Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Discussion of meditation in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.
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amit.sharma623
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Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by amit.sharma623 »

Hi All,

I am relatively new to meditation, I have been doing mindfulness of breathing for past 3 months but for some few weeks when I am in meditation session after few minutes the area of forehead and eyes become very heavy and I feel a force is pulling that area. Please give any suggestions about it, is it normal to feel heaviness or something is wrong in my meditation, I always keep my mind-body relax in session.

Please share some experience and advice on this issue.

Regards
Amit
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Grigoris
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Grigoris »

Hello Amit!
Do you have your eyes open or closed while meditating? Prefer open and try to "focus" higher and not towards the ground so much.
Have you been getting enough sleep lately? If not, then get plenty of rest.
What time are the sessions? Try to do them earlier and not nighttime when you may be tired.
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
amit.sharma623
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by amit.sharma623 »

Thanks a lot for your reply I appreciate it a lot. I do meditation in the morning and in evening with eyes closed , yes I get proper sleep. I have read that when you do meditation and the energy starts to flow u feel the heaviness in head region but in my case after the session I feel the heaviness for long time even at work.

Regards
Amit
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Grigoris
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Grigoris »

What do you mean by heaviness? Like your mind is dull? Like tired?
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Kyosan
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Kyosan »

Here's a funny picture of Mara trying to distract Buddha while he is meditating.
mara.jpg
mara.jpg (75.34 KiB) Viewed 8200 times
Distractions when we meditate are a very normal thing. I would say, just relax and refocus on your breathing.
:namaste:
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LastLegend
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by LastLegend »

Can you detach by sitting in one place?

Can you achieve peace by imagining yourself into it?
It’s eye blinking.
Kyosan
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Kyosan »

amit.sharma623 wrote:Thanks a lot for your reply I appreciate it a lot. I do meditation in the morning and in evening with eyes closed , yes I get proper sleep. I have read that when you do meditation and the energy starts to flow u feel the heaviness in head region but in my case after the session I feel the heaviness for long time even at work.

Regards
Amit
While meditating, do you feel stress?
:namaste:
Enochian
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Enochian »

Embrace it

In meditation you can actually make the whole body go asleep, yet the mind stays awake

numerous psychic powers can then be accessed
There is an ever-present freedom from grasping the mind.

Mind being defined as the thing always on the Three Times.
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Grigoris
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Grigoris »

Enochian wrote:Embrace it

In meditation you can actually make the whole body go asleep, yet the mind stays awake

numerous psychic powers can then be accessed
Says who? Like, do you have a reference for this?
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Enochian
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Enochian »

The Dalai Lama for one. He calls it the Clear Light of Sleep.
There is an ever-present freedom from grasping the mind.

Mind being defined as the thing always on the Three Times.
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Dechen Norbu
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Dechen Norbu »

There are several siddhis that can be attained through meditation, but it is not something that will happen unless one put some years into it, some of them probably in retreat conditions.
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Grigoris
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Grigoris »

Enochian wrote:The Dalai Lama for one.
He calls it the Clear Light of Sleep.
This is the specific outcome of a specific meditative technique, the OP was not referring to this practice AND the specific outcome cannot be generalised to all cases of meditation n.
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Dechen Norbu
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Dechen Norbu »

Yes, that's the case.
gena1480
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by gena1480 »

hello i have to say that your meditation is going very good
let me correct myself the heaviness is earth element
the pulling together is the water element
the function of water element is to hold matter together or make them loose
you should concentrate on spreading what ever you experiencing , all over the body using breath
try to get element/s balance once you there, let go of the elements and focus on balance
once you there, let go of the focus
the next step would be letting go of the balance
metta
Last edited by gena1480 on Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:37 am, edited 3 times in total.
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AdmiralJim
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by AdmiralJim »

Hi All,

I am relatively new to meditation, I have been doing mindfulness of breathing for past 3 months but for some few weeks when I am in meditation session after few minutes the area of forehead and eyes become very heavy and I feel a force is pulling that area. Please give any suggestions about it, is it normal to feel heaviness or something is wrong in my meditation, I always keep my mind-body relax in session.

Please share some experience and advice on this issue.

Regards
Amit
Hi Amit, good to hear from you, the important thing is to keep at it. I have experience of this and of being easily startled. It is a symptom of mental dullness during the meditation session. Remedies for it are to make sure your posture is ok and nice and straight. if this doesn't help make sure you are wearing loose cool clothing, open a window or door to allow a light breeze into the room. if this doesn't work take a damp cool facecloth and rub it on your face or splash cold water onto your face. if that fails just take a short break and come back to it later.

hope it goes well!!!
Jim
I don't know where we are going but it will be nice when we get there
Tarpa
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Re: Head and eyes becomes very heavy while meditation

Post by Tarpa »

Reflecting on attaining a precious human life, preciousness of dharma, of ability and leisure to practice etc. helps uplift the mind, keeping your eyes slightly open may help, just let them relax into being slightly open gazing down sort of along the angle of your nose but not focusing on anything, also this short visualization may help - visualize a white lotus at heart level at center of chest, just a simple 4 petal lotus with a very bright small white light on top of the lotus about the size of a pea, stabilize that a bit especially the brightness of it and then visualize the little white light shooting up from the lotus through the top of your head and way up into space and rest in that, repeat as necessary.
To counteract excitement reflect on karma and the unsatisfactoriness of samsara, this has a tendency to depress the mind, or visualize an upside down black lotus at heart level with a small black drop on it and shoot the black drop down through your body and into the ground.
Also raising the gaze counteracts lethargy and lowering it counteracts excitement.
To counteract lethargy if meditating on a visualization raise the focus to upper part of visualization, to counteract excitement lower focus to lower part for a while.
The nonexistence of the transcendence of suffering
is what the protector of the world has taught as the transcendence
of suffering.
Knots tied on space
are untied by space itself.

May I never be seperated from perfect masters in all lives,
and delightfully experiencing the magnificent dharma,
completing all qualities of the stages of the paths
may I quickly attain the state of Vajradhara
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