Hi,
I've been getting a really uncomfortable sensation in my chest area every time I meditate which keeps getting worse as I meditate forcing me to stop. I decided today that it was time to just keep meditating till i passed through it. So doing a 45 minute body scan the sensation narrowed to my left side but became so uncomfortable about half way through that I had to rub and shake my body to help dispel the feeling. Anyway I finished off the scan and the feeling was there the whole time and is still with me now but not half as bad. Its not a physical pain or anything...but im a bit worried as it normally stops when i stop meditating...

Don't take this the wrong way, as I literally don't know you at all beyond your post here, but you may want to consider the idea that your meditation is making you aware of an incipient health condition before you would normally become aware of it. Maybe you're close to a heart attack or lung cancer or something like that. It doesn't yet register as physical pain, but it might just be some sort of tension or imbalance at the moment which you start noticing only when you meditate. When you think about it, even modern medicine admits that such diseases don't just appear out of nowhere. There is always a degree of mental stress or tension involved. Modern science also admits that mindfulness meditation can reduce stress. Therefore I would make the case for continuing to meditate in your situation.

Hi,



I'm not at all sure I understand. How would meditation let one detect an impending heart attack or lung cancer? Do you have any references for other such occurences?

Metta,
Simon

Use the body scan to identify areas of the body in which there are pleasurable sensations associated with the breath. Then drop the body scan, and just attend to those areas for a while. Try to spread the pleasurable sensations into the pain.

Using Meditation to Deal with Pain, Illness & Death.

Hi, well i'm 28 and fairly fit and ideal body weight, but have bad social anxiety so was wondering was it some kind of manifestation of that. I will try focusing on the pleasurable parts and see whats happens...Thanks for the replys

Hey just a update
Things have improved a lot after I realised that the feeling was what I can only describe as "anxious energy". It is still there to some degree everyday but by doing yoga or going for a walk etc. before meditating it fades away long enough to practice. I can't recommend yoga enough to someone with lots of anxiety especially someone who is naturally wired and i've also found it has helped to increase my concentration. Anyway I hope that this post might help someone in the future
Namaste!

Jerry,

The description of the feeling in your upper left chest is exactly what I experienced and still do when emotions come up. Don't try to suppress it before you meditate, as it is the perfect oppertunity to dissolve the anxiety and learn from it. Here is the best way I have found to deal with it, which I learned from shinzen young:

1. Locate the feeling and stay with it. Notice how big it is? where is it strongest and weakest? Does it spread to other parts of the body? Noting same or changing every 4-5 seconds. DO NOT try to change the feeling...let it be and do its thing! Notice how the feeling begins to change in any way. It could increase or decrease in size/intensity, or even the feeling itself. Or it may not change at all and that is fine.

2. The above should work with most feelings, but really strong/impact full feelings can be harder to shift. Try some of the following little tweaks that can be extremely effective-

i. Concentrate and stay on the borders of the feeling, where it is at its weakest and see what happens.

ii. Zoom in and out of the feeling at the same time. (I know this is confusing, but it simply means putting your attention on the feeling
and whole body at the same time) In my experience this produces a kind of equanimity that lets the feeling resolve itself.

iii. As someone said above. Find somewhere in your body that feels 'good' and paint it over the 'bad' feeling!

Here shinzen guides a student through emotional stuff - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azg0BrD9jGU


Good luck :-)

Hey Richard ill give that a try cheers. I'm starting to meditate for at least three hours a day. Should I just work on what you said there or spend some time on concentration (which is what i'm only doing at the moment)

I tried a version of it and it worked I brought my attention right into the feeling and deepened my breath and with each out-breath said release (in my head) and tried to visualise doing it at the same time. 10 minutes of doing that and I had a feeling of immense release and still do:>
Nice 1 Richard!

Glad you got some release now you can carry on with your practice knowing that if anything emotional comes up, you can deal with it in real-time instead of running away from it.

It seems that you tried to change the feeling by talking to yourself and visualizing. I normally wouldn't do this, but it works...so I'd say do what works for you in that moment.

The question on whether to do insight or concentration? Well, you can't do one without doing the other. When you're noting sensations, it takes concentration and consequently this develops that skill. its just a case of putting more of your attention into doing one or the other.

My advice would be to find a practice that works for you and do it!

richard