Head Being Ripped While Meditating

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C4 Chaos, modified 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:03 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:03 AM

Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 0 Join Date: 7/26/09 Recent Posts
Forum: Practical Dharma

hi everyone,

just want to ask about this experience i had last night while meditating... feel free to share your thoughts, especially those more advanced practitioners.

i did my usual lying down meditation last night. i focused on impermanence by riding the "waves"/vibrations. as it got intense i felt the vibrating sensation rising up to my forehead in the direction towards the top of my head. it felt like my hair is being pulled up. it was intense but not that painful. one traditional explanation for this could be kundalini energy trying to flow out of the crown chakra.

anyway, what i did was that i just let it happen. did not resist. did not manipulate the energy. just let it do whatever it wants to do. the next thing i remember is that was in some kind of a lucid dream state. at the same time, i can hear my physical body snoring profusely. in the dream state, i was talking to someone whom i recognized as the historical Buddha. i asked him questions but he didn't really give me answers. he seemed ignorant about my questions. the next thing i remember is that i am inside a cylindrical net. like a fish caught in a net. i was struggling to get out. then i remembered that i'm in a dream and that i could *fly* out on the other end of the net. but as i was flying out. my wife woke me up because i was snoring so loud. bummer.

my question is: in your experience, what's the best way to deal with the vibratory sensation rising up to the top of the head? what's the best way to navigate a lucid dream i described above?

thanks for your attention.

~C
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Vincent Horn, modified 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:15 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:15 AM

RE: Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 211 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Hey ~C,

Here's what I would offer regarding both the energetic phenomena that you mentioned (which I would indeed call kundalini energy) and the lucid dream. First, I would point out that the combination of kundalini energy + lucid dreaming (plus some of the other things you've mentioned including effortless practice and long sits) are all indicators of A&P territory. So, that being said not manipulating and simply noticing the energetic phenomena (as you did) is a pretty good way to go. From the vipassana perspective it's yet another set of phenomena to be noticed as it is (i.e see the 3 characteristics of). There isn't really even a need to focus on those sensations in particular, unless they are predominant and interesting, in which case they can be a fine object.

W/r/t the lucid dreams, when I'm in the A&P and get lucid I've often found it interesting to do vipassana in the dream. The first time I remember crossing the A&P event was in a lucid dream where I began to notice the vibrations in my hands while lucid. Then I began running faster and faster and my entire body imploded for a moment, then exploded into pure light / bliss. Anyway, maybe try noticing the passing nature of phenomena in the dream state. And also tell the Buddha I said Wassup!

Anyway, those are my thoughts on this. I'm sure others will have different ones.

keep it up dawg!

-Vince
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C4 Chaos, modified 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:22 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:22 AM

RE: Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 0 Join Date: 7/26/09 Recent Posts
thanks for the advice. that's exactly what i'm working on why i'm practicing lucid dream: to get lucid and then continue my practice in the dream state. but of course, the challenging thing is to *remember* it in the dream emoticon will keep working on it though.

that said, most of my subtle experiences happen in the dream state and not while sitting. but i think that my recent efforts at regular sitting practice makes the experience more intense in the dream state. in other words, both practice go hand in hand emoticon

~C
Trent S H, modified 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:42 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 5:42 AM

RE: Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 0 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
I'm not sure if this is useful or not, but that crown energy for me was invaluable in pointing out what I should be investigating at the time. For instance, if I was reading some dharma related book and the crown energy reacted, I could tell that the content I had just read had something to do with an understanding that would be useful. Same goes for practice-- in many cases-- the more that energy flared up, the more I knew that I was on the right track. I found that there were caveats to using it in this way, however. The biggest one being that if I was not "ready" to understand something, there would be no energy reaction regardless of how "true" the teaching was.

I guess my point is, if you feel the energy in the way I described, it can be used as sort of an in-the-moment intuitive guide. I must also add that I don't think this reaction began happening until after attaining to stream entry, and any correlation I found between the energy and the dharma may be my own personal psychosis =p
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C4 Chaos, modified 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 8:25 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/15/09 8:25 AM

RE: Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 0 Join Date: 7/26/09 Recent Posts
i agree. i think that's a healthy way of allowing the waves to just flow without obsessive about it. a combination of opening to wisdom and as well as being on guard of our own tendency to project our limited awareness on certain things emoticon

~C
beta wave, modified 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 12:23 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 2/16/09 12:23 AM

RE: Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 5 Join Date: 8/30/09 Recent Posts
I agree with the lucid dream with A&P diagnosis. It seems like I've had (semi-) lucid dreams that would correspond to stages in the dark night - esp. misery and fear. They can be very liberating if you can ride out their energy with the noting perspective. Sometimes these power dreams can catch you off guard and pull you into the dark night, but I like Yabaxoule's statement that you wouldn't have them if you didn't have the potential to grow from them. I think the best way to deal with the vibratory sensation rising up to the top of the head is to fully experience it while noting it. Same thing for the less fun experiences in lucid or non-lucid dreams... experiencing deeply but with equanimity gives you the insight.
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Wet Paint, modified 15 Years ago at 3/3/09 4:38 AM
Created 15 Years ago at 3/3/09 4:38 AM

RE: Head Being Ripped While Meditating

Posts: 22924 Join Date: 8/6/09 Recent Posts
Author: GhostLLP

Definitely crown center activity.

Given the nature of vibrations, this sounds to me like an astral projection experience rather than a lucid dream.

If you haven't already, learn a form of energy work, and study astral projection further. This can be very beneficial, and from these experience it's pretty clear you'll take to it with ease.

Peace
Lucas

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