Sensations durring practice

[Anonymous]

Hi all. Well, I’m new around here and have already written an intro in the “introduce yourself” part of this forum. I figured I would start a new topic just to toss some of my own observations and experiences out there in the hopes of feedback from more experienced practitioners than I.

I have noticed certain things over the years when I meditate/do qi kung work. Some of these are fleeting, others are more recurrent in nature. All seem to arise by themselves and not as a direct result of me “making it happen” as it were via mental command. Instead I just simply try to relax and have a soft mental image of what it is I wish to accomplish, nothing too hard.

The biggest and most recurrent sensation that I experience is after about 15 to 20 minutes of meditation, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, not really sure, that’s just an estimate. Anyway, as long as I relax enough almost every time, especially if I am laying down and doing a little before sleep, I get a sort of “floaty” feeling I guess in my body. It’s like I start to become less and less aware of my actual physical body and while I do retain some awareness of it, as long as I remain relaxed and focused, I continue in that state. I get the feeling of “not wanting to move” lest I break that state, as I’m aware it is quite sensitive. Also, the floaty feeling sometimes progresses to gentle rocking and or gently shaking. The best I can describe it on a physical level is it’s like if you sit really still and just barely, and I mean very very minimally start to shake your body back and forth. The longer I stay in this state, the larger the sensation grows. I am simply wondering just what this state and experience is. It’s strange…and interesting, but other than that seems to have no purpose. I thought it might mean I’m simply naturally finding it easy to attune more into my energy body than my physical, but I’m not really sure.

The next thing I get at times, and this has happened a few times over the years, is if I meditate seated my arms will do a really strange thing…they will raise by themselves without any physical effort, then presume to “float” and “vibrate” back and forth…what the heck is that all about? Strange…I first noticed it when trying some stuff with levitation about at 18, when I first really started getting into the qi kung and energy work. It still happens today, and I can kind of do it on command if I wish, simply by lightly thinking or recalling the experience and waiting until it happens again.

Third thing I notice, and this has only happened a couple times and usually only when I’m attempting really serious stuff. My hands will get a feeling of “ice cold” about them, as well as feeling ice cold to the touch. It’s very unusual when this happens, and it only does when doing something “heavy” like trying to heal a friend that really really did some damage to his arm this one time. He said he flet it, and it was the strangest thing he ever did feel and his arm was fine afterwards. I have a idea that this might be a form of “yin chi” which I am aware of is supposed to feel “cold” vs yang chi which feels “hot” or “tingly” and is what you work with most of the time, especially on a more physical level. The yin chi seems much less recurrent, and not as common. Just something I read somewhere in the midst of my plethora of books and internet searching.

Those are only a few of some strange things I’ve experienced over time, and there are others which I may share in future, but I thought I would toss that out there to see if anyone knows what they might mean, or has had experiences like that themselves.

[Anonymous]

Hi, Mike.

Bruce, like many meditation teachers, advises us not to get hung up on sensations that occur during practice. I’ve heard him say that 95% of the weird things that happen have no intrinsic meaning -they’re just sensations that come up. I think the one thing to watch out for is any kind of pain. Other than that, not much to worry about. As my first teacher used to say, “just set the method and practice.”

This is just my take, others might have different advice. Best of luck with your practice.

Best,
Matthew

[Anonymous]

Thanks Matthew,

I agree actually, I just thought I would toss out some of my experiences in the past. For the most part, I just try and focus on the training and becoming sensitive to my chi. I’ll keep the pain thing in mind, but this far I’ve never noticed anything that actually was painful. The closest I ever get is “numb, tingly legs” from sitting in one position too long, but that’s just because of well, sitting too long and the blood trying to flow back into my limbs, thus the tingle.

Either way, it’s going to be an interesting journey. So far I enjoy the training, and I’ve decided to add the dragon and tiger membership as well, because it seems I would get the most from training both together, and for now that’s a good start I think.

Thanks again,
-Mike

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike,

I too remember the instructions against focusing on sensations arising during practice. But, it’s so intense when it happens the first time!

I’m currently restarting the Taoist Meditation Circle series. Today, while sitting, I also had a sensation of floating. I’d just completed taking inventory of all things feeling ‘out of sorts’ and refocused on breathing and alignments. I inhaled and wow, sudden open space that I moved through without moving. I smiled inside because something, anything was finally happening. After experiencing this for several minutes I panicked thinking ‘sh*t, I’m not floating, my chi’s rising instead of sinking’. Then monkey mind kicked in and it was time to transition to standing anyway…

BTW, when standing, I’ve also experienced ‘lifting’ of the arms in concert with my breathing.

Enjoying the process and challenges it presents..

[Anonymous]

Hi Folks, I’m with Matthew on this, and would assume that by ‘any kind of pain’ he means not just physical. Mental and emotional pain can sometimes challene our best intentions to comply with the 70% rule.

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike,

I have also had the experience of having my hands turn cold while doing energy work with Reiki. It has happened about 3 or so times and the first time it happened it really caught me off guard since I had always experienced Reiki energy as warm. In all cases the persons said that the cold energy was what they needed because they had felt hot and the pain they were experiencing left when the cold energy penetrated their body. So I figured it was a type of energy and it was what that person needed to balance their system at that point in time.

I pretty much observe what happens and go with the flow of what comes. I was glad to hear Bruce say that most of these sensations don’t really mean much.

Franca

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