Going somewhere unknown

letitgo

My spouse and I were discussing we both have this thing we do in meditation that we cannot understand and have never heard about. There are sometimes black holes in time. That is, I (we) find myself returning to my breath, but have no idea where I just was. I know I was not asleep. I was aware of my surroundings, sounds, etc. I think my black holes last for a few seconds or a couple minutes. The closest analog is what happens when one is day dreaming while doing something like cloud watching, but there is not an actual, or perhaps remembered dream that occurred.

So, the intention of understanding what this is, is what to do about it, if anything other than returning to the breath.

PietroPumokin

put your finger in the black hole and see what it feels like

Cloud

Just sounds like spacing out; rather than being drawn from the breath by another thought or sense, you're not paying attention to anything in particular. That's not so bad. What is unpleasant the first time you come to it is when you go deep enough that the breath itself disappears, and you feel afraid you've stopped breathing and might die. First time that happened I had to will myself to not care; that it was perfectly natural. Sure didn't feel natural.

letitgo

Spacing out. Yes. Spaced out. I just start noting it - "spaced out" - and return to the breath.

It seems rather nit wit not to have figured this out myself. I am so used to active and identifiable distractions that this null zone just did not compute.

seeker242

>So, the intention of understanding what this is, is what to do about it, if anything other than returning to the breath.

Nope, that's it. Just returning to breath. Because it does not matter where you were, what matters is where you are.