Am I meditating unsafely?

[Doliba]

I have this meditation practice that I discovered accidentally. While having great short term benefits, it could potentially be unhealthy for my brain...

When I do it, I tense up every part of my body and put a manifestation into the universe. As soon as that happens, I start having sensations, or hallucinations to put it a way, but they're controllable depending on what I am manifesting beforehand. Like when I want to feel like I'm floating, I do this practice and notice sensations happening pretty quickly, and I have a short out-of-body experience. This goes on for the span of about 20 seconds at the max, because it begins to feel painful after that time. After it finishes, because I'm focusing so hard I feel really at peace, like I've finished a long meditation.

The issue I have is that it almost feels wrong to do, like it's a form of instant gratification that will mess me up long term if I do it too much. At the moment, I only do this every once in a while, and I'm wondering if it's a safe idea to make this an everyday practice. Tensing up everything in my body seems like an unhealthy thing to do generally, coupled with the fact that I often feel painful sensations after doing it that feel like I'm being pinched in my forehead or the top of my head.

I also want to see if someone else has found this practice, if there's information on it, if it's potentially dangerous? ❤️

[Goofaholix]

That sounds to me like the total opposite of what we would recommend here.

I suggest you look at the sticky "Instructions on posture for meditation practice" at the top of this forum folder and try following the instructions you glean from there, if you have any questions regarding those instructions we can help.

[stillpointdancer]

I have this meditation practice that I discovered accidentally. While having great short term benefits, it could potentially be unhealthy for my brain...

When I do it, I tense up every part of my body and put a manifestation into the universe. As soon as that happens, I start having sensations, or hallucinations to put it a way, but they're controllable depending on what I am manifesting beforehand. Like when I want to feel like I'm floating, I do this practice and notice sensations happening pretty quickly, and I have a short out-of-body experience. This goes on for the span of about 20 seconds at the max, because it begins to feel painful after that time. After it finishes, because I'm focusing so hard I feel really at peace, like I've finished a long meditation.

The issue I have is that it almost feels wrong to do, like it's a form of instant gratification that will mess me up long term if I do it too much. At the moment, I only do this every once in a while, and I'm wondering if it's a safe idea to make this an everyday practice. Tensing up everything in my body seems like an unhealthy thing to do generally, coupled with the fact that I often feel painful sensations after doing it that feel like I'm being pinched in my forehead or the top of my head.

I also want to see if someone else has found this practice, if there's information on it, if it's potentially dangerous? ❤️

I think I know what you mean. I went through some ridiculously busy times of my life when I could only find a few minutes to meditate. I used to sit in a state of tension, with my hands interlinked tightly in my lap, which kind of sounds like your practice. Within a few seconds I was 'floating' as you describe, and a couple of minutes was enough. I could keep this up for months on end, with just five minutes a day, but once I have some more time to play with went back to my more traditional meditation practices. If you are worried, maybe you could try a bit more relaxed-but-tense state? I used to think of it like a cat in front of a mouse hole. A relaxed posture to keep up for however long, but tense enough to pounce on a mouse it instantly appears. Not too Buddhist a comparison, but hopefully you know what I mean.

[Middleway]

I have this meditation practice that I discovered accidentally. While having great short term benefits, it could potentially be unhealthy for my brain...

When I do it, I tense up every part of my body and put a manifestation into the universe. As soon as that happens, I start having sensations, or hallucinations to put it a way, but they're controllable depending on what I am manifesting beforehand. Like when I want to feel like I'm floating, I do this practice and notice sensations happening pretty quickly, and I have a short out-of-body experience. This goes on for the span of about 20 seconds at the max, because it begins to feel painful after that time. After it finishes, because I'm focusing so hard I feel really at peace, like I've finished a long meditation.

The issue I have is that it almost feels wrong to do, like it's a form of instant gratification that will mess me up long term if I do it too much. At the moment, I only do this every once in a while, and I'm wondering if it's a safe idea to make this an everyday practice. Tensing up everything in my body seems like an unhealthy thing to do generally, coupled with the fact that I often feel painful sensations after doing it that feel like I'm being pinched in my forehead or the top of my head.

I also want to see if someone else has found this practice, if there's information on it, if it's potentially dangerous? ❤️

Hi Doliba,

Yes, you are meditating in an unsafe manner. You are probably cutting off or reducing blood supply to your brain. This may be the cause of your hallucinations.

Lot of people in the east do this kind of stuff but under strict guidance of a teacher. People practice lowering their heart rate, holding breath for long periods of time, ingesting snake venom to become immune from snake bites, staying in icy cold weather outside with no protection etc. These are dangerous if you do not prepare your body under the guidance of an experienced teacher. This is no different from a mountain climbers acclimatize their bodies before climbing to higher elevations.

Now there are other mind based practices including astral travel, telepathy, reading other people minds etc. These too are dangerous if tried without proper guidance.

This forum is not related to these practices. If you are interested meditation as a way to mitigate or end suffering, this is the right place for you.

Good luck and take care.

Warm regards,

Middleway