2nd to 3rd

Any theories on this?

No idea why there could be a tunnel. I was playing around with pushing the pressure down last night. I got deeper and deeper darker--then--I just kinda felt like I was waking up. There was no sudden anything but a very gradual coming to. I doubt the event lasted for more and a fraction of a second. Afterward I was pretty chilled out and feeling a bit slow but relaxed... Dunno if that was it--i'll keep experimenting...

Recently I too have been experiencing extreme darkness. I tend to practice surrender through the breath, where ever tension arises- I tend to phase backwards and forwards between brain and body. I tried the 'pressure' thing but I find it does not help me because I am aware that I am trying to force something to make something happen, rather than let it dissolve under the breath. That said, for me so far only the visual field shuts down. I think this is because I have become aware that the "I am" sense cannot be seen or looked at and I have been cultivating that. I remain, for the most part, aware of my body (vaguely) and my breath ,so a bit of sound too. But I think this may be a concentration thing because, they only come into my perceptual field when I go there, ie lose concentration. That said, I do feel as though I have been asleep and coming back from the sit is like crawling out of deep hole. Previously I was not able to sit late at night because I would, well, fall asleep. Now I can, for quite a considerable length of time, and then crawl out of my hole, and go to sleep, ha, ha. I am very chilled during the day, the body is very relaxed. As for drastic changes....something has happened. I no longer have the same sense of 'self.'
Paul

Seeing tunnels -- I believe it's anatomical. The focus of our visual attention, the priority blood supply given to that area in the retina, is around the center. The blood supply to the retina is favored there, as opposed to the periphery of the visual field. This is why I think people report seeing a tunnel during near death experiences. The outer edges of the retina lose function first as they lose the blood supply, leaving just the center functioning. Have you ever fainted? That's what happens when you faint - you see a tunnel.

Yes, actually I did faint once (I didn't technically go unconscious but I did lose audio/visual and had to be carried out of the place). I found it to be a very pleasant occurrence. But yes, I do recall the tunnel vision as well as the muffling of sounds and the gradual fading out of the visual field.

P.S.
Great explaination

Chris,

Could you please elaborate on what you mean by "pushing down"? Are you putting on pressure from above? Or did you mean something else?

By "pushing down" I mean focusing attention in a vertically "downward" direction from a locus inside my head behind my eyes. "Pushing" is being used by me here more as a metaphor than as a physical action. There is nothing physical going on. It's all mental, focus of attention type stuff. I wish i could describe it better for you but I can't.

Chris,
As we say here in Australia, your last descriptor is a 'ripper.' I understand you now. I've actually been 'breathing through' the same space, but not in any particular direction. Perhaps, like Nemo, I should now head to the 'drop off.'
Paul

Hmm... many people who have auras before they get migraines report tunnel vision. If I recall correctly, it's correlated with a wave of hyperactivity that spreads across the brain, specifically affecting the visual cortex. The wave of hyperactivity bears a bit of resemblances to seizure activity. After the wave of hyperactivity has passed a certain area of brain, the neurons seem "exhausted" in some way and they are left underactive, maybe even barely active at all, for quite a while. So really, you could look at it as a wave of depression/inhibition in the brain, except that the wave-front involves a few minutes of hyperactivity before the inhibition starts.

Perhaps NS is triggering some similar phenomenon, of a wave of inactivity in the brain that ends up resulting in sleep or a sleep-like state. I'd love to see EEG tracings from experienced anagamis and arahats doing stuff like fruitions and Nirodha Samapatti! This is a bit out there, but it could be quite sensible for inhibition to arise from the prefrontal areas, which correspond strikingly well with the area between and just behind the eyes, up to the region of forehead where the 3rd eye is said to reside. The prefrontal cortex essentially "manages" the rest of the brain, especially by inhibiting things like rage or distraction. So if you have the prefrontal cortex inhibit everything it can inhibit, it could cause a very deep trance state, perhaps even as deep as NS.

On that note, does NS bear any resemblance to sedation, black-out level drunkenness, anesthesia, or any recreational drug? Don't worry -- I don't plan to try those things as a way to access NS. I'll go with the old fashioned way and actually get some paths before I try NS. But I'd love to hear any speculation, though I hope not to derail the thread's discussion with it.

"does NS bear any resemblance to sedation, black-out level drunkenness, anesthesia, or any recreational drug?"

No. It's not like any of those things or anything else I've ever experienced.