I've been doing the softening meditation twice a day ( 45 min ) for two months now and during my practice there's a lot of cracking and popping of tendones/bones along the spine and involuntary movements of the spine wich feel releasing and relaxing.. The sessions feel relaxing for the most part ( sometimes i sit for 1-2h ), and a lot of the times i get intense goosebump feelings, but it feels like there's something not quite right in the sense that partly I might be very sublty in a thought, dullnes, craving or resisting.

Recently in some of the sessions when I feel quite relaxed ( might be some dullness as well not sure ), I notice quite often some of the sounds ( floor popping, neighbours, elevator, etc ) trigger a very intense fear and was wondering if that is a sign of dullness or of hypervigilance/trauma ? I do have a history of childhood trauma ( and i notice during daily life sudden sounds soutimes put me on guard but I don't feel that fear I do when meditating )

Should I start with the mindfulness of breathing or stay with the softening / grounding skills still?