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I'd like to second that experience, and to comment on some parts of it. On one end of the spectrum, I am baffled by the drama surrounding the "weird shit" happ
by blurry 17y ago
I'd like to second that experience, and to comment on some parts of it.
On one end of the spectrum, I am baffled by the drama surrounding the "weird shit" happening to your body. I had the same stuff happening during my meditation but I didn't find it to be all that notable. Yes, after several days you begin to isolate tiny little sensations (like weak electric current) all over your body. It's really just that and nothing more though. I guess I question the value of that particular experience - is it really such a huge revelation that practicing a small task over and over makes you better at it, sometimes enabling you to do things you didn't think were possible?
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I feel like people don't give enough credit to the experience of forcing yourself to keep a position in spite of searing pain. I am preparing to give birth soon and one of the exercises for pain management is to practice relaxed breathing while squeezing ice cubes in your hands. It's painful but also incredibly empowering to learn that pain can be overcome, and unlike meditating for days to achieve a few weird sensations, it's a practical skill. You don't have to commit yourself to a 10-day retreat or practice a particular form of meditation to achieve that though, there is a variety of ways to do it, none of them particularly mystical.
- rjurney 17y agoBy the end of the course, I could scan my beating heart within my chest. It freaked me out. I wanted to tell my classmates all about it, but couldn't for a couple more days. I had severe back pain, have lower back issues, and it took days to get them to allow me to meditate sitting against the wall. When my concentration would break every few minutes, I would gasp in pain, my lower back muscles cramping and spasming the whole time, because it was overwhelming. I thought, and I still think, that requiring me to go through that was ridiculous, and it was only when I told the lead teacher I was leaving if he didn't allow it that he permitted me to sit against the wall. It still hurt like hell, and that was fine, but I could hold myself physically upright at least. I don't think the courses in the US are so uptight, though.
- blurry 17y agoMine was the same in terms of the requirement to sit upright with exceptions granted to just a couple people. It was in Massachusetts although I forget the exact name of the place.
- rjurney 17y agoThats how it should be. I was a medical exception, though. I crushed two vertebrae, and so the muscle is pulled over them at a weird angle. They cramp is I sit/stand without moving too long. The instructor didn't want to hear that, because I told him the fracture had healed. Said it was my body's way of 'letting out the suffering' basically. Which was nothing other than stupid, because actually it was my body telling me, "Hey stupid, your muscles have been cramping for 20 minutes. How can you possibly stand the pain?" Everyone should have to sit, and everyone will hurt when they don't move, but if your back muscles don't freaking work, you should be able to sit against the wall. Which they did let me, eventually.