Stuck in Stage 8

[Adam MMember]

Seems I’m getting stuck at stage 8. I’d been going through the grade 3 wavelike piti. Starting with a mixture of unpleasant painful sensations along with with pleasant bodily sensations and some glimpses of meditative joy. The unpleasant sensations got better in time and I was hoping I would move on to the grade 4 piti. But instead, as the pleasant sensations predominated I started to get nausea and dizziness and the piti tingling turned sometimes quite prickly. It stopped being wavelike and become just constant. I’ve worked on mindfulness and have been doing metta. The nausea and dizziness has gone now. But still no further progress. I seem just to meditate with tingling feelings all over the body but little sign of any energy currents and maybe the occasional glimpse of mild joy. Things still don’t seem to be moving on.

Would be grateful for any advice or information on other people’s experience. I think I’ve been at this stage for around 2.5 months now. Does anyone know how that compares with the average time at this stage?

[Anonymous]

Adam,

Your question is answered precisely by Culadasa at minute 46 of “day6 Stillness & Joy.mp3”. Good Luck.

[Adam MMember]

Thanks a lot Wiley Fox. That sounds great. Only I cant find it. Could you send me the page I can find it at?

[Anonymous]

http://dharmatreasure.org/joyful-stillness-retreat-recordings-6-of-6/

[Anonymous]

But I suggest you first backtrack and spend several days with Stage 7 exercises, to restore your confidence and orientation in your practice and to generate positive attitude.

Then figure out if (and how) Culadasa’s “Flies” story applies to your situation. Also ambiguously cited in TMI pages 274-277.

[Anonymous]

The above describes a way forward, but from what you say, your Joy is not sufficiently robust for Stage 8. Your risk is that if you get a strong recollection of personal dukkha (a personal dukkha insight) without maintaining strong Joy, then you may go into dukkha-nanas (i.e., DEPRESSION). The purpose of Joy is to suppress dukkha. And that is why all the emphasis on generating strong Joy.

A couple of years ago I was where you are now, but practice became impossible for months. You could call it “having a mental breakdown”. Then I began again at the 4 step exercise and then Stage 6.

You choices seem to be:
try harder increasing absorption into breath, or
drop back to Stage 7 until you build stronger Joy and your sits are an hour long, or
Cease meditation practice until your head clears and you decide where to ease your way back into practice.

There are no averages. Your experience is unique to you. But long term muddling through and losing satisfaction in your practice is not the way to go, in my opinion. good Luck.

[Adam MMember]

Thanks. I think you’re basically right. I was becoming impatient and overdoing it. I’ve since cut down to 1 or 2 sits per day and chilled out. Things are slowly starting to move again. I had a really strong joy experience a few days ago and every sit now I can feel it seemingly bubbling away under my chest bursting to get out. I can see things will develop in time now I’ve stopped striving and I think I will as you suggest and put more effort into absorption into the breath as that seems to be key. Though I hope when the joy does develop it’s not too strong. The experience I had was a little difficult to bear! How did you find it?

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