Time: 45 minutes.

Situation: Second sitting of the day, in a quiet room with my eyes closed, sitting Burmese-style with my hands on my knees.

Experience: I stumbled upon 45 minutes of free time, so I decided to sit. There was no excitement this time and no nervousness. I closed my eyes and immediately perceived my visual field "vibrating" at about six times per second. Concentration was high. "Vibrations" were fine. I reminded myself of what the Three Characteristics are, to let the meditation do its own thing and not try to manipulate it, and I resolved to pay very close attention to each "vibration" . Awareness shifted to my sense of touch and the "vibrations" sped-up to maybe twelve times per second or so. I slipped into a little story and snapped back. Concentration was higher and steadier. "Formations" were more or less evident. Background mental process were objects. Equanimity was high. This was all within what seemed like the first minute or two of the session. Then my head began to tingle around the middle of my forehead. The tingling sensation moved rapidly to the crown of my head. There was a sensation like my head was "open" there - as if there was no skull or hair or anything between outside and inside. There was the sensation of bubbling and gushing out of that area. My eyes were rolled-up in my head. My visual field was opaque but luminous. There was a sense of space. I hung out here for a while appreciating the mellow body-high and sense of deep contentment. I brought awareness back to the vibratory nature of the sense-field. This state dropped away. There was some mild physical discomfort, a little story, then equanimity again. "Vibrations" sped up. The later, rinse, repeat, I was back in this place of luminous, mellow joy. This time it almost felt like the sun was shining on my head and torso - but without the associated heat. It was just light. The contentment was refined, and I observed subtle but pervasive gratitude. The mellow contentment was quite heady. Then  "vibrations" came to the for again and I was back at square one . . . but this place always seemed just off-stage (in the theatrical sense), and I had the distinct impression that if I simply called for it, I would find myself there again in a flash.

Observations: Whatever this state is, experiencing it seems to correlate directly with high concentration. No high concentration, no state. But (another thing) if high concentration, then it FEELS like all I have to do is direct my attention to cultivating the state, and then bang, I'm there.