some troubling effects from meditation

[hengest]

Hi all.  I have been meditating regularly for a few months after many years away.  Regular practice of an hour or so a day.  Breath observation with fewer and fewer distractions. 

Got into first jhana for sure and maybe second, can get into these states regularly. 

Benefits include deeper sleep and less mental torment throughout the day. 

Recently I have started waking up for a couple hours in the night, though I always slept through the night before.  Extremely bizarre dreams, and worst of all, now a kind of low-grade mental malaise all the time.  Not sure what to make of it.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Dharmic Tui]

For starters don't look at this as a problem, come to know that malaise without wanting it to vanish and find peace with what is.

[Nicky]

If you never had sleep problems before, it seems meditation may be making some adjustments to your mind/neurology &/or also purifying some bad energy, which can cause energetic imbalance. As Dharmic Tui said, this is part of meditation. To get through these things, you must learn to look upon these things with an equanimous non-judgmental mind, as 'passing' (impermanent) energies & phenomena.

Also, you should also check how you are practising your regular meditation. These energy imbalances can also occur if the mind is practising concentration with too much power, force & effort and too much enthusiasm.

While beginner meditators often meditate with mental force to counter (suppress) discursive (habitual) thinking, ultimately, Buddhist meditation is based on letting go & emptying the mind (rather than pushing the mind with power & effort).

If you are pushing too hard, maybe you simply need to take your foot off the accelerator, a little.

[hengest]

Thanks to Nicky and Dharmic Tui for the advice.  Sounds reasonable, appreciate it.