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tomllee
USA
51 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 08 2009 : 6:14:24 PM
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I started meditateing about six months ago. I have a morning routine of the basic Asanas, Pranayama, Bellows Breathing and Meditation that takes about an hour. My days are erratic so I meditate at noon for 20 minutes or so if possible. All too often, I will not get the chance to meditate later in the day (actually, quite frequently that happens). For awhile about a month or so ago, during meditation there was a severe pain that would radiate from genitals that slowly died down, especially from one testicle. I had assumed there was some serious purification needing to be done and merely accepted the pain as part of the process of spiritual cleansing. About a week ago, I started having severe pain radiate upward from my perinium. Sometimes it is so strong I can hardly bear it. Sometimes it is accompanied by a sort of involuntary jumping. I have backed off of practices that, for awhile, I had added. Later in the day when the pain has been strong, I have recently noticed a feeling like light shining up inside me with fairl strong energy movement in and around my third eye area.
My attitude has been that even the nearly unbearable pain is part of a purification process and needs to be accepted. I has not slowed down my commitment to meditating. But I have been wondering whether others have had that experience or not and whether I should be doing something different and am, perhaps, very wrong headed about how I am going about my practices.
Any recommendations out there?? Thanks in advance for taking a look at this.
Tom |
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Anthem
1608 Posts |
Posted - Apr 09 2009 : 10:28:23 AM
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Hi Tom,
Welcome to the forum.
Just wanted to clarify from reading your post that you do a morning routine that you describe above that includes asanas, pranayama, breath bellows and meditation and then you meditate again for 20 minutes at noon but without the asanas, pranayama, breath bellows etc. that you do in the morning? Is this correct?
In any case, when the ride gets bumpy and there is too much purification going on as you describe with excessive pain etc. the message to slow down is there.
Perhaps reducing the pranayama and breath bellows to very little or removing them entirely from your morning routine and to observe if your pain diminishes or stops would be your first step. If the pain goes away, then re-introducing the energy enhancing practices of pranayama and breath bellows one at a time in this order and building them back up to your usual levels in 1 minute increments is a good way to go to ensure excessive purification symptoms don't return again or if they do then you know where to back off.
Acceptance of what comes up in practices is key and really all we can do, but no harm in getting things checked out by a doctor if the pain persists in certain areas, just to rule that out.
The second meditation at noon can be reduced in time as well to perhaps 10 minutes until the pain symptoms are at tolerable levels or go away during practices entirely. If you have the flexibility in your schedule to have more time before morning practices and your next session, that would be more ideal.
Good luck, I hope these symptoms clear up for you soon! |
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tomllee
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - Apr 09 2009 : 11:51:55 AM
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Anthem11. Thank you, first, for the reassurance that the pain is a part of the purification process as I suspected. This morning I did only 25 minutes, yet included pranayama, breath bellows, and meditating. There was a mix of pleasure/pain in my genital area, but only slight and the wonderful, pleasant sensations that have been emanating from there all morning long were reasurrance that, as you say, I need to back off. I also appreciate your reassurance that I have been on the right track by just accepting whatever comes up when I meditate, like it or not. The pay-off on down the road is remarkable. I have been surprised that, at times, I feel lead to add practices, run into barely tolerable discomfort of some sort, and that, of course, tells me to back off. It's a sort of a yo-yo effect, but I am still very new to this realm of experience.
I am suspecting that the more pain I am willing to tolerate when it comes up during meditation, the more karma I am given the chance to dissolve (and some of it must be pretty horrible). I have been surprised that even when the pain has been rather extreme, it doesn't seem to dampen my commitment to these yoga practices.
In any case, I can't thank you enough for caring enough to respond in such a thoughtful way. I will study your input, put it together with some ideas I have been having, and take further steps to keep the pain within more tolerable limits when pain is what comes up.
Thanks again!!! |
Edited by - tomllee on Apr 09 2009 11:59:34 AM |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Apr 13 2009 : 9:05:39 PM
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| Tom, while it is good to be able to endure discomfort it is also good to look at what you might be doing to bring this discomfort about and possibly remedy it. The first thing that comes to my mind is to examine the way that you are sitting for your practice. Everybody is structured differently and needs to modify their sitting position until it does not give strain. In my case I found discomfort from Siddhasana so modified the posture till i found a comfortable seat. Enduring pain can also be a big distraction from inner silence so I would advise seeking out someone with expertise in yoga postures and have them help you with your posture or perhaps use a chair or pillows to find comfort. |
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Holy
796 Posts |
Posted - Apr 13 2009 : 9:56:01 PM
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You have the right will power and this surely will bring you far. I am of the same type, until death no stepping back =P But you soon discover that it doesn't work later :) Firstly you start getting real physical health problems, which was the case for me in different areas because of overdoing it without mercy for the body. This again took 1-2 years to recover. In the end it is no loss, the experience was interesting and gave deeper insights into these kind of practices. But why not going smoothly through all this.
Secondly as Victor said, if you permanently ride on the edge of pain, you have permanently distraction which hinders you to dive into pure bliss awareness. If this is not the case for you, then just go on, your inner guidance pushs you anyway as it seems =) |
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tomllee
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2009 : 6:28:05 PM
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Victor and Holy. Thank you for your input. I have changed my posture to alleviate the pain I was experiencing that seemed to be a direct result of forcing Siddhasana, and have cut back to 30 minutes of Pranayama, Breath bellows and meditation to "I AM" in the am and 20 in the afternoon. Less now seems to be more. These tinglings of energy now pulse up my stomach frequently. Some of the pain was mostly the result of forcing the posture because of the incredible upward rush of pleasure with the heel on the perinium, but very long in that posture produced pain in the leg and crotch. Some of the pain, especially in meditation, did very much seem to be a matter of dissolving an obstacle or perhaps many, though it really is hard to say. I am considering backing all the way off to Pranayama and Meditation only.
How wonderful of you to advise and support. |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2009 : 5:29:10 PM
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Tom,
I am glad that you are getting some relief. It is important in these practices to allow the body to open up and have some room to release blocks and restrictions. If you try to impose a rigid posture prematurely or incompatibly with your own body structure you actually can create the blocks you are trying to relieve. A comfortable, open and upright position is far preferable to a strict posture. In my experience the best posture will unfold from the inside with time and practice if you allow a little space for it to do so and then it will feel right and comfortable as well as correct alignment. In my case I used to practice pranayama in lotus posture for years, then switched to siddhasana for a few years in various different variations with small pillows, heel at the perineum, heel off the perineum etc and now am back to lotus which strangely enough feels most comfortable to me. Personally I don't feel that pressing the perineum with the heel is particularly important and it can cause problems if that is not the best leg position for your body. The bandhas are more important, ease in breath in pranayama is more important and feeling balanced is more important. Anyway, it is not something that happens overnight. This is an unfolding process over many years so just keep exploring and experimenting with curiousity and sensitivity and you should be fine. |
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Pain During Meditation
