How you experience your meditation practice will differ greatly from how the next person experiences their meditation and what you experience during meditation could cause you to worry. One thing that is quite common among those who take part in meditation are the sensations during meditation such as a tingling sensation.
In the main, these physical sensations are nothing to worry about and could actually have a more positive meaning than you might first think.
In this article, we are going to look at the common feeling of vibrations or a tingling experience during meditation and why so many people report this.
What Does Tingling In Meditation Feel Like?
Some people may experience a feeling that is similar to scrubbing the bottom of your feet when they take part in a deep period of meditation and if this is a new thing, these feelings might be a little strange.
One of the most important things here is that while this might feel odd, you should sit with it and go through the meditation process as normal as these sensations are there to serve you and the way you handle them might have an effect on your meditation sessions.
Why Do I Feel Vibrations When I Meditate?
One of the things that almost all people feel when entering into a deep meditation and completely letting go is a sensation of vibrating. This is simply the body going through a release process and is not a feeling that should be pushed away. The whole point of meditation is to let go and allow this clearing process to take place but when you experience this for the first time it can feel like something is wrong – but it isn’t.
There is no need for anxiety when your body feels like this during your practice. You make get a sense of vibrating in the muscles and this is a physical thing related to the stress leaving your body. Life is full of stressors and meditations are designed to combat this so if you feel these things, it means that your meditation technique is working! As the mind becomes more relaxed, the body follows and this can literally be felt through some of these sensations.
There are those who get these feelings in particular locations around the body – a few meditators have talked more and more about feeling meditation sensations around the heart area. There is some suggestion that this could be as a result of the heart chakra opening up and it is a good idea to allow this to happen.
The question remains though, why does this cause a vibration? The chakras are energy centres that can become blocked. Someone whose chakras are opening would likely develop an awareness in that area of the body (it is important to keep in mind that the chakras run the length of the body). There are even some meditation techniques that aim to balance the chakras and this can cause the kind of sensation we have been talking about.
Why Do I Feel Weird After Meditation?
Paying attention to your well being is important but some people can be put off meditation because of the changes they feel in the mind and body when they finish the session.
You might feel a little odd after your meditation or you may experience a sense of something that you can’t put your finger on. This is normal but it is a good idea to give yourself some time to adjust. The best way to do this is to give yourself a little quiet time after the meditation practice to get used to these sensations and feelings.
The point of meditation is to feel renewed and you will probably experience a conscious shift during the process. Not only will meditation affect the mind but it can also affect the body and you may benefit from things like an improved metabolic rate and decreased fatigue, studies have shown.
Once you finish your meditations session, you should take the time to sit with yourself before returning to your daily life. More and more people are becoming aware of this and are taking the time to drink some water, go for a walk or sit on the beach and listen to the waves, if you are lucky enough to spend your life by the ocean.
Doing this will help you to become mindfully aware of the effects of meditation on the body and the mind.
What Are You Supposed To Feel When You Meditate?
How you respond to meditation will be unique to you and all of the meditators across the world will not experience a session in the same way. However, there are some feelings that a lot of people experience and these feeling responses do have a meaning behind them.
One of the more common sensations is twitching. This is closely linked to the sensation of vibrating that we have already discussed. We talked about how stress leaves the body and your response may be a physical feeling. For some meditation enthusiasts, this can be twitching.
The area of the body that twitches may differ from person to person with some experiencing something as small as a twitch in the little toe, whereas others find that their hands move without their awareness. This again can be scary if it is a new feeling but it is also important to remain calm and realise that it is normal. As the stress moves out of the body, the muscles can respond to this.
You might call it an imbalance correction and when the mind clears, the tension in the body is released, causing this twitching sensation.
When you are letting go and giving in to the meditative state, you may experience a range of emotions, this is good. As the body and mind clear and you begin to focus on the tingling and vibrations, you will notice that you are far more easily able to express and experience your innermost emotions. There are those who may want to cry and others who have an overwhelming urge to laugh – however you respond is OK and completely normal.
A lot of those who are new to meditation do not realise how much of an emotional experience it can be and how waves of emotion might come over you, they simply relate it to repeated a mantra and ridding the mind of thoughts – but it is so much more than this.
In relation to thoughts, a lot of meditators ask the question about how to get rid of thoughts. This is not the idea of the practice. The human brain is not capable of totally switching off so you should never be under pressure to do so. Meditation is more closely related to observing the thoughts and allowing them to pass by without interacting with them.
It can be difficult to retain focus during your session but there are several techniques that you can use; you might choose to pay attention to just one or combine them all. Firstly, if you find that your mind wanders a lot during meditating, you can turn your attention to your breathing. This is one of the most effective ways and you can also choose whether to breathe normally and observe the breath or whether to engage in a breathing exercise; both are good ways to stay focused and release into the practice.
Alternatively, you could repeat a mantra. A mantra is a word or phrase that has relevance to your life that you can repeat over and over to stay focussed. There are hundreds of mantras on the internet or you can choose your own – you might find a lot you like and some would choose to use all of them but a single mantra can be just as effective.
Another thing that you might notice when meditating is that you will enter what is known as ‘the gap.’ This isn’t as scary as it first sounds and refers to a period during your meditation where you don’t sense any thoughts or feelings at all.
As we mentioned, the brain cannot switch off so there will be thoughts there but your attention will be elsewhere and you likely won’t notice them. The best way to describe it is as restful awareness, you aren’t awake, nor are you asleep and this can offer a very blissful and peaceful meditation experience than more and more meditators are aiming for.
Many meditators who enter into the gap will tell you that you do not realise that you are in this deep state of meditation until you are coming out of it again. This might be seen as the aim of the session but not everyone will achieve this. There is no right or wrong for how you experience your meditating session and whether you make it to the gap just a few times in your life or manage to get there every time, that is OK.
Some will also sway when they meditate and this is OK too, this is related to your greater attention to your breathing and being relaxed. It can also be attributed to the energy moving around the body.
Finally, there are those who will experience extreme sleepiness when they meditate and this is far more common than you might think. It might be worrying because the aim of your meditating isn’t to fall asleep but if you are extremely tired then it is perfectly OK to use this time to rest. In fact, experts like Deepak Chopra would recommend giving in to the release of sleep if that is what your body needs.
Meditation is about serving yourself and taking care of yourself and if you have a huge sleep deficit, then this will take its toll. Don’t force yourself into staying awake, go with the flow and allow it to happen.
If you continually fall asleep when you are meditating, this could mean that there is a greater problem such as an underlying health condition or that you are not getting enough sleep at night. In this case, it is important that you address the issue and take appropriate action because while it is OK to sleep during your session sometimes, you won’t reap the benefits of meditating if it happens all the time.
Conclusion
Meditating is a way of relaxing and looking after your body and mind but there are a few strange things that can happen when you take part in a meditation session. 1 of the most common is that meditators might experience tingling sensations and this can be disturbing if you have never experienced it before.
However, this is not a cause for concern and these waves are often associated with the stress and tension leaving the body, which is one of the main aims of this activity.
