Hey meditators

I have come up with an issue with my meditation that have really made it problematic during the day.

for some while i have meditated by focusing on my breath and adjusted it bymyself (not only being aware by the breath), I've strained myself lately by having a slight focus on my forehead and thinking if im doing right during the time while meditating, which leads to straining to

to the main issue.
I have stopped meditating for a while now but it dosent take long before Im uncontrolable start to focus on the breath, forehead, and strain out myself during the day while not meditating. I'm trying to accept the situation as it is, but it comes up again and again during the day, which turns out in result as a mild headache

Anyone had a problem like this and what did you do about it?

My immediate suggestion would be to reroute your focus onto bodily sensations throughout your day and (if you restart your practice) during meditation, sensations in the chest, stomach, buttocks, arms, feet, etc., allowing the attention to move naturally throughout the body, that way you aren't just running circles in your head all day. If you get proficient with this, there's no reason it can't be as useful as focusing on the breath, as you can widen (in the case of a relaxed meditation) or narrow (in the case of an effortful meditation) the attention as you please. Just as long as you know which kind of meditation (relaxed or effortful) is good for you at the time, which all comes down to intuition. So you know, I had this exact same problem for a long time, but it isn't an issue anymore, except sometimes when coming out of an intense phase of meditation.

Best of luck.

i also had the exact same issue.  i agree that you should try to move your focus to another area of the body.

i just came off a 6-day jhana retreat and went in with the exact issue.  i spoke with the head monk (Bhante G) as got to ask him a couple questions directly - i asked him about this issue twice, the second time pointing out that there were feelings of warmth and that it was somewhat interesting, even if it was otherwise completely unsatisfactory, and a rather intense but low grade headache at times.

Anyway, he emphasized the importance of mindfulness, even in concentration. He called it right concentration.  

experimenting afterwards, I had the most success doing metta, focusing on warm feelings in the chest.

Here's another recent discussion on the topic that you might find useful:

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<"looking for help with head tension problems">

Best
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EDIT

i just took a peek at the Reichian Therapy thread which looks like it might best help resolve these issues

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