Energy Blockage From To Intense Meditation?

[framu]

I have been meditating for over a year now. I first started 20 mins with insight vipassana meditation. I then took a break for a month. I started meditating again but this time I went up to one hour of meditation each day. When I studied for my exams, my meditation practice and schoolwork was pretty intense. After about 1 and 1/2 week I mentally collapsed and couldn't do shit. When I tried to concentrate in meditation or school it was impossible. Two days afterwards I was okay and I lived life like normal. 

Before christmas I had a meditation session that was very intense. I started to feel a pressure in my head during the meditation. I didn’t think about it afterwards, but over the course of the next 2-3 weeks my concentration gradually became diminished. In the end the pressure returned and was there constant 24/7. The self-actualization potential I saw in meditation disaapeared.

I went to the doctor and all the different tests seemed fine.

 

Okay, so I did my research on the phenomenon and I saw that this was a common problem for some meditators. The symptoms was the same, but the answers from the people who replied on the different forums was pretty diversified. Someone talked about "a&p" and "dark night of the soul" - steps in ones spiritual journey. Some others said it could be blockages in the "energy" ("qi") system (the feeling of energy that runs throught your body). I tried many of the different solutions that was discussed. Some of them worked, like focusing down into the body instead of watching my thoughts. But in the end it always went back square one and the pressure returned. Reading so much about it from different sources makes it hard to find a solution, because I do not know from which angle I should start taking action. I am going to a buddhist monetary next weekend to see if a monks have some perspectives on it.

 

I was just wondering if anyone had experienced the same. And if someone could tell me about some very practical books on this topic.

Edited February 11, 2016 by framu
Wrong title

[Lord God]

I think this really comes down to how you interpret "good meditation" versus "bad meditation", getting a funky feeling in your head has relatively little to do with enlightenment work so if you're gauging your meditation based on how much it alters your perceptions you're falling into a sticky trap.

As long as you are becoming aware of the self and how you function meditation is successful. You may wind up going 3 months without an insight and then a huge one will drop on you. The trap to avoid is don't assume meditating is going to do anything, don't assume anything about the results. Just know your end goal is the disilusionment of the self and stay focused.

If you're looking for insights on what to do with your meditation to get "results" in seeing through the self quickly then I suggest reading P.D Ouspensky's the psychology of man's possible evolution. It will talk about all sorts of things happening in your body that you're not aware of and give you an idea of what to start becoming aware of.

[charlie cho]

Imagine an apple and an elephant. Can you? Good. 

Now.. Make the elephant eat the apple. Good

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is the apple? 

[framu]

20 hours ago, Zotikos said:

I think this really comes down to how you interpret "good meditation" versus "bad meditation", getting a funky feeling in your head has relatively little to do with enlightenment work so if you're gauging your meditation based on how much it alters your perceptions you're falling into a sticky trap.

As long as you are becoming aware of the self and how you function meditation is successful. You may wind up going 3 months without an insight and then a huge one will drop on you. The trap to avoid is don't assume meditating is going to do anything, don't assume anything about the results. Just know your end goal is the disilusionment of the self and stay focused.

If you're looking for insights on what to do with your meditation to get "results" in seeing through the self quickly then I suggest reading P.D Ouspensky's the psychology of man's possible evolution. It will talk about all sorts of things happening in your body that you're not aware of and give you an idea of what to start becoming aware of.

Yeah. I understand the whole thing about not judging your meditation. I dont care about the progression and insights from meditation. I care about the fruits that come along with it. Basically the momentum (which is good for personal development) and flowing through life.

I read many people experiencing the same thing as me. I have been living very healthy and had a steady meditation practice for 1 hour a day for a period over a year. Suddenly I cant meditate for more than half an hour a day, I get a pressure in my head and living in a state of unease. I know that I am judging my practice, but I think there is something that can be done. I just want things to go back to normal.

[Myke]

52 minutes ago, framu said:

Yeah. I understand the whole thing about not judging your meditation. I dont care about the progression and insights from meditation. I care about the fruits that come along with it. Basically the momentum (which is good for personal development) and flowing through life.

I read many people experiencing the same thing as me. I have been living very healthy and had a steady meditation practice for 1 hour a day for a period over a year. Suddenly I cant meditate for more than half an hour a day, I get a pressure in my head and living in a state of unease. I know that I am judging my practice, but I think there is something that can be done. I just want things to go back to normal.

Zen teaching would tell you that even the thought "back to normal" is itself an attachment to a concept.  Good. Bad. That's all ego-land. As I experience different states of what some call Samadhi, or Loving Awareness (whatever label works for you) I tend to notice a sense of ambivalence in regard to this perspective which I refer to as Mike. The true goal of meditation is not to awaken the mind into a special mystical/peaceful state; the true aim is pure seeing of what actually is, whatever that experience may be. 

Adyashanti warns of holding onto states of enlightenment or pure seeing when one does have the experience, as the memory of this state is just another concept. 

In Zen Mind, Beginners Mind  Shunryu Suzuki gives the teaching in relation to zazen posture saying "These forms(the seated posture) are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind.  To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind.  There is no need to obtain some special state of mind."

I don't know if any of this helps in terms of not judging your practice, but the goal of meditation is not to become a good meditator, it is clear seeing...whatever that may be. 

Pema Chodron also has some great teachings that may be helpful if you haven't already come across her.  She carries the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa who passed on the practice of Tonglen, which is focused on dealing with difficult situations.   

Edited February 9, 2016 by Myke
sp

[A way to Actualize]

Interesting. Meditating for too long can become stagnant. Luckely there is a video for this exact problem. The video is worth it. A few minutes in the video it he will talk about this topic. It will be easily fixed. I would watch it completely for the whole experience. Good luck!

 

 

 

[framu]

11 minutes ago, Myke said:

Zen teaching would tell you that even the thought "back to normal" is itself an attachment to a concept.  Good. Bad. That's all ego-land. As I experience different states of what some call Samadhi, or Loving Awareness (whatever label works for you) I tend to notice a sense of ambivalence in regard to this perspective which I refer to as Mike. The true goal of meditation is not to awaken the mind into a special mystical/peaceful state; the true aim is pure seeing of what actually is, whatever that experience may be. 

Adyashanti warns of holding onto states of enlightenment or pure seeing when one does have the experience, as the memory of this state is just another concept. 

In Zen Mind, Beginners Mind  Shunryu Suzuki gives the teaching in relation to zazen posture saying "These forms(the seated posture) are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind.  To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind.  There is no need to obtain some special state of mind."

I don't know if any of this helps in terms of not judging your practice, but the goal of meditation is not to become a good meditator, it is clear seeing...whatever that may be. 

Pema Chodron also has some great teachings that may be helpful if you haven't already come across her.  She carries the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa who passed on the practice of Tonglen, which is focused on dealing with difficult situations.   

Yeah, I understand. I want to become enlightened. But that is a path in my joruney that is still far ahead of me right now. What you are saying here is probably right, but it is not very practical information for me right now. I have some deep emotional issues that needs to be resolved and for that to go as fast and smoothly as possible I need the benefits from meditation I earlier experienced.

[Myke]

Aside from the past year of sitting meditation, have you worked with any mindfulness practices at all? In terms of practicality they are great.  There is a mindful eating practice, and one for walking,  and listening....I won't go on and on, but if you are getting frustrated to a point where it's affecting your motivation to continue to practice, this could be a nice way to shake it up.  I highly recommend anything by Jon Kabat-Zinn or Jack Kornfield; whether it be their books, audiobooks, videos, podcasts.  The last advice I really have is to just keep meditating; the benefits are there.  I can't remember which teacher was talking about this, but they had brought up the notion of a kind of spiritual relapse that happens with each deeper and deeper insight you witness.  I think there is a lot of truth in this.  I notice it with myself all the time, and it seems like what you are describing. It's that you have this really deep wonderful insight into reality and suddenly it is like the mind retreats. Literally 2 steps forward and sometimes what feels like ALL of the steps back.  You also said you were meditating for up to an hour a day which is a very healthy practice but could be working against you if its causing the loss of the intention to sit in the first place.  Cut it down to 5 minutes, hell cut it back to one breath.  I will still sit in my posture to this day and go a half hour, sometimes more, without staying with one breath all the way in and all the way out.  Meditation eventually clues you into the fact that there's nothing wrong with that, it just is. My apologies for the ramble, but I feel like I struggled through a similar experience and want to help all that I can.  

[framu]

On 9.2.2016 at 5:13 PM, Myke said:

YeaAside from the past year of sitting meditation, have you worked with any mindfulness practices at all? In terms of practicality they are great.  There is a mindful eating practice, and one for walking,  and listening....I won't go on and on, but if you are getting frustrated to a point where it's affecting your motivation to continue to practice, this could be a nice way to shake it up.  I highly recommend anything by Jon Kabat-Zinn or Jack Kornfield; whether it be their books, audiobooks, videos, podcasts.  The last advice I really have is to just keep meditating; the benefits are there.  I can't remember which teacher was talking about this, but they had brought up the notion of a kind of spiritual relapse that happens with each deeper and deeper insight you witness.  I think there is a lot of truth in this.  I notice it with myself all the time, and it seems like what you are describing. It's that you have this really deep wonderful insight into reality and suddenly it is like the mind retreats. Literally 2 steps forward and sometimes what feels like ALL of the steps back.  You also said you were meditating for up to an hour a day which is a very healthy practice but could be working against you if its causing the loss of the intention to sit in the first place.  Cut it down to 5 minutes, hell cut it back to one breath.  I will still sit in my posture to this day and go a half hour, sometimes more, without staying with one breath all the way in and all the way out.  Meditation eventually clues you into the fact that there's nothing wrong with that, it just is. My apologies for the ramble, but I feel like I struggled through a similar experience and want to help all that I can.  

Yeah, I will check the different mindfulness practices out.

To be honest, it is kind of frustrating. My mood swings so much up and down these days. I have talked to many different people and when I get answers that dosent seem to fix my "problem" it makes me lose hope. It probably is like you said, a stage that I am going through. I hope I get some answers from the buddhist monks I am going to meet.