and I already am experiencing new fun sensations.
I'm a total newb regarding meditation. I tried a few times couple of years ago and I guess this is my third attempt. I would really like to develop strong concentration skills first so as I can reap benefits in "real life" to. I'd like that strong presence everybody is talking about and I hope practicing samatha will bring it. To keep it short. I started with sittings a couple of days ago. Had 5 sittings of approx 1 hour length. Two times now, something happened towards the end of meditating session. I should clarify that I'm only trying to keep focus on my breath. What I do is just trying to observe abdominal area while it rises and falls on inhale and exhale. When thoughts come I just note them and go back to noticing breath. Noting is very simple. Talk, think, wish,worry,... If I can "count" ten breaths I'm happy.

Anyway ... on my second sit I had a strange but nice sensation. It starts with a slight feeling of nausea in my stomach area and slight pressure builds up in sinus cavity area. I also notice a need for mild burps. I burp. Then all of a sudden I can visually notice sort of brightening. It's as something is building up. It culminates with a body buzz. As if tiny bubbles are vibrating all over my body accompanied by warmth. Breathing gets faster but focus on breath is now easier to keep. It's a nice feeling but it doesn't last long. This morning it happened again in the last seconds of my 45 minute. I sat a minute or two past the bells and just felt satisfied with the sitting. Then (4:30) I had to give my toddler some antibiotics.

Anybody with similar experience?

Although my initial goals are enhancing concentration skills this thread should really reside in the
`Dharma Diagnostic Clinic, aka "What was that?"` section.
I kindly ask moderators to move this in that section of discussion forum.

Thanks,
I.

Done.


Concerning the sensations, they are what they are. Pleasant sensations. If they are pleasant and occur again, notice the mental quality they trigger or support and shift the flow of thought towards that mental overlay and allow it to grow and expand throughout the whole body, sufusing the entire body with said mental overlay. Your concentration will benefit from such directed and sustained thought.

If serious about develping concentration and a pliant and malleable mind further, give the anapanasati instructions a go. The pleasant sensations could be coopted into tools for your objective.

Nick

Thank you Nikolai.

Yes, I'm serious about it. I will dedicate a good portion of my time to meditation from now on. In fact I'm already doing it. I wake up very early and do sittings with being mindful of breath. This morning I wake up at 2 AM read about mindful breath meditation for about an hour and then I sat on a cushion with a goal for 90 minutes anapanasati meditation. After 45 minutes I stopped. It was to hot. I had a thin blanket around my waste and legs and was getting a sort of pre-sickness hot/cold sweat. A sorry ass excuse. I stood up, did some stretching and went for another sit. It was a complete disaster again. 20 minutes of wandering mind. Couldn't stay with the breath. Went on a sofa, lied down and did a 30 minute session. Passed out a couple of times only to wake up noticing I'm not paying attention to breath. Hehe. Finally passed out after 5AM. Kids woke me at 6. It's funny how I don't feel like I need more sleep even though I have to admit I usually pass out quite soon after my kids go to bed. Usually around 9:30 to 10PM or sooner.

Anyway ... I have my good days and bad days. Sometimes I can go beyond bell and do a 90 minute session with no problems. It all depends on how good can I "land" my initial sitting position on a cushion, meaning my legs will not get numb. But I can notice one thing. Usually it's easier to stay with the breath on start. As time goes by it's harder, mind wonders and I'm looking for all sort of excuses which in turn make me angry and there goes my relaxation. There was a session where I wanted to jump out of my body and beat the shit out of me for not being able to just sit there. Hehe. I could apply noting there but than it wouldn't be anapanasati anymore right?

Currently I'm trying to set up a sort of plan of how to spend most of free time meditating. I thought I'd do a formal anapanasati sitting in early mornings and do some sort of Vipassana (Mahasi noting perhaps) doring the free time I have across the day. It would also be fun to try and have lucid dreams and do some meditation while "sleeping". But it's been a looooong time since I had those.

I'm sure my intuition will tell me what's best for me. I just need to persist and explore.

That thing (body buzz) only happened one more time and it was really mild compared to first time. I'm not trying to search for it anymore. What will happen will happen.

Any tips on how to do early morning / night sessions of anapanasati? I thought I do 1 hour sessions with a 10 minute break of walking meditaion (noting)?

Regards,
I.

PS:
Since most of people around here are already established practitioners/meditators, maybe this forum needs a beginners section so people like me could ask questions in that subforum. Perhaps with some stickies on beginners meditation techniques. "Beginners techniques", "Intermediate level", "Advanced level" ...