sneezing and itching

When meditating and developing concentration, samadhi, it is a wonderful path of "mistakes". It's almost cruel to give the guidance: don't think and quiet the mind. We are doomed to fail at first. But can we fail in interesting ways. Can we fail and learn? 

Two wonderful "mistakes" are sneezing and itching. And, for me, the skillful response is very different.

(You may find other approaches more helpful. So don't just blindly copy this. Try it out. Treat it as an instead. Uudr.)

Old me thought in two unhelpful ways.

Unhelpful1: sneezing and itching are two involuntary acts. So just allow them to happen and move on. Get back to the meditation.

Unhelpful2: sneezing and itching are two distracting involuntary acts but that I can control. Resist both as much as you can. If only.... If only you were skilled enough, you would never have to sneeze or scratch an itch during meditation.

Both these views are interesting. But adhering to either one is a quagmire. Approach 1 is too passive. Approach 2 is too lockdown/tense/allOrNothing. This isn't to say they should be abandoned completely. But they need to be used when they are useful.

Gil Fronsdal and a western Vipassana approach would suggest getting curious and watching. I think Gil said, if you have to scratch, take a few deep breaths first. Bring the whole scene to you awareness. The itch. The urge to scratch. The mind that writes the story and validates it. I would add that one can play with the story: imagine an angel or spirit blowing on your itchy ear. And then, if you still need to scratch, scratch slowly. And really notice (aware) of the scratching.

But what about sneezing. That more.involuntary. we can't always take a few deep breaths.

So, for itching and sneezing, it's good to do some "cross training". Take different approaches. Maybe switch it up on different days. So you see and learn more.

Look for what works and the exceptions.

Sometimes I find this helpful:

For itches, put up a good fight, maybe for 10 breaths. Yes, this will have some tension. But don't feed it. Melt into the body tension. No second arrow around the body. You might even recruit the mind to help.

For sneezes, just get really curious and allow. But try to watch it. Like in SLO motions. Maybe pay attention to the shape of the mouth. Similarly, one can add a bit of activeness. Play around with sneezing more softly. Or super loudly.

This is very much personal. Look for insteads. And check yourself for greed, anger, and delusion often. In both the long and short term. Let any wisdom you gain be long term. Let any forced stories you make be short term only.