Out-of-Body, Nimitta, Jhana
Hearing Alarms While Meditating
I’ve noticed a pattern of hearing alarms or buzzer sounds while in deep meditative states, usually when it feels like I’m on a threshold of some deeper state.
The first experience was July 2nd (2025):
…I was carried by what felt like feathers, like a feather bed. My vision kept getting brighter. I felt my thighs puff up a little. I heard a buzzer sound, like a timer going off. My vision shook a little. I panicked and thought maybe I had gone too far and was going to hurt myself, and forced myself awake.
Another on July 11th:
…I directed my attention toward where I see light blobs during meditation, and was drawn into a jhana. There was a beep again, but I didn’t panic, just relaxed. Mind very clear and alert. … Exited the jhana and went back again. Heard a beep, and just enjoyed it.
And on July 26th:
…Moved my awareness around but couldn’t get to the point of exit. Eventually heard a buzzer/alarm, burst of light, then some other buzzers, and got kicked out.
And on July 30th:
…Got scared. Heard a mild buzzer and kicked out. Very short.
And lastly, today (Sept 4th):
…Eventually reached nimitta, bright flash of white white light, buzzer sound, lasted a split second, lots of bliss.
The alarm/buzzers sound like a watch alarm. Like a Casio watch, or an alarm in a video game when you access the wrong area (“Access denied!”).
This is distinct from the vibrations/buzzing sound that come when separating from the body, which are more chaotic and natural sounding, like feedback from a stereo system hooked up to a microphone.
As you can see from my journal entries, they’re also typically adjacent to experiences of bright light. If I can get to the other side, I typically feel bliss, but a lot of times it’s unstable and I get kicked out.
I suspect this is the first jhana threshold? Or maybe the fourth jhana or later because I don’t have a body at all (formless)?
I find it very difficult to map my experiences against the Buddhist descriptions of the jhanas, but they are definitely related, because they occur when I do open-heart letting-go meditation (see: Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm).
Either way, they are fascinating experiences. It feels like I am breaking my brain (in a bad way, eek!) but when I have the guts to accept the experience, nothing bad ever happens… at least not yet! In fact, the opposite: I usually feel a huge load lifted off me and a great clarity afterwards, even if I get kicked out immediately.
Fun stuff!