I have a little bit of positive experience with reducing my sensitivity to loud ambulance sirens in my street. The exercise was very simple and I have a vague idea of the theory behind it.
The theory goes like this: In biology/psychology there’s a distinction between different reactions to sudden and intense sensory stimuli. An orientation reflex on the one hand and a startle (and/or defense?) reflex on the other hand. The difference that’s relevant here is that the orientation reflex quickly habituates while the startling does not. For instance, maybe you have a new washing machine that makes a strange, unfamiliar sound. For many people this sound may catch their attention, they double-check where it is coming from (orientation), then they quickly habituate, and after a handful of times they don’t even hear the sound anymore. On the other hand, a sound may be be startling you every time and you tense up and there’s no habituation no matter how often you hear the sound. Orientation reflex vs startling reflex, respectively.
Is there a way to facilitate an orientation reflex (including habituation) to kick in instead of a startle reflex? Given that these reflexes are not under under conscious control?
The exercise suggested that you consciously move your head and even the upper body (I think—or was it the whole body?) towards the source of the sudden noise and look in its direction. Even if you already know what it was and where it came from. Even if you know that there’s nothing to see there because you can’t see the street from there, for instance. Just move the body as if it had a proper orientation reflex. My understanding is, that this lowers the threshold for the orientation reflex to really kick in. For me at least it worked. I could usually note that there was an actual shift in the autonomic nervous system by having to yawn or taking a deep breath. And my sensitivity to the noises significantly reduced after a few weeks.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember a good reference for the exercise. Nor am I well-versed with respect to those reflexes. Does anyone know more about it?
I wonder if you might have it backwards: Building concentration up to TMI level 4⁄5 may have been enough to push your sensory system far enough into insight territory that the anxiety and panic that you are experiencing now may, in fact, be symptoms of a Dark Night (or partly so). In that case, the “standard” prescription is *more* insight practice, not less.
If you would like to look into that line of reasoning, Daniel Ingram’s (highly opinionated but very valuable) book would be a standard source to learn more about Dark Nights. Also you could check out Cheetah House’s website to see if you can relate to their description of symptoms.
In any case I’d second Logan Riggs recommendations. The recordings of Rob Burbea’s jhana retreat are amazing.