Seconds and Minutes of Silence

Dear Pru Joy,

This can happen both at the start of a meditation session and at the end. First I will discuss the silence at the end of a session.

The "muddle" we can experience at the end of a session is simply the process of stress release continuing without the counterbalance of transcending. The reason that transcending stops is that we have stopped thinking the syllable in the special way taught in the NSR Manual. In fact, the whole purpose of the 3-5 minutes of silence at the end of meditation is to allow the process of stress release to stop gradually and more or less completely. (If we got up and into activity immediately after meditating, our nervous system might experience a shock that could actually create an additional stress. We don't want that.)

The "muddle" we can experience at the start of a session is stress release occurring as we transition from the surface level of cognizing, acting, experiencing, and thinking to the more abstract, quiet, inner level of experience. During this time we don't do anything. That means that we do not direct our attention anywhere and we do not withhold our attention. If outside sounds capture our attention, that's fine, but we don't consciously direct our attention to them. If "streams of thought" (the by-product of release of stress) capture our attention and we lose track of time, that is fine too. But we don't consciously direct our attention to them. When this happens, there is no need to keep spending additional periods of silence, hoping for no thoughts. Instead, begin thinking the syllable at that same mental level that you were already at when you were thinking the "streams of thought".

These are all normal experiences of the correct practice of NSR Meditation.

David Spector
NSR Meditation/USA