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jrichter
USA
3 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 14 2015 : 11:54:52 AM
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Hi and thank you Yogani and members of the forum for the guidance to the practices of meditation. I began meditating formally about 18 months ago using Yogani's booklets to deep meditation and breathing. Although the practice is short lived, I have experienced moments of insight throughout my life into self awareness. This began as a child but without guidance there has been little progress. After 6 months using Yogani's practices I began to sense the inner silence. As things progressed I began to feel pressure in my head and crown. It began as a tinkling sensation and progressed to what I would call pressure. It got so bad that I could not even think about meditating without the pressure arising. I would stop the practice for a month or so and would continue only to find the pressure arsing again within a short time. To me it is abnormal to sense the pressure, so in fear of the unknown I discontinue the practice until I am drawn once again to meditation practice. I feel this is just a beginners problem and can be solved with the help of experienced practitioners. Thank you again for any help. |
Edited by - jrichter on Jun 14 2015 2:15:22 PM |
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So-Hi
USA
481 Posts |
Posted - Jun 14 2015 : 3:59:12 PM
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Hello have you practiced Spinal Breathing yet? If not this may be exactly what is needed before Practicing Deep Meditation, as this practice will help you stay out of the crown and balance what you are feeling as pressure in the head all along the spinal nerve from root to brow.
The suggested starting point is 5 minutes it seems you are sensitive perhaps try 5 minutes of Spinal breathing followed by 5 minutes of Deep Meditation for a week 1 time per day if that works well increase the following week DM by 2.5 minutes for 7.5 minutes total but keep spinal breathing at 5 minutes gradually work your way up to 20 minutes of DM. If you feel uncomfortable lower the time That is one way of self pacing.
You probably know about self pacing, practicing it is harder than advising it.
What you described was experienced here as well it seems once you really get started it is something that has to be done and completed. Good news is if it is the same as here it gets much, much better with practice.
oh and one more thing feeling unusual things is to be expected. You should be okay if you do not make a study of focusing on the feelings in the crown and focus on the brow and spinal breathing. This practice in moderation can keep you safe, also you could consider using a mala for spinal breathing and do no more than 12 spinal breaths this way you can get control, of how many you are doing and later use time which is better.
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Edited by - So-Hi on Jun 14 2015 4:12:04 PM |
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Dogboy
USA
2202 Posts |
Posted - Jun 14 2015 : 10:31:14 PM
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Welcome jrichter!
Pressure in the head is to be expected; I call it wearing my "yoga hat". It is an indication of purification and kundalini, possibly related to an activated pineal gland, and part of the process. You are rewiring your neurobiology after all, you should feel something different! I feel my yoga hat after asana classes, after deep, rich meditations, and delving into spiritual reading and thoughts, including this forum. I feel it now as I type this. It is a positive sign for me, but can be an indication of the need of self pacing should the pressure feel too heavy, or my mood turn sullen.
Some ways to deal with the yoga hat:
- solar centering (http://www.aypsite.org/368.html). This practice encourages energy to pool in the torso instead of the head, and if your heart is open, it can assist in dispelling it. I offer excess energy up to my ishta, and the distillation registers there in a physical way.
- samyama (http://www.aypsite.org/150.html). This practice is outwardly flowing (as opposed to inwardly flowing DM) casting sutras out into stillness. This practice trains you in radiance.
- interacting with/serving others. My yoga hat virtually disappears when in conversation. Is it that I share it somehow, or that I'm not focussed on it? Yes on both counts.
I am also in the habit of daily grounding activities: working and playing outdoors, eating meat, mindful breathing, staying hydrated. I also will do breath meditation (instead of mantra) for a sit as a self pacing measure, and you always can shorten your practice by temporarily shaving off minutes.
What you should not do is give a foothold to fear, as this is the thinking mind trying to wrestle away the steering wheel. Learning to accept the notion of slight pressure is a part of the solution. The yoga hat is a fleeting sensation, and with proper self pacing tools, doesn't escalate or get out of hand.
The beauty of the design of AYP practice is the slow and steady building of your practice, good self pacing and grounding habits, and eventually learning to balance energy flows with the increasing inner silence through experience. By that point less practice bears more spiritual fruits. AYP practice is a safe and stable unfolding in my experience, so far. Try your yoga hat on for size for a bit, and ease your way into the experience of wearing one.
PS:
I forgot to mention two (non AYP) breathing techniques to release head pressure. I am just returning from asana class; with awakened kundalini, asana classes generate a lot of energy that assist in sustained holding of poses. Throughout the class I "normalize" kundalini flow as much as possible with two techniques:
1) Exhaling With Intention, through either flared nostrils or pursed lips, open to the possibility of releasing excess energy through this "valve". If you make noise all the better; you are now actively engaging another sense.
2) Cooling Breath. Empty your lungs. Curling your tongue, inhale slowly through that "tunnel". It is a cooling sensation aimed directly into your skull. Imaging that cool sensation as a cold wash cloth covering your yoga hat. Exhale it, with intention.
One definition of 'placebo' in Webster's is "a prescription more for the mental relief rather than the actual effect on the disorder". When one is open to relief, then it comes on its own, the same mystery that can change bread into body, and wine into blood.  |
Edited by - Dogboy on Jun 15 2015 11:33:53 AM |
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jrichter
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - Jun 15 2015 : 8:43:31 PM
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Thank you So-Hi and Dogboy for your response. I appreciate the information as it is encouraging to know others walk similar paths. Reading the deep meditation and spinal breathing booklets for a second time has confirmed some things I may have forgotten since the first reading. The importance of self pacing is seen in a new light.
Wishing you well.
JR |
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Toto
Norway
20 Posts |
Posted - Jun 15 2015 : 11:12:55 PM
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Hi jrichter.
in 9 years I have had strong kundalini symptoms. After a month with spinal breathing and mantra meditasjon, kundalini is more manageable now. It seems to change and disturb my old energi pattern. Sometime in the day I even feel free from any symptoms.
I guess feeling this, make me feel less as a victim or not fighting with a harsh older brother. |
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jrichter
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - Jun 16 2015 : 12:08:02 PM
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Hi Toto.
I like Dogboy's comment about the yoga hat. It feels like I am wearing a hat that is too small and stretched around my head. I suppose it's just part of the purification process and I will self pace the practice as needed. I just smile and see the hat as another sensation and in seems to lighten up.
Reading and practising the information in the AYP books has been a type of enlightenment in itself as it details a methodical yet flexable way to progress. It has been a blessing to me. Thank you for your response Toto. |
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Apkallu
France
108 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2015 : 08:33:51 AM
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Hi,
I had the same pressure symptoms.
Try a few minutes of Microcosmic Orbit (MCO) before or after the Pranayama
The pressure disappears instantly (in facts, it is spreading in your body instead of accumulating in the head).
Greater inner silence since then.
Regards. |
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