A&P and itching?

I need to ask one thing.
A couple of times, when crossing the A&P last days, I've had this thing that at the same time as the light gets intense, the calm (sometimes joy) and expansion hits, I get a new and extremely intense itch.
Last time this evening.
I can get intense itches before, probably 3 chars, but then the light goes on and a new and really intense itch hits somewhere in the body.
Is this to be expected?

Hi meekan,
I've heard a lot about intense itching from several other yogis so it does seem common. Honestly though, I've never experienced it myself. I've often wondered why, because it does seem to come up for a lot other people on the forum, but I don't see it effecting my practice one way or the other. I'm sure someone will have some great advice/info about it though.

"I need to ask one thing.
A couple of times, when crossing the A&P last days, I've had this thing that at the same time as the light gets intense, the calm (sometimes joy) and expansion hits, I get a new and extremely intense itch.
Last time this evening.
I can get intense itches before, probably 3 chars, but then the light goes on and a new and really intense itch hits somewhere in the body.
Is this to be expected?
"

What's the itching like? What happens when you put your attention on it? Does it get more intense or go away? I don't think the presence of itching alone can necessarily tell you where you are, but the quality of the itch and what is happening with it can be a clue.

I often get irritating prickly itches at the beginning of the 3Cs. Then if I focus on one, I often lock onto it and it grows in intensity. It pulses and intensifies and then I know my A&P is right around the corner. This usually culminates in a huge release and the lone itch then spreads out and rains down over my body. Same prickly sensation but now with intense pleasure. This disburses, warmth rises up and the A&P has begun.

But that's me. What's yours like?

Hi, rev and jf!
That's the thing. I had these intense itches before, maybe something like 3 characteristics.
But a couple of times ( not my last two sits at all). There was a new itch and it was the mother of intensity, and it came on at the same time as I perceived that the light grew much more intense.
The difference is that I was not squirming or having great urges to scratch even though it felt more intense.

For me this came up quite a few times during what I believe were the dukha ñanas, long after the A&P. At one point I on retreat I was mostly noting aversion and craving and all of my skin was just crawling with itches. The itches were extreme, though I sat through it and it passed. The itches were a lot less of an issue after that.

Thanks.
Since they do clearly manifest at the same time as what I perceive to be A&P phenomena, I guess I was just wondering if the itching was an excluding phenomenon, as in "that is not the a&p".
It is much more intense, and less of a problem, so it is different than the other itches!
So maybe it's just part of my A&P experience...

For what it's worth, I mistakenly thought I was in A&P while I was in the dukha ñanas (mostly likely reobservation, and for a very long time). I realized that when I got to equanimity, briefly dipped back into reobservation for few hours (it was obvious at that point) relaxed and then got stream entry.

Thanks for that!
I constantly try to remind me that the key is to be more with what I experience than trying to map myself.
But I fall into the trap constantly lately.
Maybe I'll see what was going on in retrospect...

Another data point:

For me, I associate pin pricks with 3Cs. I associate itching (and other flavors of rapid "irritation and release" ) as being more related to the dukha nanas. Sometimes the itching is purely negative, sometimes it's confusing because the "release" is obvious, too.

I'm not good at mapping where I am in the arc, so take this with a grain of salt.