Meditation: Why does this happen?

[The AlphaOmega]

I can't say why it happens, but I do have the "misplaced hands phenomenon".  Perhaps it's the sense of detachment.  Meditation is a taming and understanding of the mind, so maybe so much focus goes into recognizing that that the body kind of drifts out of the picture.  Also, sight has a large barring on physicality.  People with near blindness often have to touch what they are looking at before their mind brings it into focus so they can recognize it.  Maybe by not moving the body and not looking at it that the mind gets disoriented as to where some parts of the body really are.  Who knows?  I do know what you mean though and it's never really been something I think about too much.  As for the visions, sorry, never had one.  Can't give insight there I'm afraid.

[BlackTalon]

Yeah, never thought of it that way. Don't think it's ever happened to any other part of my body. As for visions....I wouldnt call them visions I don't think...I assumed it was a normal part of meditation, they're mearly flashes of scenes, faces etc only lasting a few seconds but incredibly detailed.

[Kodemaster]

The random image/sound/thought thing happens to me too...Seems to me like random bits of mental energy popping out all over the place...like hypnogogic imagery...

[jilola]

There are basically two different explanations.

The first is the dissociation of perceptual consciousness from the bodily consciusness that science offers. When one is in deeop meditatio  n the change in one's level of consciousness causes the brain to lose track of the physical sensations and interprets the random signals as best it can thus causing one to feel the strange body positions that aren't real.
Then other is that one has come to the point where the energetic body has become loosened from the physical and one's consciousness is registering the signals from the energetic body that at the time is in a different position from the physical body.

My personal explanation is that the individual perceptive focus has moved from the consentual(sp?) physical location to another and thus initially interprets the new signals in a way that it's used to in the physical perceptual perspective.
This explanation presumes out existence as focii in the universal field, call it Existence, and our individual selves as kind of bifurcating funnels or vortices that give rise to the perception of individuality and separateness between entities.

2cents & L&L
jouni

[Rastus]

I'll see the last 2 cents, and raise my 2 cents.

I can tell how deep I am meditating by what I can fee and what I can't.  Take my hands.  Typically I have thumb to forefinger, and I do this for a reason.  As I slip deeper into meditation, I can't tell if my forefinger and thumb are still touching.  When I hit that point I can pretty much dissociate all sensations in my hands/arms.  Along the same lines I've been lately meditating in a modified Lotus position with the soles of my feet together.  And yes, after a point I don't feel my legs.  Not the numb/tingling from them going to sleep, just a lack of awareness.

Now if you aren't aware of your arms or legs, that doesn't leave much does it?  Pretty much just your Chakra centers, how convient []  Shift to Chakra work, power up and open and voila' your in a heightened state  From there you can try OOBE or other metaphysical things (wards, healing, etc).  I've found once I hit that state, I can get up and move around, and keep my Chakra's open and the energy flowing.  I can sit back down and get back to the feelingless state very quickly.  I haven't held the state more than 2 hours, eventually I get physically tired and my concentration starts to suffer.

[jilola]

I've got any number of cards up my sleeve so I'll ante another 2c.

The chakras are an expression of the reality funnel on each level. Thus the elevation of the perceptual focus would result in losing awareness from the peripheral regions to the core (the chakras.)

Imagine, if you will, the funnel as a bunch of seven (or so) individual vortices that we, on the physical level, perceive as the chakras. On a higher level they are connected and form the unified energetic focus that we, as individuals, are. Higher up, these individual perceived entities connect to form the sentient existence and even higher up these sentients are joined with the nonsentients to form the actual universal existence. Give or take a few levels and interpretation sof the funnels.

2cents & L&L
Jouni

[Rastus]

Fold []

[jilola]

Come to papa beautiful chips [8D]

Pure speculation of course, based on an overdeveloped intuition and a number of trancendental experiences.

2cents & L&L
jouni

[BlackTalon]

I wanted to ask a few things to people who have been meditating for awhile.


I think I read this in some book, but that strange thing where it feels like your arms are in a different position, Say my hands are rested in the front then while meditating it'll feel like they're out to the side and sometimes in odd contorted positions. Does anyone have any idea what thats about?

Also I don't understand the images you see in meditation. I can understand if i'm thinking about something and it'd lead to an image but i'm not usually thinking and I see all these random images. People, faces, places. I remember once looking up at some african americans, and they were looking down towards me, as if I was a kid or maybe an animal. They looked poor wearing almost rags. Just seems so strange that the images you see in meditation are more vivid than my eyes can see. Could we be seeing into another time, through someone elses eyes or past lives or something...anyone have any theories?