Can you feel your brain?

[mintful]

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.

[JonW]

"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

[mintful]

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]

Hi Mintful,
It sounds like over-thinking to me.
All best,
Jon

[Gareth]

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

[Michael_79]

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]

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]

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