Four Foundations of Mindfulness Contemplation Exercises: Questions and Answers 22

Question: When standing by the roadside waiting for someone, with focused concentration on a single thought, if I place my palms together, after 10 to 15 minutes I feel my body becoming insubstantial, my breath becoming subtle, prolonged, and even, and my mind becoming tranquil and at ease; if I stand with my hands hanging down, I feel my body clamped by some force and unable to move, especially my arms being immobilized, gradually losing sensation. If I move afterward, my mind loses mindfulness, and upon resuming mindfulness, I experience a stinging sensation in my head. Is this unstable state problematic, indicating that due to insufficient meditative concentration skill, my body is experiencing issues?

Answer: This is an initial, relatively good state of meditative concentration. When first attaining meditative concentration, the body finds it difficult to move freely within that state, feeling very stiff and unable to shift. If forced to move, one will experience either mental discomfort or physical discomfort in certain areas. After repeated experiences of meditative concentration, one will adapt to it, and the body will become much freer, able to move as desired without constraint. To enter and exit meditative concentration freely with both body and mind, one needs to practice meditative concentration continuously; proficiency will come with sufficient practice. Still meditative concentration is easy to cultivate and maintain, while dynamic meditative concentration is difficult to cultivate and, even if attained, hard to sustain. Only after meditative concentration deepens can one maintain some degree of dynamic meditative concentration.