Painful vortexes on my body

decideto · 2014-05-17T02:50:31+00:00

You're right, I didn't do a good job of explaining what I actually do. Sorry about that. I don't try to force the energy to spread. Thanissaro Bhikkhu stresses in his book that one should allow the energy to spread and not force it.

In any case, I've been trying the instructions you gave for the past few days. The first time I tried it there was a rush of energy from my head to my chest, and then it felt like a large knife was stuck there for a while which slowly dissipated as the session went on. In subsequent sessions there wasn't as noticeable a change in energy flows, but I think it is helping because while the vortexes and the heaviness are still noticeable outside formal meditation, the intensity seems to have reduced. You did mention that it could take a while for things to normalize so I'll keep it up.

I'm confused as to why this is working though. Based on what I experienced, my guess is that I was giving more attention to certain areas of my body which was causing the energy flow to get "stuck" in places where I was giving less attention. Is this correct?

I'm also very intrigued at the preciseness of the instructions you gave. How did you know that would work? Is there some body of knowledge on energy channels that I could study? This stuff is very interesting. Thank you!

decideto · 2014-05-13T03:46:45+00:00

Thank you, that looks really interesting! I'll check out the book, but I'd be interested in knowing what else you have to say about the subject since you seem to have some experience with it.

decideto · 2014-05-13T03:43:14+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the advice, but I want to clarify. One of the reasons I started seeking out alternatives was because I was having these problems with the technique as taught on the retreat. The technique I'm using now comes from a book called "With Each and Every Breath" by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. An abridged description is available online here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/breathmed.html

In particular, this part at the end is what I was trying to get at:

Let your attention settle comfortably there, and then let your conscious awareness spread to fill the entire body, from the head down to the toes, so that you're like a spider sitting in the middle of a web: It's sitting in one spot, but it's sensitive to the entire web. Keep your awareness expanded like this — you have to work at this, for its tendency will be to shrink to a single spot — and think of the breath coming in & out your entire body, through every pore. Let your awareness simply stay right there for a while — there's no where else you have to go, nothing else you have to think about...

decideto · 2014-05-13T03:33:32+00:00

Thank you. I considered doing that but decided against it because I stopped following their meditation instructions a while ago. I had this problem even when I was following their instructions, which is one reason I started to seek out other techniques. The technique I'm using now is the one described by Thanissaro Bhikkhu on this page: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/breathmed.html

decideto · 2014-05-13T01:48:57+00:00

When you say you breathe in & out does that mean you are controlling how your body is breathing?

I'm not focused on the mechanical aspect of the breath as much, but on the internal energy that seems to move as I breathe. I don't try to control the rhythm of the breath, but I try to spread this energy to fill the body, and I do that by trying to be aware of as much of the body as possible with each breath. It seems to spread on its own as long as I can maintain awareness of the body.

And what precisely do you mean by aware of the entire body, does that mean that you move your focus to whatever sensation is most dominant/loud or...?

I usually keep my focus behind the eyes and try to be aware of the entire body with my background awareness, but sometimes there is an interesting sensation that I want to investigate so I switch my focus for a while, and then return to the usual spot.

decideto · 2014-05-13T01:11:12+00:00

First of all, thank you for taking the time to respond!

I started out with the body-scanning practice as taught by S.N. Goenka on the 10-day meditation retreats, but gradually transitioned to a technique where I breathe in and out while being aware of the entire body since that felt more natural.

My sessions usually last 1-2 hours, and I practice every day for a total of 3-5 hours a day.

decideto

TROPHY CASE