By Genevieve Lewis Paulson
The meditative state can open you to energy experiences that happen in a variety of ways. Some disciplines teach that energy experiences are distractions and should be ignored and the focus should be kept on the main point of the meditation. For some types of meditation that is the correct method. However, we have found that for the meditations we use, these “distractions” can bring answers to questions we have and are also ways of exploring the focus of the meditation in deeper ways. Although the energy experiences should not be the main focus, they should be addressed and worked through.
Below is a list of possible energy experiences that can happen when you are in a meditative state.
FEEDBACK TO PREVIOUS EVENTS can include spontaneously remembering things that happened in childhood. Sometimes it can be so strong that you feel like you are back in that time. It is good to stay with this and really experience it with a dual awareness: the awareness you had during the experience and the awareness that you now have as an adult. Any event that stays with you with great power is an undigested experience. This means that you may not have understood all of the event’s ramifications – the good parts as well as the negative parts.
Once, while meditating on the color green to see how I could use it better, I flashed back into a time when I was walking in the woods. My heart really opened with the influence of all the green I was surrounded by and I was better able to experience nature, the companionship of friends, and the oneness of all.
FLASHBACKS TO PAST LIVES can include brief glimpses or long sections of a past life. They should be treated in the same way as flashbacks to previous events in this life. Gathering information and growth from the experience is necessary. It is also helpful to forgive yourself for anything you did – in the life, and to forgive others as well.
An example is when I was in an open meditation, and I flashed into a past life as a nun in a convent, in prayer. My head was bowed, my knees were on a very cold hard floor. I had to become one with the cold hard floor rather than let it distract me. The message from this experience was to become one with adversity rather than to let it become a block.
VISIONS OR PICTURES OF THE FUTURE can occur during meditation and if we do not like them, with our intent and active participation we can change the possible future. However, if we have a vision, a picture filled with radiant light and vivid colors, this is something that we cannot usually change. On occasion, these visions will come in order to help prepare us for a coming change or event.
A lady reported that she asked for a picture or pictures of an upcoming job interview. She then saw that the outcome of the job interview was not pleasant or productive. She looked at everything she saw in the picture and made changes both to her resume and her approach. She then felt changes in her body, especially in the forehead and solar plexus areas. The interview was pleasant and she did get the job.
SPIRITUAL VISIONS can include seeing such things as radiant light, angels, spiritual beings, or intensely brilliant visions.
There was a time when I was perplexed and troubled about some choices I needed to make. It was a difficult time for me because the choices I needed to make were not what I thought was appropriate. I was meditating to calm myself, when my eyes opened spontaneously and I saw a banner about two feet wide by three feet high. The background colors were purple and red, with black lettering that said “Use Your Faith.” I felt that the vision stayed in the room for several minutes, although it is difficult to tell the exact amount of time that passes with these experiences.
EXPERIENCING THE COSMOS can happen spontaneously when a person is in deep meditation; it happens suddenly and completely.
People have experienced this in workshops during meditations that I was leading about something else. Some reported afterwards that they no longer heard me, while others reported they could dimly hear me but couldn’t make out what I was saying. A person is never the same after their first experience with the cosmos: it is a very expansive sensation with the awareness that a person is in touch with everything and all is one.
INSIGHTS are common when you are doing a focused meditation. There is always information waiting for us on any subject, and by tuning in to the concept or thought form, this information becomes available. Occasionally, we receive insights that do not seem to be related to the focus. Sometimes they are messages that have been trying to get through to us and finally see their chance.
This happened to me one time when, during meditation, I got the message that I had scheduled an open house on the same date I had scheduled a workshop. I was happy and relieved to get the information before the newsletter went out.
PARANORMAL EXPRESSIONS OF SIGHT, SOUND, TASTE, SMELL, AND FEELING can happen at any time during meditations. It is seldom that all of the senses are experienced at once, however, occasionally a person will have a “peak experience” when they do experience all of the senses. If you have enough presence of mind during a peak experience, you can note each sense.
For instance, during one of my peak experiences I was hearing celestial music so vividly that the notes appeared in the night sky, similar to snowflakes. They would appear as the sound was there and then disappear. I was fascinated with watching them appear and disappear, so many at a time. It was like an orchestra, with groups of snowflake-type notes appearing at one time. I was touched by the music, and I felt it throughout my body. The smell was also incredible. If I’d had enough presence of mind, I would have stuck out my tongue and tasted the air. When you taste the air in a spiritual experience, it is as though you feel the taste as well as becoming aware of a transcendent taste of sweetness and purity.
Another example of paranormal expression was during a spontaneous past life recall when I became aware of corn plants. I could smell the corn and the dust that was on them; I could feel the intense sun. I was checking the corn plants not too long after many persons in the village had been killed, including some of my family members. I was nourished by the smell and by the feel of the sun – together they brought me the feeling or sense that life continues, and that we need to keep going.
OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES can happen spontaneously and if it happens to you, expand into it. If it frightens you too much, concentrate on breathing, deep peaceful breathing. This will bring you gently back into your body. Most of the time, the out of body experiences are momentary, but on occasion they last longer and a person may actually visit and experience some other place. Sometimes these experiences are so strong that you are taken out of the intended meditation and are completely drawn into the energy experience. Let this happen, because obviously there is something that your system is wanting expressed or it would not have happened. You should always stay with these experiences because they can be a blessing for you.
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This is an excerpt from Genevieve Lewis Paulson’s book, TUMO: The Fire in the Belly, OEC Publishing, 2011.
She is also the author of KUNDALINI AND THE CHAKRAS, MEDITATION AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE, and STILL A ROSE. With her son Stephen Paulson she is the co-author of REINCARNATION: Remembering Past Lives and CHAKRAS, AURAS AND THE NEW SPIRITUALITY.
Genevieve lives in Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains . She has five children, ten grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
Her website is: http://www.genevievebooks.com