Can you feel your brain?

Post here if you are just starting out with your mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is a really difficult concept to get your head around at first, and it might be that you would benefit from some help from others.
mintful
Posts: 8

Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:10 pm  

Hello everyone.

I do have a question about how your brain feels when you are meditating. Lately I do have a very strange sensation of being able to activate or relax different parts of my brain.
As in feeling physically different parts of my brain doing different jobs.
Smiling for example feels like activating something right in the middle of my brain. Trying to exert control is feeling like a firm grip right behind my forehead.
Also I feel a very peculiar tension when I try to "focus on focussing" and a relaxation feeling when calming.

It is almost like flexing a muscle. And as you can flex a muscle without function or cause, like pumping your biceps without actually anything to lift, I feel that I can flex some of my brain areas to.
Currently I think that it works very well for the feeling of well being ( i.e. I get a "I'm smiling feeling" without actually smiling ). Second thing it works ok with is the feeling of ... personality control. I can loosen up and be very susceptive to outwards stimuli like sound, color or light or I can somehow tighten my grip around my personality an exert control.

All of this like the flexed biceps without any outer cause or function.

It does though influence my perception of my surroundings and my emotionality very much and so I'm wondering if its only psychogenic or if anyone else here is experiencing something similar.

PS: I'm doing the mindfulness routine of catching and monitoring my thoughts and being present in the current moment for about 3/4 of my waking hours + about 1 hour of walking meditation a day.
Last edited by mintful on Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:18 pm  

"I do have a question about how your brain feels when you are meditating. Lately I do have a very strange sensation of being able to activate or relax different parts of my brain. "

Hi.
No, never had that experience.
But, with respect, that doesn't sound like meditation to me.
We're not our thoughts and we're not our brains.
All best,
Jon
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

mintful
Posts: 8

Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:27 pm  

Thank you very much for your answer jon.
I know I am not my brain, as much as I'm not my left arm or right leg. But when I'm smiling I get a definitive feeling of something happening in my brain as much as when I'm lifting weights I feel the specific muscles being stressed. You don't have that feeling?

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Sun Oct 05, 2014 8:20 am  

Hi Mintful,
It sounds like over-thinking to me.
All best,
Jon
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

User avatar
Gareth
Site Admin
Posts: 1465

Sun Oct 05, 2014 4:21 pm  

I can't say that I've had the feeling, but then every experience is different.

Michael_79
Posts: 17
Location: Belgium

Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:09 pm  

Hi all,
As mintful, I have the impression that I can relate certain emotions, sadness in particular, to sensations in my brain. But I do not feel at all that I can control them. Actually, I do not even try, this is a bit the opposite of mindfulness teachings.
Cheers,
Michael

mintful
Posts: 8

Sun Oct 05, 2014 8:03 pm  

Thanks a lot for the answers.

Well maybe I'm just overly sensitive to this phenomenon as I'm also very sensitive to a lot of other things :).

At least I can say that for me the "just be mindful" routine is a vastly different experience than for example the smile + love + walking kind of meditation.

Anyways what a wonderful thing mindfulness is. I feel like I am alive again and out of my cage of depressions and social fears. And the journey just started, I'm excited if there is more to come.

You're a great community.

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Mon Oct 06, 2014 10:04 am  

You're a valued part of this community, Mintful, and it's great to hear that mindfulness is proving beneficial to you.
I hope my comments didn't sound dismissive in any way.
If those sensations don't bother you too much, then maybe just let them be.
If they do bother you, maybe try to see them as yet more thoughts and treat them mindfully as you would do all other thoughts.
All best,
Jon
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

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