According to accounts from the Indo-Tibetan tradition of Buddhism, the
first sign of the achievement of shamatha is the experience of a sense of
heaviness and numbness on the top of the head. This allegedly happens to
anyone who experiences this transition, regardless of the specific method
followed. It is said to feel as if a palm were being placed on the top of your
shaved head. It’s not unpleasant or harmful, just unusual.
Something remarkable must be taking place in the cortical region of your
brain at this point, but so far, no one has monitored the brain correlates of
this shift using magnetic resonance imaging or an electroencephalograph.
This physical sensation on the top of the head is symptomatic of a shift in
your nervous system (or network of vital energies) that is correlated with
gaining freedom from mental dysfunction (daushtulya), a general state of
mental imbalance characterized by stiffness, rigidity, and unwieldiness.
Consequently, you achieve a state of mental pliancy (prashrabdhi), in which
your mind is fit and supple like never before.
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