Drip, drip, drop.

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Toph H, modified 8 Years ago at 12/2/15 11:47 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/2/15 11:47 AM

Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 18 Join Date: 2/5/13 Recent Posts
Okay, so during meditation, often I feel a cool drip sensations.  They occur the same no matter the position, or angle.  At first I thought it was sweat, but aside from not being there when I touch the area, also occurs when I'm cold as well.  I used to get really distracted and mentally follow these lines, but now I just ignore them as they arise, though my curiousity is still piqued.  It may start with a bubbling sensation at the top of my head, then dripping down my head, face, etc.  Or from between my brows, a swirl, and constant drip.
What's that?
Thanks!
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tom moylan, modified 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 5:05 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 5:05 AM

RE: Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 896 Join Date: 3/7/11 Recent Posts
howdy T-H
it is nothing really.  :-)  What is your meditation technique / object?

If noting / noticing..do that with sweat , then go back to your chosen object again and again.  Another take would be to take your fixation with sweating as an object but that's a bit more advanced.

peas

tom
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Toph H, modified 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 7:54 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 7:52 AM

RE: Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 18 Join Date: 2/5/13 Recent Posts
Hi,
What is your meditation technique / object? Focus in on inner ears, a tinnitus sound faint at first will appear, focus in, once that get's loud and lights start to appear, focus in on the soft lights, once they become stable/hard shift to the arising crisp geometric shapes(generally the sound is really loud by now), body awareness is nonexistant, when I'm immersed fully in the geometric shapes/lights/textures(rather than external), merge/become the shapes/lights/textures, then it's more like float around swirling, undulating. 
I generally get stuck there. >.<

How would I take the fixation of sweat as an object? Similar to breath?  Hmmm....sweat meditation.
Thank you emoticon
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tom moylan, modified 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 10:43 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 10:42 AM

RE: Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 896 Join Date: 3/7/11 Recent Posts
Hi,
great response and surprising.  what i meant by that was that you should take more subtle mental tendencies as your object, in your case specifically the fixation on the sweat thingy.

what you are describing as your practice is actually much farther along than i would have guessed.   being stuck there is really common.  i could be wrong but i would guess low / mid equanimity.  what do you think of that assessment?

my experience here is that its really easy to enjoy and so investigation suffers.  i believe the way forward (for me) is to try to differentiate between what we want to experience and what is happening on its own. 

i try to focus on the movement of attention here.  this leads me to a quieter (in the sense of less movement) place where the jumping of mind is more apparent.  i don't know if this makes sense to you but this tends to cut off the tendency to proliferate subtle thoughts and distraction.
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Sadalsuud Beta Aquarii, modified 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 11:31 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 11:31 AM

RE: Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 118 Join Date: 7/21/13 Recent Posts
Toph H:
Okay, so during meditation, often I feel a cool drip sensations.  They occur the same no matter the position, or angle.  At first I thought it was sweat, but aside from not being there when I touch the area, also occurs when I'm cold as well.  I used to get really distracted and mentally follow these lines, but now I just ignore them as they arise, though my curiousity is still piqued.  It may start with a bubbling sensation at the top of my head, then dripping down my head, face, etc.  Or from between my brows, a swirl, and constant drip.
What's that?
Thanks!

hey.

I have experienced this, so too have probably have a lot of people who practice nei gong (chinese way of describing the way of working with the energy body). 

it really depends what you wanna do with your practice, and what model of development you wanna follow. 
if you are intent on developing concentration for whatever reason (on the mental/visual phenomena) then great, ok. keep focussing on the mental phenomena.

if you want to open up the energetic system of the body, to integrate insights into the body, then open your attention to include everything, including the dripping. Basically use focus to get your mind still like you describe, then let go and just be everything, allow everything, including body sensations as well as mental phenomena. as you can probably tell this is my preference, to just open to everything and allow whatever spiritual process to do all the work for you. 

the slight warning if you do this is that probably more weird bodily effects will happen, and you don't have so much 'control' of the process. but you can always stop and go back to focussing on one object.

I don't recommend to try and force anything like trying to make the dripping increase or whatever. and don't willfully "ignore it" either (unless intense concentration is your goal). 
 much love
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Dream Walker, modified 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 9:39 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/3/15 9:39 PM

RE: Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 1657 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Toph H:
Okay, so during meditation, often I feel a cool drip sensations.  They occur the same no matter the position, or angle.  At first I thought it was sweat, but aside from not being there when I touch the area, also occurs when I'm cold as well.  I used to get really distracted and mentally follow these lines, but now I just ignore them as they arise, though my curiousity is still piqued.  It may start with a bubbling sensation at the top of my head, then dripping down my head, face, etc.  Or from between my brows, a swirl, and constant drip.
What's that?
Thanks!


I've spent a lot of time practicing in the sauna over the years. The opportunity to follow real sweat drips has been very useful. It gets you into vipassana so rapidly its almost cheating.
Have you tried to explore every nuance of the drip? If so, for how long? When funky things arise its worth checking them out for a full 40 minutes or longer....several times. Tell how it goes.
Good luck,
~D
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Toph H, modified 8 Years ago at 12/4/15 3:09 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 12/4/15 12:04 PM

RE: Drip, drip, drop.

Posts: 18 Join Date: 2/5/13 Recent Posts
@tom moylan  Low equinamity sounds accurate, it's one thing to float, there's still space, even time, but I have a tendency to panic/fear kick-in as soon as I go from merging with say light or small spaces(like a room or building), to fully dissoving.  Granted once dissolution full occurs everything is fine, just the process, definitely not fully equinaminous.  It would be nice to relax rather than resist and slip into an existential crisis with the process.  I'm the type of person who runs away or resists theses processes rather than runs to or after them.  Usually I'm just witnessing or observing, but find internal resistance towards full dissolution.

Funny thing, I was reading a book on meditation, that really got into what you are describing, even one part almost word for word. I can see how what you say works, so thanks for the solid advice.

@Sadalsuud Beta Aquarii Makes sense, I like your method and can see how it would fit well into how I like to settle down before meditation.  I can imagine it would yield weird body effects, warning duly noted.

@Dream Walker
It's happened for quite some time, I guess the first time I noticed was about five years ago.  I noticed it occurs within a particular threshold during meditation specifically.  Say, just starting to settle, when breath appears to be gone but not so much to lose most sense of a physical space(still connected/tuned/hearing to the physical environment).  There's really more to what I wrote, it's more of a summery.  I find it easier to discern these drops in and around my head.  I haven't been able to feel them yet in my hands, or feet.  I know it may sound wierd, but it seems like there are these energetic lines or threads that are interconnected, I can follow them to disks that may feel hot(or not).  I've never checked them out more than in a passing notion, I imagine 40mins., would yeild more information especially under repeated investigation.

Thank you guys for your thoughtful replies.  It has really helped give me focus, headway, as well as inspiration!

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