Buzzing

Bunks

Hi all - hope this post finds you well?

Lately when I've been meditating I've started to get this buzzing in my head around the temples region on both sides. It's like I have electrical wires attached to that part of the body and have a low voltage current going through there. It's quite strange. If I focus on it it seems to get stronger.

Anyone else felt this?

Glow

One of the nice things about meditation is that it allows you to quiet down and notice what is happening in your body. For a lot of people, afflictions go completely unnoticed until they are debilitating.

I would go tell a doctor. It could be anything from a benign muscle spasm to a mini-seizure (more common than you might think). Don't get me wrong. I'm not espousing hypochondria. But if it becomes something chronic/repetitive, you might want to get it checked out.

Hamsaka

I've felt similar things, not 'buzzing' exactly. I have READ other's experiences, which included many descriptions of 'buzzing' in the head or body or both. I've had pressure in my forehead or whole head, waves of what feels like electricity shoot up and down my back and limbs, pain and pressure in the middle of my chest, burning in my chest or solar plexus, tingling in my hands and feet.

I'd worry about actual physical problems if stuff like this happened outside meditation as often as inside it. If it only happens when you meditate, chances are high that it's meditation related, not an illness. That's medical experience talking, not meditation experience.

From what I've read, notice the sensation or 'note' it (name it 'buzzing' for instance) and then go back to focusing on the breath.

Last night I read for an hour or so, online, about 'nimittas', which are phenomena that occur as a 'sign' of jhanic absorption. What I found out was the 'nimitta' (which means 'sign') can be visual, kinesthetic, or auditory sensations. Mostly I read it described as a round orb-like light that just appears when concentration has stabilized to a very fine degree.

anataman

Bunks said:

Hi all - hope this post finds you well?

Lately when I've been meditating I've started to get this buzzing in my head around the temples region on both sides. It's like I have electrical wires attached to that part of the body and have a low voltage current going through there. It's quite strange. If I focus on it it seems to get stronger.

Anyone else felt this?

No, But it would make me anxious, that there is something else going on. Do you take drugs when you meditate or are you on any medication? I think @Hamsaka's advice is sound, if it continues outside mediation - go check your wiring.

David

I sometimes get a high pitched tone but no buzzing as of yet.

Bunks

anataman said:

Bunks said:

Hi all - hope this post finds you well?

Lately when I've been meditating I've started to get this buzzing in my head around the temples region on both sides. It's like I have electrical wires attached to that part of the body and have a low voltage current going through there. It's quite strange. If I focus on it it seems to get stronger.

Anyone else felt this?

No, But it would make me anxious, that there is something else going on. Do you take drugs when you meditate or are you on any medication? I think @Hamsaka's advice is sound, if it continues outside mediation - go check your wiring.

Thanks guys.

Caffeine is my drug of choice these days @anataman.

I don't feel this at all outside of meditation so I am not particularly concerned. Just wondered if others had a similar experience.

Glow

One thing to note, if it does only appear during meditation, is the effect of your posture. If you sit cross-legged, you may be pinching a nerve, cutting off circulation somewhere, or creating muscular tension or compensation in the neck or back. This can cause some physical symptoms and you'll want to adjust accordingly. I learned this the hard way (long-term back issues), as did my teacher Tara Brach who ended up with degraded tendons exacerbated by yoga and sitting practice. Nowadays, I meditate sitting in a forward-slanting chair.

how

Headphones on too tight???

anataman

Only asked because a recent thread seemed to suggest that many people do take drugs to facilitate their meditation - some drugs seriously heighten sensations, particularly around the sense organs like the face and hands. There again when you are intensely focussing on a part of the body, heightened sensation occurs naturally as a consequence of being aware of the sense organs in that area.

I occasionally get the high pitched tone that @ourself mentioned, but that dies down relatively quickly, some kind of natural hearing feedback dampening mechanism.

Bunks

Thanks @glow but I also sit in a chair. Too many years of road running has wrecked my legs so any attempt at cross legged or similar sitting is no good. Especially now I am sitting for longer than 20 mins or so at a time.

I actually think it is always there but I am more sensitive to it after sitting quietly for a time.

how

@Bunks
Tinnitus?
Not actually joking this time round.
Anyway I only throw that out there as a possibility for the amount of tinnitus sufferers who describe it the way you do and complain at how the more they pay specific attention to it, the worse it becomes.

Bunks

Thanks @how.....although I thought tinnitus affected hearing?

how

@Bunks
Perhaps a plumber/gas fitter is not the best guy around to take medical suggestions from but a non existent buzzing sound in the ears (like my tinnitus) that is only an 1 1/2" away from your temple, was what I was wondered about.
You are the guy on the ground that is the best to evaluate that possibility.
My buzzing occurs in volume according to how much attention I specifically pay it and sure am hopeful that I am wrong,
but I won't give up my day job just yet.

Dakini

Bunks said:

Hi all - hope this post finds you well?

Lately when I've been meditating I've started to get this buzzing in my head around the temples region on both sides. It's like I have electrical wires attached to that part of the body and have a low voltage current going through there. It's quite strange. If I focus on it it seems to get stronger.

Anyone else felt this?

Possibly a Kundalini phenomenon. How long have you been doing your meditation practice? You can Google Kundalini, but a great book on one person's experience of having it come up after years of a dedicated meditation practice is: "Living With Kundalini", by Gopi Krishna. For an MD's perspective, try "A Farther Shore", by Yvonne Kason.

lobster

Anyone else felt this?

'You are a wizard Harry'
Hagred

Do you suspect you may be a parsel tongue?
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Parseltongue

I used to be on the kundalini forum. Everything that happened to people there, few of them meditated, seemed to be a kundalini phenomenon. I always advocated 'killing the snake'. If it is not a medical condition then we must assume it is an arising.
As you are developing some meditation skill, go ask the arising, 'what is this?' Don't slump, allow the 'energy' to circulate. Try not to become manic or pay too much attention to 'signs'.

:wave:

wrathfuldeity

Buzzing is perhaps just a proprioceptive distraction...attend to it, but pay it no attention.