Solar plexus/abdomen contraction

[Rheor]

Hello bums,

I have been through stressful traumatic events lately.

My solar plexus/upper abdomen sometimes contracts like I am doing crunches, this has been quite unpleasant, also accompanied by impending doom like feeling / panic feeling (perhaps from trauma, adrenals).

My life has been messy, I am actively working towards balance.

I was wondering if there would be any suggestion as for recovery.

If anything comes to mind, feel free to let me know.

Thank you 

Edited March 25 by Rheor

[Sherman Krebbs]

From my own recent experience, I have found it is best to stare the trauma in the face.  Don't try to run from it, or try to suppress the experience.  Accept it and surrender to it. When the memory of the event or thing comes into your mind, let it stay there and go where it pleases.   It is uncomfortable, but it will (hopefully) eventually tame itself.  I am just a random person on the internet, however, so take my words with a grain of salt.  Good luck. 

 

[Cobie]

11 hours ago, Rheor said:

… If anything comes to mind, feel free to let me know. …

 

Righto, nice open invitation, that’s encouraging me to put in my two-pennies-worth.  
 

From my experience:

 

I would think the “crunches” are probably tension release, so imo a good sign. The panic feelings could also be a sign of progress, underlying unconscious layers being opened up. Sitting/meditaing through them can be a way forward. But can take time and sometimes not easy to do, so be patient and be kind to yourself. Don’t force it.
 

I’d say, try to do the basics well, like eat healthy, bit of exercise and sleep enough. Try daily to be out in nature (well, whatever comes nearest to that in your environment) is also very helpful.
 

Give yourself lots of praise for every little thing that you did manage to do well, and don’t worry when it’s all a bit of a fail. Let it be enough that you heroically keep on trying.  I think it’s very good you are “actively working towards balance.” 

 

 

Edited March 25 by Cobie

[Apech]

12 hours ago, Rheor said:

Hello bums,

I have been through stressful traumatic events lately.

My solar plexus/upper abdomen sometimes contracts like I am doing crunches, this has been quite unpleasant, also accompanied by impending doom like feeling / panic feeling (perhaps from trauma, adrenals).

My life has been messy, I am actively working towards balance.

I was wondering if there would be any suggestion as for recovery.

If anything comes to mind, feel free to let me know.

Thank you 

 

If you are reasonably proficient at meditation then i would recommend fairly long periods of breath counting.  This should if you are persistent take you to deeper levels of relaxation and more importantly link your mind to you body such that the breath begins to both release tension and become a whole body thing.  At this point the pressure to contract your abdomen will change and the energy stored in your body will be allowed to circulate.

 

If things are very chaotic it may take so e time but gentle persistence will win out in the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cookie Monster]

There is a therapy form called TRE, Tension/Trauma Release Exercises.

You could perhaps work through it with that method.

[JadeWizard]

On 3/25/2025 at 8:03 AM, Sherman Krebbs said:

From my own recent experience, I have found it is best to stare the trauma in the face.  Don't try to run from it, or try to suppress the experience.  Accept it and surrender to it. When the memory of the event or thing comes into your mind, let it stay there and go where it pleases.   It is uncomfortable, but it will (hopefully) eventually tame itself.  I am just a random person on the internet, however, so take my words with a grain of salt.  Good luck. 

 

I actually agree with this here. In addition, more meditation as well as pandiculation exercises for the abdominal nerves. If you haven't heard about pandiculation, its basically the type of full body stretching you do instinctively when you wake up. Its when you inhale and tighten your whole body and exhale and release the tension all at the same time. This is the only way animals "stretch" (they never stretch like humans do). Pandiculation effects your nervous system profoundly and you can target areas directly with it. In your case, you would inhale and contract the abs, hold, then release it all. hope this helps!
In a more Taoist light this is very similar to "buddha shows a thousand hands" in falun gong. 

And for meditations, one focus could be the trauma itself and releasing it, the other can be just focusing on your abdominal region and observing.

 

Oyeah 2 more things. cardio workouts in general can help balance the nervous system on the come down. And also try magnesium sulfate baths (epsom salts). What your describing could also be apart of a magnesium deficiency and the best way for your body to absorb magnesium is through the skin. 

 

You have power over your body, you got this!

[Mark Foote]

On 3/25/2025 at 4:32 AM, Rheor said:

Hello bums,

I have been through stressful traumatic events lately.

My solar plexus/upper abdomen sometimes contracts like I am doing crunches, this has been quite unpleasant, also accompanied by impending doom like feeling / panic feeling (perhaps from trauma, adrenals).

My life has been messy, I am actively working towards balance.

I was wondering if there would be any suggestion as for recovery.

If anything comes to mind, feel free to let me know.

Thank you 

 

I'm working on something about the interface between physiology/kinesthesiology and a peculiar kind of ease, it's long and I'm not at all sure it will help, but I'm guessing the larger picture might:

Studies made in the 1940’s established that the discs of the lumbar spine cannot, on their own, withstand the pressure of lifting significant weight without rupture.
 

In the 1950’s, D. L. Bartelink concluded that pressure in the “fluid ball” of the abdominal cavity takes load off the structure of the spine when weight is lifted  (“The Role of Abdominal Pressure in Relieving the Pressure on the Lumbar Intervertebral Discs”; J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1957 Nov; 39-B(4):718-25). The pressure in the “fluid ball” is induced by activity in the abdominal muscles, and Bartilink was able to establish that in weight lifting, the pressure induced is proportional to the weight lifted.

Bartelink theorized that animals (as well as humans) make use of pressure in the “fluid ball” of the abdominal cavity to protect the spine, and he noted that breathing can continue even when the abdomen is tensed:
 

Animals undoubtedly make an extensive use of the protection of their spines by the tensed somatic cavity, and probably also use it as a support upon which muscles of posture find a hold…

Breathing can go on even when the abdomen is used as a support and cannot be relaxed.

(ibid)
 

In the 1980’s, Gracovetsky, Farfan and Lamay suggested that in weight lifting, the abdominals work against the extensor muscles of the spine to allow the displacement of the fascial sheet behind the sacrum and spine:

If this interpretation is correct, it would partly explain why the abdominal muscles work hard during weight-lifting. They apparently work against the extensor muscles. Futhermore their lever arm gives them considerable effect. In fact, we propose that the effect of the abdominal muscles is two-fold:  to balance the moment created by the abdominal pressure (hence, the abdominal muscles do not work against the weight lifter) and to generate abdominal pressure up to 1 psi, which would help the extensors to push away the fascia.

It is essential that the supraspinous ligament and the lumbodorsal fascia be brought into action to permit weight lifting without disk or vertebral failure. … It must be kept in mind that in some circumstances ligament tension may reach 1800 lb., whereas no muscle can pull as hard.

(Gracovetsky, S., Farfan HF, Lamay C, 1997. A mathematical model of the lumbar spine using an optimal system to control muscles and ligaments. Orthopedic Clinics of North America 8: 135-153; bracketed added)

 

Dr. Rene Cailliet summarized these findings:
 

In the Lamy-Farfan model the abdominal pressure is considered to be exerted posteriorly against the lumbodorsal fascia, causing the fascia to become taut…. thus relieving the tension upon the erector spinae muscles.

(“Low Back Pain Syndrome”, ed. 3, F. A. Davis Co., pp 140-141

Farfan, Lamay and Cailliet referred to the “lumbodorsal fascia”. That fascia is now more commonly referred to as the “thoracolumbar fascia”.

There may be another factor at work in the stretch of the thoracolumbar fascial sheet. Behind the sacrum, the fascia can be stretched rearward by the mass of the extensor muscles as they contract. As H. F. Farfan noted:
 

There is another peculiarity of the erector muscles of the spine. Below the level of the fifth lumbar vertebra, the muscle contracts in a compartment enclosed by bone anteriorly, laterally, and medially. Posteriorly, the compartment is closed by the lumbodorsal fascia. When contracted, the diameter of the muscle mass tends to increase. This change in shape of the muscle may exert a wedging effect between the sacrum and the lumbodorsal fascia, thereby increasing the tension in the fascia. This may be one of the few instances where a muscle can exert force by pushing. 

(“Mechanical Disorders of the Low Back”, H. F. Farfan;1973 Lea & Febiger; p 183)

 

Farfan mentions a “wedging effect” on the “lumbodorsal fascia” caused by the mass of the extensor muscles as they contract. That wedging effect may be augmented by stretch provided by the various muscle groups that attach to the thoracolumbar fascia behind the sacrum, among them the hamstring, gluteous, transverse abdominus, serratus, and latissimus dorsi muscle groups.

The sacrotuberous ligaments that attach at the sacrum and at the iliac tuberosities on each side of the bottom-front of the pelvis may also play a role:
 

At the base of the lumbar spine all of the layers of the thoracolumbar fascial sheet fuse together into a thick composite that attaches firmly to the posterior superior iliac spine and the sacrotuberous ligament.

(J Anat. 2012 May 27;221(6):507–536. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01511.x)

 

The iliolumbar ligament(s) also appear to fuse with the thoracolumbar fascia, behind their attachments to the spine (ibid). The iliolumbar ligaments are four ligaments in two pairs, one pair running vertically between the fourth lumbar vertebrae and the pelvis, the other pair running horizontally between the fifth lumbar vertebrae and the pelvis. The ilio-lumbar ligaments provide support to the base of the spine in the flexion and extension of the spine with the movement of breath.

My guess is that a cross-legged posture exacerbates the shearing stress on vertebrae of the lower spine in the movement of breath, and that the free location of consciousness can lead the balance of the body in activity to relieve that stress.

Critical to the relinquishment of willful activity in the body is the recognition that the ligaments of the body can regulate muscular activity. In research done at the close of the 1990’s, the sacroiliac ligaments were shown to regulate activity in the gluteous muscles and the muscles of the lower spine (Indahl, A., et al., “Sacroiliac joint involvement in activation of the porcine spinal and gluteal musculature”, Journal of Spinal Disorders, 1999. 12[4]: p. 325-30).

The stretch allowed by a ligament is slight (less than about 6% of the total length of the ligament), and yet the study by Indahl and associates suggests that even a slight stretch may influence muscular activity.

I would say based on my own experience that other ligaments of the body can also regulate activity in associated muscle groups.

The metaphors Gautama offered for the initial states of concentration speak to the role of “one-pointedness of mind” in engaging the stretch of particular ligaments. The ligaments in turn regulate reciprocal activity in various muscle groups that attach to the thoracolumbar fascial sheet, including the transverse abdominals and the spinal extensors, and thereby control aspects of the stretch and possible displacement of the fascial sheet.

My guess is that even when the spine is not under significant load, stretch in the thoracolumbar fascial sheet may still be engaged to provide support to the structure of the spine, and thereby ease the nerve exits between vertebrae along the sacrum and spine. The free occurrence of consciousness in the body I believe depends in part on such ease.

Gautama’s mindfulness included mindfulness of a feeling of ease, a feeling of ease that followed relaxation in inhalation and exhalation. In the first two concentrations that Gautama described, that ease was accompanied by a feeling of zest, or energy.

In my experience, the feeling of ease that enters into mindfulness is the feeling of ease associated with activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness. Activity of the body can follow automatically as the location of consciousness leads the balance of the body. Automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness has a feeling of ease, and initially a feeling of energy as well.

Gautama spoke of the extension of the feeling of ease, an extension such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this… ease”. He used the words “steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses” to describe how the feeling of ease pervades the body, indicating that the feeling is accompanied by a fluid sense of gravity.

The extension Gautama described maintains an openness of the body to the placement of consciousness at any point, through a relaxed extension of the feeling of ease together with a calm experience of the sense of gravity.
 

 

There are illustrations of some of the anatomy in the last part of my pdf, A Natural Mindfulness.

 

[Lairg]

On 3/25/2025 at 9:32 PM, Rheor said:

I have been through stressful traumatic events lately.

 

That is likely the immediate cause of your physical contractions in the solar plexus.    

 

For most humans, loving oneself is central to recovering from trauma

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 06:32 AM by Lairg

[Giles]

On 25/03/2025 at 11:32 AM, Rheor said:

Hello bums,

I have been through stressful traumatic events lately.

My solar plexus/upper abdomen sometimes contracts like I am doing crunches, this has been quite unpleasant, also accompanied by impending doom like feeling / panic feeling (perhaps from trauma, adrenals).

My life has been messy, I am actively working towards balance.

I was wondering if there would be any suggestion as for recovery.

If anything comes to mind, feel free to let me know.

Thank you 

 

 

DM me if you'd like to discuss it via Zoom, my Friend.

 

[Rheor]

Thank you guys, this was following a strange mix of unconscious forces prompting me to get my life in order, kundalini and possibly entities trying to take advantage of the situation by going after my weak spot a.k.a solar plexus which was burning for a couple of days. I prefer not to go into details here to preserve sanity of others.

I thought I was going straight to adrenal fatigue due to intense stress and that was getting me worried, I like to believe that I will mainly deal with trauma here wich is fine I guess, I worried too much that I would be irreparably exhausted.

I was advised to reengage with the world to gain some self confidence back, which is on its way again. I found a buddhist mentor that will help guide me on the path and course correct. I increased my mindfulness during activities and relax more into the pristine background of thoughts. I resumed studying scriptures, all of that calmed things down a lot in the "getting life in order" department.

Otherwise, one thing that remains is fear of lack of energy protection (mostly self-created), I was considering white light protection which is praised by /r/kundalini subreddit, it seems to be working for them. It makes me behave in ways that makes me contract and feel like I am doing something wrong and is quite depressing.

Edited Sunday at 02:59 PM by Rheor

[Lairg]

Protection can create difficulties.

 

How do we learn if we are protected from incoming energies?

 

How do we relate to other intelligences if we are protected?

 

What if the real problem is within us?  Does protection slow our learning?

 

Still there are adverse intelligences and it is often useful to send them heart light.  That often changes their approach to us, without blocking us from learning

 

Often adverse intelligences are given permission by our deliberate holding of anger, resentment, improper practices/lifestyle, .....

 

Protection is largely useless when we are radiating permissions