This post is about two things actually. Both to do with meditating, and something I just experienced in my last meditation... which was quite neat.

I set my clock to play a rainforest sound after 20 minutes, and then set an alarm for 30. This way I could meditate for 20, and then practice meditating in a noisier environment to remain focused on the breath. After 20 minutes my room was filled with rainforest sounds, and after a few breaths I had completely tuned it out. Perhaps this was so easy because I had already gotten my mind into a quiet state after the 20 minutes of meditation. Soon enough 30 minutes came and the other alarm came. After a few more breaths I slowly opened my eyes. I didn't do anything else though... I just sat there staring. Not thinking about anything external. I was still very focused on my breath, but i found that I didn't have to try, I just was, and if a thought entered my mind, it would easily flow out.

Anyway, back to the open-eyed thing... I was just sitting there focusing at one point. The whole room started to turn white, as if it was fading away (I've experienced this before, just as an effect of staring in one spot for too long). Soon everything faded back into vision, and the room started to bend, and wave around, like a ripple in a water. I would shift my eye site every now and then as well, so it's not like I was staring in one spot the whole time. I did, however find it hard to take my gaze off things. Now I was trying to focus more on the room as opposed to my breath. I noticed a few things. The room was drastically out of proportion. Things that were far away looked very close, and vise versa, it was actually really strange. Things that were small and close up looked like they were far away and big... just weird stuff like that. When I looked at things though, it felt like they were empty. No thoughts came to my mind when I looked at them. Of course I knew what they were, and I was able to think about them. But unless I tried, nothing came to mind... I was just looking. This was quite neat. It was sort of trancelike, but not quite. I ended up sitting there for 40 minutes! (alarm still ringing )

Anyway the second thing I noticed is that it remained afterwards. I got up, and walked around the house, but I didn't really do much. I sat down in the living room and phased out again, staring at things. It's not like when you stare into space and you think about something else. I just was staring and pretty much drawing a blank. Obviously I didn't just STOP THINKING, but my thoughts were slower and occasional, at least the conscious ones. I felt like i was tripping out. Sounds were sort of distant, and they changed as well, and everything amused me. I looked at my face in the mirror for like 5 minutes. I was just looking, I dont even know why.

This was pretty neat anyway. I wonder if the meditation was the full cause for this, so I'm going to try it again tomorrow as well. I'm probably going to start increasing the times I meditate for.

Just felt like sharing this. I'm a real beginner when it comes to meditation, so if any experienced meditators here know more about what I'm talking about, let's hear! Anyone who hasn't though, try it out - after a bit of meditation, open your eyes, and just keep focusing on your breath.

Take it easy,
Dylan