These questions and answers are for the use of Assistant Teachers ONLY in the Vipassana

tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin as taught by S.N. Goenka.

EXTREMITIES : There are Five extremities: Two Palms (Hatheli) Two Feets (Pagthali) and top of
the head (Seer Ka Sira)

Sadhak: Before you gave the talk this afternoon on Vipassana and led us through that, when we
were still practising Anapana, I was meditating and I was pretty focused on this area, and I
experienced this sensation of, it felt like I was rising up. And it was a very strong sensation and it
lasted for probably about, it.s hard to tell time, but probably about twenty minutes and I stayed
focused there. But afterwards I decided I.d got a very excruciating headache from it. I was
wondering if you could say something about it?

Goenkaji: You see, whenever this starts happening it is nothing but hallucination. Nothing is
going up, one is not expanding. You can open your eyes and see that you are not expanding up.
Come out of this hallucination, and again if it keeps repeating, use the breath. With the pressure
of the breath keep your attention moving downwards, downwards, and stay a little longer at the
extremities, the palms, the fingers, the soles, the toes. You will find certain impurities which
wanted to come out as hallucination get an outlet and pass out. So move your attention down and
allow it to come to the extremities, it will help. Keep moving your attention down, then stay at the
extremities for sometime, two minutes, three minutes, five minutes at each extremity and you will
find that things start moving out.

Sadhak: Am I reading into this that things release through the extremities?

Just naturally it happens. It is not that you push them out, you can’t do anything, nature does that.
You just stay there, it starts, and you will feel that something is coming out.

Sadhak: Well, with this other experience afterwards, with the pain, I was feeling a lot of release in
my hand.

Goenkaji: Yes, yes. The same pain will start moving down and you will find that you are relieved of
the pain after some time when you work more on the extremities.

Sadhak: I have a bad headache. What.s the best thing to do?

Goenkaji: Whenever you have got any trouble in the head area, then don’t move from feet to head.
Always move in one direction, from head to feet, from head to feet, and stay at the extremities for
sometime. When this is relieved then you work both ways. Now just go and lie down, just relax,
and move from here to extremities and stay at the extremities.

Sadhak: One thing I do is to increase my determination to sharpen my mind without losing

balance and just stay with the sensations. Choosing to be with sensations, not preferred
sensations, but sensations, rather than to be swallowed bythe pain and have to move. And
sometimes instead of doing the whole body I.ll just do a part of it, whatever I can do.

Goenkaji: Better come back to Anapana. When it is overpowering you, work a little on Anapana.
This will help you.

Sadhak: It’s very overpowering.

Goenkaji: Yes. Some very deep impurity. Otherwise it won.t start in a few minutes. If it starts at the
end of one hour, understandable, maybe due to physical reasons. But when it starts at the
beginning of the sitting, maybe in ten minutes, fifteen, that shows it is something within your
mind. Now when you go to bed, lie down, relax. And while lying down relaxed you won.t have the
pain, but you remember where the pain was. Start from there, move to extremities. Start from
there move to extremities and stay at the extremities. This will help. Something which has come to
the surface, it will go away.

Sadhak: Well my mind was really agitated today.

Goenkaji: Then keep coming back to Anapana. Whenever there is agitation, leave Vipassana,
come back to Anapana, work on extremities, it will calm down, and then start Vipassana. When a
certain very deep thing has been shaken it comes on the surface like a storm and you can.t face it,
Anapana will help. Work with Anapana.

Sadhak: Today I was not very equanimous and [inaudible]. Tomorrow I will try to be more
equanimous.

Goenkaji: Whenever this problem comes and you feel that there is no equanimity, come back to
Anapana, forget Vipassana. If your mind is very much unbalanced, come to Anapana and work
with the extremities for sometime. Try that, it will help.

Sadhak: Every time I start to do the meditation, the sensations on the left side of my face above
my eyebrow become so powerfully painful that I have to keep trying to just pay attention to that
and say, .Okay I just have to get equanimous about that.. So I seem to have trouble getting started
always for the first five or ten minutes.

Goenkaji: So whenever you find that your mind gets stuck at any particular part and is not moving
because of the pain, or anything, use your breath. With the pressure of the breath, your mind will
start moving down. And when you have come to the extremities.the palms, the fingers.then stay
there for some time. When you reach the extremities.the soles, the toes.
stay there for some time. Then this heaviness that got built up on one part will start moving down,
moving down, it will pass away. Do this, it will help you. Now lie down in the bed and relax. And
being relaxed start from this area, even though there may be nothing now, but still start from here
and go to the extremity. Start from here and go to the extremity and stay there. This will take out
whatever remnant is there, it will all pass away.

Sadhak: I’m wondering if it’s more beneficial with regard to the technique if equal time is spent on,
say, the parts where there is very little sensation?

Goenkaji: Where there is little sensation or no sensation you can spend a little more time.

Sadhak: More time. I have a problem with that. That.s always the part where I.m falling asleep or
singing songs in my head.

Goenkaji: Then whenever that happens work more on Anapana. Come back to respiration. Work
with respiration, five minutes, ten minutes and the mind will calm down, and then start working.
Or you can stay a little longer at the extremities, this will also help. The mind will calm down when
you are with the extremities. Respiration, extremities, respiration, extremities. The mind calms
down, then you can work better.

Sadhak: As I’m practising and I feel sensations, you know, pain from the sitting, I’m not sure if I’m
being equanimous or if I’m just enduring. Is there any way to tell?

Goenkaji: Whenever there is such kind of doubt, then for a few minutes come to Anapana. Work
with the extremities, you will find your mind is calm. And with the calm mind you can find out
.Yes, I.m not reacting,. or .I have been reacting. or .There is a small percentage of reaction.. And
you will come out of it easily. The mind is cloudy, then you don.t know what is happening, then
Anapana will help.
Sadhak: I was very agitated today and so I went to sleep.

Goenkaji: Whenever you are agitated keep coming back to Anapana. Anapana is the biggest
refuge. Come to Anapana, work with extremities, you will find that your agitation has calmed
down. Then you can work better with the body.

Sadhak: I tried to get back to sensations, but it took all of my?

Goenkaji: Hard breathing only can help. Ordinary breathing also won.t help because the enemy is
so powerful, it has overpowered you. So hard breathing, hard breathing, and then work a little
more on extremities, you will find that you are more calm.

Sadhak: For several hours now I’ve had a very intense sensation at the back of my head. It makes
me feel dizzy when I’m walking, and when I’m sitting it’s always there. It’s intense. And some
sounds like the vehicles that are going by sometimes, feel like they are going right into the
vibration.

Goenkaji: That is the weak spot of your body, and many of the impurities when they come up on
the surface they always look for some weak spot and they start manifesting there. Good! They
have found this weak spot, they keep on manifesting, they keep on manifesting, they pass away,
they pass away. Night time, when you lie down on the bed now, just start from
here and move towards the extremities. Stay at the extremities. Again start from there and move.
So whatever has come up on the surface here, will come out in a subtle way through the
extremities. It is good, it will be helpful.

Sadhak: My question is that as I’m coming back from my palms I lose concentration a lot more
than when I’m going down.

Goenkaji: It depends. Actually in the initial stage some people have difficulty in coming up, later
on it will become so easy: as you go down, so you will come up. Because this will get opened up,
the five extremities, two hands and the two feet, and this head is also an extremity. It takes time to
open up. If this gets opened up, then very easy. From here also, it will go out; from
here also, it will go out, it will go both ways. Let it happen naturally, you can.t force it.

Sadhak: Also, with the sweeping on my extremities, I’m not having much success.

Goenkaji: Just be there, because so many things, they pass out through the extremities easily. So
as you sweep and you come here, stay for a minute or two, when you come here stay for a minute
or two.

Sadhak: You say work to the extremities. Does that include the top of the head?

Goenkaji: No, now you had better use these. Just the hands and soles of the feet.

Sadhak: I feel like my technique, my meditation, has become really sloppy, and I.m not sure why. I
want to see what I.m doing wrong. Today it has just not felt right.

Goenkaji: No, no, nothing is wrong. What you call .Good meditation. one day is a good operation.
Every time you meditate. being very attentive, aware, equanimous, then the mind starts operating,
operating, operating. And then some storm starts coming up, the pus of the wound starts coming
up. When it comes out, then you will feel as if your meditation has gone bad, and there is a big
storm. But this big storm has to come. If it all lies deep inside, you are not relieved of it. So when
there is a big storm you stop sailing. You put your anchor down and wait till the storm is over.
And this is our anchor: come to Anapana. Do nothing. Forget about Vipassana when the storm is
there. Work with Anapana. And Anapana, do slightly hard Anapana. Not very soft breathing: you
can’t work on it. Slightly hard breathing, at times extremities; slightly hard breathing; extremities.
And the mind calms down, the storm is over; then you can again start. It is not a regress. This is
part of the technique. It happens like this. Don.t worry.

Sadhak: In the last meditation I had some very strong sensations in my pelvis and right into my
abdomen and it reached up to about here and seemed to be moving up and I fainted.

Goenkaji: Oh. Why should you faint? If anything starts happening like this work a little more on
Anapana so that you.re more alert.

Sadhak: That.s what I was working on at the time that it started happening?

Goenkaji: Be with Anapana. Anytime any storm starts, be with Anapana so you are more cautious.
Fainting should not happen. Whatever happened, happened. Now forget it. But in future, anytime
anything gets built up.Anapana.

Sadhak: And I get a pressure in my head.

Goenkaji: Anapana, then sweep down to the extremities. This will be helpful.

Sadhak: I’ve been having really strong sensations through my chest area and now they’ve
become, like I can’t control them sometimes. Is that okay?

Goenkaji: Why control them? Let it happen. If it is overpowering then let it be there and work with
the respiration and the extremities. So it.s overpowering nature will go away, it won.t overpower
you. But don.t try to suppress it.

Sadhak: Okay. It’s just come, it feels great, but it’s kind of shaking.

Goenkaji: Work a little more on extremities in such a situation. Anapana and extremities. This will
help you.

Sadhak: And does it mean anything?

Goenkaji: Some deep thing that was suppressed for a long time, now it’s got an opportunity to
come up. It comes up like a volcanic eruption. It comes, but you are not unbalanced, so it passes
away.

Sadhak: Limp, I just feel limp. At the end of tonight I couldn.t even do Anapana.

Goenkaji: It will pass away. Lie down now. Relax; work on Anapana, extremities. You will again
gain strength. It will come.

Sadhak: It will come back?

Goenkaji: It will come back.

Sadhak: I feel a lot of trouble keeping my mind on it. My mind just doesn.t want to work.

Goenkaji: Yes, because you have become so weak. In such situations work more on Anapana,
Anapana and extremities. This is what you can do when there is a big storm, and this is a big
storm.