Author: telecaster
Forum: Daniel's Practice Hut

I just got up from the cushion.
I'm just barely noticing vibrations for the first time. They are a bit rare and not strong, but I am noticing them.
It is staring to seem like my body contains a "wave" of feelings and sensations, that rises and falls in different variations all the time.
Another and slightly different description could be "pulse" rather than "wave."
Anyone else see this in the early stages of noting practice?

Dear Telecaster:

How fast are the vibrations, how many times per second, where are they, what do you do with them, how do you notice them?

Early vibrations tend to me think early A&P or late 3Characteristics.

Practice advice: any vibrations are good: notice them exactly as they are as continuously as possible without trying to do anything to them except know them in each little pulse and flicker.

Author: telecaster

vibrations are in my fingertips and the bottom of my feet. very slight. maybe five per second. I try to just notice them and see if I can get close to them in my perception.
If A&P means some kind of dramatic "seeing the light" sort of experience, then I am NOT there. But, the world is brighter, I have a bit more energy, and I am enthusiastic .about practice.

The A&P has many phases, one of which starts out subtly in some people, and sometimes it stays somewhat subtle. There is a range of presentation in each part, from wild explosions in dreams to subtle tingles spreading out over the body, to all kinds of stuff. I only saw a light the first time through it before stream entry, and the next 6 or so saw none.

I think I am in the same place. I have been getting different vibrations, usually auditory, some visual, and some tactile, but never when concentrating on the breath. I am also noting a strong sense of aversion and how much lack of control over what thoughts arise (though I am doing well to stay focused enough to note them as they arise and pass away). As much as I think I'm usually in control over my thoughts, I feel some fear when I get really into insight practice because I notice how much I don't have control over my own mind.

I have noticed that concentration practice (specifically looking at a kasina) gets me in to the jhanas and helps keep me calm and able to note better. I mentioned on another thread that achieving a level of jhana helps me go from feeling like I'm in the middle of a busy interstate highway (dry insight) to watching a slow parade.

Anyways, I seem to only be hitting the 3rd nana. Any suggestions to cross the A&P? (Yes, I've read the book, read the threads, and am reading the Practical Insight Meditation online book from Google.)

Crossing the A&P is a big topic, as you already know, but my thoughts are these:

1) There is some chance you already have, as many who find themselves really into this stuff did at some point, and they just don't remember it or associate whatever happened with the A&P.
2) For crossing the A&P, rapidly noticing things, retreats and strong concentration all help, but as to exactly how to do it, that is a little like trying to tell someone how to fall asleep. Longer sits, more practice time, and other unidentified factors all make a difference.

Are you sure you never crossed it before?

Daniel

Well, it's a touchy subject, probably not meant for this thread.

I spent 10 years practicing some serious Christian contemplative prayer (another story), and I've noticed that some of the experiences I had line up with the maps. If I were to gauge my practice back then (though not true insight practice I figure), I'd say I might have reached 11th Nana (equanimity), but never fruition.

But I've pretty much not been counting any of that and have just been going off of what I've done as a "Buddhist" practicing insight and working on the other trainings.

Author: telecaster

Since my insight-type meditation has varied in amount and intensity over about a 30 year period (hard to believe so long, but that 30 years is just chronological range, I'd say within that there is maybe only three years or so all together of real effort) and all of it really was on my own (I've done one-day retreats where I never connected with or spoke to a teacher) I think I had hit various stages from time to time.
I saw early on that my thoughts were not real, and I got a vague understanding that there wasn't an unchanging "me." I've gotten some great peace of mind and had hours, days, or sometimes longer of strong awareness without much suffering. And then, weeks, months, years of strong disastisfaction that I couldn't sustain the good experiences.
I've gotten subtle tingles all my life and I'm getting them now just by writing about them. So without much real understanding to base it on I feel like my adult life had been kind of a weird cycling through weak A&P and varying in intensity Dark Night.
Right now, when meditating, I get the tingles, and a sort of surge of energy up my spine to my head that causes my head to jerk -- these come and go.
I guess what I think I am missing and why I think I am quite a ways from really going through "mind and body" is I feel like when I get there I'LL KNOW IT, I won't have to guess.
(Note: the way I got interested in this stuff back in the late 70s was from reading Jack Kornfield's "Living Buddhist Masters," which had chapters on several Vipassana masters that got me very excited. Anyone else read this book?)
-one more thing: one bad side effect for me of my kind of weak apprecation of non-self/empitiness was an inability to commit to life as "me." I mean, there was always somebody here and that somebody always needed care and feeding but I had a hard time integrating that in my life.

Jamie,
I really relate to what you said about some of your previous other experiences and how you can see that there's some lining up with the maps. I'm finding it kind of difficult at this point to say exactly where I'm at related to the maps, but I think it's of value to consider my various experiences when trying to assess my current level. I think perhaps the same for you... maybe your experiences don't plug in exactly (according to the maps), but nonetheless they are relevant to your progress (now and ongoing). Remember, the maps are basically a tool, a means to see your progress in some sort of a measurable way, as well as a guideline as you continue to make progress.
On the other hand, it's good that you're using discretion and working at building a strong foundation to your current practice. - Makes for smoother transitions and steady progress. This is the kind of approach I'm taking, too.

My apologies for getting a bit off topic in my previous comment.
Since the initial topic in this thread is regarding "noting" and vibrations... It's interesting to note (no pun intended, lol) that Jamie, Michael (telecaster), and myself have recently began noticing these vibrations. It seems that all three of us have been practicing in some way or another for several years, made various degrees of progress, and etc. However, apparently none of us were really attuned to noticing vibrations, but after just a short time of this practice - we are now aware of these vibrations and seem to be getting more sensitive to them.
This is of particular interest to me since I've been a practitioner of Yoga and Qigong... became aware of various other sensations, but the vibrations that others spoke of always seemed to elude me, until now. Now, I'm able to integrate this awareness into these other practices for a much more connected experience.

[edited punctuation]