[QUOTE=yogadealer;81497]Certainly if you fear surrendering to your true nature, I wouldn’t recommend jumping feet first into it. How about if you get a meditation end chime (on CD or phone ap) and just spend 5 minutes in that mind-stillness, just to develop a comfort level with it slowly. Then you can gradually increase your time in meditation as your fears subside.[/QUOTE]
Hi yogaealer, thank you for you suggestion. I’ll definitely learning to practice not pushing myself with yoga, but rather listen to myself and go at that pace, there are infinite yoga practices remaining, :). That being said I do think it was the asanas which triggered the shift of focus, so I’m not sure if meditation alone will allow a repeat of the experience.
[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;81502]Tido,
I suggest, you re-read your thread and re-visit the occurrence. You have mentioned ‘absence’ of mind and ‘stilled’ mind at the same time. If you were conscious only of the body and totally engrossed in the experience of the moment, it was certainly not ‘absence’ of mind.
You were more likely in a meditative state. Now why were you fearful and not at peace with yourself? Some possibilities:
- It was an early occurrence that you didn’t understand and was involuntary (most spiritual experiences occur first this way.) With practice one tries to simulate the state consciously, at will and that’s when the fear will disappear.
- It is mind’s intrinsic quality to flit from one to another object when attention shifts, thoughts change, our senses switch focus. This happens when we are doing anything that we like whole heartedly. Just recall how we sit glued to TV when we are involved in the story of any sitcom. But, when for some reason, it happened for 30 seconds while doing yoga it was unexpected to your mind. So, it felt pressure and sense of losing control over the self and hence, fear.
- Having said that, meditative state is a stepping stone for Samadhi and while the mind was stilled for a fraction of second, you did enter a mindless state, samadhi. Now accidental samadhi creates a complete void because while the mind withdraws, its far superior replacement, spiritual wisdom has not yet dawned. When the mind withdraws the senses have no work and the body consciousness is lost too since that depends solely on senses. So, you landed in a twilight zone without preparation.
Why you need to simulate the occurrence is to understand it better in this context. Many times ability to enter samadhi is a legacy of previous lives; a gift in the present lifetime. Like SD says, just stay with it and absorb it.[/QUOTE]
It’s tricky to put a label on it as it was such a new experience, and it does not even seem right to do so as words can never be fully accurate. That being said I think it was more of a stillness of mind and some of that whole hearted focus must have been engaged (as you’ve mentioned in #2)). During my practice I slowly being flow from one asana to another; as the flow increases my minds control begins to fade. During some of the last poses in my practice, (post #1, pidgin pose), which is a good stretch for me, my focus is fully engaged in my body, and for those sweet 30 seconds the mind has not a thing to say. The following of my energy and breadth becomes my master, and the mind has nothing to say about it. Well at least for the 30 seconds it lasts. It’s just a novel feeling, but with gentle practice I should be able to relax into it and explore, because it does feel good at the same tim. Looking forward to new experiences.
Thanks to everyone for posting the tips.
