So I notice that I have what I consider to be intense meditation experiences as a beginner. I still consider myself as a beginner because I am not following any guidelines or books or yoga practices. Plus I get scared and stop meditating for long periods of times because of Fear of the unknown.
But in my meditations it's just me and music or me and crystals (mostly Amethyst).
Today I was listening to a Theta Vibration YouTube video and began to notice I was going to deeper into meditation I started to have Rapid Eye Movement. I told myself that I should not fear this and as I did I got passed the eye movement. I then started to feel my hands in a specific position and my index fingers being bent upwards toward the ceiling (not uncomfortable) I then became more blissful and serene. But my main question is,
"IS it normal to feel your hands and arms raise mere inches off the bed? (I lay down during my meditations, I notice laying down works best for me.) What is my body healing in order to be feeling what I experience as this type of levitation in my arms? I have felt this in my legs too another time. What is my body doing in this process?
Thanks in advance for any answer. I'm not sure who to talk to about my experiences.
Thanks,
Alicia
2 Answers
Likely there is a subtle energy blockage around your elbows & shoulders so the lifting of the arms is to allow the energy to flow out of your arms and through your shoulders.
In Buddhism, we practise meditation on the natural ordinary breathing. This also leads to purification or healing of the body; where certain energies must flow so they can be released. Limbs can move to accommodate this.
I am going to give you a neuroscientist answer, not a traditional Buddhist one.
Our mind relies on models of the world, and that includes our body, we basically live in a delusion or mirage. Normally this delusion coincides with reality, so we are not the wiser. Our brain constantly incorporates information from reality to keep our “delusion” (I.e., mental model) consistent. When it comes to our body most of this information comes from proprioception and skin nerve endings, but also vision.
This mechanism is made evident in phantom limb syndrome, alien hand syndrome, and in extreme cases body dysphoria. It can be easily explored with some basic experiments in normal individuals like the rubber hand illusion.
When we meditate we can directly interfere with these mechanisms, and our mental model of parts of the body can get disconnected from the information that those body parts are providing. To the extreme that our mental model can feel completely detached from the body.
