Meditation and Headaches

[AaronKC]

Hi, I recently started trying to meditate again. A few years ago I had some good experiences with it, so I thought it was time to bring that back into my life. Unfortunately now whenever I try to mediate, and visualize I almost instantly get a headache. It really only takes about 5 to 10 seconds. I have tried different postures, and such. Nothing seems to make a difference. It feels like its right dead center in the middle of my brain, and its dull and strange feeling. Has anybody els had anything like this ?

[Panthau]

Interesting... sounds like a resistance. Try to be with your headache, watch it be aware of it. Dont resist it or try to ignore it, theres a reason why its here.

Atb,
Phil

[Edwin]

Yes, and maybe you can ask your headache where it is coming from, what is causing it ? Sometimes these headaches originate in stress, and when asking your subconscious what is causing the headache may help surface the stress.

Also, it could be that since you haven't meditated in a while, your meditation technique could need some brushing up.
Try the free meditation course of this site, and see if you might be doing things wrong or something.

[GilesC]

A common cause of headaches in people (trying to) meditate is that they believe they have to close their eyes and then roll the eyeballs upwards, as if looking up into the skull, rather than just letting the eyes relax in their sockets. The looking upwards of the eyeballs puts a huge strain on the eye muscles and can be felt as a growing pain in the head. It's also more common in people trying to visualise in their meditations than those just following a mantra or the breath.



Hugs

Giles

[Panthau]

Originally Posted by GilesC

A common cause of headaches in people (trying to) meditate is that they believe they have to close their eyes and then roll the eyeballs upwards, as if looking up into the skull, rather than just letting the eyes relax in their sockets. The looking upwards of the eyeballs puts a huge strain on the eye muscles and can be felt as a growing pain in the head. It's also more common in people trying to visualise in their meditations than those just following a mantra or the breath.



Hugs

Giles

Thats interesting, because i do this unintentionally in my meditation. When i meditate with LF i get in a kind of ecstasy, and then my eyes roll upwards. Isnt it the same sometimes, when having an orgasm?

I guess, as you stated, rolling the eyes upwards intentionally could of course be straining and cause headache.

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by Panthau

Isnt it the same sometimes, when having an orgasm?

Right now I have about 10 naughty remarks popping into my mind, and all of them are not suitable to say in public without blushing

[Hazelkay]

Have I come to the right site?

[Panthau]

LOL my oh my im gonna check ebay for instant enlightement...

[AaronKC]

Thanks everybody for the helpful responses. I will try and pay attention to my eyes, as well as any possible subconscious insight. Hopefully it is something simple like eye strain, and not some curse on my little window into the collective

[Itlandm]

I hesitate to cast a pall on the party, but perhaps the most striking feature of even simple meditation is that it produces free awareness. In the untamed mind, this awareness usually settles on something and amplifies it, somewhat like the stillness where you can hear a pin fall, which you cannot otherwise. So the headache may already be there, but you manage to distract yourself from it when not meditating. Hopefully it is just stress and will disappear with time. But if it persists, and you start noticing it all the time, no one will get upset if you talk to a health professional. There can be any number of reasons for headaches.

As for rolling the eyes upward a bit, that is a handy way to induce alpha waves when you have no equipment with you, so I want to praise it. Just don't exert yourself to the point of hurting, or mistake a physical exercise for a spiritual state.