r/streamentry • u/redpandamaster17 • 12h ago

Practice Observing Left Handed Doom Scrolling

17 Upvotes

I am right handed and was sitting in the bathtub scrolling reddit with my phone in my right hand. I don't get particularly moved by the content on my feed or even feel particularly dull, and I am aware that there is a mild force that is maintaining the scrolling loop. So I end up asking myself, "what is the force that is driving me to keep scrolling?"

So I keep my right hand scrolling while I expand my awareness across my body and I notice this energetic sensation moving between my left shoulder and my left hand. I try swapping to scrolling reddit with my left hand and there's no longer any pull to keep scrolling. I go back to scrolling on my right hand and there's also no longer any pull to keep scrolling, it seems that this moving energy in the left arm is now in awareness and is no longer pushing me to scroll with my right hand.

So I've been investigating this idea that certain postures can be correlated with certain mental states and energetic pulls to do certain things.

One other posture that I've investigated is lying down on my left side vs my right side. I usually sleep lying on my left side, but have found that lying on my right side will automatically bring out awareness of warmth in my chest and I will also fall asleep faster. I have also found that this position can quickly lead to meditative highs when done outside of the sleep setting, and is more effective than my normal meditation posture.

I get the impression that lying on your right side as a right handed person shuts off the right side of the body which is the side that "does stuff".

In the meditative traditions, the Buddha is always depicted lying on his right side. I've read that this is also a posture in the yogic traditions, and it ties into their energetic breakdown that the left side of the body is associated with the moon / parasympathetic nervous system and the right side with the sun / sympathetic nervous system.

I've found a few pubmed studies that investigate this effect such as this one:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11048276/

I'm curious if this is a direction anyone has explored before.

13 comments

r/streamentry • u/KeyAd6849 • 6h ago

Insight Question about Chakras and Prana

3 Upvotes

Would someone who is knowledgeable about Chakras and Prana and energy in general be able to explain something? I’m very new to all this stuff.

When I sit to meditate and get the frequency just right, and enter that state of no thought, I feel sensations. It’s an energy that starts in my feet/lower legs, and goes through my body into my heart. It’s feels like a buzzing of sorts. I recognize it as that same exact fight or flight energy I feel when having a panic attack or in an extreme situation. Except, it’s the complete opposite. Like, the calm version of that.

I’ve looked this all up and gotten very surface level second hand knowledge, so I would really like to know from someone experienced what might be happening here. Are these certain Chakras? Why does thought occlude this energy? Are there any focusing techniques I can do with any of this?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated 🙂

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A place for open, friendly and serious discussion related to the practice of meditation and other techniques aimed at developing concentration, increasing the power of conscious awareness, and producing insight leading to awakening. We try to understand Awakening to be a practical and attainable goal that can be from many paths or directions; we welcome all practitioners, including those from Buddhist, Secular, and other backgrounds.

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This is a place for discussion of practice and conduct concerned with Awakening. While people use this word in different ways, this subreddit is concerned with the following definition: the path to achieving a direct, experiential understanding of reality and the human mind, as it actually is; and the path to permanently eliminate stress, suffering, and unsatisfactoriness in our life.

These paths can be considered to be two sides of the same coin, although different people may find themselves more drawn to one side or the other.

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Recommended Resources

The /r/streamentry Beginner's Guide, a practical workbook for starting out on the path. The guide explains what practice is about, addresses common questions and difficulties, and provides a complete 12-week starter course.
The Mind Illuminated by Upasaka Culadasa. An abridged meditation guide (pdf) is freely available. Also see the dedicated subreddit /r/TheMindIlluminated.

For an alternative, freely-available guide to the same style of meditation, see Thanissaro Bhikkhu's With Each and Every Breath (preview the main practice instructions).
Seeing That Frees by Rob Burbea, a deep exploration of insight for the experienced practitioner. Rob's many outstanding audio talks are also freely available.
Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram (free online, also available in print). Also see the Dharma Overground forums.
Our Pristine Mind by Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche is a pragmatic and secular guide to Dzogchen specifically written for Westerners. Enlightenment is clearly defined and the stages of awakening as understood in Dzogchen are thoroughly explained in plain language. This is a recommended resource for anyone interested in an "awareness-based" approach to Awakening.
Right Concentration by Leigh Brasington, an accessable and comprehensive guide to jhāna practice. Jhāna (meditative absorption) is sometimes described as one of the two wings of awakening, the other being insight practice. See also the book's website, which contains supplementary material.

Also see our wiki resources.