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Hello, my name is Aaron, I'm from Venezuela, I'm 16, well, so this happened; 2 days ago I was trying to get back into meditation after having a bad experience and a really bad scare honestly because of mantak chia's taoist secrets of love book, this incident happened october 12th, and what happened that day was that I had really bad anxiety and insomnia and I couldn't bring myself to sleep after practicing the big draw and the scrotal compression shit, anyways, in like 3 days I was back to normal to having a normal sleep and ever since then everything was good, my sleep quality was top notch as I dont drink coffee or take my phone to sleep with me, thanks to the guys in the forum, I understood not to practice without a teacher. But as I said, 2 days ago, after having an intense excellent 1hr exercise session from 6pm to 7pm, I did my post exercise stretches, and when it was time to go to sleep, I wanted to meditate, because I wanted to make it a habit, I have had a bad experience with meditating at night since the awareness and focus I felt wouldn't allow me to transition into a good night's rest, but after the incident, I wanted to check if something was different, of course, I DID NOT do the practices mantak chia promotes, NONE OF THEM, I avoided them at all costs, I didn't force anything, in fact, I only paid attention to my breathing and became inmersed with each inhalation and exhalation, without counting, of course I'd get thoughts here and there but it was just a mere 8 minute session, and while I was doing it I was telling myself things like "It's ok, you did great today, you trained well, you ate well, you're going to sleep at a good hour, it was a great day, however, it's time to sleep, so all you gotta do now is to relax, and rest." and then I did some deep breathing and I said alright time to sleep, I was not meditating while my back was on the bed, I was sitting half lotus, but anyways; After doing that, I had some difficulty sleeping, and I was getting a bit anxious and worried, but I kept my calm just like last time, but honestly, facing the same situation unintentionally again, I had this app on my phone called Medito, where it's basically just guided meditations, there's a lot of guided meditations to choose from, gratefulness, sleep, focus, whatever, I went to the sleep option and I picked "Winding down for sleep" which was just a 8-13 minute session. I did it, and halfway through some crazy shit happened, there was nothing forced of course, the meditation just told you to relax completely and release all tension from the body, some deep inhales and exhales, and by the end it allowed you to let your thoughts take over and allow you to sleep peacefully, while this was true and I felt very relaxed, my mind just went through some shit, or at least thats what I felt it like, so basically I'll explain to you what happened, and why I'm planning to never meditate again because this left me scared and I don't want it to happen anymore. I want to sleep well. When the part of deep inhales and exhales came, I felt really relaxed, so relaxed, It felt nice and all, but what felt out of this world was what happened shortly after. My head, I don't know, I felt a crazy surge of energy and it felt like getting pulled and I got scared because I'm like what the fuck am I about to get knocked out or something am I about to pass out?, so basically I kinda let it happen, and so it happened, and my head felt so hot, idk, I put my tongue up the palate just in case, pretty sure that does nothing, by the way, I'm laying on my back as this is happening, then I felt tingles and a slight cold feeling close to my dick and navel and I had an erection, and then yeah, that's my experience, I was so freaked out. After that since I obviously was anxious because I had no idea what happened and having in mind what happened October 12th, My anxiety kind of got the better of me but I still tried to reassure myself, so basically, I felt my head hot as fuck, and then I said well I'm going to take a shower since I didn't take one that day and I felt sluggish, took a cold shower, its like 12:30am, and the cold shower managed to cool me down and my head didn't feel as hot and I felt better, felt more confident I'd sleep well, I didn't sleep as much, but I slept 6 hours, but yesterday I slept only like 1, and yeah, I'm kinda worried right now, I saw somebody say something about yoga nidras in my october 12th post, but honestly that night I really wanted nothing to do with internal arts, as recommended by people on my last post, instead I did some stretches while listening to a entertaining video (yes, i took my phone to sleep, because if I didn't i have no idea how I would get past the night), and the stretches felt good and I felt very relaxed, I felt confident that I could sleep, but I didn't fall asleep, even though I'd try to sleep as I did (normally, just lay down, let thoughts carry you to deep sleep), so well, I'm there like damn, this is repeating itself again, and this time it's unintentionally, but anyways, it's going to be alright. Today is the third day after that, I exercised today, and oh my god I was so sleepy throughout the routine, I did just the necessary stuff but nothing more, didn't feel like it, plus, I don't want to injure myself, I stretched after, then I took a cold shower, ate lunch, then watched a neymar documentary on netflix to relax a while. Haven't slept anything but I have high hopes that tonight I'm going to have an amazing sleep. By the way, I feel even more anxious when I feel my heart beating while my body is all relaxed, so I try to take my focus out of it, it's just like last time. I don't think I'll sit down in half lotus position and observe my breathing ever again, I'll just assume my training sessions and the stretching is part of my meditation, plus, this shit is complicated, there are so many styles of meditation, many paths, so many routes, it's scary for someone like me, I never expected that this was going to be this deep, I saw meditation as a way to exercise my focus, but this shit getting too far now, I don't want to be an insomniac everytime I want to meditate, so I'm considering never meditating again or take a really long long long break from meditation, like years, I don't know, but that's how things are right now, I believe and have high hopes I'll get out of this situation, it's very inconvenient but hey, you learn from these things.

Hey everyone

Quanta Magazine article Why Sleep Deprivation Kills tells of cutting edge research on sleep deprivation. It turns out that the gut is the first organ to show damage from sleeplessness: The intestinal linings become covered with reactive oxygen species (ROS), which will lead to lethal tissue damage after enough buildup. What came as a surprise then was that feeding test animals with antioxidants helped them to completely overcome the ROS buildup and its damaging effects. Please note that this simple model only accounted for insect physiology and cannot account for other benefits that ordinary sleep may bring to higher animal bodies like possessed by the human spirit. It's not recommendable to substitute good regular sleep with antioxidants, but people who have chronic sleep issues should take a cue from this study and make sure they have healthy diets with enough sources of antioxidants to help mitigate any oxidation damage poor sleep might have caused.

Have trouble getting to sleep and staying a sleep. Also since doing the nofap noticed this adds to the problem somehow. Sleep only for 3-4 hours. Are there any exercises, meditations, something I could do to solve this insomnia?

I'm starting to recognise...maybe it is my career that is messing me up. Evidently, what we choose to do daily, is the practice that shapes us into what we are. I've been in entertainment, full time, for nearly 5 years, but my anxieties have really been present for almost 10. It was easy when I was young...I was sheltered and had little responsibility. I was still in the same field (about to leave school so still developing) when I started losing sleep and I guess that was because I realised, but would never admit to myself, that I was setting myself up for lack of stability and a lot of stress. All for the purpose of "doing something fun with my life". I think the fun has been over ridden. Last year was the best, but this year, things have quietened down and I feel like I'm back to stage one. I now inevitably practice mindlessness every day, because I am desparate for clients. Phone calls here and there, one half-sent email, there goes my twitter, then more calls, finish that email etc etc. It's all "business related", but scrappy as hell. I'm on a TV set tomorrow and I don't even know what time I start and finish until late afternoon today. How can one ground oneself with a lifestyle like this?? Nothing is focused, there is too much juggling and I don't think I'm alone in the world here. At the same time, I could carry on with all those in the same boat and we could all be mindless wrecks together, or I could exit stage right and take a new path. If anybody else has been in my shoes, I would love to hear from you. Bless.

Hi all, Those that have read my posts before may be aware that I began meditating due to chronic anxiety and insomnia. Although overall my condition has improved, I notice it comes back in waves. I am going through a change right now with promising yet risky career prospects on the horizon. With this, and Christmas coming up (my parents and siblings are totally disbanded which is sad and difficult for me as I'm therefore responsible for keeping three different branches happy) I know this will be causing it. The interesting thing is, when I shut my eyes at night, I am not conscious of what is causing my anxiety and insomnia. I can be relaxed, and mindful of my breathing, yet my mind is screaming all sorts of things and being very disruptive. Like I say, all sorts of things...nothing particularly related to something I am consciously worried about. That is the background anyway. I don't expect any answers but the context might help people understand where I'm coming from with the next part...my question: ------ So anyway, I am practicing breathing into the Dan Tien. I find that anything else is too advanced for me and I need to return to basic breathing practice. I have noticed that I am doing this successfully, and can gain peace from my motor-mind. However, I also notice accelerating heart-rate. Again, no idea what is causing it, something completely subconscious. But I will sit, and feel good about being sat in meditation, but slightly weirded out by my heart panicking by itself. Is anybody able to give me an insight into what is going on? Thanks in advance.