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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 15 2009 : 4:29:35 PM
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Hey guys
2 days ago I was doing DM on my lunch break at a bookstore. It was a particularly powerful session. I did not rest afterwards very much and then had a headache the rest of the day. Then the headache continued all day and then all the next day. This morning the headache was gone until I did DM again and now it has been back. I thought maybe this all was from caffeine withdrawl, but I notice it gets worse after DM. Maybe I should cut back?
Silly question - I know I should :-) |
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2009 : 4:38:03 PM
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Hi Anthony
No question is too silly for this forum  (and yours is fine!)
Yes - time to self pace, right?
How long do you meditate for?
Do you do SBP too?
Samyama? |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2009 : 6:00:24 PM
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I stopped doing SBP to focus more on DM. I do DM for 20 mins. That is all that I do.
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Christi
United Kingdom
4429 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 12:22:36 AM
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Hi Anthony,
I would add in SBP again as it can help to balance out the enegies. Headaches can be caused by too much energy building up around the ajna chakra. As Katrine says... self pace on the meditation also. Personally I would add in 5 mins only of SBP and cut right back to 5 or 10 mins DM. If that doesn't help you may need to take a break for a few days. Headaches caused by meditation are not fun... but they are a sign that things are happening, and in the long run, with effective management, they are really good things.
Christi
p.s. how did the spinal bastrika go? I assume you have dropped that as well for the time being? |
Edited by - Christi on Jan 16 2009 12:23:16 AM |
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 02:40:47 AM
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Hi Anthony
I concur with Christi. Adding SBP will "attract" the energy to the safe route (root to brow). 5 min of this is enough.
And - I too would reduce meditation down to 10 min.
In addition to this - have you considered walking? Walking....or any other physical.... pleasant exertion that grounds you.
I find singing is great for this too
Anything else going on? Increased stress of any kind?
You sleep well?
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 04:18:35 AM
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hi Anthony, just my 2 cents on the matter "caffeine" is the cause of what you're going through.
here in the arab world people drink tea and arabic coffee a lot and these two are filled with caffeine especially the arabic coffee and every time i get the same reply from the people who consume this stuff on a daily basis.
after they do deep meditation or spinal breathing pranayama they tell me that they feel better in general but that there is energy trapped in the head and that causes them a headache.
don't worry by time (and i don't mean a lot) it will wear off but it is very advisable to cut off the consumption of caffeine little by little until we stop consuming it.
another point of view on the matter that of way swami Satyananda, he says that when we are practicing yoga the energy reaches the whole ten parts of the brain where as before it used to reach three parts; so some energy overload on these parts might be happening at first which may be the reason for these headaches.
kindest regards,
Ananda |
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Katrine
Norway
1813 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 05:00:36 AM
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Hi Ananda
Good thing you have a sharp eye.....I somehow forgot about the mentioning of the coffee
Anthony:
Your headache could very well be withdrawal induced....(how long has it been since you drank coffee?).... but the need to self pace is still here. You could of course start drinking a little coffee again. If it immediately gets better, then you will know that the stopping of it caused the headache. And then maybe a gradual approach would be better, as Ananda suggests.
If many days has passed since you stopped drinking coffee - then the headache most likely is not caused by the stopping of it. |
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 06:38:58 AM
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| And in addition to all suggestions above: Take a longer resting time after DM! It can often be crucial. Not resting is asking for trouble. |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 09:02:16 AM
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| Good point emc, I find that if I don't rest at least 5 minutes, I feel it. Also, maybe look into if you are concentrating overly intensely on staying on the mantra, placing it in a particular part of the body or over emphasizing its pronunciation, always good to remember that it is a gentle returning to the mantra once we realize we are away. |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2009 : 12:20:12 PM
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Well, an interesting experience.
Last night I was doing DM and stopped at 15 mins - no headache. This morning I was running around to different places, no headache...until I am sitting in the waiting room somewhere and I begin doing sadhana for the morning but I got interrupted and had to fill out some forms. Bam, the headache begins and is still going.
I think the caffeine thing isn't whats causing it because it has been going on for about 4 days now. I have never experienced that effect when I stopped drinking it before. And I also was not a big cofee drinker - 6oz or so on school days.
I will try redoing SB and cutting back on DM. I definitley feel like too much energy is in my head. It is interesting because the original meditation that "caused" all this was one where I was sitting in the bookstore on my lunch break and I guess got lost in thought and then caught myself being lost in thought...but something weird happened. It wasn't the usual go-back-to-the-mantra response...it was like I "tweaked" my mind or glitched it somehow by realizing this and maybe experienced the "gap between thoughts" thing. I don;t know, but it felt like I was going to rise out of my body and I usually don't get real dramatic experiences like that. Ever since then the headache has been there.
Katrine, I didn't really stick with the Bastrika. I find doing energy stuff frustrating sometimes because I still feel I haven't accomplished enough stillness to percieve energy. I must admit that it did certainly blast thoughts away which made for great meditation.
But nonetheless I will try adding spinal breathing back into the mix. i recently started bartering with an acupuncturist and she advised me to focus on bringing the energy down.
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Topic |
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DM and headache?
