What Meditation Feels Like (For Me)

Meditation means different things to different people, so this isn’t a guide. You’ll have to find what it means and what it feels like for you. This has been my experience and I wanted to record it. If it mirrors yours- yay! If it doesn't mirror yours- also yay!

I’ve had an on-again-off-again relationship with meditation for years. I feel called to get back into it, and this post is about what it feels like when I meditate.

What Meditation Is

I think of meditation as a tool for the connection of mind, body, and spirit. It's a quieting of the mind and a diminishing of the 'Ego' so that we may feel the 'God' or 'Source' spirit within...and without. I think every person must experience it for themselves and then define it for themselves.

To rely solely on the advice of another is a great disservice to the value and power of your experience.

Be guided if it feels right, but don't allow that external guidance to overshadow your internal knowing.

What Meditation Feels Like For Me

Here is a list of my physical and psychological symptoms during meditation.

1. I Feel Like I’m Floating

When I ‘come to’ I find that the bed/ chair/ floor I’m sitting on is 'down there'. As though I was somehow floating above it. It's a bit alarming at first, but also very cool. It takes me a few minutes to get back to ‘normal’.

2. I Feel Like I Expand

When I ‘come to’ I find that the room feels small, or like I’m taking up more of it. My concept of self or what I consider to be ‘me' gets larger.

When I open my eyes, it’s as if I can see the room from more than just the viewpoint of my eyes. I’m seeing it from the walls, from the floor, from the roof, and from my eyes- all at the same time. It's as though I am in the floor, the walls, and the roof. It’s like magic.

I think in meditation, all our awareness is pulled within to our spirit- or whatever it is that is within us that is our life force. I believe this spirit is one with what I consider to be God.

In choosing to focus on this inner spirit, we allow ourselves to tap into what it feels like, which is expensive, infinite, and weightless. So, coming out of this infinite state and back into our bodies, we will feel a sudden restriction, heaviness, and smallness.

3. I Have No Physical Ailments

I discovered this while meditating before bed the other night. I’d spent the day suffering from sharp, electric pains in my body (particularly down my right leg). I have no idea what brought it on, only that it was incredibly uncomfortable.

I meditated, with no particular purpose outside of calming my mind before sleep. When I came out of the meditation, I had no physical pain. I think it’s more accurate to say I couldn’t feel my body- or I felt like I didn’t have a body (?!). Either way, I was free of physical discomfort.

Note: The discomfort did come back a few minutes after I came out of the meditation. So apparently, this is a benefit that only lasts while in the meditative state.

4. My Body Shakes and Vibrates

I get shudders. Whole body, involuntary. I can’t quite explain these yet, neither their purpose nor origin, but I know that they are quite a fixture in my meditation experience. Hopefully, with time, I'll come to understand more.

Interestingly, I have always experienced these shudders in my waking life. They are like mini tremors I experience daily at what seems to me like random times. I think it will be interesting and perhaps illuminating to try and pinpoint what triggers them.

Over the next few months, when these mini shudders happen, I’ll make it a point to ask myself:

• What’s happening right now?

• What am I thinking about right now?

• How am I feeling right now?

I think doing this over a long enough period will cause a picture to form around what they might mean for me. If it's worth it, I promise to report back.

5. I May Get Visions

These may be flashes of light (with my eyes closed) or clear images in my mind's eye. So far, they appear to be completely random and I’m not sure they are significant in any way. I've seen strange patterns that flash and then disappear. I've seen images of people I've never met. I've also seen nothing.

My thought is that these are just the (mis)firings of an overactive brain as it calms down. That said, I'm open to it being more significant than that, and I will report back should it prove to be so.

6. I Feel Like I Disappear

No thoughts. No brain. Nothing. I feel such deep mental clarity. It’s as though my mind literally didn’t exist and I'm just somewhere in an empty void, but in a really good and liberating way.

Note: This doesn’t always happen, sometimes I fail to detach and it feels like my thoughts are running in a loop. But when I do successfully quiet my mind, it’s incredible.

7. I May Get a Clear Answer

If I entered my meditation with a question, when I come out of it- I may have an answer to that question. For me, this comes as a clear and definite knowing (sadly no audible voices for me). I sit, breathe, and have my answer.

Conclusion

The experience of meditating can be so elusive. In sharing mine, I hope to shed some light for those who want some idea of what to possibly expect on their meditation journey. I can't promise what I've shared will help, but perhaps it's enough just to know that someone is out there meditating and trying to make sense of it all along with you.

Do any of these things happen to you when you meditate? I’d love to know.

Happy breathing,

Nonjabulo