As a newbie practitioner I am not capable of deep, insightful commentary on the Path like so many here. But I have been noting like crazy and have discovered some sensations that Mahasi never had opportunity to note. I have scoured the English translations of his collected works, Mahasi was apparently denied these experiences. In light of recent weather related alterations to my practice I wanted to share what I've been noticing:
Former morning ritual: sit, note the breath, note whatever arises, record in journal, get up, go to work
New morning ritual: go outside, note the inbreath: sharp, icy searing knifelike pain beginning at the nares deep into the lungs, note the diaphragm, wow that feels weird, tightness!
Outbreath, voluminous clouds of moisture, moisture coalesces on face, now cheeks are in pain, now cheeks are numb, now the chin is numb, now the whole damn face hurts, now the whole face is numb, now eyelids freeze, vision blurs, where's the car?
Shift attention to fingers: are they there? Yes! More knifelike pain, grab doorhandle of the car, aaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooooooqqqwwwww!!!!!!!!!1 Big mistake, look at fingers, blue, cyanotic, aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrghhhh note: door not open yet, jerk on handle, pain in shoulders not exactly knifelike, more like chainsaw or getting beaten with a crowbar!! Excellent insight.
Start car, grumbblllls, grrrrrr, grumbless, never heard that sound before, vibrations feel like those from OM chanting, note arising of new experience, finally starts. Grab icescraper, check fingers....black, note suffering.
Note 1/2 inch of ice on windshield, note impermanence, cleared this off yesterday, everything changes!
Bring attention back to the breath: pain more like icepick than a knife, is this progress of insight?
Note pushing icescraper away: screeeaaakkk, notice much higher tone than yesterday
Note pulling icescraper back: ssrrraaswwwwwwkkdkdkdk, interesting, lower tone than previous, maybe my ears are cold.
Note: ice not budging, more pressure, lean with body, crrraaaackk, icescraper breaks! Just like the bottom falling out of the waterbucket!
Note: object on windshield, my right pinkie finger, very cool, that never fell off before (have to check with Daniel, is this Mind and Body?) Note to self: Siddhartha definitely addressed the breakup of the body, gotta check if he mentioned this one specifically.
Upper extremity sensations unsatisfactory: try body sweep instead, genitals, whoah, never felt like that during sex.
Lower extremities: anything there? Yoohoo, wakeuuup, eh, nevermind.
Final note of the morning: my ass fell off
