Once upon a time, I was really into meditation and zen, and desperately looking for meaning, and for knowledge about myself. At the same time I was training around 12-24 hours a week.

During this time, I have had a series of very strong visual experiences, among other things.
These were months apart, I did not chronicle the exact date and time, but it was roughly 5-8 years ago.

During the first session, I experienced myself in third person.

The world and myself, was purely black and white, no contrast, no color whatsoever, and no straight lines at this point.

Resting with "empty" breath, I saw myself as a mostly white outline, the contours wavy and distorted, with every breath, a darkness would fill my form.

This went on for a unspecified amount of time, and at some point I lost "it" and it broke off.

The next time this happened, the darkness took a stronger note, it was on the edges of the surroundings, there were no walls, or anything, it just felt like I am in an endless expanse. With breaths, it started to grow a little like "spikes" or "spiky armor" around my body.

This might have gone for another two sessions, until the final and most interesting one.

In the final experience, I no longer was sitting, but I was a tall Figure, moving, and reaching towards the Sky, with every breath, more of this "black armor" encased me, until at some point, it engulfed me entirely, at which point this figure raised its fist towards the sky, and the entire "scape" was engulfed in blackness.

What to make of it ? I dunno.

It was more intense than any other visuals I've had on LSD or DMT so far.

Always so strange how psychedelic meditation can be...even if its normally just calm, boring, or even strenuous/torturous.

I've never had visuals that rivaled DMT or LSD. But I have been meditating stationary for 8 years or so almost everyday, sometimes alot sometimes minimal. But I have definitely had experiences that internally, were as intense emotionally/energetically as psychedelic substance experiences. Also have had mental insights in meditation that were atleast as powerful as any in a deep substance experience.

Now doing concentration/focus meditation OR insight/letting it all go/taking it all in meditation ON psychedelics....Thats where it gets really intense and difficult to handle even. I've heard of some getting freaked out and away from psychedelics and/or meditation itself after combining powerful techniques with psychedelics so I make haste slowly.

But it is always an important part of my trips if not the majority sometimes.

Even just a little ganja helps me in most techniques. Especially tantric meditations!

Justsomedude hope you pick up your practice again and see how deep it will go!

I really ought to get back to it, especially considering the experiences I've had in the last few years.

The only meditating experience that has been as powerful as DMT for me was trying out this meditation where I was observing all the sights,sounds ,smell basically 5 senses and also my mind , thoughts , body , emotions , basically everything all the time through the day , I am not even sure to call it meditation but more along the lines of mindfulness but in an overdrive all through the day , it was overwhelming truly

When I fell asleep that day I had an OBE where I flew towards the ceiling where my fan chopped by body into thousand pieces and then I saw the most amazing thing I must have seen visuals constaly changing into different visuals and visions and dreams flipping and changing like crazy

try this it's worth it yet overwhelming in the day , one feels extremely drained because of focusing on everything all the time , mentally taxing

I'm curious... is the "training" you took along the line of a specific type of meditation technique?

@Jin - Have you heard yoga nidra? It can potentially a powerful tool, but might be too much to do all these altogether for most people.

No, it was mostly physical training, combat sports and martial arts.

Training for me was a little like praying for a monk at the time, I guess.

I've heard of yoga nidra but have no experience of it , i am not truly sure how to get into yoga nidra state ,

there has been also another unsual experience i had where i kept smoking DMT all day till I felt like sleeping only I did'nt , i just closed my eyes for a few seconds and then opened them and 8 hours had elapsed but to me it was like just like a few seconds , truly unusual

I can't explain either of these experiences , they just happened ,