Sometimes I have these meditations when I’m tired then miraculously regenerate my energy, as though I’ve just had a full night’s sleep! My whole body will start to feel cocooned, sometimes a foot or a hand feels curled up in a weird way or in a different place than it really is. I continue to scan the body, but I also allow myself to sink into a warm bath of relaxation. It feels like a shot of pleasurably hot liquid is being injected into my cocoon, and that liquid is what I can feel instantly regenerating my energy reserves. I’ve come to wonder if my body is asleep, and I’m feeling the secretion of serotonin? Or maybe norepinephrine? As sometimes there are also dreamlets. The experience doesn’t happen that often for me, though at times it has shown up on sleep deprived, tightly scheduled days when I really need to be alert…for this, I’ve been sooo grateful!
A vipassana A.T., told me that states and sensations always come unpredictably on the path. So I had accepted them all as transient gifts; however, I then experienced a few of these “power-up” meditations consecutively when meditating in a new room at school. Being a psychology student, I started to wonder if the experience was somehow linked to the conditions of that room or state of being from which I would begin. Was it that I was getting up earlier? Or maybe how these chairs perfectly support my spine? If I could rely on this kind of meditation, I could schedule an hour more work or school everyday! I couldn’t decide if I felt right about trying to control the conditions, would this be considered “clinging?” Or just preparation for “proper mediation?” S. N. Goenka did say that if we “meditate 2 hours a day we can go with an hour less sleep because we won’t need it,” did this mean that regeneration is supposed to happen with every meditation? Maybe I’ve been missing out? I also recalled that Samael Aun Weor (another teacher important to my spiritual development) mentioned that the mediator needs “to practice when he feels the predisposition to the sleepiness, just as the baker needs specific quantities of water and flour to effectively make bread, the student needs 50% sleepiness and 50% of meditation.” Perhaps all types of meditation work better with sleepiness; most centers do keep students somewhat sleep deprived.
I did try keeping my location and sleep schedule the same, but the elusive Power-up meditations did not continue; so I surrendered back to the belief that they are a gift, completely out of my control with no scientific explanation.
