Really strange question - Plz help

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I was hoping someone here could diagnose whatever it is I am experiencing.

Just recently I was lying on the floor in my living room, when I remembered something I used to do as a kid. I never thought about it untill now, I guess since I have been reading a lot about meditation and hidden energies that run through your body ( at least thats what I gather from what I’m reading ). Here is the best I can describe what I did:

I used to lie belly down on the floor, usually to do my homework. I would concentrate on my middle section, above my stomach, and I would get a tingling feeling, like you get when you cant stand not to move and then I would basically twitch violently untill I got rid of that feeling. Its very hard to describe the exact feeling, maybe if you were really really exited and didnt release it, like a surpressed rush of adrenaline ( exept it doesnt feel like adrenaline ). I wouldnt call it a painfull feeling, or a pleasurable feeling, it just makes me want to move BAD. Anyway its very hard not to move while I’m doing it, and I can only keep it up for about 1-4 seconds. I also hold can’t seem to breath at the same time I am doing it, it takes too much concentration. If I do it before I go to bed it can be hard to go to sleep, because I am constantly twitching to get rid of exess energy. Well, I guess anything was better then doing homework :stuck_out_tongue:

Any light someone could shed on my oddities would be greatly appreciated.

#2

That’s called a hypnic jerk, and these jerks are a normal part of the body’s transition from being awake and alert to going to sleep as well as for some people, during the transition into deeper meditative states. Unfortunately, the scientific world is not united on what exactly causes it, but there are two hypotheses. The first is that the jerking motion is part and parcel of the physical changes that accompany going to sleep or descending the meditative staircase ? your breathing slows down, your temperature drops, and your muscle tone changes.

The second hypothesis is that your brain interprets all of the signs of relaxation as a sign that you’re falling and then shoots out a message to jerk your limbs to stay upright. This may seem more plausible to some people, since many experience a sensation or visions of falling as they drift into sleep. In fact, this might also be why you see some people jerking awake in the library after falling asleep over their textbooks. It also may explain why most people associate the sensation with a semi-lucid dream of falling…the jerk occurring on what would be the impact.

Most people have hypnic jerks at some point, but many won’t recognize them since they aren’t strong enough to wake them up. There is something wrong, however, if you have Periodic Limb Movement, what used to be known as myoclonic jerking. In this case, you don’t just have one light jerk, but a series of jerks at precise time intervals that can go on for hours. Amazingly, many people who have myoclonic jerking may not realize it. If you share a bed, however, your bed partner won’t be able to ignore the signs. If you think you might have Periodic Limb Movement, and it’s a problem for you and/or others, then your health care provider can evaluate you to identify a cause and find out what you can do about managing the condition.

I have experienced both during deep meditation and during sleep. Once I recognized what was happening, they ceased to be a stumbling block during meditation.

Namaste,
BrianClt

#3

Tiny Mage had some problem posting her reply - so here it is copied in by me, Chandra, but it comes from Tiny Mage:

Well the thing is I am in neither a meditative trance or in deep sleep. I can do this at will, although its much more effective if my entire body is relaxed. Also, although I feel the need to move, I can manage not to.

Now that you mention it, its the same exact feeling that I get when I am falling in a dream.

But how come I seem to have exess energy after doing it?

#4

TinyMage,

Without further information, it’s difficult to say for sure. If i had to guess I might say that you may be perceiving activity in your third chakra – the energy center at or around the solar plexus.

I personally experience such activity as sort of a funny, buzzy feeling in or around one or more of the 7 chakra points. Not really like an orgasm, but rather like something “made from the same stuff” as an orgasm.

I would suggest doing some research on chakra activity and kundalini yoga. I should mention that there are a number of people who not only report uncomfortable experiences with accidental or uninformed exploration of kundalini awakening, there are those who caution strongly against such unsupervised or uninformed exploration as they believe it can cause perminent damage to both one’s psyche and well-being.

I experienced kundalini awakening in March of '99 without negative effect, save a handful of meditative experiences that I would describe as somewhat terrifying – along the lines of what I understand to be ‘night terrors’ – those '‘waking-up-in-a-cold-sweat’ nightmares – except, of course, that I was neither sleeping nor dreaming at the time.

If this is something you feel you should explore, my advice would be to do some heavy research into chakras, subtle energies and kundalini awakening as well searching for an instructor or guru familiar with the topic who can offer advice and assist in your explortion.

If you do not have an interest in such exploration, I would sugguest practicing surrender and letting go of the sensation when it occurs (for example, if you feel compelled to move, move…shake off the sensation and move on with whatever activity you were previously involved with.) Often times the experience or sensation, when not held on to, will eventually retreat once again to a level just below one’s conscious perception.

Good luck, be informed, stay safe and
Namaste,
BrianClt

#5

Subtle but powerful memories can cause muscular reactions specific to those memories, I think. I don’t know the exact correllation, but it probably has something to do with the emotions attached to the memories.

If you can harness the subtleness itself of those memories you can get your body to do things you didn’t expect that it could do so freely before.

There’s a connection to Tai Chi and the flowing movement there, also, I think.