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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 10 2010 : 07:49:38 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hemanthks
Namaste,
I started doing meditation about 4 months back. Initially I was doing it once a day, and gradually increased it to twice a day (morning and evening) lasting about 15-20 min each session. From past two months or so I am experiencing light pressure in my forehead and also in my eyes. Pressure in eyes is constantly present (and also red most of the time) and is uncomfortable. I am bit worried now, how can I get rid of this? I just sit and start reciting a mantra mentally and try to focus on the mantra all the time. That's all I do.
Please help me.
Do you practice sambhavi mudra?
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Jun 10 2010 : 09:00:39 AM
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Hi Thyjs,
You seem pretty convinced that meditation is what has caused your floaters. To offer another perspective, there are many people who have floaters that have never meditated. You may have come to notice the floaters at a similar time as your meditation practices but this doesn't prove that they weren't already there or that they weren't caused by other factors.
Best of luck! |
Edited by - Anthem on Jun 10 2010 09:01:09 AM |
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hemanthks
Canada
59 Posts |
Posted - Jun 10 2010 : 11:49:08 PM
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[/quote]
Do you practice sambhavi mudra?
[/quote]
Namaste Shanti:
Thank You for the link. After going through the link I realize that I am be doing Shambhavi Mudra without knowing it, and also not in a proper way.
When I started doing meditation, I could see red colour after some time. So I kind of focused more in the eye brow region (it was furrowing). When I did this, I could see the red-orange flame more clearly and it moved towards me burning intensely. This produced so much heat on my forehead that it became unbearable and I had to stop meditating. I think shortly after that, my forehead and eye pressure problem started. I stopped focusing at the eye brow region and started focusing at my heart. But yet the pressure has not gone. I continue to see the red flame, but not that intense and additionally now I see Blue (or may be indigo, not sure) colour too.
So I think the pressure in my forehead/eyes is due to the intense furrowing at the eye brow region. What do you think? How can I undo this ? Please advise.
Thank You,
Hemanth |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jun 11 2010 : 08:13:53 AM
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Hi Hemanth,
Well there are two things you could try.
One is to be conscious of your eyes during meditation. The eyes getting pulled into automatic sambhavi is natural, but any time you realize you are pulling it up too far or you feel pressure, relax your eyes. There is a tendency to pull the eyes too far up which can result in pain and burning and discomfort... I did it for the longest time. Till I realized, it is a very subtle shift upward. Like Yogani explains in that lesson:
There are two main components to sambhavi. First is a gentle furrowing of the brow, the point between the eyebrows. It is bringing the two eyebrows slightly toward the center. This is barely physical, mostly just an intention. It is only physical enough to allow feedback for a habit to form. Under normal circumstances it will not be visible to an outside observer. Maybe only a little in the beginning stage. With practice, you will find that this is really an internal movement reaching back into the center of your brain, pulling the center of your brain forward toward the point between the eyebrows. We begin this internal activity with the brow-furrowing impulse just described. It will evolve naturally after that, as ecstatic conductivity arises. You will feel it working inside your head.
The second component of sambhavi is a physical raising of the eyes toward the point where the furrowing is happening at the point between the eyebrows. The sensation of furrowing at the point between the eyebrows is where the eyes will go. This will involve some raising and some centering of the eyes. We keep the eyes comfortably closed as we do it. We don’t force the eyes. In the beginning, they may not go as far up as we would like. That is okay. Do not force them. Just let them gravitate naturally toward the sensation of furrowing at the point between the eyebrows. Again, it is a subtle physical habit we want to cultivate. Once the habit in place, the attention is free for spinal breathing. All of pranayama is physical habit, except for the attention going very simply up and down the spinal nerve with the breath. As we become adept at it, everything will be happening automatically, with our attention completely free to be easily going up and down inside the spinal nerve, which will be transforming before our inner sight.
Second is to try mulabandha. Sambhavi is the mudra that affects the energies in the upper body, but this energy gets pulled up from the lower body. Mulabandha will help with this. So the pressure you may be feeling is due to the lack in energy moving upward and adding mulabandha may even it out.
Hope these help.
PS: Bringing attention down toward your heart, which you are doing, is a wonderful way of releasing energy and discomfort from the head too. |
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Jo-self
USA
225 Posts |
Posted - Jun 13 2010 : 8:05:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Thijs van der Wel
I have acquired floaters (kind of dust in my eye ... by non-proper meditation. I often have experienced increased pressure in my eyeballs during meditation ....
I'm late to this forum thread, but my two cents is:
Make sure you get checked by a real doctor to rule out real medical problems. Ease off meditation and all kinds of internal stuff, then gradually bring them in (AYP if done very carefully is fine). Finally, continue to be skeptical of "new age" healing stuff. They'll have you drinking pee, carrying pounds of crystals, standing on your head so your anus get get moonlight, and other nonsense no better then a bottle labeled 'Rid Floaters' in some voodoo shop. BTW, I get the pressure too but in my cranium and forehead. |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jul 10 2010 : 04:23:29 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Thijs van der Wel
A lot of yogis stress the miserableness of life and they say that yoga makes you health, but that is not the goal. My eyes have been hurt by meditation not just the approach to it. I think risk is involved for every meditator. However, we are going off topic. Who can show me that
yoga is not just brainwave alteration?
You look too hard in search of that which you seek. You stand and stare, eyes watering, straining just to catch a glimpse. You think that if you look really, really hard and concentrate, hold your breath, grit your teeth and clench your fists that you can make something happen.
Give up looking. That is what is hurting your body. You cannot find it by looking for it with such a laser intent, a scientists logic and objective searching. There are no experiments, no analysis, nothing needing to be done. You think that meditation is that experiment and you misuse it to gain answers without realising there are none. It's no wonder that you worry so much about insignificant things like duties and floaters.
Best then, to concentrate on your duties without distraction, with single minded purposefulness, to love that which you do. |
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tamasaburo
USA
136 Posts |
Posted - Jul 12 2010 : 3:05:23 PM
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I had a similar scare: I noticed a relatively sudden increase in floaters a year or so ago and assumed it must be connected with what I perceived as increased pressure on my eyes due to yoni mudra kumbhaka, headstands and similar exercises. I saw the eye doctor and asked if any such exercises could cause floaters, but she said nothing I did in terms of exercise, including headstands and the like would have caused the floaters.
I think it's just a coincidence. Lots of people about my age (late 20s) get floaters, especially those who are nearsighted (like me). In any case, though increased pressure inside the eyeball could cause some problems like glaucoma, I don't think it would cause floaters, which is basically the fluid in your eyeball congealing a bit and losing some of its youthful fluidity. Also, though I'm no eye doctor, I don't think anything we do in terms of pranayama and the like will really increase pressure inside the eyeball. They may temporarily increase pressure in the head, behind the eyeball and in the blood vessels of the eye, but they are not going to increase the pressure of the vitreous humor fluid inside the eyeball, which is a closed system (hence the difficulty in treating floaters--the fluid is not replaced by the body, so the floaters have nowhere to go).
If it's any consolation, though the floaters don't exactly go away, it seems that your brain naturally adjusts to their constant presence such that you don't see them anymore. I hardly ever notice them now just one year after they first seemed to be a problem. Sort of like how if you live on a farm you stop noticing animal smells, if you live in a big city you stop noticing car noise, etc. Your brain disregards things that are constant.
Personally, I wouldn't let it scare you. Floaters are only something to be worried about if they increase suddenly and dramatically, especially if accompanied by flashing lights. They are very common and almost certainly have nothing to do with your yoga practice. If you're really worried you can always back off from kumbhaka for a while, but I don't think even that is necessary. I've continued to practice yoni mudra kumbhaka, headstands and the like with no noticeable worsening of the floaters (and the floaters becoming much less noticeable in daily life as my brain has adjusted). |
Edited by - tamasaburo on Jul 12 2010 3:08:46 PM |
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