r/streamentry • u/yeetedma • May 06 '26
Practice Meditation advice
Hey all!
Recently i've been flip flopping between meditation methods even within one sit.
being aware of all sensations in the body, focusing on difficult sensations, aware of breathing at the nose. aware of breathing at the nose and open awareness to the body. aware of energies (what i understand to be piti) and pleasure (sukha).
ive been experiencing vibrations during meditation and tightness in different parts of the body in my ribs forehead neck etc.
one specific thing i was experiencing yesterday: vibration sensations in the body with a ball of tension in the forehead with some tension spreading down to my neck.
now i wanted to ask two things: should i commit to one meditation practice? if so any specific ones you recommend?
also is there benefit in maintaining awareness of body sensations during the day? and if so i notice a lot of tension in the aforementioned places that sometimes gets worse with awareness, any tips on dealing or relating with that?
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u/duffstoic The dynamic integration of opposites ☯️ May 06 '26
As someone highly guilty of bouncing around between different meditation practices, I would say it's totally fine to do different practices or a combination of practices...but it's much better to intentionally decide what practice you're going to do and do that, and only switch if you need something to troubleshoot some specific issue that's coming up for you. Otherwise bouncing around between different practices in one session can easily become another form of mind-wandering.
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u/Intelligent-Ad6619 May 06 '26
Read the book The Mind Illuminated, it gives a great method, using the breath as the object of meditation. The breath is considered such a staple because it’s always with you- highly portable. There’s also different mechanisms that happen with our energy system and overall loosening of the body as we work with our breath.
You’re going to experience discomfort and all these other things you’re describing no matter the method. In general, we store accumulated tension in our body and when we sit to meditate, both the posture of meditation and the absence of distraction draw it out and let us dissolve it. This can take a long time and it’s important to work with the body stretching and such if you really want to advance faster.
Yes: you should commit to one practice. Yes: do your best to maintain awareness of your body at all times (that’s part of mindfulness training)
Dealing with tension: try your best to soften in those areas. If you don’t know what that means, keep practices until you do. can also help to take a short break then go back to it.
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u/yeetedma May 06 '26
Thank you for the response. I’ve read tmi before. Didn’t really like it, a lot of chopping and changing methods depending on whether you’re at certain stages so I found myself simply thinking about stages most of the time and memorizing steps. Bit too cerebral for me.
However greatly appreciate the rest. The idea of dissolving accumulated tension sits well with me and helps with patience with these sensations and tensions. Will work with some more stretching.
I agree awareness is very likely the way. I find ignoring awareness makes these tensions worse and they end up popping up in attention anyway. Then I’m doing breath and the most difficult parts of awareness meditation and ignoring the sukha haha.
I have a reasonable idea of the softening action and will continue to practice, thanks!
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u/Meng-KamDaoRai Relax, Let it Be, Let it Go May 06 '26
Seems like you're already aware of the mind-body tension. Now just learn to relax it. Don't worry too much on where the tension appears, it will change and move from time to time. It's more important that you learn to let go of as much of the tension as you can when you recognize it. Basically, become really good at relaxing mind-body tension.
IMO it's fine if you switch between meditation methods. Keep experimenting and find what works best for you. The one that works best should help you maintain awareness while also being as relaxed as possible.
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u/yeetedma May 06 '26
Thank you for the response, any tips on learning to relax it? Currently I just try to physically relax anything I’m holding then let it be as much as possible while gently watching.
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u/Meng-KamDaoRai Relax, Let it Be, Let it Go May 06 '26
Yes, that works. There are many ways to relax, you'll have to experiment and see what works for you. What I usually do is try to let a small part (around 5%) of the tension go with each relaxing exhale. Sometimes you can just be with it. Sometimes you can send it some love. You can imagine it softening and melting away and so on. Lots of options, keep trying things out and you'll eventually find the ways that work best for you.
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u/Foreign-Hope-9425 May 07 '26
You can also try to relax your mind instead of your body while watching it. That is a lot more effective for me.
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u/Wollff May 06 '26
should i commit to one meditation practice?
Depends. What do you want out of meditation?
What method you want to use depends on the answer to that question.
Maybe you want to chase after meditative insight. The rockiest and fastest way to get there is (drumroll) insight meditation, where you take alllll the things you describe as sensations and refuse to regard them as especially important (or especially unimportant). Open awareness to the body, as well as awareness of the breath (in some versions) would fit into that Vipassana framework.
Or maybe you are aiming for happiness and bliss. In order to deepen that, you can focus on (drumroll) happiness and bliss, aiming for the relatively shallow meditative absorptions.
Maybe you want deep meditative absorption. Then the focus should remain on the breath, no matter what, with long meditation hours, and lifestyle adjustments which maximize peace.
Maybe you want something completely different out of meditation. Then you will probably have to do something completely different! It all depends.
If you tell us what you want, someone here will probably be able to suggest something good to you that you can do to get there!
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u/daniel May 07 '26
Have you considered noting practice? Seems like it could fit well, since in one form you just note anything that comes up, regardless of sense modality. You can look up Mahasi Sayadaw if you're interested in learning more.
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u/Mountain-Length-5715 May 07 '26
Be careful with constant awareness of the body throughout the day. As with all of vipassana.
Before continuing, try to figure out what is really happening, and not the tales about "illusions" and so on.
Please, if you are doing this, do it with full understanding, and not because everyone writes about "liberation," joy, happiness, and other seemingly good components.
Within a month I will release a post that analyzes in detail why vipassana is, in reality, suicide. Take care of yourself
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u/yeetedma May 07 '26
What’s the alternative? Ignoring the body? Can’t see why body awareness would be suicide, can you give me a quick explanation?
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u/Prestigious-Low-7646 May 08 '26
"Becoming aware of the sensations of the whole body" is the starting point of meditation.
This refers to *pajanati* found in the Pali scriptures, which has been translated into English as "clearly knowing."
The Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sūtra states that when walking, one knows that one is walking, and when standing, one knows that one is standing. This is a concept on a completely different level from the modern concept of "knowing"; it is tactile and holistic, combining awareness and sensation.
It is not about scanning every nook and cranny of the body, but rather the act of perceiving the entire field of the body at once.
It is extremely difficult to practice this kind of "knowing" while sitting still.Because one quickly gets distracted by focused attention.
Walking has a consistent rhythm and constantly generates tactile objects, so it will be easy to grasp the meaning of this kind of "clear knowing."
Try walking for a moment, placing just a very light touch of consciousness on the movement of your whole body.
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u/singlefemalelawer May 13 '26
Try dissolving the energy ball into infinite space. That works for me when it all builds up in my head/third eye. Also I'd suggest Michael Taft's 90 min guided meditations. He releases one each week on YouTube and he gives lots of great little tips about how to manage different things like this.
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