Trying to sit for 8 hours straight

[LiberatedMonkey]

I once saw Leo's video on overcoming addiction and he said the solution is to simply sit down for hours and do nothing. So today I decided to try it out. I am totally alone in my room, completely quiet, started a timer for eight hours, and sat down on a chair. After two hours I felt a sort of burning sensation in my abdomen area. After four hours the burn really started to burn like a fire was lit inside of me. Then hitting the fifth and sixth hour I wanted to throw up, I was sweating, felt like I was going to pass out, and had sort of a fear like I was going to die. So, then at that point I stopped out of fear, walked around for a bit, and all sensations wore off in like three minutes like nothing happened. 

So, has anyone experienced this or know WTF just happened?  

[ajasatya]

@LiberatedMonkey I don't know exactly what happened because I'm not aware of your mental stories and emotional body. But it looks like the ego structure felt violently threatened.

Also, keep in mind that a daily consistent practice of 30m~60m is far more efficient than those 2h+ hickups. The mechanics of the mind have a huge inertia and can't be changed abruptly unless some crazy episode happens in your life. Imagine a car moving at high speed... it won't stop properly if you brake vigorously and then let it go (it's actually very dangerous). In order to stop the car, you better brake smoothly and hold it until it stops. The other option would be crashing violently against a huge obstacle, but this is far from desirable.

[kieranperez]

@LiberatedMonkey the fact that you made it to 6 hours it took that long to set to set in, to me is impressive if you’ve never done anything like that that before. If you remained totally motionless during that... my hats off to you. 

@Mikael89 monks and yogis for thousands of years have been able to go as far as a week in totally locked in meditation without getting up without food or water. 

Yes it is the body/mind reacting but through hardcore deligent and discipline it can be done and has been done. The degree to what the human body can do is totally unappreciated and underestimated. Especially in our pathetic undertrained 21st century society and how low we set the bar. 

You can literally run down a horse and are designed to run hundreds of miles at a time. Think about that when you think running 10 miles as a big deal lol

It has everything to do with enlightenment and awakening. Mastering your emotions and being conscious of how you’re doing all of those things. Dealing with the fear of death. Becoming conscious of pain has everything to do with overcoming self-survival so long as that’s the intention and becoming conscious of what self survival is. Hence hardcore asceticism 

Edited June 15, 2019 by kieranperez

[ajasatya]

@Mikael89 He did not mention muscular pain and he didn't say that he was feeling tired or anything "physical". Burning sensation in the abdomen? Feeling an urge to throw up? To me, it sounds like a mental/emotional reaction, like building up a huge peak of anxiety.

The mental ego structure and the emotional body is a real phenomenon that happens for us human beings. Sitting in meditation and doing nothing is interpreted as a threat by the agitated/undisciplined mind.

By the way, I have no idea what you mean by "enlightenment/spiritual stuff". Also, I don't understand where your tone comes from. What are you trying to do?

[Space]

17 minutes ago, Mikael89 said:

@LiberatedMonkey

Oh come on. What do you expect would happen from such extreme action??

It doesn't have anything to do with enlightenment/spiritual suff.

It's simply a physiological reaction from the body. The body/mind isn't built to do such things.

Saying it has to do with spiritual stuff (ego feeling threatened yadda) is like saying: "I felt intense pain from putting my hand on a stove, that means my higher Self was awakening!!!11!"

This isn't really 'extreme action'. Thousands of people sit on planes every day for this length of time and of course people meditate for similar lengths of time, often with very little movement even between sits. Human bodies are more than capable of sitting around for 6-8 hours doing nothing. So I wouldn't say its just his body not being able to deal with the relatively low level of action. As @ajasatya said, its most likely some psychological reaction. But it would not surprise me at all if it was an egoic reaction as a result of a perceived threat to its survival. He was literally bored to death, or getting close to it at least.

[LiberatedMonkey]

Thanks for the variety of responses. 

To give y'all more of a background of myself I've been meditating for 2 years starting from 10 min now doing doing 40 min a day. In the past I've felt that burning sensation before and also once felt as I have wanted to pass out, but this was way more intense including wanting to throw up and a fear of dying. 

During the six hours I was almost totally motionless, was trying to stay mindful of the sensations of my body and trying to not go into thought stories doing completely nothing. The sensations were so surprising as a result of doing such a simple activity of sitting down and doing nothing. Which, tells me something else is coming into play here.

 

 

[Preetom]

Sounds almost like what they call throwing up the red hot molten lead in Zen.

Basically deep restructuring of ones system through long hours of sitting in eqanimity

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by Preetom

[Nahm]

The fear of dying requires misidentification with the appearance of physicality, or simply put, the self imposed dogma of “separatism”.

Misidentification as physicality is ‘achieved’ by self referential thought repetitions. These unchecked thought repetitions maintain the charade of a separate self, just like individual frames of a film ‘hide’ within themselves, within their own repetition, creating the illusion of movement. In inspecting the film, the ‘frames’ are realized, and so too is the illusion of movement. In inspecting the beliefs, thought repetitions are realized, and so too is the illusion of the separate self.  

The purification, the shedding of the falsities, the “glass prison of repetition” - when it gets down to the basis of identification, the “projector itself”, if you will - is experienced a priori, as pending death. The sensation is not in actuality that of dying whatsoever, but rather the Truth response to the thoughts & beliefs that you could ever actually die. More simply, when you experience the sensation, and assign the thought story “I am dying”, the sensation is You, Truth, prior to the duality of language, yet saying “awe hell no you don’t die you silly liberated monkey! Relax, enjoy, live, create, love, be! ALL is Well! I AM!”

 

So you felt like you were dying, because “you” were dying. The concept of you is running it’s course, coming to it’s natural end. If “you” keep sitting there, you’ll realize even the very last of unchecked repetitions, those of the body itself, are a facade. In essence, there are no repetitions at all. All you convincing yourself of selfhood, individuality, life, and death. A joke of unfathomable cosmic proportion, which was, in hindsight, on “you”. Just as a brilliantly executed setup draws one in, involves one emotionally, invests one in the story & perspective - only to be relieved in the laughter of the sudden shift to the Truth, to the clarity, of the punchline. 

In terms of continuing, if you do long sits, be free in breaking when you are overwhelmed. Do not force through. There is no need. The gain is not in pain, but in clarity, in understanding, in acceptance & transcendence. It’s wise to be a lover and pursuer of Truth, but far, far wiser to simply love. So instead, break, and sit with a pen & paper and write only about the sensations, so that you may express lovingly, safely, organically, thus genuinely emptying your “self” out, so that understanding / emotional intelligence, may readily unify, in transcendence of the paradigm of physicality & separatism. This is awakening, the knowing of your true yourself more deeply, prior to the believer, the chooser, the doer - realizing the potentiality & creator actuality of self. The punchline of the beating heart, in and of the breath itself, could not be more investing, nor more relieving in Truth. Then, how joyful & funny it is, you will see, as “8 hours” passes through you effortlessly, like all things.

 

 

[Jkris]

@LiberatedMonkey Acidity problem ? 

[Truth Addict]

@LiberatedMonkey

Well, first of all, that is quite a feat, I couldn't stand sitting still for one hour. So, respect!

Secondly, the body 'emits' certain amounts of energy all the time. The feeling of burn is your body giving out energy just as usual, only that time it was intense because you weren't spending it on any kind of activities, and it had to get out of 'you' in a certain way which in your case was a 'fire' sensation.

If you want to get benefits from this practice, I suggest learning more about Yoga and Chakras. These practices teach you how to control your bodily energy and how to move it from one place to another, both inside and outside the body.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Truth Addict

[Hellspeed]

Stay in squat instead as much as you can. Use something for the ankles to rest on or simply high heel shoes will do.

Sitting too much on the bottox impairs muladhara. 

[Moreira]

Why you inflict this kind of torture to your ego? If you are a inquiet overthinker this can cause you more anxiety. Meditation has to be a progressive practice, starting by 15 mins a day, not cold turkey!

[Inliytened1]

@LiberatedMonkey 8 hrs is incredible man hats off.  Most people can't sit and do nothing for more than 5 minutes LOL (when not forced).

Yes the do nothing method is extremely powerful and it was the very first method of meditation i tried because i found Leo after looking into an alcohol addiction and wanting to fix it.

I knew he was onto something.  Simply Being and doing nothing in the face of a craving will bring suffering and withdrawal symptoms.  If you can sit and suffer through cravings long enough eventually they subside. 

It leads to great growth for beating addictions.  But its also good for spiritual growth.  You may have tapped into something spiritual there or mystical and the ego reacted out of that way in a survival defense mechanism.

Either way bravo.  That's how you do it.  I used that and self inquiry when i first started in spirituality.  Again originally to beat an addiction.

[StarStruck]

I want to try this. Is it ok to sit at a window and look outside?

[Inliytened1]

@StarStruck yes but try to be absent of thought...so it doesn't matter if you are looking at a clock or outside.  Just staring at the wall may be easier to connect with Being.  As Being is the absence of thought or anything.    Looking outside may make it more difficult for someone new to this to "not know".

You will notice you can't go more than 30 seconds without a thought..its hard.  So bring your awareness back on awareness or consciousness itself when that happens. 

At some point you should feel a type of Kundalini type energy flow through you.  I call Kundalini Being.  It is the beginning of the collapse of the ego into Being in my direct experience.

This may not happen after one sitting but keep at it.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Inliytened1

[Ananta]

18 hours ago, LiberatedMonkey said:

I once saw Leo's video on overcoming addiction and he said the solution is to simply sit down for hours and do nothing.

Ok, I'll bite. ...what addiction? And how is this supposed to help? (No, I didnt see the video)

[zeroISinfinity]

@Mikael89 Just stay present and The Miracle might happen. As @Nahm says projector might be revealed. Your True Nature which is unlike everything you might think it is. 

No words can ever describe it. 

Problem I am facing is, is if I created my own life how to forgive myself or if God did it why? 

AM I innocent or horrible. 

But the end it doesn't matter really because there is no me at all. I am Just space for Reality to express itself. So surrender is probably last phase I think. 

@NahmSo what secret I could possible hide? When it is all right Here right now? 

Makes no sense. 

Edited June 16, 2019 by zeroISinfinity

[Nahm]

@zeroISinfinity Create a separate self in thought, a thinker, then use that thinker to judge the first one, innocent or horrible, neither or both. Just don’t let that second guy in on the secret. 

[zeroISinfinity]

@Nahm @NahmOk

Thanks. Will burn Karma. 

[Chi_]

I tried it too. I know where you are coming from because I had a very uncomfortable experience as well. I think I also sat for about 10 hours. I was quite fine until around the 6-7 hours just extremely bored...

 

But in the last few hours I had experienced a crippling feeling of loneliness which I haven't felt in about a 15 years since my childhood. I used to have these episodes as a child but almost forgot about it for 15 years until it came back after I sat alone in a room for 10 hours. I learned that I had some suppressed emotions that I had to deal with from this experience. Now I'm working on them as they definitely are hindering further growth in my spiritual path. It was quite powerful and I am thankful for Leo for spreading this knowledge. 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Chi_