Meditation experiences

The very first time I seriously started to meditate, (about 2 years ago), I was alarmed by a very strong smell of roses wafting all around me. This smell kept getting stronger and stronger although there were no flowers anywhere near me.

Other experiences during meditation have been, peace, an absence of sound, the room 'fuzzing out' and a whitish light surrounding my body, and I have also had my body start to 'vibrate' sometimes quite strongly.

Can anyone explain these experiences to me and does anyone wish to share their own experiences they have had while meditating? [Kim]

I have had exactly the same experiences in my meditation, it's very peaceful. Next time it happens I'm going to explore it further. [Andreas]

Well, when I meditate, I do that for about 60 minutes (due to time constraints), and everytime, after about 20 minutes I sort of feel like I'm 'moving to the side' at some speed (this is what I perceive when my eyes are closed during meditation for some time). This is definitely a feeling of movement, and, when this happens, I seem to totally 'loose contact' with the outside world - I can't hear anything - I'm just 'travelling along, passing darkness'. After about 30 minutes of such a meditative state, I 'suddenly awaken' (thinking process seems to start again) and it seems like I've been 'away' for MUCH LONGER than what the watch says. I also feel the vibrations, and I found that I can actually induce such vibrations when I concentrate. Anyway, meditation seems to be beneficial in the sense that my mind seems to WANT to think after meditating - I usually do most of my university homework after a meditation session. [rafal]

I decided yesterday to make a conscientious effort at becoming more disciplined in my Search for Meaning and getting closer to God by meditating every morning at 5:00am. I do often try to meditate but on a sporadic basis.

This morning whilst meditating I literally saw a flash of white light almost blindingly bright but from a single source ) but although I tried to maintain that - I lost it almost immediately.

Do you think this is progress or me hoping for too much too soon?

Natasha

Hoping is not enough anyway - you need to motivate yourself and direct your Intellect in the best direction that you can imagine. You have just seen an example of what a sincere committment WITHIN can bring.

You may consider that you have been "rewarded" for your effort to help you to maintain your motivation. Don't we praise our children to keep them motivated to learn more?

Tom

Is it common to feel a buzzing or ticklish feeling kind of between your eyes whilst meditating?

Natasha

Physical sensations are very individual. Many people (myself included) feel a "current" down the spine and a "wind" through chakras.

Tom

Say how DO you actually meditate for the BEST results? Do you have your eyes shut or open? Do you switch off and think of nothing? Do you meditate on an empty stomach, do you have to be calm, happy, or doesn't it matter. Rafal, you seem to have it all together, how do YOU meditate, please? [K.K.]

The purpose of meditation is to calm down your mind, isn't it? With our eyes open - we have visual sensations that provoke our thoughts, so it is best to keep them closed during meditation.

Joseph

To {Natasha} I think that buzzy tickly feeling between your eyes could possibly be your 'third eye' or if you want to get technical, your pineal gland which is the 6th gland in the Endocrine Sysytem...science hasn't explained what the heck it does except that it excretes a nuero-trasmitter....other then that they refer to it as 'your higher self' [jay]

When I meditate, I can feel intense pressure in between my eyebrows. It even gives headaches sometimes, which is certainly not what I was after.

When I first started to meditate, I had an awful time,the phone rang, people would invariably show up at the door, my dog would decide it was time to chomp her lunch loudly, and every part of my body would itch. I felt like there was a conspiracy against my meditating.

Finally, I put a sign on the door, turned the phone off, moved the dog dish and started chanting for 40 minutes before I would meditate.After 25 minutes of chanting, I am practically paralyzed. This works so much better for me than trying to talk myself into relaxing.After chanting, then I do the meditation and it's so easy.

Once when I was doing my yoga, the Tibetan Five, I strained my back really bad. It hurt and I knew it would be a couple of weeks before I could start again. The next day, I did my chanting for 40 minutes and at the end, the pain and the strain were completely gone, vanished. I couldnot believe it. You know when you've really hurt your muscles and about how long it's going to take to heal. Chanting is powerful stuff.Something to do with vibrations I guess.

When I lived in the hills surrounding Mt. Rainer, I began meditating and doing yoga. Without the yoga, The Tibetan Five and breathing exercises, meditation doesn't work for me well.

With my eyes closed, I began to see down towards the bottom on the right of the blackness that we see, a small white dot.I think this is the dot that Dr. Chalko is talking about, and it is hard to concentrate on. Each day it became larger until I could see things moving in this little white circle. I know now that it is possible to have that little white circle become a large screen and when you close your eyes, you don't see darkness any more.

I saw something one night so beautiful that I can't describe it. I can't describe it anyway because when I tried to tell someone, something inside of me froze. I literally knew that I was to keep that to myself. To this day, I've never told anyone. Some things are sacred.

This stuff is incredible and well worth the time spent. There is another world out there if we look for it.

Belle

I feel quite identified with Belle´s difficulties when (he or she) first tried to meditate. Since I live in the city, and someone at home is usualy making noise, there´s no way I can attempt to meditate in absolute silence, so I´ve tried to do it with soft-background-classical music.

I am conscientious of my concentration difficulties, so I've practiced with the cross-exersise (even with the chakra shirt on) but I haven´t achieved much progress; every time I try to clear my mind, I just fall a sleep (I guess that's the only progress because now I don´t have trouble with falling a sleep whenever I want).

I am a complete beginer in this field, so if any of you could recommend me a good book (or techniques) for learning very easily, I would sincerely appreciate it a lot. Is there any specific music that can facilitate meditation? Is classical music OK? Thanks.

S.S.

Before falling asleep, try to ASK your Higher Self to wake you up "at the BEST time" to meditate early morning (3 to 5 am).

When you wake up - you will need to discipline yourself to get out of bed and sit in a comfortable chair or a couch to meditate.

This is the method I used for 3 years, when I lived in quite a busy street. I was consistently surprised how quiet and peaceful was the surrounding.

The most profound spiritual experiences has always occurred AFTER early morning meditations - when I returned to bed and tried to SLOW DOWN the process of getting asleep again.

Tom

To S.S. Quieting my mind is the most difficult undertaking that I have ever attempted. I'm not a morning person. I always do my chanting and meditation in the evening. It is quiet. The chanting brings me to a total meditive state in twenty minutes. Nothing I have ever tried works that well. If I meditate without the yoga and the chanting, I don't get much. But with those tools, very interesting things come to my mind. I connect. The Tibetan Five are the easiest more powerful exercises that I've found. Just type 'Tibetan Five', into your search box and you'll find them.

Find what works for you. There is another world out there and meditation is the doorway. [Belle]

Last night I tried to clear my mind from every thought, but no matter how many times I recalled a mantra, there was a song going on in my mind and I just couldn´t shut it off. I remember Belle said 'chanting' before meditation works very well for her, but I still wonder: exactly what do you mean by Chanting? What do you Chant?

S.S.

Try to start with CONCENTRATION exercise from the Freedom of Choice book. After a few minutes of this exercise - your mind should be ready for a "rest".

Tom

Sometimes, when I meditate, after reaching a certain point, I have a bizzare feeling that I am very very small within somethin very very big 'exerting force and domination' on me (a crunching feeling) and this usually induces 'fear' on me...what is that?

bomoh

I don't know. Try to LET GO OF FEAR, ask your Higher Self and find out. There is nothing in the Universe that we should be afraid of if your intentions are clear.

Tom

SS: One excellent method to move yourself inward and to clear the mind is to focus on your breathing.

With your minds eye just monitor and watch your breath. Everytime you find yourself deviating to thoughts or 'songs', always come back to the breath. Do not try and fight your thoughts or try to 'stop hearing' the song. That will actually make them more promiminent and increase your frustration.

Remember S.S. you cannot fail at meditation. If your mind deviates just refocus it on the breath. The key is to just 'be' and accept what is happening. Watch your thoughts as if you are a 3rd party. Eventually with practice you will have indifference to both positive and negative thoughts. Be patient, keep practicing and you will succeed.

JG

Focusing on breathing reinforces your attachment to your physical body and eventually becomes a limitation. The mind should be our final focus.

Tom

Submit your comment/question to this topic

Post comment