Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Discussion of meditation in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.
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Learning
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Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by Learning »

I've been having unsettling experiences since I began Vipassana meditation consistently over this last month. I have been "sensing" a presence that for some reason I feel is the same spirit (I do not believe I'm sensing another person in the room with me). I had two incidences of sleep paralysis in the last month (but never before then) and as I was waking but still in a dream state, I saw this spirit both times. The first time, she was standing next to my bed and asking me a question over and over. The second time, she was in my bedroom with 2 small male spirits and as I awoke but was still in a dream state, they quickly fled my bedroom. What really scared me was that my dog ran out of the room after them growing and barking (my dog growing and barking was not part of my dream). I get a sense of ill intent whenever I sense this spirit. Now this week, was the first time I sensed the presence when I was fully awake, it was during sitting meditation. The first time, I sensed her at my door and that she wanted to come into my house. The second time was last night. Along with sensing her presence, my body became very hot, my face was sweaty, and my heart was pounding hard, but not fast. I then felt someone blow on my face (this was a real physical feeling). I noted it and stayed determined to keep my eyes closed and continue meditating. After a long time passed, I opened my eyes before my timer went off and saw that somehow, my timer had been turned off and the app was closed. I've been using this timer for weeks and have used it 3 times today and last night was the only time it had shut down in the middle of my meditation and malfunctioned. Aside from sensing the presence on these occasions, I also found a snake in my house, was smelling a very strange odor that would come and go for a few days, and my dog kept acting like he was seeing something in the same shadowy spot when I took him out to pee in the morning (he did this for a few days and then stopped). These things were happening in the time I experienced the sleep paralysis, about 2 weeks ago.

I did my best to stay with the rising and falling and noted everything that was happening, including my fear and the sensing of the presence. I do not want to continue believing that I'm either A) being visited by a menacing spirit or B) somehow developing psychosis because of my meditation practice. Is there anything I should be doing in response to these kinds of experiences, other than note them as they arise?
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Ayu
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by Ayu »

I have no advice, because I'm no meditation teacher nor a psychologist who could give a diagnosis and advice blindly from afar.

All I want say is that if your dog reacts on what you are seeing, this still doesn't mean that the spirits are real and literally out there.
Dogs are often extraordinarily devoted and focused on their owners. They thus have the capacity for stunning empathy and they can perceive much more than a human being therefore.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

Let it go and it will go.
Don’t regard any of it one way or another.
A fanciful distraction is all.
Not uncommon.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
Learning
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by Learning »

PadmaVonSamba wrote: Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:44 pm Let it go and it will go.
Don’t regard any of it one way or another.
A fanciful distraction is all.
Not uncommon.
Thank you
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Supramundane
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by Supramundane »

Sounds exactly like the script of Dead Awake, a horror film.

Hopefully, the hag has not come for you.

If you watch the movie, however, you will see how to defeat her.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... egQIARB5
undefineable
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by undefineable »

Supramundane wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 1:38 pm Sounds exactly like the script of Dead Awake, a horror film.

Hopefully, the hag has not come for you.

If you watch the movie, however, you will see how to defeat her.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... egQIARB5
Way to reassure someone :rolling:
you wore out your welcome with random precision {Pink Floyd}
undefineable
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by undefineable »

Seriously though, electromagnetic fields are known to create 'sensed presence', and sleep paralysis is likewise something that can come and go, leaving only the same kinds of unconscious interpretations.
you wore out your welcome with random precision {Pink Floyd}
yinyangkoi
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by yinyangkoi »

The experience on the cushion sounded like anxiety or panic. Hallucinations during sleep and partial awakens are a common phenomena. Once I saw a creature looking like Gollum from lord of the rings, one time someone broke into my apartment and shot me and my girlfriend. That was scary but I fell asleep again.
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Konchog Thogme Jampa
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Pray to Guru Rinpoche

Someone can maybe clarify on whether non initiates can recite his Mantra if you don’t have it transmitted :mrgreen:
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Should I pay any attention to these experiences?

Post by Kim O'Hara »

yinyangkoi wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:11 pm The experience on the cushion sounded like anxiety or panic. Hallucinations during sleep and partial awakens are a common phenomena....
It's also very common for meditators (especially new meditators) to revisit stressful episodes from their own lives.
Often these experiences have been suppressed from conscious memory in self-defence, being 'too hard to deal with' at the time, but meditation releases the suppression.
The advice given to members of my beginning meditation group was to back off and return to the meditation for a while. If the experience comes back, observe it until it becomes too stressful, then again return to the meditation ... rinse and repeat until the stresses are resolved.

:namaste:
Kim
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