A question to the experienced meditators

[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Tanemon

Yes I'm speaking from experience. Yes, whenever I sit for 10 or 15 minutes, I'll have periods of that experience. If I sit longer, the periods of "breathless" and inner unification tend to be longer. I never have fainted, never fallen over.

If you go onto this page and scroll down to post #22, I tell how I arrived at the experience. But I've talked with people who have arrived at it in a number of different ways.
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...t=77918&page=3

Thankyou.

So breathless and no awareness of your body moving with the breath, as one in these periods your speaking of?

(I hope you don't mind me asking you further, its for my own awareness to understand outside of the meditation space)

[Tanemon]

Originally Posted by naturesflow

Thankyou.

So breathless and no awareness of your body moving with the breath, as one in these periods your speaking of?

(I hope you don't mind me asking you further, its for my own awareness to understand outside of the meditation space)

Right... in the breathless state, thoughts and emotions cease... body awareness of some sort may persist a bit longer, but it too ceases at times.

The only caution, I'd say, is that I've found that doing this type of deep meditation for too long can leave you floaty or spacey during the day. Which, in my life, has always been quite impractical. Living in the workaday, practical modern Western world is very different from living in a Tibetan monastery or East-Indian ashram! So if your circumstances are like mine (i.e., self-responsible), when your meditation periods do this to you, possibly you should cut them shorter.

[sandalwood]

this is a somewhat common experience in yoga
where in a good state of meditation
especially breath focused
the air passages relax
and you perform a sort of flutter breathing
the physical action of breathing feels very slight
or even unnoticeable
and air passes in and out of the lungs simultaneously

[Crystal Ambassador]

I've noticed this as well in both regular meditation and Journeying; in the case of the former I am more aware when I can't feel my breathing, though I continue to get oxygen and know I am still physically breathing. In the latter I specifically am leaving my body, so I take it as a good sign that I've detached when I can no longer feel my physical breath. It's also the state that I have most of my spiritual experiences while Journeying, so they seem to simply be a sign that consciousness is moving into a spiritual rather than physical focus; since it's the goal of meditation that is seeking spiritual experiences, I would look at it as a good sign for people who are using that meditation goal.

[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Tanemon

Right... in the breathless state, thoughts and emotions cease... body awareness of some sort may persist a bit longer, but it too ceases at times.

The only caution, I'd say, is that I've found that doing this type of deep meditation for too long can leave you floaty or spacey during the day. Which, in my life, has always been quite impractical. Living in the workaday, practical modern Western world is very different from living in a Tibetan monastery or East-Indian ashram! So if your circumstances are like mine (i.e., self-responsible), when your meditation periods do this to you, possibly you should cut them shorter.

Thankyou.

Its really interesting, I decided to try to tackle my sleep issues last night by meditating while in bed to relax deeper. I found myself moving into this place again quite naturally, I seem to slip into it rather fast now. What happened though was I ended up not getting to sleep for another four hours after one hour of meditation. So by three am I finally went to sleep. Interestingly though I woke up seven thirty am and was firing. As in I looked awake and had plenty of energy.

[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by sandalwood

this is a somewhat common experience in yoga
where in a good state of meditation
especially breath focused
the air passages relax
and you perform a sort of flutter breathing
the physical action of breathing feels very slight
or even unnoticeable
and air passes in and out of the lungs simultaneously

I haven't been able to do this with yoga yet, but when I can, I will be excited to be able too.

Thankyou for sharing that.

[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Crystal Ambassador

I've noticed this as well in both regular meditation and Journeying; in the case of the former I am more aware when I can't feel my breathing, though I continue to get oxygen and know I am still physically breathing. In the latter I specifically am leaving my body, so I take it as a good sign that I've detached when I can no longer feel my physical breath. It's also the state that I have most of my spiritual experiences while Journeying, so they seem to simply be a sign that consciousness is moving into a spiritual rather than physical focus; since it's the goal of meditation that is seeking spiritual experiences, I would look at it as a good sign for people who are using that meditation goal.

Thankyou Crystal.

You reminded me of a time where I meditated and I felt like I was completely out of body, so the journeying aspect took over the meditation entirely in that moment. So I definitely know I moved into a deeper spiritual experience that time.

Maybe I am readying to enter that again. I do recal it was such clear visionary and telepathic communication between myself and other beings. The dreamscape or landscapes were incredibly real for me in that experience at that time, like nothing I had experienced before.

[Tanemon]

Originally Posted by naturesflow

Thankyou.

Its really interesting, I decided to try to tackle my sleep issues last night by meditating while in bed to relax deeper. I found myself moving into this place again quite naturally, I seem to slip into it rather fast now. What happened though was I ended up not getting to sleep for another four hours after one hour of meditation. So by three am I finally went to sleep. Interestingly though I woke up seven thirty am and was firing. As in I looked awake and had plenty of energy.

Speaking personally only: I find the situation of balancing action in life (necessary practical activities) with meditation and with needed sleep can be tricky.

I know exactly what you mean when you say your meditation was deep but sleep became impossible or much delayed. I've found that normally I cannot do deep inner practices after about 4:00pm, due to becoming over-energized in the late evening and hampering the onset of sleep.

So... I'm energized and can't sleep. Yet you might think I won't need sleep if I'm energized. But it isn't that simple for me. Because if I finally get to sleep at 2:00 or 3:00am, and then get up at 6:30 or 7:00, I often feel kind of wasted by 2:00pm in the afternoon!

So I conclude that both meditation (and related inner practices) and sleep support physical energy, but in somewhat different ways. And this has led me to establish a pattern that is practical for me: do most of my spiritual practices in the early part of the day (usually before breakfast), and definitely do not do intense inner practices after 4:00pm!

The exception for me is when I can dedicate some days to a sort of "retreat" - where I can suspend this normal pattern and accept the consequences, which might include sleeping for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours in the afternoon. You can understand how this retreat pattern is unacceptable during my normal week of practical activity and responsibilities.

I think each person who adopts a life of spiritual practice (as differentiated somewhat from general "spirituality") finds his/her own way with balancing these things. And the practical pattern adopted will probably quite naturally undergo alterations as the months and years pass.

[CrystalSong]

Originally Posted by naturesflow

Is it normal to notice in meditation the breath not moving in the body?

I was doing a new style of meditation recently where by I was focused on the space between breaths and then I was aware of my self not breathing and not moving in my normal breathing.

At first I was curious and a little panicky in the realization but nothing major. I did notice that as soon as I became unfocused in this way, lots of psychic stuff came flooding in, which was why I was doing this type of meditation to begin with, to support myself to move beyond it.

I did move beyond but part of me was confused with this new awareness in my body. SO rather than just do it and not know if this is a normal way to meditate, I thought I would ask about it to ensure I was not dying because initially it was quite a shock for me and I thought I was entering death (perceived idea in my head only at that time of course) Is this normal?

I recall this happening to me once also and a similar response of being startled/almost scared. I don't think its ever happened again and the body started breathing normally as soon as I noticed it had stopped.

I don't do focused breathing meditation and in fact after about the first 10-20 breaths never think about it again as focusing on anything other than the visuals forming keep me in my body which is not generally the point of meditating for me as I prefer to experience through Higher Self or join the larger Consciousness Construct or what-have-you.

Anyway, rest assured no matter where in the Multi-verse you find yourself, don't worry about your body, it will function correctly even without your awareness in it. There might be some oddness in the beginning as your body learns how to deal with the new energies, but it works itself out quick enough and you'll learn when and how to ground when needed after trips into the Larger Consciousness Construct.
There's something organic and natural about it all, as if we've been doing it 10's of thousands of years. These days I can go OBE in seconds and take a room full of people with me and we all go to the same places and can talk about it while we do it and even recognize each other's energy forms. Relax, explore - there is no limit to consciousness as far as I know, only limiting belief systems pinning us down.

[naturesflow]

Originally Posted by Tanemon

Speaking personally only: I find the situation of balancing action in life (necessary practical activities) with meditation and with needed sleep can be tricky.

I know exactly what you mean when you say your meditation was deep but sleep became impossible or much delayed. I've found that normally I cannot do deep inner practices after about 4:00pm, due to becoming over-energized in the late evening and hampering the onset of sleep.

So... I'm energized and can't sleep. Yet you might think I won't need sleep if I'm energized. But it isn't that simple for me. Because if I finally get to sleep at 2:00 or 3:00am, and then get up at 6:30 or 7:00, I often feel kind of wasted by 2:00pm in the afternoon!

So I conclude that both meditation (and related inner practices) and sleep support physical energy, but in somewhat different ways. And this has led me to establish a pattern that is practical for me: do most of my spiritual practices in the early part of the day (usually before breakfast), and definitely do not do intense inner practices after 4:00pm!

The exception for me is when I can dedicate some days to a sort of "retreat" - where I can suspend this normal pattern and accept the consequences, which might include sleeping for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours in the afternoon. You can understand how this retreat pattern is unacceptable during my normal week of practical activity and responsibilities.

I think each person who adopts a life of spiritual practice (as differentiated somewhat from general "spirituality") finds his/her own way with balancing these things. And the practical pattern adopted will probably quite naturally undergo alterations as the months and years pass.

Thankyou I have been getting intuitively to get up early and do my meditation and yoga before breakfast. You have confirmed how it would serve me better in your sharing. I guess I have been doing a lot of daytime journey work and not having much time to fit in a practice as such. So by night I was in real need of meditation to let go and assimilate my day. I see now it was a temporary need and so will find a new space to change my patterns to support better sleep. Thankyou so much.