Odd experiences in meditation
I get a lot of people writing and asking about unusual experiences they’ve had, often on a consistent basis, in meditation. Sometimes they’re worried, and sometimes I think they’re hoping that these are signs that they’re enlightened, or close to it, or that they have meditation superpowers. Those hopes and fears are quite understandable.
Here’s a selection of some of the things people have described. I’ve put them into groups, and I’ll discuss each type separately. I’ll say upfront, though, that I can never be 100% confident I’ve categorized these experiences correctly. After all I’m having to interpret other people’s experiences, often from descriptions that are unclear.
Swirling lights, etc.
- During my sit I saw a bright white/yellow circle shape flash of light in between my eyebrows (closed eye meditation). The light came rushing at me and filled my vision then vanished. While very interesting, it actually freaked me out a bit.
- I’ve had noises so loud in one ear they made me jump, lights, weird visual things, feelings of floating or expanding or shrinking – just every now and then.
- While i meditate in complete darkness i notice swirling of lights. The longer or deeper the meditation the color changes. I noticed it would go from a red, to orange, up to indigo.
- When I feel Im getting deep I can see bright purple colors swirling about. Ive tried for a long time to find out if there is a meaning to this.
- I have had a recurrent experience during meditation. These involve being completely absorbed by an intense yellow vibrating light, qualitatively ecstatic or electric.
- i meditate in the dark. when i open my eyes and i look at my hands i can see like smoke coming out at the tip of my fingers.it look like when you get out of a really hot bath and you got steam on your skin
- I have experienced a similar meditation twice where I am going deep…seeing stars/universes… colors…then silence…and stillness (void?) and then I am aware of a medallion that looks like it is made of stone with low and high relief with a face on it.
The swirling lights are quite common, especially in people who are relatively new to meditation, and sometimes when people do more meditation than usual. The term I was taught for these is a “samāpatti.” This term is not used in the way it is in Theravadin Buddhism, and I believe it comes from a Chinese Chan tradition. Anyway, the name doesn’t matter too much.
These experiences tend to arise when people are starting to get a bit more concentrated and they are thinking less. They’re nothing to worry about. You’re not going crazy if you see swirling lights. They’re also nothing to get excited about either. No, you’re not on the verge of enlightenment.
What I think is going on is that there’s a kind of dreamy state of mind combined with mild sensory deprivation. People in sensory deprivation tanks tend to have similar experiences. So what’s probably happening here is that the mind is becoming quiet, but it’s not used to being quiet, and it creates these odd sensations. They’re mild hallucinations, in other words — although don’t be alarmed by that word. We all hallucinate every night, when we’re dreaming, and most of us hallucinate during the day as well, when we’re having conversations with other people in our heads. The good thing is that we don’t believe these hallucinations are real.
What to do about these odd sensations? Just note them, and keep going with the practice. See if you can notice the sensations of the body and the breathing more clearly, so that your mind is filled with sensory experience rather than deprived of it.
If you let your mind get absorbed in these sensations it’ll stop you going deeper into meditation.
Symbols and Synesthesia
- The breath became a shiny reflective surface, a cold metallic grey colour. Then faded after 5 minutes or so.
- Sometimes it happens that there is a moment during a sit, when the type of experience changes in a way that can be hard to describe (but I’ll try anyway). It’s as if one sinks a fraction deeper into the seat, and is surrounded by a bubble. There is no desire to finish the sit.
- Today, and I have noticed on previous occasions, when the allotted time for meditation has expired, I sometimes get “stuck”, in a nice way. I feel the urge to move, but it passes just like an urge to itch. Eventually, I “decide” that it is time to move on. But it has a different quality to it than the urge that comes from a timer.
- Becoming aware of the continuity of the breath created an infinity symbol for me to flow along, never ending. … I feel like my whole body is breathing.
- I reach a certain point where it feels like I’m acutely aware of my body while being outside of it, like I’m watching it from physically far away.
- After about 10 minutes or so I flowed into self metta and when the gong rang I felt/saw golden light in and around me.
- [I saw] some teal and purple circular coloring that I think has to do with retinal pressure. It responds to my movements, mostly breathing and pulse, generally as shrinking concentric blobs alternating between the two colors … it lets me know that I’ve found a good relaxed alertness balance and that my focus is refined enough to notice it.
Some of these might sound similar to the samāpattis above (and in fact it can be hard to know what’s going on in someone else’s experience) but I think these are all what we call nimittas. The word nimitta means “sign” or “hint” and these experiences are all signs that we’re getting deeper into meditation. In contrast to samāpattis, you should pay attention to these sensations, because they’ll take you deeper into meditation. They’re “signs” in the same way that a glimmer of light in a dark cave is a sign showing you where the exit is; more toward the glimmer of light and it takes you closer to the exit, which in the case of meditation is jhāna, or absorption. The Buddha actually described jhāna as the “escape from a confined space.”
In some of these cases it’s not hard to see that the nimitta is connected with the object of the meditation, or some other positive quality that’s emerging in the meditation. For example a feeling of love is perceived as a golden light, or stillness is perceived as a sinking into the seat or as an inability to move. The continuous flow of the breathing is perceived as a visual or tactile infinity symbol.
These experiences seem to be to be similar to synesthesia. Synesthesia is a state where sensory information in one form is perceived in another. A common type is where people sense words of numbers as having colors attached to them. Estimates of the incidence of synesthesia vary from 1 in 23 to 1 in 2,000 (thanks, Wikipedia). I think many of us have weak synesthetic tendencies, but that the synesthetic signals, being weak, are drowned out by other, stronger experiences (thoughts, feelings, etc.). It’s only when we’re still, and the mind is calm, that these experiences emerge.
Synesthetic nimittas are useful because they are a form of feedback. Paying more attention to a subtle synesthetic signal that arises in our experience as the mind is calming encourages the mind to become even calmer, and so the synesthetic signal becomes stronger. It’s like walking toward the glimmer of light in the cave, and seeing it get brighter.
Sometimes nimittas can take the form of visual symbols. Unlike the swirling lights they’re stable and very, very clear. They can seem more vivid than your experience of the outside world.
So pay attention to nimittas (and learn to distinguish them from samāpattis).
One last thing: People who are prone to having samāpattis when they first take up meditation are also prone to experiencing vivid nimittas once their meditation is a bit more established.
Distorted Body Sensations
- 26 minute sit. Feeling of extreme spaciousness in the beginning and like my hands were infinitely small.
- Notable sensations: being very small and yet infinite, as if pulled 35 degrees up to the right 4 feet away.
- I had that strange sensation of body distortion again. This time, it felt as if my legs were huge and the rest of my body very small. I got a very funny image of what I looked like according to my distorted perception. Then the sensation faded after a few minutes and I moved on to Metta Bhavana.
- I don’t know how long I sat, but it was very peaceful and I felt myself expand a little beyond my normal sense of where my body boundaries are. At a certain point my hands and lips felt like they were growing very fat, which was interesting to observe (for example the thought really crossed my mind, unconvincingly, that maybe my lips really were swelling up).
- I have had the “swelling sensation” in my hands before during meditation and I always find it fascinating. It feels very real, like my body is expanding beyond itself and sometimes I feel tempted to open my eyes and double check.
- A few years ago when I was first learning to meditate I had an a experience doing mindfulness of breathing where I felt my legs begin to melt. It totally freaked me out causing me to open my eyes and stop the meditation. When I did that, the feeling immediately stopped and I’ve never had anything like that since.
These are also nimittas, but I’ve singled them out because I think they arise a bit differently. Mostly these involve a loss of the normal boundaries of the body. This might actually involve the loss of perceptual “filters.” Some parts of the body, like the hands and lips, have vastly more nerve endings than other body parts. In fact if your sense of how big various body parts are was proportional to the amount of sensory information being received in the brain from each part you’d feel like your body was like this:
Cortical homunculus by stormthor on deviantART
Which is pretty much how the body can feel sometimes in meditation. Why don’t we feel that the hands and lips are huge all the time? I think it’s because there’s a “correction filter” in the brain that “scales” body parts and makes the internal feeling of the body correspond more closely to the external visual appearance that we see. In meditation it seems that these filters are dropped, and we experience the body more as it is. And so the lips and hands feel large, for example.
Another (possibly related) mechanism is that there is a part of the brain (the parietal lobes) that keep track of the spatial orientation of the body and of parts of the body relative to each other. It’s been observed by neuroscientists that in some forms of meditation the parietal lobes become less active, and so our perception of the body changes. The nimittas that these changes are associated with don’t lead directly to jhāna, however, but to what are called in the scriptures the “formless spheres” (āyatanas). You’ve probably heard them called the “formless jhānas” or “higher jhānas” but that’s not a term the Buddha used, and they’re distinct experiences from the jhānas proper.
At the point these distorted bodily sensations emerge, you can choose to ignore them and head instead for the jhānas by focusing more intently on the breathing, or you can stick with them and see what happens. (It can take you into some really weird experiences that mess with your sense of self — in a good way!)
I feel prīti, oh, so prīti
- After the counting was done and Bodhi’s voice was telling me to observe how I felt I noticed that my mind was calm, there were lights around me and my body felt energised so all-in-all it was a positive experience.
- Perhaps it was my particular state of mind tonight, but I dissolved easily into simply being aware of my breathing. Hands and feet felt quite warm.
- During the counting of the in-breaths I was getting real rushes of energy to the point where it was a little uncomfortable. At one point ( not sure which stage ) I had the strange sensation of my mind being stuck/jammed.
- I felt an uncontrollable wave of extremely strong energy. It felt almost good , but in a sense too powerful – pure pleasure.. I tried to just experience it as is but then felt myself getting physically aroused which freaked me out because I was in public with a large group. I then tried to control it and found it very difficult to do so.
- During the meditation, I feel tingling in my hands and feet. Is this normal?
- Certainly I’ve felt a tingling sensation that generally starts in my lower spine and spreads over my whole body
We call this energy pīti (Pāli) or prīti (Sanskrit). It’s one of the factors of jhāna, and it’s a good thing! This kind of energy arises when we’re becoming more sensitized to the sensations of the body because the mind is becoming calmer. Also, because the body is relaxing, there’s a release of tension. The effect can be of tingling, or of rushing energy. Sometimes the pīti manifests as warmth. It can be very pleasant. But it can also be a bit much. If the pīti does get too intense, then focus more on the experience of joy, which will almost certainly be present as well.
Pīti is, in a way, another nimitta, but a very specific one.
Sensations of Pressure
- Another strange sensation I had during today’s meditation was pressure on the eye balls, just like fingers pressing. It was near the start of the meditation and only lasted 30 seconds or so. Another new sensation. In the end I found myself feeling pretty relaxed.
- I have developed a feeling of pressure in my head–sometimes in my forehead or scalp, sometimes more in my face. At times it is quite strong and unpleasant.
- I have noticed that I get quite hot, develop damp skin, and recently have felt a pressure in the top of my head, as though something is trying to burst out. It is not painful, just unusual, and not a serious distraction.
- I have physical sensation in my body, rising pressure in stomach, sometimes shaking, right now I always notice that and let that sensations to pass.
- i also was feeling 2 points of pressure on my chest (i cant think of another word to describe it)
- I feel pressure, not pleasurable or painful, just pressure, on the middle of my forehead. I this normal, or is it something I should be worried about?
This is something I’ve never experienced myself. I suspect that these are nimittas, and that the only problem with them is freaking out about them. If you experience these, please relax and be aware that the sensation of pressure is just a sensation like any other. It’s not going to hurt you. I’m told that relaxing the muscles in the head helps, and that the sense of pressure can have a stabilizing effect on your attention, as with any other nimitta.
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I loved your article because I’ve been meditating solo without any teacher for about 5 years now. I have no one to explain the meaning of all the sensations. The only thing I know is I get my best insights when I’ve reached that point of feeling warm and tingly. I always describe it like how you feel when the alarm goes off in the morning but you are so cozy that you just want to hit snooze. Now I can call it feeling prity!
I have been meditating for 2Y now, and though I had all those experiences written above I experienced a few times Astral travelling, or out body experience which is an amazing experience but unfortunately I cannot do it whenever I want.
And when it happens, it is not easy to keep the state of mind during the process. Any ideas? Thank you.
It is a good website by the way.
I’d regard this as being just the same as the samāpatti experiences I described above. It’s not helpful to get caught up in these images and of the feeling of detachment from the body. Don’t attempt to repress, but just let these experiences pass away on their own, and pay more attention to the physical sensations arising in the body.
Spiritual magic is so interesting! :D
Hi, I’ve been meditating and practising mindfulness for just over a year and have had some deeply moving experiences. However, just recently I experienced whole body numbness during an hour long meditation.The sensation was particularly strong in my head. I felt scared and immediately came out of the meditation, and I noticed that I had a cool feeling in my mouth and behind my eyes. In fact, my eyes felt incredibly refreshed. Usually when “something happens” during meditation, I feel great peace, or else a feeling of a wiser, loving presence turning inside me, though not separating. Any ideas? Thanks
Hi, Gail.
I’m never sure what people mean when they talk about the body being numb in meditation. When I experience numbness in the body, for example when my foot falls asleep, I know my foot is there but there’s no sensation. But I’ve never experienced anything like that in meditation. However, our experiences aren’t all the same! Is that what you’re describing?
Anyway, your experience doesn’t sound at all bad, and feeling refreshed sounds nice :)
I had a completely different experience during my meditation this morning that I would like to share (and I am very interested in any feedback) – it was very unusual for me.
A little background: meditation for me is typically about calming anxiety or when my mind goes into obsessive-thoughts. It helps me silence all of that and get centered again.
This morning I woke obsessing on multiple things and decided to meditate (and I admit, when it’s 4-5am, this typically helps me go back to sleep) and the weirdest thing happened. This giant ball of energy built up in my core and it exited my body through my head. I have a hard time explaining exactly what it felt like – it was very much a release of something.
I was in pretty deep – probably asleep, truth be told – but as the energy became present in my mind I started to ‘come to’ a little. When it left my body through the top of my head, I was in a fully alert state. My body was still completely relaxed and I could barely move my arms or legs (I was laying down) but I was totally at ease in that moment.
The thing is, I wasn’t meditating to release anything, I was just trying to get my demons to settle down a little. I have mild synesthesia and your description above feels close to what I experienced, but not quite.
My question is, is this something I can achieve again? Can I set out during a meditation and release that much negative energy in one big shot like that again? My meditation has always been very passive. It’s never been about release, it’s been about silence and stillness. This event feels completely different than what I have ever experienced in the past.
Thanks.
Hi, Chris.
This kind of thing happens from time to time. You’re very unlikely to be able to “make” this happen again. For one thing, you’ve no idea how you did this in the first place. That’s because it wasn’t a part of your mind that’s accessible to conscious awareness that released whatever it was that was released. But calmness (silence, stillness) do naturally lead to relaxation and release, so just keep doing what you’ve been doing :)
Something like this may happen again — it just won’t be something that happens because you’ve willed the experience into being.
Now I’m worried that maybe I’m doing something wrong, since I never had these kind of odd experiences. People talk about “energy”, lights and so on. Mine is never this intense,
sometimes I get into this extremely pleasant state, but that’s about it.
There’s nothing wrong with not experiencing these things, Z.
Hello, I would like to comment on my meditation. I sit in an upright chair due to a knee problem, say a prayer first to relax and then go into meditation. Due to meditating for a while I can calm my mind very quickly. My whole body is so relaxed I cant feel my arms or legs and feeling no aches or pain at my age is always a bonus. Some nights I get an itch in silly places which is so distracting it puts me off meditating the kind that twitches your whole body.
I seem to be in a thoughtless state when a different feeling sensation occurs in my eyes and my head starts to pull slightly backwards into the chair and I see a small opening which enlarges and what looks like old rough parcel string waving in front of me but behind that darkness and small star shape lights. The string shape moves away after seconds and I see deep into the universe black, far reaching and little lights shining very far in the distance in every direction. At first this only lasted what seemed a second or two but I am seeing it last longer now. I love to see it. Meditation has helped me greatly to make me more relaxed and has taken the negative approach away from many situations in life.
Thank you. I enjoy reading your web site.
Hello, I meditated for the first time today, Not sure whether its normal on a first experience, But after about 10 minutes I just got most of the sensations described above, first came like a pressure right in the middle of my forehead, and on my eyes but it was almost a pleasurable pressure, felt really weird! But was amazing experience, I also started to get a tingle sensation all over my body and this happened for quite sometime, also It was just darkness with a white small dot in the distance can anyone explain that? Also the most weird thing about it, was I didnt feel like i was ‘above’ my body, I just felt like I wasnt In it and I was trying to stop the meditation but I just physically couldn’t because I felt like I was being drawn in further.. Probably nothing as it is my first time meditating ever today, but just would like some answers thanks:)
Hi, Brandon.
Some people are more prone to these things than others. The main thing I’d emphasize is that you probably have a lot of work to do in order to stay rooted in the physical experience of the body — the actual sensations that are arising. One minute of real mindfulness of those sensations is more spiritually valuable than a months-worth of odd sensations that the mind has conjured up. So keep working on grounding yourself in your present-moment physical experience.
Great post. Thank you so much for such valuable information. When I meditate sometimes I feel like some energy is pushing me to the side, or my body is twisted. I open my eyes and I am in straight up position. What could that be?
That’s a samapatti, Agnieszka.
Hello Bodhipaksa,
First of all just wanted to say thumbs up for you, and keep up doing the great job that you are doing.
So as for my reflexion, i just started meditation 1 month ago since there i m being having a mild practice and being reading all sorts of stuff, so i m pretty much a beginner in all of this, so what would be your biggest advice for me?Is it better to meditate in silence or with music?
In the dark or with the light?
And lately i m feeling some shivers, and a small impression between my eyes is it normal?
You’re welcome, Leo. Brief answers only, I’m afraid, since I have to head off: Silence is much better, meditate whether it’s light or dark, and yes that’s completely normal :)
Thank you Bodhipaksa for your answer.
I’m just being struggling which the choosing of my mantra, i still didn’t find the right one for me, the one that i will fully concentrate, any advice about i can put myself in right path to chose it?
If you want to do mantra meditation, then just keep exploring until you find a figure who resonates with you.
Leo, I feel the same. A pressure between my eyes and some shivers. The shivers are not periodic and in a ten minute meditation-session I may get them 8-10 times. I cannot say whether the shiver goes up or down but ‘shiver’ is the correct term to describe what I feel. I was curious about the feeling and searched in the internet that led me to this post.
It is good to know that I got company.
On a slightly different note, I am writing a blog series on my experiences with meditation @ oshantomon.blogspot.com
@Leo, If you are searching for Mantra, I will recommend that you look into the book called ‘meditation’ by Eknath Easwaran. He has got a repository of sources (from multiple religions including atheism) where one can search for the Mantra or a longer-passage to focus during meditation.
Thank u Sambaran for your advice.
I ll give a look around, because i think is something that is missing me to take meditation to another level.
Out of curiosity what mantra do use?
About the shivers i found out that i have them more when i meditate in dark, should it have some connection?
@Leo,I do not use any mantra for meditation.
For two years I was trying out passage-meditation suggested by Easwaran. For passage meditation, one is supposed to pick up a longish passage (not a short mantra) for repetition. At that time I had picked up some 25ish shloks (meaning two lined poems) from second chapter of Bhagvadgita.
For me the shivers come irrespective of light or dark. Just now I completed one meditation session. It seemed to me that the shiver came when my level of focus increased. However that is just one off observation. I have still not been able to establish a pattern here.
One curiosity question from my side. What did you mean by next level of meditation?
@Sambaran, when i say take it to next level is just something personal because i still can’t meditate for lots of time(more than 1 hour)is like i loose a bit the patience, and i start thinking..But sometimes i can really focus and have a better experience with it (like the shivers, impression between eyes, eyes also watery) but lately i m not having so much of this experiences like i had before, so in a way i think that a mantra can help in that way to all be focus and to have a meditations session with balance..Maybe i’m wrong but i feel that the true state of meditation or concentration u loose the notion of time and space, so u just be.
Hi Bodhipaksa,
thanks to you for your great effort here,
things happen to me during my 6 months meditation(closed eye meditation):
-feeling a cool wind entering my left ear slowly :)
-having pain between my eyebrows.
-feeling my hand bending in an unpleasnat way.
-feeling a bit hot.
-seeing an eye. it seems to be my own eye (the left one) looking at me and blinking normally.
-spinning clockwise up to a half circle over and over. i realy love this feeling during meditation but some times this happens even when iam alert and not meditatig specially when i wake up in the morning some times it lasts for 1 hour, this doesnt make me feel good.
i will be very thankful if you give me some explaination and advice specially about the spinnig feeling ive had.
I’m sure you’ve read the page above, so which category do you think your experiences fit into, Behnaz?
hi my friend
yes ive read it. i think “distorted body sensation” is matched with my hand. and “priti” matched with spinig??? im not sure
just let me know if i shall ignore the spining or focus on it? im spining right now while im typing to you :)) lol
The spinning sounds like a samapatti (in the sense I’ve used it here). It’s not suggestive of calmness or stillness, and it’s not going to help you get deeper into meditation. I’d suggest just noticing when it arises, but making more of an effort to be aware of the parts of the body that are making firm contact with the floor, your seat, etc. See if that brings a bit more stability…
I got the point :)
I’ll work on controling it. Its good to have a leader availabe like you.
thank you Bodhipaksa
Bodhipaksa,
Occasionally I experience something very strange after meditating.
I can’t find any information on it anywhere.
The experience is difficult to articulate and I’m not sure if my interpretation of what I’m perceiving is accurate.
But occasionally it seems like the part or parts of my brain that assign meaning, order and familiarity to my perceptions are turned off.
It feels like my subjective filter is momentarily turned off and I’m no longer projecting my conditioned associations and feelings of order, meaning and familiarity onto the world.
The experience is usually subtle but I can focus on it and make it more intense.
It’s an extremely odd experience.
Have you ever heard of anything like this before?
Thanks!
Hi, Jeff.
The terms you use to describe these experiences remind me of experiences that I take to be of the formless spheres, or “ayatanas” — usually people call these the “formless jhanas” although the Buddha never called them that.
In the formless spheres it’s possible to lose the sense of “things” to lose their discreteness. Our normal sense of spatial orientation and separation is lost. Even the sense of the body having a form may disappear.
Does this sound similar to what you’re experiencing? If so, it’s quite normal (although not exactly common).
I’m curious what kind of meditation you’re doing.
Bodhipaksa,
Thank you very much for your feedback.
It does feel like I’m losing the sense of “things.”
It feels like I’m seeing things for the first time.
For instance if I look at a door it feels like I’m seeing a door as if I’ve never seen a door before.
All of my memories and things I associate with doors don’t automatically come up like they normally do.
The same applies to the rest of my senses.
But intellectually I still understand it’s a door and can draw all of those memories into my awareness.
I’m open to the idea that this is not caused by meditation, but it seems to happen more often after meditating.
Over the past 3 years or so I’ve switched back and forth between meditating with a mantra and allowing things to come into my awareness and then returning to my breath.
I’ve meditated on and off with a mantra over the years before that.
I first remember having this experience a very long time ago.
I was contemplating how unusual the human condition is and how everyday life seems so normal, but it only seems that way when viewed through a subjective filter.
Doors seem ordinary but it’s only because I’ve seen them so many times.
If I just came into existence right now everything would seem extremely odd and new.
I was contemplating those things and brought out that experience.
Thank you again for your feedback and for all of your content and work on this website.
Jeff
I have had an experience where i had so sense of my body or anything else physically. I was only aware of my breathing and a yellow core in my chest. However, the dominant experience was that of a huge bubble of peace and clarity of nothing. I did hear noises again with clarity that i have never before experienced. This ball of nothingness seemed to last sbout 10 minutes. Immediatly before this happened i was in great physical pain (a back injury) abd then no pain or any sense of any part of my body.
Hi there.Please tell me.Does meditation use demonic powers? i practice meditation about 2-3y and i felt some very strange things,just yesterday night i was meditating ,and after 24 minutes i pronounced “innerpeace”and a very bright light camed a over my body and my eyes were compeltely blinded of that light(i was with my eyes closed)and then my hands and my feet started paralysing.after 10 minutes i counted to 5 and said STOP!.then i could wake up and i was feeling strange.and then when i was trying to sleep i heard someone movin in my bed.i turned around:noone was there.i was freaked out…and then after 10minutes i heard something who inhaled air and then exhaled on my back on the head.i was so freaked out that i couldnt sleep all night.i think this meditation have a strange demonic shits going outin secret….
Hi, Timy.
No, meditation doesn’t involve demonic powers. I don’t believe in demons. The sense of peace and light you experienced is simply what we call “jhana” (or “dhyana” in Sanskrit), which is a kind of “flow” state where we’re happily absorbed in the arising of our own experience.
The sensations you experienced afterward (hearing breathing, or hearing someone in your bed) were just dream-imagery coming into your mind while you were awake. It’s called “hypnogogia,” and it’s a well known effect. It’s quite likely that the pleasant experience you had triggered this off, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be a regular occurrence. It’s quite common for someone to experience fear or doubt after a good meditation. It’s as if something inside us has been shaken up. Meditation threatens parts of us that don’t want to change, which is something I wrote about recently.
Just keep going with your practice. The jhana experience you had is a good sign.
New to meditation… Second day, second session.. What I think was in the middle and/or close to the end I had a strange sensation. Before I say this, note that I do not believe in mysticism or anything of the like. I merely and meditating for clarity and peace of mind. Anyways. I meditate laying down, eyes closed… I felt a sensation that seemed as if the floor beneath me ripped from my head to my feet like a small wave of water.. Conceptually, as if the floor became water. It was very brief, gentle, but quick.. It actually startled me and sort of woke me up from an odd mental drift I was having. Anyways.. it was interesting enough to have me googling for an answer lol.. Im chalking it up as a possible electrical impulse through my nervous system. Further exploration should be interesting, but I have no pressure to push anything.. I just go with the flow and allow a free fall. Its relaxing for sure, I do admit.
It sounds rather dream-like Phil. It’s possible that in your “mental drift” you had a little bit of dream consciousness welling up.
Hi everybody. .i dont know why i feel scared when i close my eyes while making maditation! ! I feel like i gonna lose my conscious when suddenly think if im breathing or i forget to breath! ! Please help me by email..Regards
Hi, Hussein.
I’m afraid I can’t reply by email. I don’t know why you experience fear when you meditate, but there’s no need to be afraid of fear. It’s just another sensation. What I’d suggest is that you observe the sensations of the fear that are arising. Notice where it’s situated in the body, what its texture is, how it changes moment by moment. And above all, don’t be afraid of it.
Hey, I’ve been meditating on and off for 2 months now and I feel this weird urge to sway and trace shapes in the air with my hands. Also I feel pain in the part
where my eye brows joint. I try not to concentrate there but I see this bright dot like thing and whenever I try to focus on it, it pains.
The effects of meditation has come to me quickly, I helped cure my lack of sleep and thanks to it I sleep well at night now. However there was one early morning when I was meditating, where I could literally feel… My mind expanding.
It’s hard to explain, but it’s as if your mouth is being stuffed with way too much food or a balloon that keeps growing.I could see white images with black lines, and my head was feeling pressured lightly at the same time. It did not hurt luckily, but after about 20 minutes, it stopped, oddly during that specific time I imagined… Chewing it? I could even imagine how it tasted, and as I did it all faded, I was extremely calm and happy afterwards, and my day felt so much brighter.
I don’t necesarrily believe it has anything to do with “enlightenment” or whatever, although I’ve never experienced something like this before, has anyone else experienced something simular and has a more clear answer on it?
Sorry for the delayed reply, Andreas. I got a bit behind with the comments. I’d say that your experience is a samapatti. In other words it’s not in itself significant, and is a kind of mental “noise,” but it’s the kind of thing that happens as the mind is starting to get a bit quieter. Just see if you can stay more grounded in an awareness of actual physical sensations, rather than getting caught up in the stuff coming from your mind.
Hello! First of all, I want to say that I really like your blog and your explanations are really comforting for me. I have a question, I am really pretty scared right now. I’ve been doing mindful meditation for about two weeks. And I felt great. I usually did it early in the morning, but when mornings became too loud and chaotic I started meditating right before I go to sleep. Last night I did it at midnight and it lasted for about 10-12 minutes. I wasn’t actually concentrating on my breathing all the time, but on energy flowing in my palms and I was imagining my aura being all gold, red and shiny… But as soon as I opened my eyes I felt dizzy and nauseous. And now, almost 12 hours later, I still feel that sensations. Could you please tell me what’s going on? What have I done? Thanks a lot!
Please, excuse my English.
Hi, Marina.
I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. You got caught up in paying attention to these slightly trippy images and sensations, which isn’t terribly helpful as far as our meditation practice goes, but it can’t do any actual harm. Nausea can persist for a while (I was once seasick for two days after taking a ferry in bad weather) but the discomfort will pass in time. In the meantime, just accept that it’s OK to feel these sensations, and perhaps cultivate a bit of self-metta.
I have to disagree about the lights being an hallucination. I say this because I will close my eyes during a bathroom break at work and I see them. I also see them going to sleep and upon waking. Also, I can open my eyes and still see them if there is a white background. And the colors always do the same pattern. 1st a green ball, sometimes a red background, then purple. Then purple does the lava lamp and a yellowish \green light appears. Also see eletric sparks and if I am really relaxed, I see visions such as the clouds, earth, etc. But 9 times out of 10 when I close my eyes even in public, they are there and I
am not being deprived of sensory activities.
Hi, Wendy.
The fact that you see such images all the time doesn’t mean that they’re no hallucinations :)
But many of the specific images you’re discussing — visible against a light background — sound like nothing more than negative afterimages, caused by the eye having been exposed to an image, especially a bright one, causing exhaustion of the retina’s photopigments.
This isn’t a factor in the common “swirling lights” people commonly see in meditation, because the eyes are closed for a prolonged period before the phenomenon appears.
Dear Bodhipaksa, I was searching all over the internet when i came across your blogs about meditation experiences. I am so very thankful. Like many here i too have been meditating without a teacher for about 3 years now. Your comments are so very helpful in untangling some of the confusion that arises in my practice. I just wanted to say THANK YOU! You have devoted so much time to help us understand the path. May this Damma Dana take you all the way to Nibbana!
Thank you, Champika.
I am part of a group on Facebook, deepak chopra meditation group. I joined because of all the things I was experiencing. Another person described exactly what I encounter so I thought this may be the same others were experiencing. Of course I have a family history of trance mediumship so it could be related to that. BTW, I see the lights when getting dental work done which is comforting in some sort of way. My newest sensation during meditation is the expansion feeling, that sure does feel good! I do appreciate you sharing your knowledge. It can be difficult going through this stuff in the west without mainstream understanding. :-)
I had an amazing experience meditating in a chapel at work. I practice TM meditation and I began my mantra and I began to feel a strong sense of falling into myself. Then the whole world became silent I couldn’t hear my thoughts only people in the environment. It was like I was observin the void in my mind. After the session I noticed that my mind was still quiet and still even on the drive home. I was observing the silence the whole time and I felt very focused on driving, and my attention to detail was magnified. This has happened on and off repeatedly. Sometimes the peace and equanimity is so powerful it feels like it’s exuding out of my body. I also practice sutra recitation in the Mahayana tradition. I get simular levels of focus and mental calm but during TM I feel like my inner world is enlivened.
After meditating for about 2 months every second day or so, I find I can get into a trance-like state very quickly. I feel like my mind is rising slightly above my head. My breathing egts regular, however, every time I breathe in, I feel elevated, like someone (God?) is lifting me up of the bed and holding me, and then with exhalation, I am lowered again. I prefer the pull feeling because that is when I feel closer to the force of universal energy and more blissful. When I am laid, down again, I feel more in my body. However my body is not still and sometimes these up/down waves can happen quickly and I start twitching. I feel like my head is moving and I hear the ovement against the pillow and the matress. I can twitch in my neck and feel my head posture in different directions. I also feel twitches and movements in my back muscles. All over. I can also feel heat moving up and down my body and into my legs. The twitching is sometimes too intense and not relaxing, even though I am not spontaneously moving of my own accord. Lately, my arms start to lift and it feels effortless. They can sometimes remain poised in the air, and float, and sometimes be laid down – elbows bent and palms open by my head. (I surrender pose). I feel like all these movements are not my own and feel effortless. Sometimes my eyes open even thoigh I know I am still in trance. I feel like I am on the verge of leaving my body and yet I am stuck firmly in it, and when my eyes open, I simply see the ceiling – no lights or anything. So mostly, my experience is waves up and down, twitching and involuntary movements. Why odes this happen? Is this good? It’s kinda scary and yet, I know I can come out of it any time, even if it sometimes takes grave concentration to do so. Please explain what is happening. Thanks
“Why does this happen? Is this good?” I think it’s happening because your meditation practice is somewhat imbalanced, Judi, with more dreaminess than alert, mindful, clarity. You’re surrendering to a fascination with these dreamy experiences rather than remaining grounded through a more mindful approach. The fact that you’re lying down promotes a kind of dreaminess that accentuates the sensations you’re becoming fascinated with. Lying down also promotes a loss of mindfulness.
If you want to explore meditation more seriously I’d suggest that you switch to sitting upright, which will help you experience more clarity, alertness, and mindfulness. I’d also suggest that you try listening to some guided meditations led by reputable Buddhist teachers in order to get a better feel for what the purpose of meditation is. The experience you have in your own form of meditation will be helpful in some ways, although you may find you experience some resistance to (or boredom with) being in a more sensorily real realm of experience, so be prepared to recognize that. If you can accept some initial boredom I think you’ll find that you gain great benefits in your daily life from cultivating mindfulness in meditation.
I had been meditating for about 20mins a day to soft med music in my home for about 3 months when I received cosmic energy. it started after about 8mins in, my breathing starting coming rapidly by itself, I went with the flow (go with the flow when meditating is best I find). i felt a kind of electrical charge in my toes. as it travelled up my body ‘something’ stretched my back into its most upright position and my head faced straight ahead. as the charge went up my body an invisible hole appeared in the top of my head, a big hole, and what I can only describe as other-wordly-massive energy, entered through the hole and surged through my body at an impossible speed. there was enough energy to work a whole town, I KNEW this…powerful beyond words although I am trying very hard! I kept with it as well as I could and it lasted about 3mins, 3 WHOLE MINS! what a treat! somedays I think ‘I hope there is life after death’ then I remind myself of what I witnessed that day. this was about 18 months ago, it hasn’t happened since….I remember feeling very depressed for a few weeks after my experience because I so so desperately wanted do it again and again, but pushing for it never makes it happen. relax, and when the cosmic energies know that you are ready, they will give you the experience. it really is something to treasure…I love this page ty, to chat with others about this is a wonderful opportunity xx
I’m glad you had that experience, but tempting as it is to create a story out of such things, it wasn’t “cosmic energy,” Sarah J. It was just the physiological arousal that takes place when the body relaxes. It’s quite common, and not that significant, except as a marker that you’re entering a state of flow. The energy is called “piti” and the flow state is called “jhana.” It’s also quite common to crave a repeat of an experience like that, but since the experience arose from letting go, grasping is not the way to achieve it.
I want to raise my consciousness and be aware of my surroundings on a much deeper levelI am beginning to take meditation seriously and found myself staring at the color purple and immediately seeing faces, from what I’ve read, this is a manifestation of my mind not used to being silent. My mind is usually quite restless, I feel like I am constantly googling random subjects at all moments. How can I silence my mind without the help I usually get from Herbs?
Thank you in advance and thanks for the great site and information.
Calming your mind just takes practice, Hector. Meditating regularly, being careful about not multitasking, and making sure that you get on retreat once in a while for more intensive doses of meditation will be helpful.
Hello!! I have a high energy level that comes and goes on it’s own, usually when I’m surrounded by negative people, or what to block my emotions from others. It feels like chills, or I’m cold.. like every hair on my body stands up, but about 2-3 inches off of me… Kinda like a force field. Anyway I’ve started meditation and experience this during that too for the entire duration of it.. Most recently between my eyebrows started tingling, I’m worried I may be opening my 3rd eye too soon.
Hi, Becky.
What you describe sounds like a kinesthetic experience, where some sensation in the skin — for example activation of the hair erector muscles or changes in the flow of blood — is leading to the sensations you’re describing.
Tingling between the eyebrows is quite common. Don’t worry about it.
Thank you for taking the time to answer. I am just wondering if I have not explained myself correctly, but to clarify what happens… this does not feel like ‘fascination’. Even when I stay mindful and try to keep it real, the twitching happens involuntarily. I am not sleeping. I am fully aware of my surroundings. I can even open my eyes and still be in that meditative state.
Twitching in meditation is quite common, Judi, and it’s always involuntary. It’s not something either to get upset about or excited about. Sometimes people say it’s “energy being released” although I don’t know if that’s the case. I’ve had twitching that seemed to be the body trying to realign itself — for example I discovered I had a misaligned vertebra in my spine, and that area of my back would twitch and twist when I relaxed or meditated.
“Fascination”? Whether you feel like you’re fascinated or not, you seem to be paying a lot of attention to these sensations rather than staying with the more central experience of physical sensations of the breathing. I get the impression you’re looking for validation that these experiences are “special” in some way. Really they’re not. They’re just a kind of quasi–dream like experience, and the best thing is to stay more grounded in your actual physical experience.
When I was meditating it felt like I was sinking then you his pressure was all over my body it did not hurt but it was scary is that normal
I’m fairly new to meditation and I keep being interrupted by family, my concern is that I don’t know where to focus when I am meditating, I keep losing focus and I will become in a hypnotic state where I see lights when I close my eyes, and become exhausted after periods of meditation. Any advice?
It sounds like you might be meditating without any guidance, Tristan. You might want to try some guided meditations, which will give you suggestions about what to do and also bring you back when you space out.
Hey :-)
My names brook and i am new to meditation.
i am 21 and i suffer with severe anxiety about “normal bodily sensations”
Such as i notice ever single physical thing that happens with my body, from tingling sensations to noise in my ears, to my breathing patterns.
anyway,i have been told by numerois people to try meditation to help calm and control my anxious mind and help me eccept my physical self more! Can you please suggest wether this would be a good idea for someone in my situation or do you think by encouraging these physical sensations i might actually freak myself out even more? And if your answer is yes then could you please suggest how i can mentally aproach/accept the physical sensations experienced during meditation so that i dont always freak out every time i experience them? (If that makes sense) Thanks :-)
Hi, Brook.
I’m afraid I don’t have much experience in teaching meditation to people who have panic attacks. In theory however, since you have a tendency to freak out over normal bodily sensations in everyday life, that’s likely to happen when you meditate too, especially since in most forms of meditation we’re paying attention to the body. On the other hand, meditation teaches us to be accepting of our experience, so there is a counterbalancing force to the panic.
It might be that you would benefit by starting with something like mindful walking, or even with chanting a mantra. The movement involved in mindful walking will help you connect more positively with your body, and mantra meditation is less body sensation—oriented. Those forms of meditation will lead to you being a bit calmer (you might not notice the effect, but it’ll happen), and that might give you a bit of wiggle-room in which to try practices like lovingkindness practice, which in turn will make other more body-based meditations easier for you.
I had an experience one early morning, when I got a feeling that some one has entered my body. The time was around 4:15 A.M. I woke up and sat in meditation. I could feel one cold dot moving inside my body. First it moved all around my body and than to my brain. It was like some cold dot moving. I mediated and asked the universe who is this. After some time I could see a young lady in front of me at the right side of my bed who was smiling. All this I could see when my eyes were still closed. But I could see clearly as if the eyes were open. I got frightened and when I opened my eyes everything was same except that the young women was not there.
Please let me know what this was.
What was this? It was your imagination, Moti Lal Gupta. You were experiencing a sensation in the body, which is perfectly normal. And then you were creating a story around it. (“Someone is in my body.”) Then you imagined who this person might be, and saw an image of them. And then you got frightened by what you were imagining.
When sensations arise, just experience them. Let go of any stories that arise in relation to them.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Hi, I am new to meditation. I had experience while I was concentrated on my breath. I was sleepy and then something happened.I watched my mind and my thoughts as if they are object, as if they are not me anymore. The whole experience lasted about 5 seconds but then my mind snap out of it. What was it? Sorry for bad english.
That sounds like a perfectly normal experience, Zoki. One of the points of meditation is to observe our thoughts as objects, although we also observe the sensations of the body, our feelings, etc.
[…] meaning of the color purple and found nothing spectacular. In brief search, I found one useful site that both normalized these sensations in meditation and advised those practicing not to pay special […]
I have been reading through everyting on here very interesting
I have been meditating on and off for years
I get the bright lights coming at me I have to ask them to dim the lights for me and this happens I see figures they come close to me and sit observe what iam doing they start talking but i cannot make out what they are saying I try to lip read then it changes to plants and small purple flowers and trees and yes I get the tingling over my body when I come out of it my cats hair all stands up and she hisses at me
That’s just dream-like imagery, Nick. I’d suggest not getting caught up in it, and that you try to ground your attention more in the sensations of the body, and develop more of a sense of alertness and inquiry. Otherwise your meditation practice will get “stuck” at this rather dreamy level.
Hi, i had a strange experience this morning during meditation. First i have to say i’m suffering with a frozen shoulder on the right side which is pretty painful. As i focused on my body, i didn’t saw or felt my whole LEFT body side, my right side felt heavy. I was exact splitted by middle. I’m wondering about your opinion, could it be only because my shoulder pain?
It’s just an experience, Sonja. Keep on with the practice! :)
Newly started meditation. In meditation instead of past thoughts I am getting more disturb by thoughts of future. It really making me sad. So can’t concentrate on my breathing. I am really unable to keep my mind in present state of mind
The thing is, Kams, that this is normal. We all get distracted. When you emerge from a period of distracted thinking, simply bring your attention back to your breathing, without criticism or regret.
I just yesterday found this wonderful website, and so haven’t yet had the time to explore it thoroughly. Perhaps my question is discussed in another part of the site, but here I am now, so I’ll ask.
Much or most of the time that I sit in meditation, some song, often one that I may have heard in recent days, goes around and around in my mind. It is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but I suspect that it’s my mind’s way of resisting going into deeper collectedness and concentration. My relaxation is good, and my bodily sensations are pleasant and not distracting, and my awareness of breathing is fairly strong and steady.
Can you comment on this and perhaps advise me?
Thank you for your beautiful work here on this website.
Hi, Debbie.
Sometimes music gets stuck in our heads because we get pleasure of some sort from it, so you might want to see if you can find pleasure directly from your own experience — especially your experience of the body.
You can also try really listening to the world around you. Very consciously pay attention to every direction around you at the same time. You’ll find you can’t do that and also hear music in your head. And if the music comes back, it’s now acting as a mindfulness bell, alerting you to the fact that you’re no longer listening 100% to the space around you.
Hi I have been meditating on and off over the past 2 or so years, and have had many of these experiences but have not been too worried.
Recently though, whilst meditating I started feeling like a vortex, spinning sensation at the solar plexus that became stronger. I went with it for a while when suddenly felt as if I was ‘disappearing’if that makes sense and totally expanding.
This scared me and I consciously put a stop to it, but am concerned yet curious about what was happening.
Lola
That’s nothing to be worried about, Lola. It’s not uncommon for the sense of our body shape and sense of separation from the world around us to change (even to disappear) during meditation. It’s a good sign, in fact. In certain forms of meditation there’s less activity in the parietal lobes of the brain, which maintain our spatial sense, and this leads to these experiences. The spinning sensation at the solar plexus is not something I’ve experienced (meditation experiences can be very varied) but it’s no doubt related. Just keep going with your practice.
I began meditating about 4 months ago and am experiencing a few different things. 1) I will occasionally feel what I can only describe as a “jolt” of energy accompanied by a visual burst of violet light. The jolt courses thru my entire body for only a split second and then is gone (until the next jolt). I’m actually thankful they are brief because it can be quite startling. 2) sensation of cold air or a breeze over my forehead. The sensation will begin during meditation and continue long after my meditation is over. 3) even when meditating in a completely dark room, I can see a white glow. Any thoughts on the first two? Hoping these as well as new sensations continue as I journey ahead.
The jolt is something we call piti or priti. It’s a natural thing that many people experience as the body relaxes and as the mind calms. Just accept the sensations. The other things are quite normal as well. Lots of experiences arise in meditation. Don’t take them too seriously or try to make them happen — that’ll just cause you distress.
Sometimes i feel big in small room sometimes i feel small in big room with no boundaries, i find it not a good feeling, i feel powerless, when i get into deep meditation, i usually have this kind of experiences.
I suggest that you just relax into the experience, Antony. There’s no need to label these things as “bad.” Even if they feel initially unpleasant, just let that unpleasant feeling be there. It’ll pass.
Hello Bodhipaksa,
This morning after i finish my 1 hour meditation, i go to my bed to rest then suddenly my ears hear a noise sound (noisy sound like higher frequency sound maybe) i ignore it but then i feel electricity surround my body to my leg, i cant move any part of my body but i feel aware of the feeling, It happens for few minutes. I felt a bit scared when that happen because its my first time.
I doubt if the two things are directly related, Antony. It’s quite common to hear tinnitus-like sounds under certain circumstances. Some people get them during meditation, and it may be related to blood pressure changes, or perhaps it’s just because it’s quiet and they’re paying attention :)
Feelings of tingling in the body are also very common. It’s discussed above as “piti.” It’s nothing to worry about, and in fact it’s a good sign.
Thank you Bodhipaksa.
You’re welcome!
I almost passed out while meditating… Something very strange happened last night. I sat on the chair and was listening to music, my focus was on my body starting from my toes going up. I felt a buzz pulsing through me and wondered if i could feel my hart beat if i focused on it… Everything dissipated at that moment it was like I got to a point where the surge of energy that i was experiencing go more and more intense. I though i was going through some kind of deep meditation experience but it just got so intense that i almost passed out, my hearing got dull and i freaked out. opened my eyes and stood up. At that moment i though i was dreaming, walked around and reassured myself that this is real.. the sensation was still there for a few minutes. My face was bleak and it felt very strange… I don’t know what happened but if i didn’t snap out of it i was sure i would have passed out completely. This was the first time it has happened.
I can’t really say what was going on, Roald. It may just be that you were falling asleep.
I just started to meditate, & when I meditate I’ve been seeing smoke & like explosion smoke. Is that normal ?
Yes, indeed, Bernie. That kind of experience is covered above.
What does it mean ?
Hi, Bernie. Go back and read the three paragraphs beginning with “What I think is going on is that there’s a kind of dreamy state of mind combined with mild sensory deprivation….”
It was lovely to read everyone’s experiences , I have been meditating since 2years. Am happy to be on this journey , have had many of such experiences but feel everything passes ,I feel a peaceful corner inside myself , which seems to be getting bigger by time. Before wanted to know answers to all experiences but lately don’t feel any need for any more answers . That peaceful corner says, all that you need you will get , and all you need to know u will know.
I felt gratitude for Bodhipaksa as on this journey sometimes one gets discouraged if you don’t get answers and you might leave the path . The path that can bring the ultimate to you.
Gratitude
You’re welcome, Preeti. I like your attitude. Pretty much any experience in meditation is OK as long as you don’t either panic about it or become inflated about it. I sense that a lot of the people commenting here are either afraid or looking for confirmation that they’re “special.”
I’m so glad I found this post! I had an experience recently and wasn’t sure what to make of it. While lying in savasana, a pinprick of light traveled from my forehead to my right eye. Somehow I felt it was a signal for me to open my eyes, which I did. I saw a circle of golden/yellow light on the ceiling above me. It seemed to “breathe” and it was almost as if small shoots or beams of light wrapped around to touch my head. A thought came to me. “There is more than here” and I was overcome with emotion. When I opened my eyes again, the light was gone. I checked the room, windows, etc for a “logical” explanation. It is so wonderful to read about others experiences and hear that these are normal samapatti, as you explained. To be honest, I wondered if I was going a little bonkers ;)
Thanks for all the helpful information!
Hi Bodhipaksa
First of all, a big thanks to you for putting up an excellent website and thread. It feels nice to be able to relate out own experiences with others.
I am from India and I practice dark, silent meditation. I do it around 3AM to 4AM with ear buds in my ear and eyes closed sitting in a dark room.
I am fairly new to meditation and I am not able to contemplate my experiences. I try to think (gently though) one small body part like a finger and after few minutes the finger gets stiff and if I think of whole hand after this, my complete hand gets stiff and also I feel a gentle push upwards and my hand automatically rises above the hand rest on chair. Then if I continue to put my consciousness on hand, I start feeling some sensations like something wants to get out. After a few minutes I feel a deep sensation of coolness and relief in body (kind of same feeling as peeing after holding it for a long time) and all of a sudden all stiffness in my hand disappears and it gets very gentle as if I am totally relaxed at this moment.
After 4-5 sessions, I am able to achieve the above experience easily in both my hands. And once I am in meditation for 20-30 mins, I can easily trigger the stiffness in any of my fingers at will followed by the sensation of coolness in body which I DON’T understand a bit.
The same happens when I concentrate in the middle of forehead, I would feel gentle stiffness and some dark unstructured tunnel appears before my eyes, and as I follow it through the end (which never appears), I feel the same coolness sensation in the whole body after a few mins.
So, what is that coolness sensation ?
Thanks
Nikhil
Hi, Nikhil.
You should really ask whoever it is that’s teaching you meditation.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Haha.. I am just following my consciousness and let it go roam inside my body.
In that case I’d suggest taking up an actual meditation practice, seeing what happens, and then asking for advice if you need any.
It’s probably none of my business, but I’m sensing some frustration in your responses. Perhaps you would benefit from taking a break from posting? Judging those that ask you questions as being either too fearful or arrogant/wanting to be special, helps no one (even if it is often true) Please don’t feel the need to post this. It’s not my intention to be combative or embarrass you publicly, but I thought maybe it might help for me to reach out.
Best wishes to you :)
Thanks, Angela. I have to confess it’s often rather tedious having long, rambling, “colorful” descriptions of people’s meditations, especially when they don’t even get around to saying what meditation they’re doing. I’m sympathetic both to people who are hopeful of receiving confirmation that they’re “special” and especially toward those who are fearful, but I don’t think it’s unhelpful to call out those motivations.
Oh, and it can also be tedious receiving enquiries from those who don’t bother to read the articles they’re commenting on, in which they’d often find the answers they’ve been looking for :)
* to the moderation queue :) *
Sorry Bodhipaksa… i think i’m one of these colorful writers :)
The web is full of “10 steps to success” blogs that offers guidance in meditation too, then is refreshing to find a website like yours
Thanks for this wonderful resource
Hi, Ciccio!
And you’re out of the moderation queue :)
When I said “colorful,” I was thinking of people who write about their “third eye” etc., rather than simply describing their experience. In other words, a lot of people dive straight into interpreting experience rather than simply describing it. (Seriously, I’ve been a Buddhist for over 30 years and the Buddha said nothing about “third eyes”!)
While I appreciate what I think Angela was trying to do, sometimes it seems like some people have rather strong views about what Buddhist teachers should and shouldn’t say. Expressing frustration is apparently frowned upon. However, if you read the Buddhist scriptures it seems that the Buddha liked a good rant from time to time, and he seems to have used language that would shock many “nonjudgemental” Buddhists. He didn’t mind calling people “fools” or “worthless” if he thought they needed taken down a peg or two. Not that I’d use that kind of language myself, but I will continue to express frustration when I think it’s warranted.
And thank you for your comments. It’s nice to receive appreciative feedback.
Hi,
I attended vipassana meditation for 7 days. On 6th day, I had a sense of some energy flowing from back of spine till back of my throat and then it would bend my neck backwards(which is an actual movement and not some thing I perceive in my brain). I had this many times on that day and next day even though I was not meditating but like sitting in garden. I asked the teacher, she was not able to explain it to me and did not convince me that it is normal. I saw that everybody around me in that class was sitting calmly. While my neck would go backward again and again. Not just that, my lips would twitch, my eye lids would open and close at a very fast rate and all of them are actual movements that others could see. I did not understand how to continue the meditation and I left the 10-day course on 7th day!
Then, I came back home not understanding what to do. But, I wanted to meditate.
Then, again after a month or so I just sat for 2-3 min and started concentrating on the point between the eyebrows and the same energy would flow from spine to back of throat and would bend my neck backwards. I kept on doing meditation whenever I make time for it and I get lot of body movements like shaking etc. I feel there is some kind of knot behind my throat and it pains sometimes. Sometimes, sth makes me lie down from sitting position. Is this all common?
Sometimes, when I just sit at my desk at computer and keep my spine straight, the energy rises up again and bends my neck backward. So, in my daily life, sometimes I am afraid to keep even my spine straight!
I want to go join some meditation course to answer my queries etc and to keep continuing. But, I am afraid that how can I meditate in a group when I am having lot of body movements while others are just experiencing it inside? This is kind of stopping me. Please suggest what I can do.
Hi, Mimi.
Apologies for the very late reply. Sometimes a whole bunch of very long comments get backed up when I’m busy, and I then have the task of reading and replying to four or five thousand words of questions, which is rather daunting, and sometimes impractical given all the other things I do.
What you’re experiencing is a form of pīti (prīti in Sanskrit). This can manifest in many different ways, from mild tingling in the muscles and skin of the hands (or other parts of the body) to rushes of energy (plus or minus twitching) to the whole body being filled with pleasurable energy. Generally piti is pleasant, although sometimes it can become too intense and be so strong that it’s unpleasant. It can also manifest as twitches that aren’t accompanied by any pleasurable sensation at all. This is all normal.
For a couple of years I developed a twitch in my back that would arise when I meditated or even just got into a relaxed state. The rhythm was very steady, and there was no pleasure. It felt like my spine was trying to “fix” itself, somehow, and in fact when I went to a chiropractor it turned out that I had a misaligned vertebra in the part of the spine where the twitch was taking place. So I think my hunch was right, and that my spine was trying to realign itself. I now go to the chiropractor monthly, and haven’t experienced this twitch in years. One time my spine spontaneously relaxed in meditation, and I would have intensely pleasurable piti in my spine on and off for months. It was so intense that it sometimes felt dangerous to drive.
Anyway, it may not be that your neck is trying to realign itself, but that’s a possibility you could look into. It’s more likely that there is an initial flow of energy in the spine, and that your body is tensing in response to that. Because the muscles on the back of the neck are stronger than those on the front, the neck curves backward. I’d suggest (if this is still going on) seeing if you can notice the underlying sense of energy separate from the movement, and accept it as a normal part of meditation. It’s not something to be concerned about.
Also, since piti is one of the jhana factors, you might want to look for and cultivate the other factors. It’s likely that your meditation is in a chronic state of imbalance. To give a quick and dirty explanation of the other factors, you need to look and see whether the mind mind is calm. Are you generally excited in your meditation, or is the mind generally settled? If you’re often excited and uncalm, then work at being more mindful of the sensations of the body and of the breathing and let your mind settle. The other thing to look out for is joy. If there’s an absence of joy, then let yourself relax mentally, become more playful, and enjoy your meditation. Once the piti starts, notice it and accept it, but start to focus more on the feeling of joy. The problem is that you’re probably focusing on the piti in a way that intensifies it, and being more aware of joy will take the heat off by dividing your attention.
If you’ve found this advice helpful, please be aware that it takes a considerable amount of time to read and reply to comments like these. I’ve spent around half an hour on your query. If you’d like to make a donation to support our work, feel free. I’d suggest something in the region of $20 to $30. By comparison, you’d spend $200 to get a plumber to step through your door, or a chiropractor $45 to spend ten minutes working on your body.
Hi
I used to meditate earlier for long time and had all those lighting experiences, universe, stars n everything. After a gap of few months of no mediation whenever I try to meditate in few minutes, when I am
About to approach a calm state, my heart beat goes up and starts pounding. I tried ignoring that but then I felt numbness around my nose and feels like m short of breadth. What’s happening? Any suggestions Sir?
Hi, Nick.
It sounds like you’re having panic attacks. I’ve really no idea why, I’m afraid. Presumably some part of your brain has developed the idea that a calm state of mind is a threat in some way. This may be because you have conditioned yourself to think that there are threats in life that you must be aware of, and that if you’re calm you’ll no longer be scanning for potential danger. In this way, calmness itself becomes see as dangerous and threatening.
All I can suggest is that you try approaching a meditative state in a very gradual way. Spend some time just relaxing, while sitting in an armchair or lying on the floor. Spend time idly looking out of the window. Let your mind relax and calm just a little, so that you condition your mind to see calmness and relaxation as positive things.
Notice when, or if, anxiety starts to arise as you do this. Let the mind observe the anxiety rather than participate in it. Send yourself reassuring thoughts, such as “It’s OK. There’s nothing to fear. Everything’s going to work out fine.”
Do feel free to let me know how you get on.
Thank you, Bodhipaksa, this is the closest answer to a question I’ve been trying to find an answer for! I’m new to meditation, and during my session today, while extremely relaxed and drifting, something screamed at me to come out and pulled me to a highly alerted state!
I don’t think I’m special or finding enlightenment ;p I was honestly curious as to why, when I was finally calm and relaxed, something ripped me from it. I do live in an heightened, alert state almost every waking minute…but I will definitely take your recommendations to this poster and practice them myself, thank you!
Hello Bodhipaksa
Thank you for the article and website. It is actually quite helpful for people like myself who are meditating with no formal training or guru. Also, it was nice to read everyone’s comment and experiences. My post is also about fear based experience like most of them. A little background about myself, I try to follow Zen way of meditation. (it’s not accurate to call it zazen as I have invented my own little tricks and twists). I have been meditating for about 3 years and I have had experiences prior practicing meditation (since the day I found out, truth actually exist). I don’t have any other carrier path than to find out what is real? And I am willing to die for it. Anyway coming back to meditation, I have no problem sitting in meditation for an hour or longer. My problem now is the extreme heat, energy and vibration (pīti like you said). The energy and vibrations have gotten so strong and powerful that it sometime is difficult to continue meditation. The energy inside my body (arms, spine, stomach, neck, legs, genitals mostly etc.) and around me, I can feel them all day long even when I am not meditating (crawling sensation, something moving inside and around the body etc.) I can feel them as I write this post. The more I concentrate at this moment, the more it comes to me. It is even difficult to sleep. Also this thing happens to me often in sleep, it’s hard to explain accurately but this thing shoots up from spine or stomach and moves up with high speed, and I am taken somewhere (place, event, people… random) and I forget about my identity (myself… name, person, and I am sleeping which I remembered prior takeoff ïÂÅ ) and different things happen. Sometimes it’s physically painful while that thing shoots up during sleep. I try not to be afraid but here I am…. scared, fearful ïÂÅ .
Thank you
Good luck to everyone on their journey.
Hi, Mike.
Sorry for taking two months to respond! It’s been a busy summer.
I’ve found that the solution for two much pīti is to focus instead on sukha, or joy. But since you’re “doing your own thing” rather than following an established form, and (presumably) working without guidance (otherwise you’d have asked your teacher about this rather than me) it’s possible that you’re meditating in a way that’s creating imbalances and leading you down an ecstatic meditative path (as is common in Hinduism) rather than down a mindful/concentrative path (which is the Buddhist way). No knowing in detail what you’re doing, I’m not in a position to say.
Hi
These days, I have been fesling thoroughly lost and confused from meditation. But actually I’m not even sure if it’s from meditation. It feels like I have fallen into a depression pit. Conflicting negative thoughts keep whirling around in my head. And I am consciously aware of them in my daily life that sometimes I find it hard to concentrate on other things. It’s like I’m living in my head most of the time. I even get really dark and harmful thoughts and I’m so scared I will fall to insanity. I get doubtful of whether I’m going down the wrong path in meditation and question myself if I should even continue. But I’m scared if I do not meditate, I will get anxious and nervous. I try so hard to be positive and just let the thoughts roll but it’ll keep coming. I don’t know what I’m doing now is right or wrong. I really need help here, please.
Thanks
Hi, Grace.
You should really talk to a therapist to help you work through these difficult experiences. What you’re describing sounds quite serious, and you need to seek solid support rather than just ask questions on a blog.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Hi , it’s very good website full of information ,thanks . I seek ur assistance n would try to be brief , I am experiencing strange things from last 6 months ,like mood swings,getting irritated ,in second week of June I I thought to start meditation to feel relaxed ,I wAtched video on you tube spiritual reality n listened to binaural beats . Most of the good things I have experienced like floating,sinking ,hearing bells and seeing flashes of white light , body shaking , vibrations and smelling different smells, seeing red n yellow light , seeing different people in meditation, one night I am falling from sky full of stars , I see white light when I am sleeping.i hear resonance , chimes, wind n thunder , one day recently I could hear wind from right ear n forehead , I feel tingling sensation in neck ,face forehead n head. Many other experiences , Like pressure in third eye I also feel someone softly touching my ears, neck ,forehead And neck also I night time I feel some knock at door n some energy enter my body from my foot , also I get feeling someone turn my room light on and tell me to start meditation (not sure if it’s spiritual or angelic touch or something evil) now things which scare me a bit is when I stared meditation in second week of June I heard voices like someone knocking the door, crying , someone talking in different language on my left ear side , whisper I my right ear when in train , someone calling my name in crowd , some called my name in right ear while meditating , one day after meditation I felt someone breathing loudly on right hand side ,one night I knew I am going to have good session however I felt someone walking outside n knocking my window it was so loud I had to finish meditation , one night while sleeping I had strong vibrations if I was going to have an OBE but my son wake up so my vibrations subsided again i hear someone breathing in my room . I often hear loud voice n it disturb me . I always pray before meditation to spirits guides n ask for energies of highest good only n also visualise a white light protection around me n my house but still I hear voices which make me feel scared of doing meditation . Last weekend I was sick laying in bed doing meditation I think I fall asleep and heard someone moving in my bed first I thought it’s hubby but he was talking in living room someone came on top of my whole body I tried to remote quilt from my body 3 times no success finally fourth time I was able to remove quilt from my face and no one was around . Plz help me why it’s happening to me , is it evil spirits , good spirits or is this my mind playing with me . I want to continue my practice but because of this fear sometime I open my eyes 3-4 times in meditation to make sure no one is around . Hope to hear from you soon . Regards kamal
At over 500 words, Kamal, your “brief” comment is longer than I have the time to read right now, never mind respond to in detail. If your meditation practice consists of listening to “binaural beats” then perhaps you should be asking the creators of the music for advice.
Hello Grace
It’s okay to be lost and confused, no worries! The human mind is the most complex machine on earth but I doubt your confusion is from meditation. Meditation brings you clarity, it’s brings you out from the filth of ignorance and miasma.
Do you feel or know for sure that you have fallen into depression pit? Look more closely, examine it, look it from all sides, attack it, counter-attack it. Figure it out for yourself. Everything disintegrates under scrutiny. Probably, It’s all because of those “conflicting negative thoughts” (and aren’t they always conflicting) and that’s why we meditate. You are in control here, you are powerful, disown those “conflicting negative thoughts”, in fact disown all the thoughts, try to detach yourself (which is hard at first, but it’s a game you will love) and let those demons/gibberish thoughts go back to whatever planets they came from. Breathe more, drink more water, fall in love with yourself, let go fully, live fully…. It’s a beautiful world we live in and most of the people live in there head, look around you will see people lives and thoughts on auto pilot, I suggest you not to let those thoughts dictate your life.
According to Buddha, DOUBT is one of the five hindrances in the progress of meditation, and I don’t think you are going down the wrong path in meditation. BE DELIGENT, and cosmos shall clear your path.
And I am pretty sure if you don’t meditate you will get anxious, nervous and restless… which according to Buddha is due to the inability to calm the mind.
Don’t try to be positive, just be positive. It’s within your power, take control of yourself and yes those thoughts will keep coming, that’s the beauty of this game, you can play it anytime, all the time :) but don’t get in the street fight with those thoughts, it’s of no significance.
You said “I don’t know what I’m doing now is right or wrong” and Alexander Pope said “one truth is clear, whatever is, is right”. Nothing is ever wrong, nothing can be wrong. Wrongness is simply not possible except in mind.
Take refuge in meditation, fear not, desire not.
Be well
Hi there Mike,
I certainly agree that the mind is indeed complex. When I try to ‘disown my thoughts’, my mind would start contradicting me and say: “then wouldn’t I be left with nothing inside me? Won’t I have no thought at all?” That’s how confusing my mind can be. But what you have said have given me reassurance and comfort. I would continue to persevere and seek the light and love. Thank you very much for your response.
With gratitude,
Grace
Hi Bodhipaksa
I don’t quite get it when u say it ‘sounds quite serious’, is it the intensity of my problems? Of that I’m going down the wrong way? Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get to a therapist.
But Thanks anyway
Saying that you’re “feeling thoroughly lost and confused,” that you’ve “fallen into a depression pit,” and that you “get really dark and harmful thoughts” that you think might lead you to insanity is what I was describing as “serious.” It’s up to you whether you seek effective help. Unfortunately it’s not likely that you’re going to get the kind of help you need from a comment on a blog post.
Hi Bodhipaksa,
Thank you for your indepth post.
Im new to meditation, and at the moment only do it once a week. On my first session lying down my left arm flexed 90 degrees unconsciously. The second session sitting i experienced strong feelings of motion sickness and got very hot, both around 30 minutes in. This lasted for the rest of the session (60mins). On my third session (lying) i experienced a bright white flash of light around 10 mins into a 20 min session. Each week i write down my experiences and then move on, so not focus on them at each session. I would love to hear your thoughts on this and if there is any meaning behind the sensations?
Hi, Natasha.
There’s no particular “meaning” to what you’re describing. Random and involuntary movements of the body can sometimes happen in meditation. They’re nothing to be concerned about, but they’re also nothing particularly special. Sometimes the body wants to release tension; sometimes it wants to be sitting in a different posture. Just accept these movements if they happen again, and you’ll be fine.
The flash of light you experienced is covered under the heading of “samapattis”, above. It’s a good sign in that your mind is probably getting quieter, but at the same time this kind of visual effect isn’t very settling, so make sure that you stay focused on the purpose of the practice, and in that way stabilize and calm the mind.
I had a profound experience today when I meditated that I have never experienced before. I felt my head moving ..as if I wasn’t controlling it. Then I felt my left arm lift off the arm of the chair. I wasn’t controlling it …it was like and unforeseen force was controlling it ..then my right arm lifted ..then both arms were being raised. It was really strange. Then at the end both arms went down and I felt like they were very heavy and SO relaxed and my chin went down to my chest and I felt blackness all around me. But it was a very comforting feeling. I felt I had no control over my head and my arms. I was wondering why this happened and what category this would fall under.
Hi, Sara.
It’s not exactly common to have involuntary movements of the body take place while meditating, but it’s not extremely rare either. Actually, we only ever think that there is conscious voluntary control of the body. Next time you’re walking down the street, catch yourself in motion and notice that there are no voluntary instructions being given to the body. Your legs are working all on their own :)
Judging by the sense of comfort and calm you felt, I’d say this is a nimitta. So it’s a good sign. This is obviously not something you can consciously try to make happen again, of course! If it does, then just accept it. It’s not in itself anything special, but it’s a sign that the mind is approaching a jhana (i.e. a deeper meditative) state.
Dear Bodhipaksa, I am curious your opinion of negative energies affecting a person during meditation, especially when the “3rd eye” is involved. Also if needling the 3rd eye in acupuncture treatments can open a person to negative entities, if they are unaware/unprepared for the spiritual implications of the supposed “activating” of 3rd eye area. I do not meditate and have not believed in things like this until being deeply thrust into all this (that your article describes) from receiving acupuncture treatments. Just curious what your thoughts are.
I’m afraid I have no idea what a “third eye” is, Eva. It’s certainly not something that the Buddha taught. I also have no knowledge of acupuncture, so I’m afraid I can’t attempt to answer your question.
Every time i meditate i have numbness in my body in 5 min.By numbness means i stop feeling the existence of my body specially legs and hands.my chest and spinal cord become extremely tight and still,and feels like my chest is shrinking and i have difficulty maintaining my breath.it happens all the time and my frequency of breathing increases and small in time .there is a sensation of constraint on my body as itvhas stuck ,specially my neck which does not move and bexomes extremely hard, and i feel the muscles inside my head …. And yhen the body seems like it is in a cage trying to break free and i freak out..dumb me
So is it normal …
Regards
Hi, Rishabh.
This doesn’t sound good. Ideally in meditation you’d develop more body awareness, and although there may be tensions to work through you’d generally become more relaxed. You don’t mention what kind of meditation you’re doing, where you learned, or what your teacher has said about this. If you’re trying to learn without guidance, I’d strongly suggest that you stop, and practice with a teacher who can give you support, encouragement, and advice.
Hello Bodhipaksa – Just started mindfulness meditation. I feel continuous pressure and air noise in both of ears. is this normal? It is not inconvenient.
It could be tinnitus, Vega. You might want to get your ears checked. We have an article on the subject of tinnitus here.
I posted on Oct 27th 2014 about my experience but you did not make a comment. I have never done any meditation until a 10 day Vippassana retreat. It was on about the 6th day that I had the above experience. I have been through all your comments in this blog and the closest thing that I think may relate to my experience is your comment here:
” It’s not uncommon for the sense of our body shape and sense of separation from the world around us to change (even to disappear) during meditation. It’s a good sign, in fact. In certain forms of meditation there’s less activity in the parietal lobes of the brain, which maintain our spatial sense, and this leads to these experiences.”
You also made another comment about “Ayatana”. I tried to do a Google search to better understand this concept and have ordered some books that might help.
My question is: When you have no awareness of your body in any way, is it then possible to have no thoughts as well? If this is possible, then what would make you come out of this state?
When I was in that state, I found myself thinking why would this state ever change? I seemed to bring myself out of this state by trying to find some part of my body to touch. When I did, the sensation was very heightened, with much more clarity than a normal touch sensation.
Thanks for a wonderful Blog……
Hi, Map.
“When you have no awareness of your body in any way, is it then possible to have no thoughts as well?”
It’s possible to have no thoughts, whether or not you have any awareness of your body. I presume by “thought” you mean “internal self-talk.”
“If this is possible, then what would make you come out of this state?”
That seems like an odd question — as if you’re assuming that thought is the most important thing about us, and that having a prior thought is the only way we can act.
Try observing your experience next time you’re typing, or walking, or driving, or doing anything else, really. Is your experience that no action ever takes place without a thought such as “now my left index finger is going to move up and to the right and then press on the ‘T’ key”? And if you are, essentially in every moment, taking actions without thinking about them first, then why would you assume you’d be unable to stop meditating if there was no thinking going on?
im quite new to mediation find I can easily meditate and relax quickly since the beginning I have been experiencing involuntary movements mainly legs and hips but I get them intensely in my hinds they move quite a lot I also have tingling. Today I have noticed lights behind my eyes bright white to begin with then a vivid orange then a pale purple colour just wondering what they could be .
Hi, Angela.
I cover two of the phenomena you describe — light and tingling — in the article.
Involuntary movements are fairly uncommon in meditation, and nothing to be concerned about. I don’t think anyone knows for sure why they happen, but sometimes it seems that tension is being released. Other times it seems that the body is trying to realign itself. I experienced that many years ago: a twitch in my back was related to a vertebra that was out of alignment, and my back seemed to be trying to straighten itself out.
I’d suggest just accepting that the movements are normal. Just let them happen, but don’t pay particular attention to them either. Instead, just keep on with your practice.
Sorry the above meant to say hands and my arms move also and my neck goes to the right side
Regarding the re-alignment I just talked about, Angela, I found it helpful to go to a chiropractor, who aided me in realigning my spine.
Bodhipaska, I concur with Angela (May 2015). I was shocked to read your April 2015 response, and I agree with her that you may need to take some time away from this discussion due to the frustration we’re causing you.
Or instead, learn where we are coming from: Buddhist leaders and meditation instructors tend to focus on all the trouble we students may have with meditating. It’s rare to be taught what it will feel like when we are “doing it right.” So, I disagree with your rather mean-spirited April statement that people ‘want to feel special.’ Instead, I offer you the thought that these people just may want to be told that they are doing it right; that they are getting from meditation what you get from meditation. Because frankly, you guys never tell us.
And to that end, I was disappointed to read that this article wasn’t written by a Buddhist who experiences these phenomena. And I humbly offer my opinion that your lack of concern to ask more knowledgeable peers before making responses is kind of a complete bummer. Especially regarding the panic attack questions. A little bit of research could really help these kiddos. Panic attacks (and weird meditation experiences) can be frightening experiences and answering willy nilly isn’t helping anyone. Don’t forget, prompt responses aren’t half as important as correct responses. These comment threads exist out here for decades with whatever we’ve said set in stone and, frankly, with little attachment to the articles they began with.
Thank you for allowing me to speak these things, Bodhipaksa. And thank you for allowing all of us to engage in public discourse with you, even when we disagree. I hope to be as open in my own leadership someday.
Hi, Amy.
I re-read my response, and I can’t see anything shocking about it. I can’t see how it’s “mean-spirited” to observe that some people want to feel special at times. Is it your experience that this isn’t the case? Or is it that it’s somehow taboo to mention this phenomenon?
And when you say “I was disappointed to read that this article wasn’t written by a Buddhist who experiences these phenomena” I’m not sure what you mean. Do you mean that you don’t think the article was written by a Buddhist? (I’ve been a Buddhist for decades.) Or that you think I don’t experience “these phenomena” (which phenomena? I’ve had a huge range of experiences over the years I’ve been meditating)?
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Namaste, in the past few days my mediation has moved to the view of breath to breath becoming a vibration in my forehead and heart. The are synced and start thru my exhale into inhale and exhale become the vibration. Would like to get your thoughts, please.
Lot
Hi, Lot. The “vibration” you describe sounds like piti/priti — a pleasurable sense of energy in meditation that can feeling like tingling. The flow of piti that you’re talking about may well constitute a “nimitta,” or an indication that you’re getting close to jhana. It’s a good sign. Just allow it to be there, without trying to make it stronger or trying to hold on to it. Jhana arises when we’re not grasping after anything, so grasping after jhana is counterproductive!
Thank you for the interesting website and you taking the time to answer so many questions from so many people. I have just tried meditation for the first time at home after work and had some swirls, saw myself as a child and I also floated in the stars briefly… Pretty sure I may have dropped off to sleep! :-)
Very enjoyable though
Namaste, would then the meaning of meditation be to reach jhana?
That’s one of the goals, Lot. We also practice meditation in order to become kinder and more compassionate in daily life, and to develop insight.
Namaste, during meditation would you say that chants or tones via vocal cords would be a distraction or a way to channel your energy? I find myself at times using om and others. Thank you!
Nothing is a distraction if we pay attention to it mindfully, Lot. Paying attention to chants and their vibrations is a major part of mantra meditation.
Thank you brother, I know nothing of mantra mediation practices, however OM, an OH seem to be the ones that flow thru the most. If it’s flowing just right, I feel the vibration echo thru my skull. Peace and love is all I feel. As a child of light I ask many questions with very little who can or willing to answer. My unconditional love for all who choose to or not to view this site! And thank you for your time!
Hello,
I have started meditation long ago because one day sitting on my bed i had this idea … that the greatest wisdom resides in simple things … it awakened my senses to an unusual degree .
I was then interested in meditation and in krishnamurti’s teachings.
now i have some really scary experiences .. i feel like im going out of my body and very strong energy on the surface of my skin in addition to a great fear ” panic” that comes
yesterday i was walking outside and saw a very beautiful view.. it absorbed me to the point i started having tension headaches and felt alienated to the world, disconnected from people and from myself, like i’m a stranger to this world, like if people were not living beings …
I’m afraid of all this please can you help me
I’m sorry to hear that you’re having these unpleasant experiences, Dif. You don’t say what kind of meditation practice you’re doing, or who your teacher is, so I’m guessing that you’ve been “doing your own thing” without guidance. That may, as you’ve found, not be a good idea. I can’t really suggest much except for a) stop doing whatever meditation you’re currently doing, b) see if you can accept the sensations you’re having as normal — it’s OK to experience fear, and there’s no need to be anxious about being anxious, since that just makes things worse, and lastly, 3) if you are going to meditate in the future, make sure you have some guidance and are following a tried and tested path of practice.
Bodhipaska, For the first time during meditation, I immediately picked up the sound of chanting. I did not recognize it, but began humming the tones I was hearing until they faded away and I was in a deep state of relaxation. I also happened to be holding a clear quartz crystal in my left hand. I feel I was guided to your site to ask about it. Any thoughts on what or why this occured? Thank you.
Hi, Susan.
All sorts of odd things can happen during meditation. Sometimes people get into a lucid, but still dream-like state in which mildly hallucinatory experiences can arise. They’re of no significance in themselves, but it’s a sign that you’re getting relaxed, which is good. It also suggests a need to be more rooted in the actual sensations arising in the present moment, though.
BTW, it’s Bodhipaksa, not Bodhipaska :)
My brother, if chants and mantras stir a vibrations within you, what steps can be taken to understand them fully? Namaste, Lot
Hi..
I m doing meditation since few years and deep mediation for few months. I am now feeling so much activities on my head like something is pulling my hair with force, scratching my scalp with nails, my hair (sometimes even single hair) are being pulled, drilling on my scalp above the ear, crown area and all over the head, something is moving very fast and hard that even now I am feeling so much pressure and cant explain it, earlier it was less, right now even I am not meditating I am feeling the same symptoms more intensely these are now unpleasant, please tell it is mediation symptoms or some neuro disease & I need to visit a doctor for remedy .. please tell
Regards
Sam
Hi, Sam.
It’s probably not a neurological disease, but one of the “samāpatti” experiences I’ve discussed above. What may be going on is that instead of just letting these sensations be and letting your mind become more engaged with the meditation practice, you’ve been focusing on them in an aversive way and in doing that inadvertently making them stronger. It’s a bit like how when you have your hands full an itch in your face can become very intense because you’re focusing on it — which makes it stronger.
My suggestions? At the start of your meditation, see if you can treat these sensations as normal. Be mindful of them as best you can, and just allow them to be there. Then, just carry on with the meditation practice. Of course you don’t mention what kind of meditation you’re doing (almost no one does!) but I’ll assume that you’re doing some form of mindfulness of breathing because that’s the most common form of practice. So really pay attention to the sensations of the breathing. Breath with the sensations in your scalp, but also really notice how three-dimensional the sensations of the breathing are. You’ll still experience the sensations in your scalp, but that’s OK. Gradually you’ll find that they become less noticeable, and that when they’re present they don’t bother you so much. But don’t be in a hurry for this to happen! Hurrying is just another form of aversion, which will make things worse.
Hi Bodhipaksa,
I just wondered if you or anyone on here has any idea what my following account means. I neither think I’m special or enlightened, I’m just interested.
Several years ago, one late December (I’m not sure this is relevant) having never mediated before, but having felt a compelling urge to do so that I had put off a few times, I decided to do it. I was urged to enter an empty building on my property and lie down, relax, concentrate on my breathing then put energy around my body starting in my little toe and working my way to my head.
I then felt as if I was completely covered in orange energy. I then had extreme clarity in my mind.
I was urged to ask myself my most difficult personal questions and once I had been 100% honest with myself it came to me that the most important thing in the world is honesty. Never lie, exaggerate etc. I had to be brutally honest with myself during this process and deal with things is been avoiding.
I then felt above my chest both good and evil trying to get inside my chest. I had to fight hard for good to come into me, while evil would be easy. After a while good went into me and it was like being hit by lightning in my chest. It lasted for a while of what I imagined to be orange energy entering my chest, it was I now think pure energy from the universe. It was the most intense feeling I’ve ever had, orgasmic times a thousand but not sexual at all.
Once it stopped I was shown the universe and told that everything would be ok. We are all just a small part of a big thing and just do what we can.
I then pulled myself out of the meditation and when I opened my eyes there was an orange light above my chest. I looked around it to see where it was from and touched it. When I touched it, it kind of burst.
Just asking.
I’m unclear why you need someone else’s opinion on your experience, Daniel. You either found it helpful and meaningful or you didn’t. What other people think probably isn’t very important :)
Thanks for replying. I did find it helpful, I was just hoping you could shed some light on what it actually was. Never mind.
Thanks Bodhipaksa,
I shall try not to give attention to feeling on my head area. But it is like little difficult because now even without meditation even if I am working or reading even few sentences those strong sensation and feeling start coming.
In deep mediation , recently, I saw one blue radiating eye 5-6 times and I suddenly distracted from meditation , how to focus then when I am feeling something flowdown on my body (shoudlers/ears/foreherad, back) through my crown/head araes..
Regards
Sam……
I see you have deleted my comments.
etc etc etc
I hadn’t actually deleted anything. I’ve just been on vacation and haven’t had a chance to log on and see the comments queue. But since you were so unpleasant I’ve decided to go ahead and delete the lot of them.
My brother I hope your vacation was well! As a Buddhist, meaning your practice, the compassion? The only thing unpleasant is that in the way one takes other people words or actions as if it was their own. Compassion and unconditional love. Then again what do I know. Peace Love Namaste
Practicing “unconditional love” doesn’t necessarily mean giving people a platform for slander and hatred, Lot :)
Most understood brother! I’d rather be the advocate then someone who wouldn’t be as kind in their words. However unconditional love allows them to chose such, if that’s their choice. Our point of unconditional love is to allow other to choose that path by seeing its possibles thru our actions. Ya? Just for clarity.
The path of unconditional love. Not hate and slander
I regret too blunt in my speech.
My brother, all is fair in the battle of Love and Hate. Hateful words could come lovingly, and Love can come across very stern. I believe your words were stern, as to show that hate and slander will not be accepted. My apologies for stepping in, this is your site. However I saw what others could see, so I stood up to help clear it out for others that don’t quite understand. I love you brother, Bodhipaksa!
Thank you, Lot. Kindness is always appreciated.
Hi Bodhipaksa
My name is Pyae.
I don’t know what other feel in meditation.
After starting meditation I notice changes in myself.
I notice I become fearless of anything.
like staying alone in darkness, hearing strange noise. I feel like very powerful person that nothing can harm me.
Recently like you said in your post I felt an uncontrollable wave of extremely strong energy. It felt almost good , but in a sense too powerful – pure pleasure.
Then when I tried to concentrate on that energy I suddenly see a very bright light sometime although my room is completely dark. If that happen I cant sleep all night. Strange things is the next day I feel so energetic like I get good sleep. And starting to freaked me out. Do you have any idea how should I overcome this stage. any advise.
with respect
Hi, Pyae.
I’m sorry to hear that you’re having distressing experiences in meditation. However, when you say that you’re “meditating” this is as unspecific as saying that you’re “exercising.” Asking what to do about, for example, knee problems “while exercising,” without saying which kind of exercise you do isn’t very helpful. There’s a big difference, for example, between running marathons and doing tai chi.
Anyway, I’ve no idea what kind of meditation you’re doing, or whether you’re doing it in an appropriate way.
If the thing you’re doing that you call meditation is leading to problems, then I’d suggest talking to the person who taught you that practice (although most of the time when I ask, people say it’s something they found on Youtube). If you can’t do that, then stop and find someone to teach you a legitimate meditation technique.
I’d suggest that you choose someone who has a lot of experience (20 to 30 years would be preferable), and who has been published as opposed to self-published. And be sure to look and see what the Amazon reviews of their work say. You might also want to check for other potential problems, such as financial or sexual exploitation of students. And trust your gut — if you feel distaste because a teacher seems too “slick,” like they’re running a corporation rather than a meditation center, then look elsewhere. Your gut may sometimes be wrong, but it’s always worth listening to.
Good luck!
I’ve had the yellow circle thing since I was a lad. Everytime I close my eyes I go into a focus and thus appears. I feel as if it’s been my guide in life (Why? Because it makes me feel more focused and more peaceful.) Now while it may be something different, It is what I use to focus more and put myself into my own little space.
I’ve had a lot of experiences with meditation. Usually, the immediate thing that happens to me, is that I space out and I feel more than I am. For example, it’s like sometimes I feel like my third eye is open and I’m staring into the void… I don’t think I’m special, I’ve just been meditating a lot lately….
One other time that I found completely bewildering was when I meditated and then the next time I opened my eyes, four hours had passed. Ever since, I hadn’t been able to do replicate this exactly ever again…
My usual “symptoms” that happen are:
– intense tingling sensation in my hands then moves throughout my entire body
– my legs then fall asleep.. It almost feels like it’s trying to root me to the earth
– then if I’m lucky I get this odd sense of how vast the universe is and how small I am……. This usually makes me pretty humble for a couple of days.
Like the feeling of being lucky to be alive sort of..
Hello sir.,,
i feel little bit pain in between my eyebrows during meditation.
is it a positive sign or a negative sign of meditation.
That’s a fairly common experience, Hari. I’ve heard from many people who experience a sense of pressure in that area. I’ve no idea what causes it, unfortunately, although I doubt if it’s a bad sign. I’d suggest just accepting it and getting on with the practice. There’s no possibility that this is going to harm you.
I am new to meditation. Your website is very informative, thanks.
This can be an explanation to those “lights” that we may see when meditating (or in general when eyes are closed) https://scienceline.org/2014/12/why-do-we-see-colors-with-our-eyes-closed/
Would it be ok to focus on those “interesting moving lights” just like we focus on our breathing? It seems to have a similar effect on me as when I focus on the breathing.
Thanks, Abril. That’s a very interesting article. I used to watch phosphenes at night when I was a kid.
Paying attention to phosphenes is relaxing, but it’s not recommended for meditation because it leads to a dreamy unfocused state and not to alertness and mindfulness. Meditation does lead to relaxation, but it’s also a state of mindful presence.
Ok, thanks! I guess I have only reached relaxation, hopefully I will experience mindful presence eventually.
It’s not really a question of “eventually.” You have the relaxation part down. Now you just need to bring in a more alert sense of attentiveness to your experience. Those phosphenes don’t make for a very good object of attention if that’s your aim, so I’d suggest paying attention to the physical sensations that arise in the body as you breathe. As soon as you do that, you’ll be experiencing mindfulness. Of course, the state of mindfulness comes and goes, and then the practice becomes one of encouraging it to last longer. And we can become more deeply mindful of ourselves, so we also work on having a more detailed perception of the body, feelings, and mind.
Mindful presence is just a small shift in attention away (you can do it right now!) although strengthening and deepening it is a life-long task.
Ok, thanks for clarifying!! :)
Thank you. Your words have a pleasant acceptance of experience, with a gentle aim of mindfulness. Simply put..
Hello, during my last meditation I heard voices, almost like I was listening to other people’s conversations around me but I was alone, (in my car outside of my children’s school waiting for them to finish a tutoring program). There was no noise around me and the parking lot was fairly empty. They weren’t my own thoughts, but very distinct voices of other people and it some of what I heard was alarming, so I honestly haven’t wanted to meditate since. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions??
It’s just a distraction, Micaela. It’s the kind of thing that arises when we’re calming the mind but haven’t yet learned how to pay full attention to our present-moment experience. In the mild sensory deprivation that results, the mind conjures up very realistic dream-like or hallucinatory imagery. Just keep going, and see if you can develop a more full-on experience of the body and of your breathing.
Hello, I just found this article and have my own uncomfortable-but-probably-entirely-normal experience and question to add to the pile.
As a child I had what I assume were night terrors. Visually, they were quite weird and not scary at all. They would manifest as patterns or small objects that would move in an increasingly agitated manner until the panic was unbearable and I’d wake up irrationally panicked. How do objects or patterns move in a scary way? I don’t know, but it was terrifying.
Fast forward to this year, when at 26 years old I started meditating. Whenever I sink really deep, it feels really good and light and I’m completely detached. But sometimes if I keep going, I feel some of that old panic rise up again. But it’s not just a feeling, there’s some sort of sensory component I can’t describe. Like someone screaming or things moving, except I can’t actually hear or see anything- not like the experiences described here. It’s what happened to me during sleep when I was a child, and I’ve had to open my eyes and continue meditating that way because I’m honestly not sure if something will drive me mad if I keep my eyes closed. And I’m completely aware the whole time – not dreaming or imagining things.
Is it likely that I have some sort of illness and my brain is trying to tell me? Why do I get to a scary “layer” when my meditation is successful? Am I reopening some sort of trauma (I did have a stressful childhood due to geopolitical factors).
Hi, KT.
Thanks for writing.
It was probably your fear that was producing the shapes, rather than the other way around.
“Is it likely that I have some sort of illness and my brain is trying to tell me?”
That’s extremely unlikely :)
“Why do I get to a scary “layer” when my meditation is successful?”
I don’t know, but I have a few guesses.
At any given moment, part of our experience present in conscious awareness, but the vast majority of it isn’t, including memories, subconscious processing, etc. There can be all kinds of “thinking” going on that we normally are only distantly aware of, or aren’t aware of at all. When we meditate, the conscious mind shuts up a bit more, and it becomes easier to get a sense of what’s going on in less conscious parts of our minds. It’s a bit like how when water is whipped up by the wind we can’t see into it very well, but when it calms down we can look into the depths more easily.
So possibly this is what’s happening. Your mind is stilling, and you’re becoming more conscious of fear. It might be that the fear is there a lot of the time and you’re just not aware of it.
On the other hand, maybe part of your mind is freaked out by quietness. It’s quite common for people to experience some resistance to meditation after having had a particularly good (i.e. calm and joyful) sit. It’s as if parts of the mind that are going to be transformed kick up a fuss, because they don’t want to “die.” So it might be that you’re experiencing fear of that sort, but it’s happening while you’re sitting.
“Am I reopening some sort of trauma (I did have a stressful childhood due to geopolitical factors).”
That’s a possibility — it’s a form of what I talked about above. The patterns you talk about seeing as a child (and that are associated with fear) are very similar to what some people experience in meditation. Perhaps those patterns are beginning to arise, but haven’t quite reached conscious awareness, and part of your mind, recognizing the similarity to your childhood experiences, is freaking out.
You might want to talk with a therapist about this — someone who can help you become clearer what your fear is about. Or you might want to get into a relaxed state and ask the frightened parts of your mind what it is they’re afraid of. They may be able to tell you, but have never been given the opportunity to do so!
Hi. I found your blog while searching about an experience I’ve been having similar to your body distortions, but it’s more like energetic distortion, where my energy feels simultaneously microscopic, yet infinite (it’s overwhelming, btw). And I also feel a lot of other “stuff” like patterns surrounding me (also overwhelming). It seems to morph and change and actually has happened totally unprovoked, like just from lying down to rest, apart from through meditation. Any insights? Thank you.
Sorry, I don’t know! The language of energy/stuff/patterns is open to wide interpretation, and I just don’t know enough to be able to match your experience up with the model of meditative experience I’m familiar with — that’s assuming that it actually matches up at all! Apologies for not being able to be of greater help.
Hi, I found this blog while looking for answers. For the first time I was doing meditation and within 5 minutes of me closing my eyes, I saw a big blue eye. I was so scared and opened my eyes. Since then I having a headache on/off. Is there any explanation for this or is it normal before meditating?.
Images appear in the mind all the time, Akhila. You were just in a near dream-like state, which is of no significance. Just carry on!
Swirling lights, especially those which are purple in colour are called “phosphenes”. it’s caused by random firing of neurons in the visual processing centre of the brain, connected to the optic nerve, and the effect is noticed when in the absence of visual stimuli.
https://www.oubliette.org.uk/Three.html
A similar thing also happens when the brain and sensory organs become deprived of Oxygen – such as during fainting. I’ve experienced several times, bright lights, multicoloured lights and strange noises when about to faint. This is caused by the fact that a lack of oxygen in the areas of the brain that interpret our vision/hearing result in the things we see and hear becoming distorted and nonsensical. I have yet to see any evidence that there is anything metaphysical/spiritual about any of this.
Yes, there’s no spiritual significance in these patterns, except in that they’re not generally detected unless the amount of “noise” in the mind has begun to quiet down. That quieting is a good sign in terms of meditation. The phosphenes themselves are not significant, and in fact their appearance tends to happen when we haven’t yet learned how to be more fully mindful of our experience. People do tend to get excited by them, however. Sigh.
Thanks for this. The Wikipedia article on phosphenes mentions meditation.
Hi Bodhipaksa,
I started practicing meditation around two month ago and Ive recently noticed that every time I finish the meditation I feel cold and I need a jumper or something that makes me feel better. Is this normal? Im really curious about this particularly because it makes me think of the effects of meditation.
Thank you!
p.s sorry my english it’s not my native language
Yes, that’s quite common, Eugenia. I used to notice this a lot when I first started meditating, but it hasn’t bothered me in a long time, so perhaps it’s just a passing phase. In the meantime, you might want to wrap a blanket around your legs while you meditate.
thank you! I will try that :)
Hi Bodhipaksa,
I really appreciate your work on this website! I recently started meditating and had a rather strange experience, I would be grateful to hear your take on it.
I started experiencing sensations of tingling/cold shivers during meditation. This is not a new feeling to me, as I had these kinds of shivers at specific times for example in church (though I rarely go), or moments of clarity when I was struggling with a decision. I believe in God, but I don’t adhere to a specific religion. I’ve had this feeling since I was a kid, that I could sometimes ask God for something and I would get it (not something material, per se). Some of the answers would be getting just the right kind of experience at just the right kind of moment, or just the right kind of people coming into my life. While these experiences could certainly be chalked up to coincidences, they have been repeatedly “tested” and I’d like to think they’re true.
Getting back to the matter at hand, after the latest meditation session, I started asking myself some yes/no existential questions with regards to my life. I was surprised to realize I was getting yes/no answers in the form of tingles through my whole body. After experimenting a bit, I could discern two specific types of “presences”. The cold tingles I attributed to a “wise, calm entity” and the hot tingles to a “emotional, somewhat chaotic, feelings-oriented entity”. I also realised I can get them to “collaborate” by merging the feelings together.
I know this sounds like a load of bullshit and as I have a rather logical mind, I’m struggling with these experiences. I would much rather believe these are just ways my subconscious mind is “answering” to my questions. Some placebo effect can definitely be taking place as when you look up experiences such as mine you find loads of bullshit websites describing magical entities and such.
My questions are: Do you think there is any possibility to communicate with God in such a manner? Do you believe in the existence of entities/guides/angels that can guide our path in we are attuned to their presence (including through meditation)? Do you think it’s all a bunch of crap?
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer all the questions people such as myself are having. Have a great day!
Hi, Mike. I don’t believe in god and I’m very skeptical about the existence of non-physical beings of the type you describe, but I don’t think that what you described is “bullshit” at all. I think you’re simply communicating with different parts of yourself. Feelings of any sort are a form of internal communication where a non-verbal part of the brain that nonetheless has some form of intelligence is trying to get the attention of other parts of the brain. Paying mindful attention to our feelings has an integrating effect, since we now have a chance to respond to some situation as a whole. Sometimes people are unaware of or ignore feelings and thus cut off from one intelligent part of themselves, and sometimes they are over-trusting of their feelings and in effect cut themselves off from their rationality (another intelligent part of themselves). In truth no part of ourselves is right all the time, and the more we can allow for cooperation, a kind of inner dialog, and even one part of us educating another, the more likely we are to live wisely — i.e. in a way that benefits ourselves and others in the long term.
I was home alone today and I decided to do a little meditation before I get to working on my dissertation. I meditated for close to an hour, when suddenly I heard the sound of pots banging onto each other in the Kitchen so I figured someone had entered the house and decided to wake up to see who it was, I opened my eyes but couldn’t move my body for about 2 to 3 minutes. Is this normal. And it turns out the pots banging were from my neighbours place but they sounded very close.
Hi Kay.
You describe what you did at the end of your meditation as “deciding to wake up.” It’s possible that you were partly asleep. Or it may be that some part of you was enjoying the stillness and didn’t want to move. I wouldn’t say that not being able to move at the end of meditation is common, but I don’t think it’s anything to be alarmed about.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Hi,
I went to a 10 day meditation course and I have a sense of pressure on my nose and on my forehead since then. In addition to that I have headaches and mental confusion. What should I do to get out of this pressure and get back to normal.
Hi, Viky. I don’t know what the people who ran the 10-day meditation course taught you, and so it might be a good idea to talk to them.
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I went to a 10 day Vipassana course by S.N Goenka. They said that it will automatically go away but it’s been 2 months and that pressure is still there. It is called as a stone head symptom in traditional meditation circles.
I’ve heard very mixed reports about Goenka-style retreats. I’ve never participated in one myself, and so I don’t really know what they teach or hoe it might lead to symptoms like this. I’ve been teaching meditation for close to 40 years and I’ve never come across someone that I’ve taught (or who has been a student of the many teachers I know) who has had similar experiences.
I’ve just sent you an invitation to a closed Facebook group I participated in last year, where I shared some short meditations. I’d suggest trying those out and seeing if anything changes. It’s possible that approaching meditation in a different way might shake things up and change things for you. But, as I’m sure you’ve been told, as best you can simply accept the presence of these symptoms, and explore them mindfully. (With the caveat that if you think there’s something medically wrong, then talk to a doctor. It may be a coincidence that this started with or after the retreat.)