Meditation leading to increased blood pressure

[OnARoad]

Hi all,

 

I've not got much beyond the microcosmic. At least, I thought I'd got the microcosmic ...

 

I'm reading Glenn Morris's books, and am now going through them a second time making notes. Anywayz, I decided to get started at a low level by sitting in the sage seat, deep breathing and looking at the back of my eyelids.

 

All well and good - I've only spent 5-10 minutes a day, intermittently, just to get the ball rolling whilst I double check the books and triple check everything that I do.

 

What appears to have happened is that I've suddenly got light-headed and my blood pressure has soared up. I'm on an incredibly boring diet (brown rice, veg, beans) and have been for years; I do physical exercise, and exercises related to energy work (have done that for years, too).

 

Many years ago I stopped eating so healthily and stopped energy work for quite a few years. When I restarted I had the same problem - light headed, increased blood pressure. I went to see acupuncturists, but they didn't take on board the fact that I was doing energy work and just prescribed me herbs to lower heart beat and blood pressure.

 

Long story short, heart beat went down to about 40 a minute on their herbs, and I thought, this isn't right.

 

So reread Mantak Chia's books, thought my Microcosmic might not be so good after all.

 

So spent a lot of time sending energy down through the tongue (tongue roof of mouth, had been doing that for years), finally figured out that though I was feeling energy going down my front from my throat down it had only been trickling down through my tongue. I hadn't really been doing a very good microcosmic.

 

Ho hum. Kept focussing on tongue, energy down through it, nice and warm, blood pressure down to normal.

 

Now I'm doing this basic, simple meditation and appear to be getting the energy stuck in my head. Focussing down through my tongue doesn't seem to be having much effect. My energy up my back is stronger than years ago - that could be why. I also feel, somehow, that my frequency in my head is a lot higher than the rest of my body.

 

Have temporarily stopped the big draw (leading to eventual kundalini) and stopped meditation.

 

Any advice?

 

Putting my hands on the front of my head seems to allow energy to go down the arms and then to the front of the body. Don't know if this will solve the problem yet.

 

Thanks!

[Jeff]

Consider doing a non-energy focused meditation for a while. A very respected cardiologist in Detroit has been doing a study on mantra meditation (actually funded by multiple health networks) and found that it has lowered blood pressure and cholesterol in patients. The paper should be out this fall.

 

[idquest]

I'd suggest discontinuing energetic practices and start doing standing postures as described by Kam Lam Chuen or Bruce Frantzis. By doing them you'll learn how to relax your body and induce a relaxing downflow of fluids. Master song/sung. After that see yourlesf what suits you best.

[joeblast]

get your mind out of your head keep awareness down in the physical mechanisms of breath and refine the breath until you cant feel it any longer - spend a month or two at it then you'll have established a habitual path for the energy to flow and can resume other things, have the path already cut for it to flow back down after doing headier things.

[mYTHmAKER]

forget all the orbits etc

sit and watch your thoughts as if they were clouds.

just watch don't add to them - let them come and go - most importantly let them go

keep some intention - focus on your tan tien

and

see what happens

[Thunder_Gooch]

I have some experience on this blood pressure effect.

 

If I do not attain an extremely deep state of trance first, where I am deeply relaxed and nearly comatose, and I try to work with energy, my heart rate and blood pressure increase dramatically.

 

I only work with energy after deep trance is attained, doing so before isn't possible for me.

[OnARoad]

Thanks, people.

 

Now I have this problem that my BP is still dramatically way up.

 

One of the TB members has been kindly emailing me, and I'm still having a discussion with this person. In the course of this discussion I've been working out some stuff in my own mind.

 

I've been used to having a steady stream of energy up my back, thinking it was going down my front but probably only a trickle was going down the front and I was getting away with it somehow.

 

Focussing in my head has somehow has somehow locked it there. At the moment I wish I'd never started this meditation. I was fit and healthy and had a very good BP and heart rate, now it's gone through the roof. I need to get it down, fast.

 

What I'm doing is concentrating purely on tip of tongue down to Tan Tien, over and over again. Every time it gets down to the TT there's a little shake of my body. I desperately need some simple physical or breathing exercise / pattern that will get this energy out of my head, I don't really care how at the moment. I've tried taking a cold shower, that didn't do much, I've tried breathing in with lower abdomen with tongue in roof of mouth trying to suck energy down into abdomen, then exhale quicly (and not forcefully) as I disengage the tongue so the energy can't go back up the front channel.

 

Not sure if that's going to work or not. I'm thinking of eating a heavy meal of meat (I'm mostly vegetarian) or maybe sticking my feet in cold water. Any ideas?

 

Any help appreciated, I don't like this at all.

 

Thanks.

[Pai_Mei]

[Pai_Mei]

Before I forget: I would ALWAYS suggest to do an intensive closing massage after your session. I put an example in here to give you some suggestions. You could do this massage even exclusively for some days (e.g. morning and evening) until the excessive symptoms subside.

[idquest]

Thanks, people.

 

Now I have this problem that my BP is still dramatically way up.

 

One of the TB members has been kindly emailing me, and I'm still having a discussion with this person. In the course of this discussion I've been working out some stuff in my own mind.

 

I've been used to having a steady stream of energy up my back, thinking it was going down my front but probably only a trickle was going down the front and I was getting away with it somehow.

 

Focussing in my head has somehow has somehow locked it there. At the moment I wish I'd never started this meditation. I was fit and healthy and had a very good BP and heart rate, now it's gone through the roof. I need to get it down, fast.

 

What I'm doing is concentrating purely on tip of tongue down to Tan Tien, over and over again. Every time it gets down to the TT there's a little shake of my body. I desperately need some simple physical or breathing exercise / pattern that will get this energy out of my head, I don't really care how at the moment. I've tried taking a cold shower, that didn't do much, I've tried breathing in with lower abdomen with tongue in roof of mouth trying to suck energy down into abdomen, then exhale quicly (and not forcefully) as I disengage the tongue so the energy can't go back up the front channel.

 

Not sure if that's going to work or not. I'm thinking of eating a heavy meal of meat (I'm mostly vegetarian) or maybe sticking my feet in cold water. Any ideas?

 

Any help appreciated, I don't like this at all.

 

Thanks.

In my experience cold will increase the blood pressure. The idea behind that could be that cold will contract small capillars in the body and blood will not move around. The easiest way I know to get small body blood vessels filled is to stand ZZ. Once the small vessels are filled, there will be less blood for the head.

Another point is to release major veins in the neck because they are responsible for outflow of blood from the head. IME this is best done by relaxing the neck and tissues close to it.

Another great tool is walking either bagua or taiji walk. WWhen you walk like this you focus is on the abdomen and the legs. This normalizes the BP.

[ChiDragon]

In my experience cold will increase the blood pressure. The idea behind that could be that cold will contract small capillars in the body and blood will not move around. The easiest way I know to get small body blood vessels filled is to stand ZZ. Once the small vessels are filled, there will be less blood for the head.

Another point is to release major veins in the neck because they are responsible for outflow of blood from the head. IME this is best done by relaxing the neck and tissues close to it.

Another great tool is walking either bagua or taiji walk. WWhen you walk like this you focus is on the abdomen and the legs. This normalizes the BP.

 

Coldness can be caused by the lack of oxygen(hypoxia) for your metab0lism to generate the body heat to resist the external cold temperature. Hypoxia will cause the heart to pump faster to deliver more oxygen to the body cells to generate the body heat.

[ChiDragon]

Hypoxia cause the blood vessels to constrict which cause high blood pressure also.

[Birch]

Hypoxia cause the blood vessels to constrict which cause high blood pressure also.

Mr Chi_D, you seem like the technical guy on this breathing stuff. I was wondering whether you would consider abdominal breathing as leading to hypoxia or the reverse?

 

I have also considered the "yi leads qi leads blood" to be a vector for "controlled" inflammation leading to selective cellular death, but that's just an idea that sprang to mind. I hit upon the term "embodied cognition" recently and it lead me to consider the ability to remove (i.e. "purify") the body memory through selective cellular death...

 

--- opinion alert---

[ChiDragon]

Mr Chi_D, you seem like the technical guy on this breathing stuff. I was wondering whether you would consider abdominal breathing as leading to hypoxia or the reverse?

 

I have also considered the "yi leads qi leads blood" to be a vector for "controlled" inflammation leading to selective cellular death, but that's just an idea that sprang to mind. I hit upon the term "embodied cognition" recently and it lead me to consider the ability to remove (i.e. "purify") the body memory through selective cellular death...

 

--- opinion alert---

 

No, from the literature I had been reading books and online, AB will not lead me to hypoxia. As I type right now and every second, I am doing abdominal breathing. I know I have abundant supply of oxygen for my body. I believe that is what Chi Kung is all about as my native Chi Kung Practitioners say. Indeed, I feel wonderful as my breaths are going through my respiratory system. I feel great by the minute 24/7....

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Some walking meditation can help to bring energy downwards but it's usually done every 20 or 30 minutes. Seems maybe you ought to "do not doing" and let these things (that you're working on) take their course naturally in your meditation.

 

For walking.. put palms, left under right, against dantien. Walk around the room at moderate or medium pace, tracing the shape of the room, bending ankles a bit around the corners, without engaging the thought-mind (ideally... [ ..pa-pun-pun..]).

[james liem]

OnARoad, just try to focus on Dan Tian to decrease blood pressure or the top of the nose to get a normal blood pressure. Just keep meditate, you get many advantages through this exercise.....

[ChiDragon]

OnARoad, just try to focus on Dan Tian to decrease blood pressure or the top of the nose to get a normal blood pressure. Just keep meditate, you get many advantages through this exercise.....

 

James Liem....

I won't ask you about the nose part....!!!

 

I know it is true with a good understanding on focus on the Dan Tian; but why....????

Do you think you can explain why focus on the Dan Tian would decrease blood pressure....???

[OnARoad]

@ Pai_Mei re. the video massage - that is 100% what I need - thank you!

 

Years ago I was in a class where we did introductory meditation for a few sessions, and we finished by briefly cupping our hands over our eyes as in this video. When I started Glenn Morris's meditation (intermittently) a few weeks ago I finished in the same way, but it clearly wasn't enough and I was also going through the motions. Duh. THAT is definitely what I need.

 

Also re. reversing the MC, and drawing energy down from the head, I shall try that. That looks like good advice.

 

@ idquest I had no idea what T'ai Chi or Bagua walking was until I looked it up! I learn something new every day.

 

@ Harmonious Emptiness Thank you for the advice, left palm on the abdomen, right palm on top, whilst bending the ankles. And not engaging the thought mind. :-) I do that very easily. :-) Just put the radio on and then switch off whilst half-listening. :-) My wife would recognise that. :-)

 

@ james liem Thankyou, just focus on the TT, good advice.

 

I'm very grateful to everyone for their help. It's not over for me quite yet but at one time my resting (resting!) BP was 160/90 with a heart rate of 90. Now my resting BP is back to normal, which is 120/65, heart rate 55. When I start moving around the BP and heart rate are still up, but I'm going to follow the advice here.

 

As you can imagine, I was terrified, thinking that everything was spiralling out of control. Someone else was kind enough to email me, and I followed their advice, which I think is excellent emergency advice - lie on the ground, put left hand on abdomen, right hand on top of left hand, breathe in and out of abdomen only, focus on abdomen and nowhere else. (I think I've got that right). I couldn't lie on the ground outside because it was wet - I could have, actually, thinking about it now - and so I lay down on the floor. It got really boring and painful, but I did that for a few hours.

 

I also tried sticking my feet in hot ginger water (hot water plus powdered ginger) to open up the channels in the legs, sat down on the sofa with my left palm on my belly button (the left wrist on the belly button was slighly less powerful and seemed more effective for what I needed at the time), tried doing a headstand (thinking this would ground the energy) but it didn't seem to do much, walked around the room in low stances (after receing some email advice) but that tended to energise me and send energy going up the back, made sure my belly was full of food, tried sending the upward energy up the back from the back of the neck into the throat and downwards so that it didn't go into the head. I also tried sending the upwards energy from the Ming Men into the TT but my energy was too strong for me or something because it still kept going up the back.

 

On the down side, just putting thoughts into my head was giving me slight headache e.g. if I rested my mind in my head to see what the energy was doing, closing my eyes was giving me pretty pictures on my eyelids which is the last thing I wanted since I wanted my thoughts out of my head, and doing any sort of movement at all was getting my energy going and I was trying not to get it going. Also sitting at a computer was too much for me since it meant energy in my head.

 

Eugh.

 

Hope the above things that I tried are of use to anyone else that is reading this and I am very, very grateful to the community for their advice and help, and to the two individuals who emailed me.

 

What I need to do now is find an acupuncturist who can see and feel energy (ideally someone who's gone through the Kundalini) before the next emergency. Hopefully there won't be a next emergency. I hope this isn't going to be a long search.

 

I'm also going to lay in a stock of emergency seaweed so that I can bring my BP down fast if it happens again, although I have a cooled blood system.

 

Sitting around doing 'nothing' whilst trying to get the BP and heart rate down is horrible. I like my body and I like being active in it. :-)

 

Thanks again.

[Gerard]

I decided to get started at a low level by sitting in the sage seat, deep breathing and looking at the back of my eyelids.

 

This only leads to problem. Sitting only is not enough. Your liver is blocked anyway. Move and move well. You need to start from scratch. Build up a strong root (internal martial arts and/or walking meditation. Drink green tea/herbs for liver qi stagnation to cleanse that organ. Never just practice sitting meditation, make sure you do it alongside walking mindful, slow practice.

 

Note: high blood pressure = liver qi stagnation (too much fire in the liver and the blood, since the liver stores it).

[NeiChuan]

This only leads to problem. Sitting only is not enough. Your liver is blocked anyway. Move and move well. You need to start from scratch. Build up a strong root (internal martial arts and/or walking meditation. Drink green tea/herbs for liver qi stagnation to cleanse that organ. Never just practice sitting meditation, make sure you do it alongside walking mindful, slow practice.

 

Note: high blood pressure = liver qi stagnation (too much fire in the liver and the blood, since the liver stores it).

 

Can physical exercise also clear liver stagnation?

[Guest allan]

It is suggested that the OP immediately stop his MCO ‘practice’. Clearly, the practice is incorrect which has resulted in raising the blood pressure.

 

Practitioners doing the correct neidan meditation will find their blood pressure remaining at a constant 120/70 which shows good health that is with or without any accompanying physical or qigong exercises.

[ChiDragon]

My blood pressure at the present moment is 120/67.

 

 

PS....

If you are proud of your blood pressure reading; please post it here once awhile. Maybe someone would like to have you to share your practicing experience in maintaining the blood pressure in such good condition.....

[Gerard]

Yes, but mindfully: walking meditation, internal arts...the liver needs movement and letting go of a critical mind and over thinking. Also addiction, frustration and over activity hurt the liver-mind and creating more karma. Be calm and go with the flow

[james liem]

James Liem....

I won't ask you about the nose part....!!!

 

I know it is true with a good understanding on focus on the Dan Tian; but why....????

Do you think you can explain why focus on the Dan Tian would decrease blood pressure....???

ChiDragon, the same explanation but in reversed with why anger can increase blood pressure. Its related with meredian in human body. Through meditation we learn to control our mind, meditation will allow us to have calmer mind so we can deal with life challenges more objectively. When we do meditation, we also manage our breath (do chi kung), our focus, our mind.

[mYTHmAKER]

My blood pressure at the present moment is 120/67.

 

 

PS....

If you are proud of your blood pressure reading; please post it here once awhile. Maybe someone would like to have you to share your practicing experience in maintaining the blood pressure in such good condition.....

 

110 over 70