Hi ladies & gents,

I'm a newbie to the forum and was hoping someone can help me out. I've been meditating for several months now consistently, but before that on and off for a few years. Generally speaking when I'm meditating sometime about 30 minutes in when my concentration is steady my perception of things around me begins to dissolve. If you've ever fainted before the feeling is quite similar. I then panic and try to ground myself. As a newbie meditator I don't know if I'm doing it right or not. I tend to focus my attention as closely to my breath as possible, certainly not a wide awareness. Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Best to you all,

James

Are your eyes open or closed?

What do you mean specifically when you say they dissolve?

Hi JC,

My eyes are open. By dissolve I mean the visual sensory input begins to disappear and the only thing there is my attention on my breath breath. By dissolve I mean that this is a process (albeit a quick one)-- it doesn't happen all at once.. It's very similar to the way your sensory inputs begin to dissolve right before you are going to faint. That's really the closest feeling. Another description might be how a movie fades into a white screen before images reemerge on screen. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm supposed to push through. It only happens if I manage to meditate for at least 30 minutes and my focus is pretty steady. I'm nervous by nature so the minute I feel these sensations I stop. Thanks for the reply JC. I'm very interested in following this path so any suggestions are more than appreciated.

That sounds really cool. I've never felt anything like that. Clearly you are very concentrated on your breath. I'm not sure what the problem is here though. You're keeping your focus narrow so you are no longer aware of the visual stuff.

I usually do concentration meditation with my eyes closed; you could try that if the 'dissolving' bothers you, but it sounds like you are just very concentrated. If you notice the dissolving and feel panic, try just noticing the panic or locating it in your body, then letting your attention return to your breath.

Thanks JC. I'll give closing my eyes a shot. Don't know why I panic when I get to that level--afraid I'll lose control I suppose.

take care,

james

Sure, no problem.
There's no one to have control or to lose it.
I think at some point you will have to address that fear; read the "Dissolution" and "Fear" sections on the Path of Insight. Really try observing and paying close attention to the panic.

Could be one of two things....since the eyes are open I'm gonna guess Troxler's fading
Try it with eyes closed and see if you get any other stimuli dissolving and any fear/panic coming up.
Also read Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, an Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book by Daniel Ingram. and see what you think.

My intuition is that you're doing great and should keep it up. In my view the 'panic' sensations are a defense mechanism of the mind that think it's 'dying' when it's really just finally coming to rest for a while. Imagine living your whole life without going to sleep, and then experiencing the process of starting to fall asleep. It would be very easy to confuse that with dying and go into panic.

I posted something similar about my concentration practice before I read this which may or may not be helpful to you, in a thread called "Is Concentration about forgetting and trusting".

Since you in your non-meditating state know perfectly well that nothing bad is going to happen and that you won't die from meditating, my suggestion would be to look at this as a very encouraging sign and see if you can relax into it (or investigate) next time it happens. Good luck and have fun!