Strange experience - Tingling / ASMR / Chakras
nickb
PA New
I'm writing, hoping to get some input on a strange personal experience.
As long as I can remember, I've had strong tingling sensations that I can control most of the time at will. It (or something close to it) happens often involuntarily when I yawn, urinate or for some reason when I hear a large crowd applauding. I can initiate it when I feel well, but lose the ability under duress or when exhausted. Recently, my 12 year old daughter mentioned that she feels the same sensations and can control them as well. My mother was very into the supernatural and believed that she was somehow gifted, but I mostly ignored that.
I've read about ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) and dismissed it as such. For most of my life, I've considered myself a logical atheist and discounted spirituality as something that has a place, but not for me. ASMR seemed a likely explanation except that ASMR is usually isolated around the head. For me, it's always started at points along my spine and radiated outward through my body, sometimes all the way to my extremities.
I've been practicing Yoga for a couple years and just recently started learning about Chakras. I made a connection between the two and started some light meditation. Strangely, it seemed I could sort of isolate the feeling along my spine at these Chakra points, especially around my chest. At first I could not feel it at all at the pelvis area.
I read about opening the Chakras and spent a few days practicing some Yoga & meditation focusing around the 2 lower ones. After a few days, I was able to produce the same sensations in my pelvic region. From there, I began to feel it moving up and/or down my spine like a flowing, radiating pattern. It was enjoyable, but strange and confusing.
Eventually, I ran into the connection to Buddhism & Chakras began reading about it. As I read, the tingling feeling overwhelmed my entire body. I began slightly hyperventilating and tears began flowing from my eyes, although I did not feel any emotion other than a strange familiarity. It was like I had opened a book to my own life and it physically enveloped me. This feeling has happened since while meditating, but not as strong.
This all happened within the last week or so. I've always prided myself as a logical if not skeptical man, so I'm pretty confused right now and hoping for any input that can set my head right. It just seems so clear that I've found a path that I'm "supposed to be on", but it's also very confusing and overwhelming.
I guess I'm wondering if anybody has any similar experiences or explanation for what I've experienced. Any input, explanations (scientific or spiritual), or advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Comments
To be perfectly honest with you, I personally think this is something you might like to discuss with both an ayurvedic Swami, or a qualified acupuncturist. Your own doctor may consider referring you to a neurologist.
Might as well cover the bases...
As for the sensation itself, the safest thing for now would be to accept it, experience it, but not attach any spiritual or phenomenal reasoning to it.
It is what it is.
You experience it, and it intensifies or ebbs, according to the moment.
Just go with it observe it, 'see' what it does, where it goes and how it feels, for how long.
But don't elevate it to any specific level of importance.
If it happened to your mother, and happens to your daughter too, there is every possibility it could be a medically-inherited condition.
It would be a consideration for her health to get it checked out.
I would suggest a more spiritual line of reasoning, that since there was such a clear response when you started reading about Buddhism that it is indeed an indication that you are supposed to be on this path, and that you received this from your subtle body (as the Tibetans might call it). That is the good side of things.
The downside is that you run a risk of triggering kundalini or psychosis-like events by using this ability to delve deeper into the lower chakras and opening them. I’m not hugely knowledgeable in the chakra field, but I’ve done some reading on “spiritual emergency” (see Stanislav Grof), and your experience does seem to fall into those categories. Kundalini usually erupts from below, often on activating the lower chakras.
It would seem that the safest way to proceed is to explore the effect of various types of Buddhist practice on your sensations - breath meditations especially, but also the effects of studying the basics of Buddhist lore, such as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Five Precepts or Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five Mindfulness Trainings.
I wouldn’t expect standard medicine to be hugely helpful in this respect, they are most likely to either say “come back when it becomes a problem”, or prescribe a medication if it is a symptom they can relate to. And I’m not sure I’d trust Ayurveda or acupuncture to supply a sensible answer. I’d suggest a Tibetan doctor, if anything, they are highly trained in intuitive perception and the body’s energy.
@Kerome ,Like I said, the more people he sees, the better his bases are covered.
I suspect his daughter has had nothing to do with Buddhism (very probably not to the same level or depth. if at all) but she is still experiencing the same sensations. His mother wasn't Buddhist, either.
That alone should be sufficient to make anyone consider it's not a 'Buddhist' peculiarity.
Your advice to disregard certain therapists is ill-considered at best, and unwise to boot.
This is how some people have discovered serious conditions too late, which have proven fatal or debilitating. By disregarding or ignoring conventional or complimentary medicine, in favour of believing it to be a spiritual phenomenon.
Not good advice.
Well thank you both for your insights so far.
Speaking about the medical field reminded me of another experience. I've had a recurring pinched nerve under my left shoulder blade foryears. It's extremely painful to the point of being debilitating (literally has made me black out from pain / can't walk). I've seen specialists & had many tests over the years with no conclusion whatsoever.
I didn't think of it prior, but sometimes when I "activate" this sensation, I get an electrical-like sensation at that exact spot. It's not the same pleasant buzzing sensation, but it's not quite pain. Maybe this means it is neurological, but after many tests, there was no indication.
I'm every bit open to both scientific & spiritual interpretations and will be considering the suggestions given and
federica, to maybe set your mind at ease, I've had MRI's, CT scans as well as a slew of testing for common neurological diseases due to the nerve and joint pain. My PCP, Osteopath and other professionals have all concluded that there's no perceivable medical explanation.
I've actually gotten a pretty good handle on the both conditions through lifestyle changes including exercise and diet. I'm quite healthy by most practical standards. Thank you very much for your concern though & I will not discard it!
ok, @nickb I am glad to hear it; my husband has a severe neurological problem in his right wrist for about 12 years. He has undergone similar tests and examinations to those you have gone through and it has sadly all come down to pain management. Surgically, there's nothing anyone can do. A fall made the condition worse, but it wasn't the cause, either then, or now.
Nerves are tricky things. understanding how they connect and work is one thing; rectifying any issues and repairing any breaks, damage, or complex issues is a whole different bundle.
But Mind controls everything.
and the Brain is an extraordinary organ all in itself.
I honestly believe that some incredible achievements are possible, when a person puts their mind to it.
I have recently started yoga\chi kung and it can unlock our emotional, physical and mental imbalances. No doubt.
In Buddhism, Raja-Yoga is practiced by the Noble Ones (Sangha) as the ultimate asana of meditation.
Yoga and meditation will change you. Don't be a sceptic, experience it for your self. Oh you did and are ...
Welcome to Newbuddhist and listen to the appropriate advice.
The Body as something compartmentalised like in the way of chakras i think is unhelpful, the body is a whole being and though it has weakness points and all I think the idea of a chakra of energy flows becomes a distraction during practices whether it exists or not. Either way I don't think its good directly mess with these supposed chakra structures like that but actually just let things flow and come to light. I'm not sure about in the context acupuncture though or other points perhaps more useful..
The power inside 'true heart' or deeper (except it doesn't have a location) is a better focus if you need one.
These tingling sensations probably highlight where you are either more sensitive/vulnerable. Yawning leads to the clearance of stresses and urinating release of 'energy' so perhaps this is why.
There is subtle energy but keep in mind its only a word of reference.
These things are not really energies at all because everything is 'interconnected' whole. Everything relates back to each other and things can even be seen for example as a web of relations.
You can get some benefits from certain yoga type practices but better not to focus on the aim of doing something to chakras or often even focus on energies because it detracts from the purpose of it.
Sometimes it's ok to just let things be. We don't have to have have or expect an immediate understanding of events. You may never be clear on why you have certain experiences, or find an acceptable reason for how/why they happen. Sometimes it's best just to allow the things that come and not spend significant time making story lines and trying to figure out the whys and hows. An emotional reaction might signify something you are connecting to. Or it might signify something you are releasing. That happens frequently in yoga and meditation. Sometimes, it is ok to allow experiences, to let them be, without trying to attach definitions and labels to them to fit them into some sort of logic box.
^^ reminds me of that pithy statement: 'If someone tells us a star is nearly two million light-years away, we look up at it in awe and wonder, with a "wow...that's amazing!" but if they tell us not to sit on a park bench because it's just been painted, we still want to touch it just to make sure....'
I agree with @karasti and as I outlined earlier, just observe it, let it be, accept it and ride it out....
There's energy. You tend to feel huge warm blissful blasts of it when you do Lovingkindness-type meditations.
Do virtuous things and you'll have a high vibration. Do non-virtuous things and you'll have a low vibration.
At the end of the day it's no big deal. It's like... There's energy. So what? Don't fly off the deep end like a woo woo New Age person just because you've discovered energy. Just shrug and keep your feet on the ground.