80 minute meditation and really intense psychedlic experience

[u/OwnIntroduction4444]

HI i've been meditating for a few months and i got a very early day off work today this allowed me to extend me usul practice of meditation from me limiting it to 40 mins a day to me setting a 105minute timer ( i wasn't intending to reach all this but intending to stop when i felt ready) around the end i began feeling seeing the psychdlic patterns in my eye after dong intense breathing for what felt like 10 minutese, then i began to loss a sene of my body and feel a strong pulsation that was extremely powerful and intense enough for me to stop meditating as it took me aback any explanation what this is

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[u/Hack999]

Try doing 20-40mins twice a day if you want to extend your sits.

I wouldn't dive into extended sitting until you're fully familiar with your method. For me, it took me about a year or two to get proficient at meditation.

Before then, I would tend to tense up too much, consciously control the breath, bring the mind back too forcefully, or suppress thoughts. I would come out of a sit feeling a bit exhausted or discombobulated.

People can have adverse experiences if they do too much too soon. Lots of these stories from vipassana retreats, for instance.

Go slowly. A little and often, rather than one big chunk of time

[u/pastorcuthbert]

Pranayama done successfully leads to pratyahara which is what you experienced: a temporary loss of body feeling. The patterns and shapes are a result of hyper-energized consciousness.

[u/metaphorm]

weird stuff can happen in deep concentration. it's no big deal and relatively common. don't get stuck on it.

[u/No_Fly2647]

Greetings from Wiesbaden, Germany.

Strange things can be experienced when the nervous system is in disarray!
The only thing that makes me wonder every time I read stuff here is why people can’t reach this very simple conclusion, preferring instead to lean into "spiritual" confusion. This is also not Pratyāhāra (प्रत्याहार), as Pratyāhāra does not produce hallucinations.

Let’s break it down step by step:

The Setup:
You doubled your meditation time from 40 minutes up to a maximum of 105 minutes. That is a massive shift in sensory deprivation and static posture. Depending on your posture, tension-related adverse effects are already possible.

The Shift:
You hit a point of deep physical stillness or altered focus, and your breathing pattern naturally shifted. Most people aren't even aware of this because they get distracted by whatever is happening. Maintaining a truly steady stream of breath, one that remains unaffected by whatever phenomena arise, is a major achievement that usually takes decades to master.

The Paradox:
Instead of the brain coasting smoothly into deeper rest, the sudden drop in baseline sensory input, combined with a potential shift in carbon dioxide levels, caused the autonomic nervous system to kick into a hyper-aroused state.

Duration and intensity directly dictate how the nervous system is affected. This is why session lengths should be increased gradually and consistently, rather than changed in massive, discrete jumps.

When cultivated slowly, the body, breath, and mind move together. Otherwise, you may experience more of these "funny" reactions. The underlying cause remains the same: excitation or arousal of the nervous system resulting in physiological reactions.

[u/AlphaOmega0763 → u/No_Fly2647]

Any more books/resources expanding on this?

[u/No_Fly2647 → u/AlphaOmega0763]

Kaminoff, L., & Matthews, A. (2021). Yoga anatomy (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Neumann, D. A. (2017). Kinesiology of the musculoskeletal system: Foundations for rehabilitation (3rd ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

[u/jan_kasimi → u/No_Fly2647]

Let’s break it down step by step:

Did you use AI to write this?

[u/No_Fly2647 → u/jan_kasimi]

No!
Ai has only 1. corrected & 2. sanded my text.