Comments on a recurring phenomenon...?

Hello folks,

I had asked about these in my practice log, but hadn't received any responses yet, so I thought I'd cast the net a bit wider...there's something that I've been experiencing, and I'm unsure of the significance, if any.

I'll typically be doing noting practice, and have settled into a nice, calm state, from which to observe passing sensations. Discursive thought will have been left behind at this point. And my mind will sort of (as ever, the right words are hard to find) collapse or implode, and then elastically "snap" back.

I've come up with three ways to describe this experience:
1. As if the power levels required to maintain my neural net drop below some threshold level, and the "self" collapses, before bouncing back a moment (?) later.
2. As if watching a TV show, and it is interrupted for a split second by a blast of meaningless static.
3. As if my mind switches momentarily into some other, unintellible, mode of processing.

Note that these are not cessations (at least as typically described), as there is some sense of continuity. But what's in the "gap" is completely unintelligible. I've been keeping an eye out for these, to try to extract more details of the experience, but they sneak up on me, and have proven hard to pin down. They don't happen every sit, and typically happen once or twice per session. But on some occasions I've had five or six in a 40-minute sit. In spite of their frequency, they always leave me with a bit of a "Wow!" reaction. Not blissful, or even emotional really, but more like, "That was cool, but what the heck was it?"

Guesses, advice, interpretations, or statement of the obvious would be most appreciated <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->
P

No idea where you are or what is going on in your practice. But this would happen to me a lot during Equanimity when thoughts become slippery. It's as if your mind runs away with something and you are unaware of it, when you finally notice it, your awareness snaps back online and usually get some sort of jolt, in a way. I call these mini-awakenings <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

I'm not sure if this is what you are describing, but that's the best I can do from my perspective.

Hello Russel,

Thanks for the feedback. My background/status can be found in the &quot;Long,strange trip continues&quot; thread in the practice journal forum. Suffice to say that I've been at it, on and off, for over thirty years. There've been ups and downs, and I would place myself (cautiously) somewhat beyond Stream Entry, having recently managed to leave ill will behind (three weeks now, and still experimentng).

These episodes I'm describing are less about the mind drifting or running away away from the focus, and more accurately soemthing that suddenly pounces on me in the midst of deep calm and inner quiet.

P