Head vibrations

suzanne L, modified 11 Years ago at 7/23/12 10:57 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/23/12 10:07 AM

Head vibrations

Posts: 3 Join Date: 7/23/12 Recent Posts
A little under a year ago I experienced what I would now recognize as a dark night. It lasted some months, and culminated in a still unexplained experience of peace/unity/oneness, after which the temporary anxiety and fear lifted completely and has not since returned. Life has never been better.

I was only just beginning to develop a basic meditation practice when this occurred and it scared me off it a bit, not because of the experience itself, which I likely would have forgotten or rationalized away if that were all that happened, but because while it was occurring I felt a strange vibration-like sensation in my head. A few weeks after this first experience it occurred again (the vibration, not the oneness), and some days after that again, until I realized that this sensation, which I have yet to find an accurate description of or really be able to describe well myself, only occurred when I centered my mind on thoughts of unconditional love. At this point it happens maybe once or twice a week, but if I am in a situation where I can cease rational thinking, I can very quickly bring the vibration about by thinking of total love. I cannot force the sensation to occur and if my mind is distracted, especially if I am bothered by something, it will not occur. While the effect is relatively minor, after the sensation there is a feeling of great calm. Because I do not know what it is I try not to play with it, give it importance, or build it, but I have spent the last year or so trying to understand my experience and this unexplained vibration.

Because I had no belief in spiritual matters before this experience, I was and remain relatively unequipped to find any terminology or states which spiritual systems may have to describe or understand this. I feel a bit like the chicken trying to find the egg. In my search to understand this vibration-like feeling, I have come across descriptions of metta and jhanas but I do not know enough about these things to know if they have any relation to what I experience.

Essentially I am hoping that some system will have mapped out this experience and I can then understand what the purpose of this is or where to go from here. I am also open to the possibility that I am deluding myself, but since my interaction with all major aspects of life has improved since this experience, my intuition tells me that there is some connection or importance. Thank you in advance.

Edit: Realized I didn't even bother to try and describe the sensation in detail. It is something like a vibration, tingling, buzzing, but not any one of those three exactly. When it comes on it feels like it is inside the top of my skull and then it moves inward until the whole top half of my head is feeling it. If I had to describe it as temperature it would be decidedly cool. I cannot make this feeling occur if I have too much body stimulation (such as being in the shower) or if I am focusing on a task like driving a car. My head must also be upright, otherwise focusing my mind on the ideas that brings it about does nothing. It is similar to the chills that people get during an emotional part of a film but there is no involuntary shaking and it is repeatable. If I repeatedly think about unconditional love it occurs in waves, each time growing a bit in strength. Hope that makes some sense to someone.
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John P, modified 11 Years ago at 7/23/12 6:11 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/23/12 6:11 PM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 155 Join Date: 1/24/12 Recent Posts
Hi Suzanne, do you feel this vibration exclusively in the head?

Recently I made a thread about a similar sensation, perhaps it's the same thing, check it out:
http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/3294958
suzanne L, modified 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 10:37 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 10:37 AM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 3 Join Date: 7/23/12 Recent Posts
Yes, exclusively in the head now. The idea that it is prana is something I have come across, but I have yet to find an explanation that would explain why this sensation is occurring or perhaps what it might signify. According to that system, would it indicate a blockage, an overflow, or a healthy flow in my crown? I have yet to find an answer to that.

Before this sensation occurred I was experiencing subtle chills going up my spine, accompanied by minor tremors (this was during and near the end of what I believe to be my "dark night"). Trying to understand this strange sensation lead me to discover the world of kundalini, which I do not believe I experienced, but which did point me further in the right direction to understanding my experiences.

Another apparent difference between your sensation and mine is that it is definitely not one and the same with the unique chill/tingling sensation from an emotionally effective scene in a book or movie. They are similar but whereas there is an outward expression and feeling of emotion, like a slight urge of tears, when a film or event triggers it, when I trigger this sensation myself it is inner only and not accompanied by any emotion. It is quite unemotional actually, even though the feeling is pleasant and perhaps even blissful.
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Simon T, modified 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 10:52 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 10:52 AM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 383 Join Date: 9/13/11 Recent Posts
Do you feel some tension in the neck? Try to look if there is some and look what happens when you try to relax those muscles. Experiment with letting the area pulsing with your heartbeat and getting more and more relax.
suzanne L, modified 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 11:18 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 11:18 AM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 3 Join Date: 7/23/12 Recent Posts
I would say my neck is by far the most tense part of my body. Most of my other body tensions have disappeared over the last year as I became more aware of poor posture, shallow breathing, and unconscious muscle clenching. I will definitely try what you suggested.
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Simon T, modified 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 12:04 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/24/12 12:04 PM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 383 Join Date: 9/13/11 Recent Posts
suzanne L:
I would say my neck is by far the most tense part of my body. Most of my other body tensions have disappeared over the last year as I became more aware of poor posture, shallow breathing, and unconscious muscle clenching. I will definitely try what you suggested.


We might be in the same situation. We discussed about it here:
http://dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/3218934

In the last few weeks I really focussed on releasing the tension in my neck. I figured out that each time I'm not mindful (thinking) my neck is tense. I can maintain almost constant mindfulness by letting pulsing my neck all day long. It important that the rest of you body be relaxed too. It seems that there is an order in which to release the tension. I found that once I have established a good level of mindfulness by paying attention at those tension, looking at a kasina object while letting relax naturally works well.
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PP, modified 11 Years ago at 7/25/12 8:55 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/25/12 8:55 AM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 376 Join Date: 3/21/12 Recent Posts
Hi,

You may want to check Bhante Vimalaramsi's teachings, they have a road map of samatha-vipassana all the way to enlightment focusing in love-compassion. There are some threads in DhO regarding him.

Best,
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fivebells , modified 11 Years ago at 7/25/12 3:31 PM
Created 11 Years ago at 7/25/12 3:31 PM

RE: Head vibrations

Posts: 563 Join Date: 2/25/11 Recent Posts
suzanne L:
...after the sensation there is a feeling of great calm.

Essentially I am hoping that some system will have mapped out this experience and I can then understand what the purpose of this is or where to go from here. I am also open to the possibility that I am deluding myself, but since my interaction with all major aspects of life has improved since this experience, my intuition tells me that there is some connection or importance.


It depends on what you want to achieve with your practice. Since you use the term "dark night," I am assuming in this comment that you want to advance along the progress of insight map. If that's not the case, please let me know, and do not follow the advice below.

If you can achieve a state of great calm with some reliability, you may find it is a very useful place from which to start some form of insight practice. It would be worth trying next time you reach that state. If you aren't already familiar with an insight practice, you could try noting the suffering, impermanence and nonself in phenomena as they arise in experience.

Don't push it. At least initially, keep the insight sessions short and try to end them before any overwhelming emotional disturbance. But this state of calm you describe may let you go further before that happens.