Hello all: Introduce yourself in this thread or just read it to meet the members

[The Irreverent Buddhist]

Welcome dobe,

just googled for the anapana sati sutta, which contains all the instructions for the practice you do, and was surprised to find even a wikipedia entry on it. Pasted from there:

Core instructions

First Tetrad: Contemplation of the Body (kaya)
   Discerning long breaths
   Discerning short breaths
   Experiencing the whole body (sabbakaya)
   Calming bodily formations
Second Tetrad: Contemplation of the Feeling (vedana)
   Being sensitive to rapture (pīti)[11]
   Being sensitive to pleasure (sukha)
   Being sensitive to mental fabrication (citta-saṃskāra)
   Calming mental fabrication
Third Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mind (citta)
   Being sensitive to the mind
   Satisfying the mind
   Steadying the mind
   Releasing the mind
Fourth Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mental Objects (dhamma)
   Focusing on impermanence
   Focusing on dispassion
   Focusing on cessation
   Focusing on relinquishment

How do i know if I'm merely hypnotizing myself?  Should I stop focusing on the tip of my nostrils and pay more attention to my entire body, or am I doing fine with the nose approach?  Anything in particular I should be aware of when I get this sudden rapture? tips/suggestions/critiques/comments all greatly appreciated

Self hypnosis could happen, but then this only becomes a problem if it happens in every sitting.
Contemplation of the breath or the whole body are equal stepping stones, which in my experience is a gradual evolvement spontaneously proceeding. After many years I only start with the breath, which then takes each of the steps naturally. With patience.
Rapture I could only overcome by getting used to and no more excited.
If you experienced a jhana you would know, since it so otherworldly with a very long after effect giving peace for weeks.

regards

This is a very good synopsis of Anapana and the dangers of hypnosis are well expounded by pamojjam. It doesn't mention noses. Feel your whole body as you breathe. The body is the first of the personality factors every time the Buddha lists them.

Don't think about Jhana. Let it happen when you are ready, It's a distraction until then and when you experience it, as pamojjam also comments, you will know it.

Welcome.

Matthew

[RayfieldNeel]

Hello all,
My name is Ray, and I live in the southeastern U.S.
I've been working towards figuring out what kind of meditation suits my mind and goals...I've done Zen and mindfulness retreats, and have sat with local groups in both of those categories. (Soto Zen for one, and the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition for the other)

I'm looking forward to reading and learning here; I'm glad to have found you guys.

Currently engaging in an anapasati practice to learn some focus, and as that happens I'm trying on more and more vipassana. Still quite the newb.

[Morning Dew]

Good man! Welcome aboard Roy
Feel free to ask any questions in our forum!

Regards, D.

[punkinsoul]

Hello all,

My name is Sheryl, live near the Rocky Mountains, and I've been practicing shamatha meditation for about 5 months.  I've attended several classes and one week end training.  I also do walking meditation using a loving kindness exercise whenever possible and hope to continue it daily as well.

I believe I'm on a Buddhist path, and find it to be a lot more involved (if that's the right word) and take much more focus and constant attention than the religion I was brought up in.   

I'm so glad to find this forum and hope to learn from all of you.

Kind regard,
Sheryl

[The Irreverent Buddhist]

Sheryl,

Welcome to the forums. Have you been practicing with Shambhala in the Rockies?

Warm regards,

Matthew

[Quardamon]

Greetings to you, fellow meditators,

The name I will use here is Quardamon. I live in Holland, was born and raised in Amsterdam. I was a child in the 1950´s. So I spent quite a lot of time being grown up an doing things: Natural Dance; work in the "human potential movement" with Jean Houston (like her weekworkshop The Heroes Journey); diverse weekend workshops and trainings in therapy and personal growth, like Gestalt, bioenergetics, relaxation therapy; sportsmassage and healing.
Here on the forum, when I see posts there are moments, that I whish could sense someone with my hands. That would give me more information on where the energy of a person is, where it is blocked, and even, if someone trusts me and I can tune in deeper, I could sometimes tense what ideas and convictions are part of the  build-up of the person at this time.
I must say, I do this rarely at all. I mean, less than once in three months. (And I mean, with someone who is physically with me, came to me for help, and allowed me to tune in.)

On meditation: I did meditate irregulaly since I was 20 years old. I had a book then written by an English buddhist, and did yoga.
Vipassana I learned from the late Mettaviharee, a Thai monk who lived in Amsterdam. I did a retreat with him in 1985, which was very impressive.
The funny thing is, after the retreat I decided: "O.K. So this is a technique, it works, and one can become enlightened with it. So what?"
At the time I was very concerned about the environment, and the fact that natural resources were running out. (I still am, though I am less impressed by the strong emotions that this brings to me.) And I felt, that enlightenment would do very little to better that situation. (I still think so, but I object less to becoming enlightened.)
It is four or five years ago, that I picked up vipassana again. I did a few weekend workshops and an ten-day and one eight-day retreat with Frits Koster, who started as a pupil of Mettaviharee and who was a monk in Birma for a few years. From august 2009 till july this year I sat two timeS an hour per day. It is a bit less now - both in duration and in times per day.
Well that should be enough as an introduction, I suppose.

Be well,

Quardamon

[Morning Dew]

Welcome aboard i also thought for long that i can "tune" into others or even self (reiki) but realised only that my ego was playing a game with me.
It is good you turned back to calming mindfulness instead good man!

[rideforever]

Hello ... people ?  bodhisatvas ?

Up until a few years ago things like, buddha, enlightenment, yoga, mysticism etc... seemed ... exotic.  Interesting experiences, special powers, hmmm.

Now, I feel very different about it.  It would appear that if I look into myself I will understand myself that my life is a lie - it's just a ... mistake.  A case of mistaken identity.  My mind is so conditioned, that its entire effort is to fool itself.

I would have never imagined that I could be certain of not being the person I thought I was.  But the certainty appeared to be there.

99.9% of people will die without having woken up.  How is this possible - I don't know.  And although I understand it, I am not awake yet - possibly because I am understanding it with my mind.

So I am trying to revive my heart.

It feels quite frightening to be in here.

[The Irreverent Buddhist]

rideforever,

The ego frikkin hates meditation and you have made an ego decision to kill the ego. Of course there is fear. Like all things it will pass.

Relax

Matthew