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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 3:13:44 PM
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| I have been medtating for about a week now. For the first couple of days I experienced a great calm in my mind where for the first time ever it seemed I didn't have constant songs or other things repeating in my head. Now, it seems my mind is rebelling and the melodymania (constant songs in head) seem to be coming back full-force. I mean, this isn't the type of thing while meditation or doing anything that I can simply focus on my breath or the mantra...it literally will continue in the background the whole time! I CANT GET IT TO STOP!!!!! It literally makes me depressed sometimes because I feel I have absolutely no control over my mind. It just repeats over and over and there's nothing I can find that will stop it. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 3:26:26 PM
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Hi Anthony,
Do I understand you right when you say you have constant melodies in your head, but that when you started meditating they ceased for a few days - not only during meditation but during your whole time awake?
For how long have you had these melodies? Are they still in the background even during the meditation session?
I am asking just to get it clear. I have read about this phenomena in Oliver Sachs book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales". He tells about two ladies who have orchestras in their heads, repeating the same tunes over and over again. So for a starter - you are not alone with your symptom! It is obviously a known phenomena. However, I do not remember the explanation for it other than a neurobiological disturbance, neither do I remember if it was able to cure.
Now, it is also possible that you have a totally different kind of experience than they had! What is the melody like? Is it a voice singing or instruments playing? Is it beautiful or unpleasant tunes? It is also a well known phenomenon to start hearing all kinds of different things when you build up energies through meditation or other spiritual excercises. It may be something that is just passing by - scenery along the way.
It is hard to tell, though, from your short description. Please, tell more about your melodymania!
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jillatay
USA
206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 4:20:23 PM
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This music in the head increased for me when I went through menopause but has improved in the last year. Still I have to be very careful not to listen to too much music or I will suffer for days. Since I assume you are not female, with the name Anthony, its pretty surely not female hormones. When I was on hormone replacement it was helping but I don't recommend estrogen or progesterone for you.
I have always had some auditory phenomenon, once wrote an entire opera in my sleep (wish I could remember it) and hear an occasional voice. There also was a study recently about people who hear voices. I think this is related. Somehow the neurological impulses must be funneling through the auditory part of the brain. Used to be people were burned at the stake or instituionalized but now science is learning it just IS for some people and doesn't mean anything.
Hope you get relief.
Jill |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 5:24:48 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by emc
Hi Anthony,
Do I understand you right when you say you have constant melodies in your head, but that when you started meditating they ceased for a few days - not only during meditation but during your whole time awake?
For how long have you had these melodies? Are they still in the background even during the meditation session?
I am asking just to get it clear. I have read about this phenomena in Oliver Sachs book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales". He tells about two ladies who have orchestras in their heads, repeating the same tunes over and over again. So for a starter - you are not alone with your symptom! It is obviously a known phenomena. However, I do not remember the explanation for it other than a neurobiological disturbance, neither do I remember if it was able to cure.
Now, it is also possible that you have a totally different kind of experience than they had! What is the melody like? Is it a voice singing or instruments playing? Is it beautiful or unpleasant tunes? It is also a well known phenomenon to start hearing all kinds of different things when you build up energies through meditation or other spiritual excercises. It may be something that is just passing by - scenery along the way.
It is hard to tell, though, from your short description. Please, tell more about your melodymania!
It could be any number of things. I am a musician so sometimes it is my own ideas creating themselves...but it's never as bad as when it's a song, like a pop-song or a song I like. I have always had this problem but never became aware of it until a year ago when I started becoming a lot more aware of my mental processes...unfortunately, being aware of them doesn't do much good because they go on no matter what I wish.
During the first couple days of DM it seemed this problem had alleviated a bit, but now it's back full-force and it's causing my great angst. I mean, people don't think it's a big deal because everyone gets a catchy song in thier head...but this is different. it literally won't stop. I can hear it now as I'm typing this. It goes on in the background in realtime regardless of whatever else my mind is focused on. I can be, for example, even playing an instrument and the song will still be there even while I'm focusing on playing another one! I'm almost thinking about taking OCD medication...but I don't believe in meds so I guess I can't. I mean, it's sad because I feel like I'm never 100% in the moment because I always have some stupid song or something in my head, even during sex. I don't know what to do. Not to sound like a pity-case...but this is the type of thing that drives some people to suicide. Feeling like your mind works independently of your will is a horrible and dark feeling, believe it or not. I don't know what to do. |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 6:01:23 PM
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| Attaining stillness of the mind takes a long period of practice...years. |
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weaver
832 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 7:05:05 PM
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Hi Anthony,
I have had this also, with annoying songs that go on in the head. I found that it doesn't work to try to turn them off or wishing it, or even relaxing the mind. The only thing I could get to work was to intentionally do another mental activity with sound. I did a mantra mentally - OM MANI PADME HUM - for parts of the day, even while driving long distances (which might not be recommended, though), and it worked pretty well. I also came to add a musical note to each syllable, so it became kind of like a very simple song. Then, if an annoying melody would come up sometimes, I could just say this simple melody mentally, with or without mantra, and it wouldn't bother me.
This was after starting with AYP, but I did AYP anyway. I didn't get any symptoms of overdoing. This extra mantra seemed to work more outwardly in the mind, but I did notice that the mind became calmer while doing this activity.
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Edited by - weaver on Apr 18 2007 11:03:28 PM |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 9:02:44 PM
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| What was the inspiration for that mantra? Almost sounds Latin |
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weaver
832 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 9:31:31 PM
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No specific inspiration, Anthony. I used it because it felt comfortable and easy, not becoming intense and drawing the mind inward like I AM might do. It felt like it was still easy to focus on outer activities at the same time.
It says here it is probably the most famous mantra in Buddhism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_mani_padme_hum
and you can read about its meaning too. |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 11:15:18 PM
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| Try this experiment: Sing to yourself the simplest song you can think of; mary had a little lamb or something. It should push the other song out of your mind. when I used to have this problem, I would progress to simpler and simpler things. It was easy to replace them this way, until it's not a song anymore. I don't know what causes this. |
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Maximus
India
187 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2007 : 11:28:50 PM
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Let me share a similar kind of trouble I had had several years ago - I was not hearing songs, but certain thoughts would play over and over in my mind for days, making me feel I'm losing my mind. I wasn't practising meditation at the time. I think I got that problem due to a 'compartmentalized' zone in the mind. I had been a bookworm for over a year prior to that experience, and I believe I created a compartment in the mind by repeatedly studying, brooding over, recalling, that kind of stuff. So when the active study phase was over, that compartment went crazy due to its dynamic inertia. I further realized that it was deriving its momentum from my very fear about it. I suffered from this problem for about an year, and did not mention to anyone not wanting to sound crazy. There were a few measures I followed that helped me overcome it for few days stretches.
- When I affirmed to myself "I am one. I have a single mind" it stopped the crazy thoughts.
- Choosing to ignore it and making the fear lose its grip. I realized that whenever I got those repeating thoughts, I was grinding my teeth in frustation thinking 'Here it goes again!'. So I chose to deliberately stop all my physical reactions to it, and behaving as if I'm perfectly normal. That gradually took care of the fear part.
- When I fell in love with a girl, the crazy thoughts disappeard for a few months.
- The crazy thoughts would come with full force when I was going through too much of a busy hectic life.
- Finally the problem cured over time. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2007 : 12:19:10 AM
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| This is great news. A nice distraction to test your ability to gently, calmly return to mantra, over and over. That's the basis of this whole practice: the (endlessly) repeated returning of attention back to mantra. Sounds like you've got some nice grist for that mill. Enjoy! |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2007 : 03:24:16 AM
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quote:
I have always had this problem but never became aware of it until a year ago when I started becoming a lot more aware of my mental processes
Now, this sentence is really interesting! You say you have always had the problem, but were unaware of it before????  That is definitely a trick I would like to learn!If I just was unaware of all my problems, I could have heaps of them!  How did you handle it before? You believing it is a problem right now seems to have something to do with the attention you put to it.
Therefore, I think the advice on focusing on a mantra is great! I know that tinnitus treatment is focused on moving the attention from the different noices to something else. It is like living beside a big road - in the beginning you get annoyed and disturbed by all the constant noice, but after a while you get so used to it, you don't even notice it, and that sounds like exactly the mode you were in before you started to focus your attention to the melodies. Moving the attention again is the key, I believe.
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Edited by - emc on Apr 19 2007 03:27:07 AM |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2007 : 09:18:38 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by emc
quote:
I have always had this problem but never became aware of it until a year ago when I started becoming a lot more aware of my mental processes
Now, this sentence is really interesting! You say you have always had the problem, but were unaware of it before???? That is definitely a trick I would like to learn!If I just was unaware of all my problems, I could have heaps of them! How did you handle it before? You believing it is a problem right now seems to have something to do with the attention you put to it.
Well, yes, I have always had the problem of not being 100% in the present. I have always felt I was always too much in my head and not enough outside of it, and I do remember always having songs playing in my head - so yes, I had the problem. I was not AWARE of it being a problem until I got into meditation and began really observing my mental processes. It is akin to how people, when unaware of thier breathing or unaware you can even be aware of your breathing tend to breathe shallowly, especially when stressed because it tends to raise the CO2 content of the blood and causes less awareness. Same with me and my constant songs in my head. |
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Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 9:21:50 PM
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Anthony, perhaps you don't want it to stop.
Try addressing whether you secretly want to contend with it and see if that does anything, or doesn't do anything.
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Edited by - Kyman on Apr 20 2007 10:01:15 PM |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Apr 21 2007 : 08:56:56 AM
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Do I secretly want to contend with it? No.
My mind has some odd tendency to associate certain absolutely worthless lines of dialogue or music with certain events. For example, when I was writing this one piano piece for some reason I was thinking about something a friend of mine was saying about her mom and dad. Now, every time I play that piece, when I get to that exact part that line of dialogue plays in my head and there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid it.
I fear I have done this for meditation. I notice when I meditate now I hear the same couple notes of a guitar solo in my head. I don't put much stock in Western Psychology...but I know this has something to do with what they would call Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I know everyone has thoughts running through their head, but I know it's worse with me. I've asked many people I know closely and I've determined time and again that it is not normal. |
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woosa
United Kingdom
382 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2010 : 2:51:42 PM
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I have been meditating for a few years now, and about 6 months ago I started AYP.
Just lately I have a song stuck in my head and its been on loop all the way through my practice.
Doing SBP, DM and Samyama all in kechari stage 2. I have just added Yoni Mudra and wondered could too much energy be the cause of the songs being trapped in the head? Before I never had the problem, the odd thought would pop up but nothing like this. I felt I was progressing too easily and smoothly, and so the ego launches defcon 1 on me. The swine.
It's quite funny because the track is 'bump' by the 'fun lovin' criminals' "Gay night, it's allright, don't be uptight" on loop. People who have heard it may find that funny, like me, but it is wearing a little thin now  |
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Rael
USA
173 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 12:57:26 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by anthony574
I have been medtating for about a week now. For the first couple of days I experienced a great calm in my mind where for the first time ever it seemed I didn't have constant songs or other things repeating in my head. Now, it seems my mind is rebelling and the melodymania (constant songs in head) seem to be coming back full-force. I mean, this isn't the type of thing while meditation or doing anything that I can simply focus on my breath or the mantra...it literally will continue in the background the whole time! I CANT GET IT TO STOP!!!!! It literally makes me depressed sometimes because I feel I have absolutely no control over my mind. It just repeats over and over and there's nothing I can find that will stop it.
Hi Anthony
Sorry you are having problems! It may be a "rebellion" as you termed it. Even though i have meditated well in the past, the I AM had a different effect! I would be calm and quite at times (during practice) and then it would escalate into noise, thoughts, rapidly moving crazy images, etc. Sounds like what you are going through. In time, mine has just calmed down, and slowly i have gained nice long periods of either quieter thoughts or soft, silent times. I have also noticed that I AM has taken on an energetic force. When it gets long and vibrant, i feel it soothing and energizing my entire system!
So, all you may need is patience, just let the music play and pass-by. You may also try not listening to external music for awhile...that can stay in one's mind and seem like it can't be relieved.....pop music is the WORST that way!
I didn't read other's replies, but i hope there is help here for what is going on. The energy is roto-rootering your nervous system, so thiings are going to get kicked-up and wound -up, until they are not. It can be disturbing.
Hang in there friend!
Love
Rael!  |
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Rael
USA
173 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 01:00:24 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Etherfish
Try this experiment: Sing to yourself the simplest song you can think of; mary had a little lamb or something. It should push the other song out of your mind. when I used to have this problem, I would progress to simpler and simpler things. It was easy to replace them this way, until it's not a song anymore. I don't know what causes this.
Now talk about innovative!....Hah Hah!  |
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Rael
USA
173 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2010 : 01:01:27 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Jim and His Karma
This is great news. A nice distraction to test your ability to gently, calmly return to mantra, over and over. That's the basis of this whole practice: the (endlessly) repeated returning of attention back to mantra. Sounds like you've got some nice grist for that mill. Enjoy!
YOP!
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Melodymania!
