New in meditation and forum, please help

[Ricky]

Hello everyone, I started meditation about 4 weeks ago but hardly went for only few days, felt headaches during and feeling heavy headed after meditation. I dont know whats going on with me. Once durung that time at noon, i was so happy so I decided to go for guided meditation while on bed without having any posture. I soon went into light headed feeling but eventually somebody knocked at the door and i ended up with only 3 minutes of total meditation. My confidence level and energy level went up to skies during that few minutes. I was so happy but can't move forward due to mentioned issues.
Once I had a dream when i was taking nap in afternoon, I faced a death situation and some painful dreams afterwards.
I took pause and tried to find  solutions on Google.

2 days back i again tried to do meditation, this time while laying down so i can able to maintain spine straight with head, did 5 minutes total meditation and rest of the day was awesome. But next day same problem as previous.

After only 3  sessions I was able to maintain my concentration on breath, no mind wandering after that. Maybe i am focusing too much.

I know i must be doing something wrong thats causing problems because once i had nice experience mentioned above. So don't think so i have any other issue rather than technique. I want at least 1 to 1.5 hours daily practice.

Super confused, i wanna get flow in meditation please guide me.
Yesterday night i did a  breathing exercise, took short inhale deeply but long exhale so i can able to maintain more oxygen in blood. After few breaths i found that its causing pain in crown. I read online at a website if u r new then your inhale and exhale should be equal. Its breathing pattern or whatsoever , wanna learn it.

Can't access any teacher where I live so online Internet is medium for me.
Please guide me, hoping to have solution through you guys

[Jess]

Hi Ricky

I have been meditating with the Vipassana technique for 5 years now, though I am no expert I can try and offer some advice.

With the headaches, there could be a number of reasons; maybe you have a stiff neck or are holding your posture too rigidly - perhaps try doing some light neck stretches before and after you sit. The headaches could be arising from focusing too hard - with meditation you should find a good "middle path", a good balance of focus and allowing, it's as if you are going to sleep, you get into bed and prepare yourself, and you allow sleep to happen, you don't force it. Or like tuning the strings of a guitar, not too tight and not too lose. Another reason might be that your body and mind is not used to such a practice so this is its way of "purging" so to speak. When I first started meditating properly I had migraines and vomiting for a few days, you just need to go through the motions, observing your sensations and experiences rather than reacting to them, keep your mind balanced, it will pass.

My suggestion is that you find some guidance, as I couldn't really understand how to meditate properly until I found a course and people to guide me. You can look up Vipassana centres near you, otherwise there are some pretty decent online courses around as well.

Goodluck!

[Ricky]

In start it was going fine and i was able to concentrate on breath perfectly. After around 10 sessions i developed this issue.
Any possibility that my pineal gland is awakening so its causing this issue.

Please suggest is it safe for me to carry on?

[dharma bum]

When I get headaches, it usually is a sign that I'm not breathing naturally. How about walking meditation for a change? It's very hard not to breathe naturally when you're walking.

[Matthew]

In start it was going fine and i was able to concentrate on breath perfectly. After around 10 sessions i developed this issue.
Any possibility that my pineal gland is awakening so its causing this issue.

Please suggest is it safe for me to carry on?

Sounds as if you are forcing yourself and the practice Ricky.

Nobody can concentrate on the breath "perfectly" as a beginner - as a beginner you begin to see the wild nature of the untamed mind, unless you are forcing the technique. Forcing this result is basically a form of self-hypnosis and can lead to headaches. Right meditation demands a balance between effort and relaxation/acceptance. Your pineal gland is not what awakens.

It sounds very much like you have been shopping in the "spiritual supermarket" and put together a meal from incompatible ingredients. It's giving you indigestion.

So, questions:

How do you practice?
What method/technique?
What do you actually do when practicing?
Where did you learn?
Are you mixing techniques depending upon how you feel?
What brought you to meditation?
What is your goal?

Kindly,

Matthew

[stillpointdancer]

There should be some kind of general warning about taking up meditation by yourself. It does work and it does have an effect. Unfortunately it also needs the checks and balances that a good teacher would give you. My advice to anyone starting out is to first develop a relaxation meditation which helps develop posture and which allows you to relax both the body and mind, with no other aim than to gentle you into meditation. A few months of this and you may be ready to move on to a basic mindfulness of breathing or a Metta Bhavana meditation. A few months of those, together with the relaxation meditation, will set you up for a more structured programme of meditation practice.

[Ricky]

Thanks all for giving feedback.

I know i am doing mistakes thats why it is creating problems.

I can't access any teacher where I live.

So i need to learn it through internnet.

If there is any book available on this forum please provide me link.

Thanks

[Matthew]

Ricky,

You didn't answer the questions I put to you, but in answer to your question many people have found the calm-abiding instructions linked from the homepage a very beneficial place to start a practice. It's a very simple practice based on the teachings of the Buddha. I used to use it as a guide when teaching meditation to Students and Staff at a local university.

Also many practitioners who have learned the Goenka technique have switched to this practice and find it less forced, more natural and a way to deepen their practice.

One also has to pay attention to the other aspects of the path. Right mindfulness is but one, the foundational practice is morality: living truthfully and in harmony with those in your daily life. Thinking before you speak or act.

Kind regards,

Matthew

You can read those instructions at the link below or download them as a pdf to print and read. I would recommend you do not do other practices for a few weeks or months. First you have to find a balance of effort and relaxation whereby you can watch the wild nature of your mind without getting caught up in it. Like riding a bike it takes a while to find balance.

https://www.vipassanaforum.net/forum/index.php?page=2

[Matthew]

Someone recently wrote this to me. Though the communication was private I can share this much without breaking that privacy:

Honestly, I can't begin to express how much that guide helped my practice concentrate and focus my mind and also to make me so much more aware of the completeness and integration of body-mind.

[Ricky]

Sir, thanks for replying.

I am working now, will you give all details after 4 hours.

[Ricky]

If u don't mind how can i contact you directly

[Matthew]

If u don't mind how can i contact you directly

You can send me a private message on the forum. Generally speaking it is more useful to engage with the whole community through the forum: you will get a diversity of views and you can process them all to see what you find valid and what you don't.

Also, I am not the teacher here: everyone is. This is a community of equals. Being put on some kind of pedestal I do not deserve has been problematic in the past.

Having said that, if you really wish to message me, you are welcome to do so. From compassion it would be unwholesome to refuse.

[Ricky]

1)  I sit and start following breath. Intially it was hard to loose hold on breath.  Some time breath becomes rapid and not not normal.

2) i follow breath

3)I learned it through Google, actually need to learn it.

4) i dont think that i m mixing different techniques.

5) I wanna do meditation for my health, kind of person who lives in head

6) i wanna get flow in meditation, without any goals. Just wanna keep it practicing

[Ricky]

I sent same query and got this answer, don't know how to move forward

[Ricky]

According to this video available on YouTube, its normal for beginners to experience pain in head and continuous practice will subside all issues..

Different people give different opinions.

[Matthew]

Ricky,

I strongly suggest you try the practice as described in the page I linked to above. Stick to that basic for now - it will take you some time (weeks or months) to start feeling the right way to balance effort and relaxation. And you absolutely must find this balance yourself, in your being. Nobody can do it for you and there is no shortcut.

Start small, maybe 20 minutes twice a day. Build up towards an hour as you feel comfortable. Just notice the mind whilst anchoring attention in the breath and relaxing your mind and body with each in and out breath. Keep it simple for now.

You will continually lose focus on the breath as you get caught in thinking at the beginning - do not worry about it or label it as bad, this only forms a habit of self-harm. Just return to the sensations of breathing process. The point is to exert enough effort to feel the physical feelings arising in the body through breathing process, allow thought to arise, notice it without following it. When you find the balance, first your mind will throw all kinds of phenomena at you in attempt to destroy the practice. So, you don't fall for it: whatever arises, when you notice you have lost focus on breathing sensations, you note that this happened, you relax, then you place the attention back on physical sensations of breathing process.

Stick to the one practice and stop searching youtube and google for answers: all the time you are doing that you are feeding your ego, not feeling, understanding and gaining insight into your body and mind and how things arise and fall. You need to put in some sustained effort using one method to gain any level of tranquility or insight. Digging around the spiritual supermarket looking for answers is like a dog chasing it's tail. You get dizzy.

It is not normal to get headaches from meditation. In my experience this is through attempting to force quiet on the mind or chase other goals you perceive to be "the aim". This is a very ineffectual way to practice: it can lead to a form of quiet but will not offer any long term benefits to your peace of mind.

Long term benefits to peace of mind come through repeatedly doing it wrong, accepting this is OK, and trying again.

Any questions please ask. Otherwise best try for yourself.Only you can do it.  Come back in a week or so and let us know how it is going.

Kindly,

Matthew