Hello all!

At this point I'm a bit of a stranger in these parts... I apologize for that. This website/forum and the people in it have been a huge help in my practice, which, I'm sad to admit, is non-existant these days.


My last post about my experience post stream-entry was made here: http://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/5696300

Now, nearly 2.5 years later after my stream-entry experience, life is noticeably different, but consistent (confusing much??).


1. Moments of 'me' not there. I still have these moments every once-in-a-while where I feel like "I" am not there. It's a bit hard to explain, but it's as if I notice after the moment has passed that there was no feeling of "me". Nothing physically happens after, just that I noticed it ("I" come back). These moments usually happen when I'm walking and not talking.

2. Focus. One of the best benefits (that I've noticed so far), is my increased focus. Definitely have an easier time "telling" my mind what to focus on.

3. Happiness. My happiness has been consistently high. A very clean, lasting happiness.



I can remember when I was practicing hardcore to get SE and how often I got discouraged. I'm an ordinary guy who did what Ingram talks about in his book and achieved what I was after. You can do it too. It's tough as hell, but it's possible.

I'll check back here to see if there are any questions or whatnot and answer them the best I can.

I'm in no way claiming I know it all or am better than anyone else here. I just know it helped me to see others talk about what life was life after SE or even to hear about their struggles. If this post seems a bit over-zealous, let me know. 

Slacker. Get back to work.

Hey Travis,

Thanks for coming back to share your experience.

It sounds like stream entry has been a conciderate change to your life.

What was your experience of stream entry like? How did you know it had happened?

That's a great question. I actually studied as many sources and experiences of stream entry as I could so I'd be sure to recognize my own.

Many people say that it can be different with each individual but there's an obvious underlying pattern to SE in general.


I was at a Goenka retreat after having worked up to meditating about 12hrs. out of the 15 that I was awake. As you know, with Goenka retreats, they are intense. You are encouraged to meditate everywhere and this helped a lot.

At one point I was sitting, meditating in the hall everyone else when I realized that I had just "woken up"-- it felt a lot like that in the beginning. It was if I was either unconscious or MAYBE asleep... I was definitely not there. I'm not sure how long it lasted, all I know is that I realized I was "gone" after I "came back". Then, it got really strange.

I had this indistinguishable buzz throughout my entire body. Hard to explain, but it felt as if I tingling and buzzing all over. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing. It was kinda funny when this happened because I went up to the guru after we were done to ask him a quesiton. I described the feeling through laughter and smiling and he looked at me with some pretty serious expressions then relaxed and said "it will pass. This is a normal feeling". I thought this is anything but normal...

I confered with some more experienced meditators and they were able to more or less confirm my experience. The buzz and body high had lasted for a noticeable 1.5yrs or so.

Thankyou.   As you say, this is so encouraging to hear.   Gives me much hope.  

Since you started a committed meditation practice, how long has it been to the point of SE?