My meditation experience questions

Inc88

Hello everyone, i've been meditating for almost a year now and recently (past few weeks) i've been making sure i at least practice once a day for however long i can. I've also been taking down notes like how long i was meditating, how many times in the day, if it was inside or outside lol (kind of a habit of mine to take notes in general).

Anyway i know im not a seasoned meditator and usually when i meditate i feel calm and peaceful but still have chatter going on in my head like in daily life (just less) or even a song stuck in my head. Today tho, i had listened to a chant of the heart sutra and had one part of it stuck in my head while meditating. I thought it wasn't going to stop so i decided just to accept it and continue anyway, but eventually and suddenly everything in my mind seemed to quiet completely and my head felt very clear. Along with that i had an unusual feeling of spaciousness, sensations on my hands and face, and an extreme deep soothing clam. I was able to remain like that for a time but couldn't really go anywhere with it since this is new to me.

I know there are people that are wayyyy more experienced then me on here and was wondering if they can share some insight with me :].

Is this actually anything significant?
or is this normal?
or am i just a nut? lol

mfranzdorf

I don't think that any two persons meditation experiences are the same. The chattering is normal. Don't fight it, just recognize it for what it is, focus on your breath and let it play out. Youyr latest experience sounds wonderful! If it gave you peace and calm, apparently it is right! Im fairly new to this practice as well, but thats my take on it !

how

Everything will eventually visit you in meditation.
Meditation is just your full acceptance of it's arising birth, life and death.
Nothing to hold onto or push away.
Anything more than this is not meditation.

pegembara

@inc88

Attaining the silent mind is a significant milestone as most people have constant mind chatter and are completely identified with their "mind"(thoughts).

Out of this silence one observes thoughts arising and passing. For the first time one realises that we are not our thoughts!

Try and stay with the gaps between thoughts as long as possible.

lobster

You are not a nut.
It is normal.
Don't make it significant (do not grasp it).
Continue practice.

Have a nice day

fivebells

It's a sign you're doing things right. Keep practicing!

BhanteLucky

And don't worry if it doesn't happen again for a long time. A loooong time.

DairyLama

Inc88 said:

Along with that i had an unusual feeling of spaciousness, sensations on my hands and face, and an extreme deep soothing clam.

It sounds like significant progress to me. Do you have a meditation teacher?

driedleaf

Anything to keep us motivated to practice is great. We just need to remind ourselves not to get attached, and there might be plenty of things we have not discovered yet.

Best wishes

GentleJanet

I am new to this practice and have experienced cool stuff during meditation, as well. However, once I share my experience with others, I am reminded by everyone to ‘live it and leave it’. It almost feels like they have stepped in and burst my bubble of enthusiasm. But they are teaching me not to ‘attach’ to the experience because it may lead to ‘wanting’ of the same experience, which may lead to dukkah in the form of frustration or self-doubt. Non-permanence is a concept I am slowly learning to grasp. I like how you are being mindful to the aspects of your meditation practice, by taking notes. Enjoy the neat surprises of meditation, take note and move on to the next. There’s more to experience.

Jason

Hard to say, but could be the feeling of rapture or fullness that coincides with the first jhana.

At this stage, Thanissaro Bhikkhu advises to try and develop pleasurable states like this and try to maintain them by finding ways of breathing that nourishes this sense of fullness and refreshment, which will help strengthen mindfulness and discernment and give the mind a comfortable place to rest. For example, from "Mindfulness Defined":

We're often told that mindfulness and concentration are two separate forms of meditation, but the Buddha never made a clear division between the two. In his teachings, mindfulness shades into concentration; concentration forms the basis for even better mindfulness. The four establishings of mindfulness are also the themes of concentration. The highest level of concentration is where mindfulness becomes pure. As Ajaan Lee, a Thai Forest master, once noted, mindfulness combined with ardency turns into the concentration factor called vitakka or “directed thought,” where you keep your thoughts consistently focused on one thing. Alertness combined with ardency turns into another concentration factor: vicara, or “evaluation.” You evaluate what's going on with the breath. Is it comfortable? If it is, stick with it. If it's not, what can you do to make it more comfortable? Try making it a little bit longer, a little bit shorter, deeper, more shallow, faster, slower. See what happens. When you've found a way of breathing that nourishes a sense of fullness and refreshment, you can spread that fullness throughout the body. Learn how to relate to the breath in a way that nourishes a good energy flow throughout the body. When things feel refreshing like this, you can easily settle down.

You may have picked up the idea that you should never fiddle with the breath, that you should just take it as it comes. Yet meditation isn't just a passive process of being nonjudgmentally present with whatever's there and not changing it at all. Mindfulness keeps stitching things together over time, but it also keeps in mind the idea that there's a path to develop, and getting the mind to settle down is a skillful part of that path.

Inc88

PedanticPorpoise said:

It sounds like significant progress to me. Do you have a meditation teacher?

Unfortunately no :[....Iv'e tried looking around where i live (southern new jersey) for classes or a sanga or something but, since i haven't had much luck finding one, i feel as tho it gives me the opportunity to explore different types of techniques to approach meditation.

I currently am trying to practice the jhanas and while my experience was awesome looking back i believe i may have been close but it wasn't exactly jhana(i dont think it be so iffy if it was). I do love the advice everyone is giving me :] and while it be nice to have these experiences happen every time, i understand i need to keep that thought out of my head lol

Songhill

If through meditation one has awakened to the pure Mind they should be able to answer the koan that Master Yüan-wu gave to, then student, Ta-hui which was: "The eastern mountain sails on the river." Ta-hui made 49 attempts at answering it and failed.

DairyLama

Inc88 said:

PedanticPorpoise said:

It sounds like significant progress to me. Do you have a meditation teacher?

Unfortunately no :[....Iv'e tried looking around where i live (southern new jersey) for classes or a sanga or something but, since i haven't had much luck finding one, i feel as tho it gives me the opportunity to explore different types of techniques to approach meditation.

This site might be helpful:http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/

fivebells

Songhill said:

If through meditation one has awakened to the pure Mind they should be able to answer the koan that Master Yüan-wu gave to, then student, Ta-hui which was: "The eastern mountain sails on the river." Ta-hui made 49 attempts at answering it and failed.

Wrong thread?