Hey everyone, it's been a while since I posted but I just wanted to share an experience, and ask for some feedback.

A few weeks ago I began meditating again. I was practicing a form of Dzogchen meditation where you bring awareness over body, breath, mind - and let each be "as is," letting them go and reposing in nothing, holding nothing, yielding the ego and the mind to openness. In between this, and leading up to it, you consistently target the mind on itself, asking, "Who is meditating? Who is seeing? Who is witnessing?" After about twenty minutes or so, it was as if someone found a switch in my brain and flicked it off. That's the only way I know how to explain it. The thoughts were turned down nearly to mute. They flickered in the background, drowned out by a thundering silence. My eyes were closed, but the thoughts that usually appear on your eyelids like a personal brain-theater? Gone. Just black. I actually tried to think like I normally do, allow the thoughts to wander back in, but it was actually difficult to even desire to think, let alone think. It was an entirely awakened state of awareness. It lasted about 15 minutes or so and slowly faded, returning to the normal monkey-mind.

Another time a similar experience happened, but this time it was open eyed. I suddenly felt expanded into the room, aware of everything but without a center. This lasted the same amount of time (Roughly) before fading. Although, the after effects were interesting: While walking around in NYC (where I currently reside), any noise, especially the louder ones, disorientated me. I couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. From the outside, or from me? It was like a sound without a source, and without a listener. I found myself strewn between "things," between the sounds. This too faded (after much studying, a little bit of alcohol and a few bad nights of sleep - ah, dorm life). At any rate . . .

Is this sort of experience natural for meditation? I was just wondering. Before I did this practice, I used to play with the subtle energy systems in my body, feeling the energy channels and doing some basic martial arts meditation forms (Breathin in Ki, or Chi, allow it to fill you, etc). But these direct, guided forms of meditation where you bring awareness to body, awareness to breath, to mind, - and then drop all 3, this seems to be a powerful method. Considering I have only recently began meditaiton again , and am already experiencing this very different "transparent," moments. I guess I recommend it, but I'd like to understand it further and would love some feedback. That's all I suppose. If you've read this far, thankyou. :)

peace,being

-shaman sun

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"Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going." - Ikkyu, Zen Koan

Greetings Shamansun! It sounds like you've experienced many methods of accessing different states of consciousness throughout your life. First of all, I'm not as academically educated on meditation; however, I've had over a decade of practice in meditation and so I might be using the wrong terminology in my feedback, but the relative experiences are there.

I'm not totally sure this is correct, what I'm about to say, but it sounds like you are experiencing quite a few different states of consciousness. From what I've read, it sounds like you had entered pure emptiness when you experienced blankness. I don't know how relevant this is to the non-dual traditions or if the connection is there, but I'd call what you "tasted," for that brief period, "non-duality."

The other aspect of your meditation, the expansiveness that you experienced, sounds like another state of consciousness. You moved your self-awareness beyond your self-containment and it expanded to include the world around you. Perhaps this is the transpersonal realms? Again, I'm not sure. The world is in you and you are in the world simultaneously. I don't know really, but it's fun to hypothesize. Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!

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Find your place and you've misplaced it.

Hey annapizelo,

Thanks for the feedback! I guess the experience exists regardless of the terminology, but I"m glad that you were able to understand what I was trying to convey. Do you have any suggestions on where to go from here? Or, as they say, if it ain't broken, don't fix it?

peace, being

shaman sun

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"Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going." - Ikkyu, Zen Koan

Congratulations, it sounds like you are doing well.  I agree with Anna, you have simply had two different peak experiences as a result of meditating.  I suggest reading up on the Wilber-Combs Lattice, it explains where "you" "went."

I'll check out that Lattice ;) Thanks for your feedback as well. An open question to you guys, and the rest of the community: What peak experiences have you had as a result of meditation (or perhaps not)?

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"Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going." - Ikkyu, Zen Koan