamental openness and well-being beyond the contraction." Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart.
"One who is unable to arouse enough courage or energy to look at pain will never understand the potential that lies in it. We
have to develop courage of mind, heroic effort, to look at pain. Let’s learn not to run from pain, but rather to go right in." Sayadaw U Pandita - In This Very Life
"As you progress in mindfulness you may experience sensations of intense pain, stifling or choking sensations, pain such as from the slash of a knife, the thrust of a sharp-pointed instrument, unpleasant sensations of being pricked by sharp needles...when the mental faculties become keener you are more aware of these sensations. With the continued development of contemplation the time will come when you can overcome them and they cease altogether. If you continue contemplation, firm in purpose, you will not come to any harm. Should you lose courage, become irresolute in contemplation and discontinue for a time, you may encounter these unpleasant sensations again and again as your contemplation proceeds. If you continue with determination you will most likely overcome these painful sensations and may never again experience them in the course of contemplation." Mahasi Saysdaw - Practical Insight Meditation
"5 or 6 days into my last retreat (on which i got stream-entry), i was angry at feeling helpless in the face of those tightening and panicky sensations in my chest and throat, and decided that i was not going to have my attention be limited by them any longer. i proceeded to confront them in a very brute force way, determined to outlast/outlive them or die trying. the pain, angst and turmoil was fierce, but it worked, and while i was exhausted, the accomplishment was vitalising. i didnt get path at this point but have no doubt it was a strong support and that some heavy insight was born there". Tarin Greco
in this post.*Edit: Subject Title