Sunshine causes excess energy

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bernd the broter, modified 9 Years ago at 6/13/15 4:41 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 6/13/15 4:41 PM

Sunshine causes excess energy

Posts: 376 Join Date: 6/13/12 Recent Posts
There are long summer days. There is a lot of bright light and sunshine. I'm very sensitive to those changes, and the long bright summer days cause me to have a lot of excess energy. (After rereading the MCTB2-draft I guess that's what it is.)
This makes focus in meditation (Metta for me, at this time) rather difficult.

What I have so far found to be helpful is a lot of focus on body sensations and slowing down the phrases and just wait for the mind to settle a bit. Still, this has a very different feel than the rest of the year.


I wonder: Does anyone else experience these changes that intensely? Any alternative solutions?
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Jeff Wright, modified 9 Years ago at 6/15/15 8:00 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 6/15/15 8:00 AM

RE: Sunshine causes excess energy

Posts: 82 Join Date: 4/16/15 Recent Posts
I have not experienced this, and I'm always quite glad to have the longer, sunnier days. Then again, I suffer from a mild-ish case of SAD (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/basics/definition/con-20021047), so that's to be expected.

Your comment, though, reminds me of a possibly pertinent secction of MCTB (Energy & Concentration). One needs to balance these two spiritual faculties, and it sounds as if your excess of energy could use a little injection of concentration.
When energy is in excess the mind and body may be restless, jumpy, strained and irritiable. It may even be unable to focus at all because so much emphasis is being placed on effort itself...too much energy is realted to a lack of ceoncentration & vice versa.
How about practicing in a cool, darkened room? Might that help?
sloane, modified 9 Years ago at 6/16/15 1:02 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 6/16/15 1:02 AM

RE: Sunshine causes excess energy

Posts: 29 Join Date: 10/11/14 Recent Posts
I experience something similar - a jitteriness and restlessness. Because I'm doing a somatic vipassana with occasional dzogchen practices these days, it doesn't affect my sits as much as I imagine it might if I were doing concentration or metta... it just seems to increase the intensity of the sensations and "energy" type occurences, which can get uncomfortable but is good practice. 

Anyway, it's been intense enough off the cushion that I've looked into it some and apparently some people cannot metabolize vitamin D properly without sufficient magnesium and get have a bunch of side effects including jitteriness, anxiety, headaches etc. "They" say that most people are deficient in magnsium these days due to depleted soil and stress levels. I haven't yet determined with clarity whether this applies to vitamin D from the sun as well as supplemental vitamin D3 but: a) the symptoms I'm having this summer do remind me of symptoms I've had when I've taken vit D in the past, and b) things seemed to have chilled since I started taking lots of magnesium for a few weeks. Just a thought in case it's something similar for you.

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