MuMuWu's Practice Journal

"One day, Korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students, and he interrupted the lesson suddenly in order to retrieve a packet of biscuits, wrapped in white paper, from his briefcase. He muttered that he just had to eat something, and he asked the students on the seats in the front row, if they would also like a biscuit. A few students took a biscuit. "Nice biscuit, don't you think," said Korzybski, while he took a second one. The students were chewing vigorously. Then he tore the white paper from the biscuits, in order to reveal the original packaging. On it was a big picture of a dog's head and the words "Dog Cookies." The students looked at the package, and were shocked. Two of them wanted to vomit, put their hands in front of their mouths, and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet. "You see," Korzybski remarked, "I have just demonstrated that people don't just eat food, but also words, and that the taste of the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter.""

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korzybski
^ R. Diekstra, Haarlemmer Dagblad, 1993, cited by L. Derks & J. Hollander, Essenties van NLP (Utrecht: Servire, 1996), p. 58.

Perhaps I'm fooling myself, but if I incline my mind to the experience I had last night, theres a quick pulse in the visual field followed by bliss and somewhat "stoned feelings."

I'm getting very blissed out here.

Just saying "I want to experience it again" causes it to occur within a couple of seconds.

Again, I am not ruling out scripting here, but there are physical effects from doing this (tingling, pleasant pressure, somewhat of a reeling mind - clean slate, hard to get it to conceptualize for a few moments).

Great story. I'm starting to realize I've spent my whole life enjoying "Dog Cookies" and still am. Hopefully I'll start to see what they really are.

I will notice flickering behind the eyes. It doesn't require me to do anything such as roll the eyes back. I will experience a gap in the regular flickering, almost like the dark portion of the flicker (bright-dark-bright-dark) is skipped so there's a longer bright portion. And when that happens there's some sort of a sensation immediately after (possible accompanying the second bright) that feels like I slipped, fell and caught myself, or walked into an unexpected hole. I will feel tingling and bliss afterwards."-Mumuwu

Any other changes in your practice, Jayson?

Well, I feel kind of lazy (not in a low energy way, just in a contented way) and don't really give a care about anything for the past few days. The main thing I've been playing around with today is kind of just letting the same sort of sensation happen today (almost like wishing for it). And I've been just completely blissed out all day. It's pretty wild but I'm not 100% sure it's the same thing (the after effects feel the same). I'll get some sort of a pulse (just a single blip, not a continuous pulsing/flickering like last night) in the visual (most noticeable in the periphery followed by the tingling/pleasant pressure/warmth/bliss).

I'll see what happens with it and give you a few updates over the weekend. It could just be a passing weird thing.

Great Korzybski story, Jayson. Just always be sure to USE QUOTATION MARKS and give proper attribution. If it's a web source, give a link. You can't assume that people know you didn't write it. On the contrary, if you don't use quotation marks, they will assume that you did write it, because that is the convention. If you don't properly attribute the quote, it's plagiarism, no matter how benign your intentions. Just sayin'...

"Well, I feel kind of lazy (not in a low energy way, just in a contented way) and don't really give a care about anything for the past few days. The main thing I've been playing around with today is kind of just letting the same sort of sensation happen today (almost like wishing for it). And I've been just completely blissed out all day. It's pretty wild but I'm not 100% sure it's the same thing (the after effects feel the same). I'll get some sort of a pulse (just a single blip, not a continuous pulsing/flickering like last night) in the visual (most noticeable in the periphery followed by the tingling/pleasant pressure/warmth/bliss).

I'll see what happens with it and give you a few updates over the weekend. It could just be a passing weird thing.-Mumuwu"

Do you notice any change in the way you cycle through states, either on the cushion or off? Any difference in the way you can access jhanas?

I honestly haven't had a chance to investigate with it much as it happened most clearly last night and I haven't really tried much in the way of Jhanas since. I will continue to journal with an eye to this for sure.

Prior to this I had to spend a good amount of time working through itches and the like before any vibrations and such showed up clearly. This doesn't seem to be the case now. I have been noticing them all day. I haven't been doing any noting or anything really at all today or concentration practice but the mind feels pretty strong. Right now I seem to be able to go pretty deep into first Jhana without doing more than inclining the mind that way (vs. having to focus on the breath or something like that for a while and trying to keep the mind from becoming embedded.). I'll let you know about the rest when I experiment later.

Edit - Ok, after going into that (1st Jhana) I thought about going up through the jhanas, I began to feel some tightness and then some brief itching, I felt the focus widen and tingling/warmth become more pronounced, I felt the focus/attention change again (could almost see this happen) so that the periphery was clearer and I felt coolness and more spacious. I eventually felt anxious energy and some uncomfortable sensations, followed by a brief pause and then a return to these types of sensations and then I felt the attention widen out (this happened fairly quickly). I feel some pleasant tingling now.

Again, this could be scripting/wishful thinking. I feel very very joyous and pleasant at the moment. I'm also just sitting at my desk manipulating my attention so I feel like I really need to sit and just note and see what happens.


(also thanks for the heads up on the quote.)

"So now... you look like a yogi." -Ovadacariya Sayadaw U Pandita

Just went through the same cycle again via noting on the way out to the kitchen, making a tea, and back to my desk. I had been noting the feet as I walked out and started noting a few itchy points as I got to the kitchen. I felt some pleasant pressure in the chest and head and noted tingling and warmth. I followed the feet again as I got back to my desk. I felt cool (noticeably so). I felt the tingling transition and become anxious energy, felt some unpleasant movements and pressures in the back and head and then felt an emergence into a wide peaceful focus. The anxious tingling had become a positive warm energy. I focused on the vibrations/tingling and felt another pulse. This happened all within a couple of minutes.

The attention feels very malleable. I can place it and go into that focus. I can put it into a point and go 1st Jhana. I can relax it a bit into a wider circle and go into 2nd (a more blissful feeling in the chest seems to accompany this). I can let it go to the edges in front of me and feel very noticeable coolness on the skin after a couple of seconds (there is a noticeable transition from one to the other). I can then drop it all together (allow it to widen out I guess you could say).

I feel very very blissful now.

When you can, take a walk outside for an hour or so. Make a resolution to let the insight knowledges arise in order as you walk around. See if you can recognize each of them as they cycle by.

I'm off tomorrow and it is going to be sunny. I will certainly do this.

Also, just hit another bout of these pulses/bliss waves. It's a bit overwhelming. I haven't experienced anything like this (I feel like I may have had single experiences of this in the past, but this is happening to me multiple times in a short time span).

When you sit, how long does it take for the vibrations/pulses/rising energy to really kick in? And how is the timing of this different from before?

Kenneth,

Just sitting down now and it's fairly immediate. When I closed my eyes they were flickering a bit, tingling was apparent. After a few seconds (30 perhaps) warmth is apparent as well as joy and intensity.

Previously I would first go through a phase of itching which would take a little while to transition to vibrations and such.

Jayson, everything you are describing today (since your post #350) is consistent with stream entry, aka 1st Path. If I have this right, congratulations are in order. Nicely done.

Kenneth that's wonderful although I'm a bit skeptical now, as I'm pretty sure I've had such a flickering then blip experience before after going through what felt like the same cycle I've gone through this time (although not as in depth in certain ways). If you go back to say, post 61 in my journal I had a similar experience with similar after effects (although nothing like today). I'm hoping this is the real deal.

I've talked about a simliar experience on multiple occasions before.

----

Edit - I want to stress how different it is this time. During the actual noting process a lot of things made sense to me in a way they hadn't before. These were much deeper insights (the three characteristics, the A&P, etc. mean something very clear to me in terms of how the attention changes in regards to what is being noticed - they did before as well, but it was far less clear than now).

The experience of bliss after the "blip" is very very evident as are the blips themselves which seem to be happening with much greater frequency. I would like to see how deep concentration effects them so I may try to do some kasina or something in the next few days and see what happens.

Whatever it is, in a way, it doesn't matter as I have the techniques down much better now than I have in the past and the suffering in my life is decreasing the longer I work on things. My attachment to attainments is much less now than it has been before. We'll eventually figure out exactly where I'm at regardless of whether this is Stream Entry or not. I hope it is, but if it isn't, I'll keep going with things regardless.

One bonus - I am no longer experiencing anxiety on a daily basis. I would wake every morning with it, now I go days without experiencing anything more than momentary anxiety which quickly resolves itself.

I did the hour long walk. I made a formal resolution before leaving that I wanted to experience the insight knowledges in order as I walked. I set my timer for a half hour with the understanding that when it went off I would turn around giving me 1 hour.

The strange thing was that I was expecting to pass quickly through the first few nanas and get to equanimity quickly. Instead The nanas seemed to unfold slowly at first, gathering momentum as the walk progressed (1-4 1st half, 5-11 2nd).

When I initially started walking I felt some aches in my legs as I put my attention on my feet and left it there. Soon, I began to have a lot of thoughts about my practice, the events of today, this walk etc. Before long I was lost in a train of thought. During all of this the focus was rather tight. I kept catching myself lost in thought. Lots of evaluation thoughts, judging thoughts, things like that. I soon began to feel a few itches in my legs and back. There were minor pressures, but there were still a lot of thoughts popping up and I kept having to bring my attention back to stepping and itches. I felt the attention widen slightly and more tingling was noted. Just before the half hour mark I noticed the visual field had become very tingling/vibrational/particle like, there were very prevalent vibrations in my hands. The mind had become much less noisy and there was a much greater sense of space and wider focus than before.

I eventually began to notice the effect of walking on the visual field (the up and down motion of my stepping) and felt somewhat disoriented. It became less of a body oriented thing, more like I was watching something rather than doing the walking. I began to feel slightly anxious. At this point I remembered that I was walking on the wrong side of the road and that I should cross to avoid being hit by a car.

Negative pressures and uncomfortable sensations became prevalent all over along with a sense of sadness

I began to feel more intense pressures in the head and face. They seemed particularly strong around the throat which made me feel more queasy (like a jacket with a high, too-tight collar). There was a sense of being overwhelmed followed by a brief period of relief.

I felt the anxiety surge back up first, quickly followed by intense pressure in the head and less intense but still quite harsh sensations in my limbs and chest. This was quickly accompanied by very intense nausea and I urged 4 or 5 times violently. Tears began to stream down from my face as a result, and then the same sense of relief as before was felt.

I began to notice distant sounds, and smells became quite noticeable. There was some aching initially in the body but that tapered off as I walked. I began to feel quite good and the landscape which I hadn't been paying much attention to became quite noticeable. The more I walked the more integrated the experience felt. Until I took notice of the fact, I was seeing, smelling, hearing, etc. all at once. I would occasionally be amazed at it and at those points it seemed to break up the integration somewhat.

As I sit and type this there is a pleasant energy in my abdomen and I have had several of the visual pulses followed by bliss I had been describing earlier today (the first happening shortly after I began typing).

I was trying my best not to interfere with much while I did this walk. At times I did formal noting practices, but this was because I was expecting something to happen and felt like I was getting nowhere. As the walk progressed I felt like the resolution I had made was in control of the process and that what I was doing to influence it was only hindering it. It took pretty much the exact time I had allotted for the walk for the nanas to reveal themselves from 1-11. The walk home was slightly faster than the walk out and I suspect that the first blip occurred after almost exactly 1 hour.

Great report on the walk with resolution to review the nanas, Jayson. Well, for me the big question in terms of diagnosis would be whether you just now attained attained 1st Path or 2nd, because it does look more and more like a Path attainment. It will all shake out with more time and I admit I'm not sure yet, having just reviewed your post 61 and those immediately following it; that could conceivably been 1st Path, but it wasn't as clear to me as this latest batch of reporting. You've got the whole package of expected results now and are able to clearly articulate them.

Sounds like congratulations are in order. Good going!!!

Hey hey! Congrats MUMUWU!

...smells like a newly-minted "suckerdagami" in here!

Congratulations mumuwu. You are definitely one of the hardest working yogis out there. All that work and dedication is certainly paying off.

....and now, time to embrace the glorious endless cycles!!

Wu's on first, and What's on second base?
Does a Mu have Wu nature?
(I don't know what I am on about here...)

Congratulations, Mu!
You da man!

AWESOME! Congrats Mu

Also, thanks for the great reporting!

Mu, glad to see your stream entry confirmed! It would actually be discouraging if such an intensely practice-oriented yogi didn't make path(s). Thank you for your hard work and friendly sharing. I'd be interested to see if your relationship to/occurrence of anxiety changes.