Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

Head aches while meditating?

MarcusMarcus
edited November 2010 in Meditation
Hello everybody.
I've recently started meditating once a day, and whenever I do I get rather painful headaches mid meditation and got really hot and start sweating and all that. I'm counting my breathes, nothing fancy just trying to keep my mind clear of distracting thoughts, however this seems to be very straining for me. Because of the head aches and what not it's actually made meditation feel a bit like an excercise which I know it is, however should it be physically challanging as well as mentally? It's a bit like it's not very enjoyable while doing meditating due to the pain, however afterwards when the head ache wears off (Usually an hour or so) I feel great.

I'm just wondering, is this common? Am I doing something wrong? Will it stop soon?

Thanks, I look forward to your replies.
Vascob

Comments

  • exonesionexonesion
    edited October 2010
    When I started meditating when I was 15, headaches developed. Headaches are common and it is not wrong. I went to ask someone more experienced than me and they attributed the cause of the headaches to trying to hard or being to tense. I visualized a crystal until headaches got the better of me. As I stood up I felt my body and muscles were very tense and uptight. My teachers taught me to relax and let go of all thoughts and focus on the breath or noting at all.

    Take meditation not as a exercise but as an enjoyable activity.
    After I watched this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi0uT7M7rNM
    and its subsequent parts I realized how important relaxation is in meditation.
    After trial and error I can conclude some things.
    Firstly, trying too hard will lead to headaches and unenjoyable tension while being too relaxed will induce sleep. Therefore you must strike a perfect balance so that meditation will be an enjoyable experience for you :)

    When i practiced focusing on the breath I usually don't count the number of breaths as I had enough thoughts after a long day of thinking. :)
  • MarcusMarcus
    edited October 2010
    Ah, well I'm 15 at the moment, haha so that's a funny coincidence.
    Thank you very much, that's good to hear. I'll definitely try my best to relax. Thanks again. :)
  • exonesionexonesion
    edited October 2010
    I've just turned 16 on the 26th of September :)
  • unsuiunsui
    edited October 2010
    I have the same problem. I realized it might be coming from tension somewhere, so when I experienced the headaches I paid attention to what my body was feeling. Eventually I found that I had a lot of tension in my jaw. Now when I start feeling a headache I consciously relax my jaw and the headache goes away.
  • Tikal2012Tikal2012
    edited November 2010
    Oh Gosh! You need to stop counting your breaths! Now! Hahaha. Your going to drive your self insane. Yeah, you definitely have hit the nail on the head that you need to have the little middle zone between sleepiness and tension. Dude, you've got it!! Yeah. Any ways, good luck!
  • Tikal2012Tikal2012
    edited November 2010
    exonesion wrote: »
    When I started meditating when I was 15, headaches developed. Headaches are common and it is not wrong. I went to ask someone more experienced than me and they attributed the cause of the headaches to trying to hard or being to tense. I visualized a crystal until headaches got the better of me. As I stood up I felt my body and muscles were very tense and uptight. My teachers taught me to relax and let go of all thoughts and focus on the breath or noting at all.

    Take meditation not as a exercise but as an enjoyable activity.
    After I watched this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi0uT7M7rNM
    and its subsequent parts I realized how important relaxation is in meditation.
    After trial and error I can conclude some things.
    Firstly, trying too hard will lead to headaches and unenjoyable tension while being too relaxed will induce sleep. Therefore you must strike a perfect balance so that meditation will be an enjoyable experience for you :)

    When i practiced focusing on the breath I usually don't count the number of breaths as I had enough thoughts after a long day of thinking. :)

    That's totally the truth.
  • Joshu-sDogJoshu-sDog
    edited November 2010
    Headaches can certainly come up. I remember when I was trying to get a grasp of the concept of Emptiness, I started getting headaches a lot. Eventually I realised that I was trying to understand emptiness intellectually and, quite simply, my brain was working overtime to to understand a concept that cannot be grasped intellectually. When I realised this, I was able to take a step back, disengage from the intellectual mental 'chatter' and set about the issue again with a calmer, less intellectually intensive perspective.

    So sometimes it can be physical tension, but sometimes it can also be 'mental' tension. Just as it's possible to take a step back and relax physically, the same thing applies mentally. In short, if you ever start getting headaches, just relax. :)

    _/|\_
Sign In or Register to comment.