Meditation experiences advice
 

Hi,

I am new to this forum and new to meditation. I have tried mediation at various times in my life and have struggled to quiet my mind enough to “get into it”.

About 1 month ago I stumbled onto Wim Hof breathing exercises and wondered what it was like, so gave it a go for no reason other than curiosity. I unexpectedly found it helped me to relax very deeply, and as an unintended consequence I felt compelled to meditate afterward given the calm state I experienced. I have continued to use these breathing exercises to get mentally and physically into a calm, quiet state followed by meditation for 10-20 minutes, depending on when I naturally feel ready to discontinue meditating.

In the past month I have had 2 experiences I can’t quite understand or explain and wanted to seek advice. The first experience occurred two weeks ago, when during meditation my left leg and left arm twitched quite noticeably, followed by what I would describe as a full body twitch/spasm. I felt very emotional early on in this meditation and I experienced or ‘witnessed’ internally, what I can only describe as light. It was Like a vision of a white silhouette of myself or perhaps someone else, meditating, made up of and consumed by light (sounds weird I know), and I briefly ‘understood’ everything, how we are all connected, it made sense.

It only lasted a second or two before I became ‘aware’ of the experience and started thinking as opposed to observing without thinking, and as soon as I did that it was gone. This happened twice in a short space of time and I ‘understood’ but I no longer remember what I understood, I remember the words to describe the experience but not the feeling or the knowledge it brought.

The second experience was one week ago, when my right arm and then my neck twitched during meditation. I felt a sensation of being loved and remembered what it was like to feel loved by my mum (who passed away many years ago, when I was a teenager). The experience made me smile and lasted only a moment, then my mind drifted and I jolted upright. Things seemed suddenly ‘clearer’, ‘lighter’ but Then it faded and I came out of my meditation unexpectedly, jolted into full consciousness.

Since the second experience I have felt very tired and drained, with mild headaches and somewhat irritable. Of course I may just be unwell but I ceased meditating to try and recover.

I would be grateful if anyone thinks the above makes sense, or can make sense of it for me, or can give me any guidance around these experiences or how I should proceed?

many thanks

My advice is always focus on the technique and not the experiences, however pleasant or exceptional they might be, because in the end it's not about what one experiences while sitting but how the practice can transform one's experience of "reality" outside of sitting.

sounds like remembering our purpose and spiritual nature.

Hi New Guy. It sounds to me like you are doing well. Experiencing light and then love sounds like a good thing to me. These are the goals of mediation, to experience and be one with our true nature which I believe is love and light. I can't understand when people say don't focus on the experiences you feel during meditation because to be love is to feel it. Perhaps don't 'chase' experiences because in chasing them our will and head gets in the way, but certainly embrace them when they occur. Its tricky isn't it when you experience something and then you think about it and the thinking drives the experience away. I have found with lots of practice that it can be done - the mind is awake and aware but not calculating or grabbing and held very gently so as not to interfere with the experiencing. Not sure about the headaches - are you forcing something in the meditation? Where do you focus when you meditate? You could try focusing in different places like the heart, the hara, the root chakra or the whole body as one.

Hi New Guy,
Go to this link---

https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/s...8&postcount=58

This..........

sounds like you're doing good as a newbie.. keep it up!

@new guy

When you just awake from a dream, you have a very short span of time, before you forget it.

It is like the waking memory is pushing the dream memory away.
If you keep recalling the last thing which happened in a dream, you may be able to recall the whole dream, and maybe even the preceding dreams.

The same is with your experience. (the mechanics of it)

To "become aware" of it is not a problem, but to start thinking is how the experience is pushed away.

Next time, when you become aware, decide not to think, but just to watch. (to watch the thoughts, to look what will come to it)
Try to keep the experience by holding onto the relaxed state.

Thanks for the reading.

Hi.

It is what is known as Kriya, in spiritual terms. It is a sign of the nervous system, being cleaned out, spiritually, sort to speak. The Kriya you experienced in your neck, is most likely your kundalini, that has awakend. That would be my guess.

Now keep the meditation up. You are making positive progress.

The love you experience, Is called Shakti, in the Vedic terminology. It is a natural occurrence, once the chakras start to be activated, and cleared out.

Good work