My experiences of meditation

I have what I asume is a fairly standard experience and technique of meditation. I basically relax to a very "still" state of mind and stop focusing on anything specific. This can take anything from 30 seconds (at night in bed) to 5-10 minutes in a busy or noisy environment. After a while I start getting like a video playback - almost like a webcam - usually flying over an area or travelling through a forest, that kind of thing although sometimes it involves driving along a road or less often it can involve people in a sequence of events.

HOWEVER - I have a little problem! I'm in the relaxed state watching the images and starting to focus on the event - like trying to work out what is going on - and I get a "shock" feeling a bit like when you get an adrenalin rush.
This increases my heart rate and just throws me completely out of my meditative state.

I have spoken to a few people about this but possibly not the right people (mediums and spiritual guides) who may not be so reliant on meditation.

I can only assume it is actual shock or like a fear reaction - most probably because I have lost control of the situation.

ANYWAY - my question is whether anyone else has experienced this "shocking" out of the meditative state, and what are the excersises to prevent this happening.
I shall also bring this up at meditation group when (if) I get round to actually attending!!

Thanks in advance for any help

As I said on MSN possible astral travelling, hope the book helps figure it out but I am sure we will get some more members who might be able to help you out!

Hi Brian, it does sound like the beginnings of astral projection /out-of -the-body experiences. I've never had it in meditation, but once I was floating along a road in a dream and suddenly I was actually in the dream. I immediately woke up with the shock !

Perhaps you could use a mantra to focus the mind, instead of being drawn in by the imagery ? I find it easier to say no to unwanted thoughts and images with a mantra because you can just re-focus on it and get back on track, rather than trying to empty the mind.

Or you could go with the flow and see where it leads? Perhaps your body is telling you it's something you need to do? There's plenty of stuff on the web about OOBEs and how to manage them.

(If you manage to astral project I shall be very jealous as I've been trying for months with no success.)

Bob

Hi Brian. It's me again and I've got my brain into gear.

If it is something to do with OOBEs, it can only happen when the body is completely and utterly relaxed, i.e. asleep. ( When you sleep the brain stops the body moving when you dream you're doing things. Apart from those who sleep walk and my wife who talks). You seem to get into a meditative state very quickly, and possibly your body goes to sleep, leaving your consciousness "detached".

You don't say in what position you meditated but I would guess it's lying down. In which case, restrict your meditation to sitting in a chair. Under these circumstances you are relaxed enough to meditate, but because you're holding your head up, your body can never become completely relaxed. Sitting is a common position for meditation and more comfortable than the demanding yoga asanas. If your body has not completely relaxed or gone to sleep, no OOBEs.

See how it goes and let us know how you fare.

All da best, Bob

bob wrote:

Hi Brian. It's me again and I've got my brain into gear.

If it is something to do with OOBEs, it can only happen when the body is completely and utterly relaxed, i.e. asleep. ( When you sleep the brain stops the body moving when you dream you're doing things. Apart from those who sleep walk and my wife who talks). You seem to get into a meditative state very quickly, and possibly your body goes to sleep, leaving your consciousness "detached".

You don't say in what position you meditated but I would guess it's lying down. In which case, restrict your meditation to sitting in a chair. Under these circumstances you are relaxed enough to meditate, but because you're holding your head up, your body can never become completely relaxed. Sitting is a common position for meditation and more comfortable than the demanding yoga asanas. If your body has not completely relaxed or gone to sleep, no OOBEs.

See how it goes and let us know how you fare.

All da best, Bob

Thanks for that Bob - sitting up in a chair would be quite unusual - so has a good chance of working! Will post results

Hi Bob,

Good advice there but I would just like to say that it is possible to astral travel while awake, I havent actually fully gone but had a few weird experiences while meditating sitting up before lol I was sat upright and aware that I was still upright but felt as through I was leaning right over sideways off the edge of the chair! I was very much on the verge of just popping out my body but decided not to go as I knew very little about astral travelling then, so I consciously fought it and came out the meditation and read a few books on the subject. If you are interested in learning more I can recommend Robert Bruce either New Energy Ways or Astral Dynamics, very interesting and practical too! I have copies on PDF if you would like them?

Thanks for the input Shadow. I had not realized from my reading that OOBEs could occur when awake. A case of "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing", me thinks.

Bob

I dont think its an easy thing to do on purpose and it does need deep relaxation of the physical body, the books I mentioned explain it far better than I could attempt to lol