Experiences During Meditation
August 24th, 2006 by Richard CockrumThere are many sources that tell you the positive psychological and physical effects from meditation. Google the word “meditation” and you will find many of them. Articles I have written talk about some of these as well as others. Just look in the Meditation category and you will find them. These sources often don’t tell some of the specific things you may experience as a result of meditation, so when they happen you don’t know if you are imagining things or doing something wrong. To save you some trouble, and to let you know when you are experiencing results from your meditation, here is a list of some things I have experienced.
- The top of your head may become numb or experience a tingling sensation.
- Sometimes your skin feels silky smooth and sensitive. Any touch to it is pleasurable.
- Your body may feel as if it is expanding and opening up, especially in the area of your head.
- You may feel sensations in your groin area or spine. Sometimes it is as if energy is being pumped from the base of your spine and out of your head.
- If you focus on a specific area of your body, you may feel a vibration or tingling in that area.
- If you are seated in a sitting position, you may spontaneously begin sitting straighter, as if an outside force is pulling you up by your head.
- Your breathing cycle may become deeper, longer, or stop without your feeling any deprivation
- You may experience a lightening of the field of vision to the point of it becoming white, even with your eyes closed.
- You may see what appears to be a falling snow.
- You may be ’spacey’ after a period of meditation. You can find it difficult to focus on daily life, or to do any disciplined thinking
- You may experience an intense state of euphoria and contentment. “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.”
- You may feel energized. If it is bedtime, you can have trouble getting to sleep and find that you awaken after each dream cycle.
- The veil between sleeping and waking consciousness thins. Dreams are easier to remember, and easier to understand. Lucid dreaming becomes more frequent.
- Your need for sleep may decrease.
- Your appetite may decrease, or increase.
- You may experience hot flashes (even if you are a young man).
- You may hear strange sounds that don’t happen physically. There may be a buzzing, droning, or thunder.
- You may feel a vibration in your body, especially your head. If you’ve ever been shocked, it feels like that but without the pain. The vibration may feel like it is a low frequency or a high frequency.
As I said, the purpose of this list is to let you know some of the things you may experience. Not everyone experiences all of them, and some are more frequent with specific types of meditation. If you don’t experience them, don’t feel as if you are doing something wrong. The purpose of meditation isn’t psychophysical experiences such as these. The purpose of meditation is to become more conscious. Most of these experiences are simply signposts on the way that may, or may not occur.
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November 30th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Great Article Rick !!
I experience many of the facts you stated while doing meditation. I was actually unaware if these things were normal.
December 1st, 2006 at 6:25 am
Thank you, Ravinder.
That was one of the reasons I wrote it. There are books and books about how to meditate, and why, but many of the experiences are not mentioned. This was my way of saying You’re not alone.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:30 am
[…] to Episode 20 of the Shards of Consciousness Podcast. Today’s episode is based on Experiences During Meditation, an article originally published in August of […]
February 20th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Richard, I started meditating 5 weeks ago, and I’ve recently begun to experience many of the sensations you’ve listed. There is something I’ve experienced which you did not list, however: the unexpected sensation of falling rapidly, which is absolutely startling (and fun and even blissful) when it happens. What’s even more startling (and a lot less fun) is that sometimes I begin to feel it when I’m not meditating. Have you heard of this?
February 20th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Hi Rusty,
The sensation of falling tends to occur with total relaxation of the body and, to a great extent, the mind. You may have experienced something similar when falling asleep, though this is often accompanied by a jerk as the body reacts to the sensation. In that context the two together are called a hpynic twitch. Another physical source of the sensation is when you have an inner ear problem.
There is no accepted explanation for why normal people experience the falling sensation. It is at least partially physical, as I said above. It tends to occur more frequently when you’re going to sleep if you’re over-fatigued or not getting enough sleep. The only times I have experienced it are when I’m going to sleep and the few times I’ve successfully been able to get out of my body, never as I was going about my normal business.
If I were experiencing this as I went about my normal business, I would make it a practice to ground myself after meditation. Get a bite to eat, or do some gentle stretching.
If it is related to your meditation, and from the sounds of it it is, over time the sensation should decrease. Speaking metaphorically, most of the signs I listed tend to happen more in the early stages of meditation as the blockages in the mind, body, and emotions are cleared up. As you find a new equilibrium, they tend to tone down.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:09 am
Thanks for your response, Richard. It wasn’t that long ago that I’d read things about the “harmful” effects of mantra meditation, and I’d think to myself, “no way, that’s impossible”. Then I started having these unexpected sensations, in particular the falling sensation that at times can happen during normal daily activity, and three words dreadfully came to my mind: irreversible psychological damage. I still find it hard to believe that this technique, which I’ve come to enjoy so much, could lead to mental damage; however, now I find that I’m not allowing myself to have these sensations during meditation. This technique is not going to take me to where I want to go if I don’t allow it to, is it. Anyway, thanks again for your reply: I feel a little less “crazy” now.