Author: BradyE
Forum: Dharma Overground Discussion Forum

I'm getting a little better at vipassana, and I'm experiencing some strange things!

After a couple of minutes, I've been hearing an extremely high-frequency squeal, usually this distracts me and I lose concentration.
Last time, however, I was able to press through it and I started getting waves of sensation running up towards the top of my head. Then, I felt a strange "sucking" sensation on the top of my head. No pun intended. THEN I felt a sort of supernatural lightness, like floating. By that time, I became a sufficiently alarmed that I lost concentration.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? What's going on here?

You would appear to be experiencing the first and/or second jhanas. As a relatively inexperienced practitioner (relative to some of the real talent here), I wrote a thread on recognizing the 1st and 2nd jhanas...take a peek at that and see if it jives with some of your experiences.

Author: BradyE

Right on, thanks for the redirection. The "big head" feeling is weird, huh? Do any of these experiences give you pause, or get you spooked? For me, part of it is challenging the fear of what's happening to me. It's kind of like skateboarding down a hill: it's scary but I've got to keep my concentration, or I'm going to suffer!

No, not in the slightest. I welcome it as a sign of progress. Sitting takes a lot of effort and time, and frankly I was getting frustrated that I was getting no "progress indicators". Not anymore, however, since I found this place.