Russell's Practice II

Tired during this last long weekend. For some reason I kept putting my sits off until late and night and found myself nodding off. However last night, did some noting again and found myself going up the arc to 6th nana and back down. Every sit feels different at this point, and Ron suggested I try working on Jhanas first then go into noting. I had been doing it the other way around and my noting has been sloppy, so maybe this will help a bit.

Most people seem to take a break from journaling during their review phases. Your journals are a nice template for the transitions. Thanks for keeping it up!

"Most people seem to take a break from journaling during their review phases. Your journals are a nice template for the transitions. Thanks for keeping it up!"

Thanks. I know they aren't very detailed, but I resolved to record this as often as I could even if it isn't very clear to me what is going on. I see how helpful these journals are for people (including myself), especially after SE, so I am making sure to post almost daily, even if it is just a tidbit that could help someone in the future. Seems the transition periods and 3rd path are the trickiest to explain, so I at least want to show the confusion as well.

Sat last night and resolved to practice and see the jhanas clearly up to cutting edge. It was very nice and although the transitions didn't seem to want to flow naturally, I could kind of bump them along if I got bored investigating one jhana. I would be like, move along please, and shortly after the next would arise. I am pretty sure I finally locked on to 7th jhana. I thought I was getting it before, but this time I really understood how there is no object in this jhana. Very hard to describe, but that is the first time I have sat where I had my eyes closed and litterally had no object at all, almost like the darkness is not even something I am looking at. Once again, hard to explain.

Next I started noting and got itches right away, but I didn't do this for long.

If I might ask, could you please give me the details of how you experience the jhanas. I am really trying to make the distinction. Mine are very unclear most of the time. For instance, I sit and am almost immediately focused. I think this might be access concentration. It is a different state from just sitting there concentrating -- it is a definite state. From there, I might move to a true spaciousness. Then, I often move to a more non-local, detached feeling of spaciousness. Then, some times I move to what feels like no-objects. And I used to move up into places that were harder to describe, but that hasn't happened in a while.

I would really be interested to hear you describe how you experience the jhanas.

Thanks!

I am weak on Jhana practice as well because I just go straight into noting most of the time. I felt like it was making me progress the quickest so I stuck with it. But now something is driving me to work on concentration even more. I started with months of concentration practice before vipassana however 3rd path feels like concentration has a big part to play so I am working on it.

After SE I was able to call up any of the 1st jhanas pretty easily just by asking for them, after 2nd path the arupa jhanas are not as easily accessible. It feels like I am building into them and getting better at accessing them as time goes on.

First, I would watch the tour of jhanas video from kenneth and Nick. They do a great job describing what it feels like.

What I do to start working on them is do some anapanasati to get to access concentration and then I usually will enter first jhana shortly after. To me it feel like tight focus straight ahead with a sense of efforting but there is some bliss and tingling. 2nd - effort drops away, same tight focus, A&P type lights. 3rd - focus goes out to the edges of the periphary, joy remains. 4th is like EQ, expansive calm. 5th feels like focus moves upward and out to infinity (After 4th it feels more up in your head than earlier jhanas) 6th feels like the you are looking back at what is perceiving things. You feel like tight focus behind the eyes in the head. 7th - the object is nothing and this is hard for me to describe. 8th - I am not sure yet as I dont have a handle on it quite yet.

Trying to break up my sits with half concentration work and half insight. So, more jhana practice last night trying to get 8th. Still don't feel like I have a handle on it yet. After 7th I get a feeling that my mind is hunting for an object to lock on to and when it moves to the object, the object moves. Regardless, I am incredibly spacey and chilled out after these sits.

nice succinct description of the jhanas russell. it's helped me to recognise them. ta, jacki.

Glad it helped Jacki, those are about the shortest jhana descriptions ever

Anyways, more jhana work last night. The later jhana's are getting more solid and it is almost difficult to come out of the concentrated state and begin noting when I am ready. Felt like last night when I started noting I only went up to A&P and sat there with the vibrations for a long time. One thing that this added concentration practice has done is that it has made a 30-45 minute sit feel like about 5 minutes. I was getting agitated before when I was only noting or using open awareness, now it just flies by with no desire to get up.

Wisdom from my 5-year old daughter today: She just came up and said this nursery rhyme she learned that I had never heard before: "The wise old owl sat in an oak. The more he saw the less he spoke. The less he spoke the more he heard. Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?"

Love it.

Beautiful!

Last night it was very late when I sat, so I just did concentration practice with the intent to just let things happen as they go instead of nudging the jhanas along a little. Just watched as I went through different state shifts without trying to label mentally which jhana I thought I was in or trying to mentally alter anything by telling myself "OK, move on to the next one". It was very nice and very absorbing. Time just flies.

However, it is hard to switch to noting after that. Going to try to do some straight noting sits today and see if my increased concentration from this week has improved my noting at all.

I have a cold so concentration is hard with all the coughing a clearing my throat, so I figured noting would be best because I could just all my ailments as objects to note. Half hour noting, noticed intense A&P like rush to the head about halfway into the sit. However, I was interrupted several times by my daughter who didn't feel like going to bed. Switched to the witness to see what would pop up, and it felt much more like a perspective than it ever has. It felt like I could observe the boundaries of my entire body without being a part of it. A separate watcher it seems.

Going to heed my own advice that I gave to Laurel about re-reading the chapter in Adyashanti's 'The End of your World' on the 'I got it, and then I lost it effect' because thats how it feels all over again. And I suspect this will continue to cycle. After I have been dealing with this cold, I feel terrible and all my anxieties and rearing their ugly head all over again. Post path afterglow definitely gone and off-cushion has been a mess even though I don't even feel like my current cutting edge is in the dukka nanas at all. Sits have actually been pretty relaxing however unclear they may be. Trying to be as minful as possible off-cushion but its difficult when I just don't feel well.

Note to self: LET GO, DUMMY!

Ramping up sitting time a bit since I have added so much concentration practice. 40 mins concentration last night, 30 mins this morning. One big thing I am noticing is huge flashes (very dramatic) of light in the visual field when I notice a sound, like a house creak, when I am very concentrated. Not sure what that is.

Noting-wise: I feel lots of itches at the start, then things start vibrating and stay that way. It almost makes me want to get out of the way and observe, like in previous EQ states. Not sure if that is what I should do or to just keep noting.

More sitting for my confused mind. 40 min last night, 20 min this morning. Concentration is starting to lead to deeper absorption (unsure of which jhana's etc though) Really felt like I got right up and close to my breath last night, like it was the only thing in the world. When you guys practice jhana's do you ever push them along mentally with a little 'OK, next please' nudge, or do you just let them arise? I feel definite state shifts when I just let things happen with no mental nudging, but I am unsure which jhana I am in. I guess it doesn't matter.

I usually let the jhanas progress as they will, but if I get curious or bored it does seem possible to "incline" towards the next one. It doesn't always work though, especially for 7th and 8th. My experience of the jhanas is not very clear either. It would be nice if they were very distinct, but they aren't. It seems like I start in 4th and go to 6th most sits, with 7th and 8th making the occasional guest appearance. They are never like the descriptions of "rapture" and "infinite" this or that. They are a lot more subtle.

Thanks for the the input. I still don't think I have experienced 8th, but 7th for sure. I need to just leave my mind alone and sit

Trouble with really sticky thoughts last night after some disturbing imagery (death and decay type stuff). Mind just running away with thoughts, so I watched it.

It's really like every sit is a completely different experience at this point. It used to be almost predictable but it is long past that. I feel like my cutting edge is a different nana each sit. While my previous post felt very DN'ish, last night it felt like Equanimity was present from the forefront. I even switched my object in concentration practice to the pressure on my forehead instead of my breath because it was so predominantly vibrating. Once I switched my attention there, I sensed a much higher concentration and absorption. Time flew by.

Really just feels like sitting and observing at this point. My concentration is better and things get very relaxing and calm, however, states and stages feel like they are unnoticeable. I can watch my mind try to find what nana or jhana I am in, but I just let it go. Still no fruitions or anything like that for a while. Just sitting.

Seems like today every single one of you is on my who to follow list on Twitter.

These sits are becoming more and more similar now, but I don't know "where I am" on the maps. Last night, I was concentrating and my mind just started noting on its own, so I went with it. Some disturbing imagery again at one point but it goes away pretty quickly. I am noticing very clear state shifts which just feel like shifting into jhana's, it's almost as if my mind kind of sees the next state and then jumps into it and then after awhile does it again. I think it only happened like 3-4 times. Feels like just moving through the 1st 4 jhana's but I am not sure. Where did you go arupa jhanas? (maybe i'm not sitting long enough)

If I notice, for example, that my 3rd eye area is vibrating. When I shift my attention there, it's almost as if my whole world zooms in on the area very quickly and becomes it. Not sure if that made sense.

Do you think you may be in the dark night? Disturbing imagery + quickly falling away creates that dark night association for me. Also the overall muddiness and inability to figure out where you are is something I get in the pre-reobservation portion of DN.