Muscle Tension During Meditation

[VikingWarriorOnWheels]

Hello to all and thank you, in advance, for any advice offered :-)

I am fairly new to meditation (3 months in, 1 hr daily) and have noticed so many improvements in my overall well being.

My usual method includes either relaxing binaural beats or isochronic tones, along with focused breathing and picturing light entering my body from Earth's core. I then picture the light permeating my chakras from the bottom up, cleansing my body and flowing from my crown, releasing positive energy which is recycled through me, increasing in radiance.

Oftentimes, I will feel a sensation that I can best describe as the feeling in your muscles when you stretch in the morning. Though I'm trying to relax my body while meditating, the urge to tighten every muscle in my body becomes so strong. Afterwards, my stomach muscles often feel sore, like I completed a set of crunches. Sometimes the deep, "I need to stretch" feeling in my stomach can last for days.

Is this normal? Is this a symptom of a kundalini block? ...Or maybe simply my body releasing negative energy?

Viking,

If your body tightens up in meditation, I tend to go with the thought that it needs to tighten and let it do what it needs to do. It might also be interesting to alter your meditation practices (no binaural beats/isochronic tones, no focused breathing, no visualization, some of the above, none of the above, etc).

My biggest point, though, is this: There are many descriptions as to "why" your body does this and that during meditation... Blockages of qi flow, kundalini blocks, etc. Don't give them too much thought. Instead, focus on how your body and psyche feel during and after meditation. THAT will tell you more than any description that others provide. In time, you will know what these sensations mean in the context of your own unique spiritual path. Until then, wait, and treat other peoples' explanations as interesting thoughts that may or may not be totally irrelevant to your own spiritual experience.

-TaoSandwich

[jayemem]

I've only recently began meditating as well, and I've had a couple of experiences where various parts of my body will twitch and shake, sometimes rather intensely. I know that the body will sometimes do this to rid itself of unused or unwanted energy that's not serving us. When I meditate, I visualize God, as a ball of light, and direct it over certain chakra's. When I do this, I get a significant physical reaction and often will feel my muscles shake or twitch, tense up and then release and need to stretch, which seems a bit similar to what you described. The stretch feels fantastic however and I take that as an indication my body and chakra's have released and re-energized or balanced what it needed and wanted to.

The tension I get can start to be uncomfortable, but the moment I think or say in my head that it's starting to hurt, it relieves immediately. Imo, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it's a good feeling and it's not painful while it's happening, I say let it be.

Go with whatever you experience in meditation. The Universe and/or your higher self is guiding your body, so let it. Don't try so hard. Just go with whatever is happening. (It doesn't matter why....)

[LadyMay]

Go with it. :)

[VikingWarriorOnWheels]

Thank you for the assurance guys :) What a fun journey this is becoming!

[VinceField]

Meditation is ideal when the body is as relaxed as possible.

I would recommend a preliminary muscle relaxation exercise such as going through the body tensing and relaxing each muscle group.

During meditation it is possible to relieve muscle tension with focused awareness and intention. Bring your awareness to whatever part of the body you feel tension and create the intention to let go of this tension. I do breath awareness meditation in line with Theravada Buddhist teachings, so on the inhale I fill my awareness in the particular part of the body, and on the exhale I feel the energy release from that area by moving my awareness in a way that creates this feeling of release. I simultaneously allow my mind to let go of all desires and attachments, including the desire to release the tension, and ironically this effectively releases the tension.

Experimenting with various ways of moving energy through the body in conjunction with the breath will bring insight into all the various ways in which the breath and awareness influence the state of the body.

Originally Posted by VikingWarriorOnWheels

Hello to all and thank you, in advance, for any advice offered :-)

I am fairly new to meditation (3 months in, 1 hr daily) and have noticed so many improvements in my overall well being.

My usual method includes either relaxing binaural beats or isochronic tones, along with focused breathing and picturing light entering my body from Earth's core. I then picture the light permeating my chakras from the bottom up, cleansing my body and flowing from my crown, releasing positive energy which is recycled through me, increasing in radiance.

Oftentimes, I will feel a sensation that I can best describe as the feeling in your muscles when you stretch in the morning. Though I'm trying to relax my body while meditating, the urge to tighten every muscle in my body becomes so strong. Afterwards, my stomach muscles often feel sore, like I completed a set of crunches. Sometimes the deep, "I need to stretch" feeling in my stomach can last for days.

Is this normal? Is this a symptom of a kundalini block? ...Or maybe simply my body releasing negative energy?

This isnt your body releasing negative energy, this is you holding on to something negative.

[LadyMay]

Originally Posted by Hypnoticalec

This isnt your body releasing negative energy, this is you holding on to something negative.

Or.. becoming aware of what negativity he's holding onto.. and then releasing it as he feels it?

It's gonna be a release of some kind. Either way, it's good. Just go with it.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by VikingWarriorOnWheels

Hello to all and thank you, in advance, for any advice offered :-)

I am fairly new to meditation (3 months in, 1 hr daily) and have noticed so many improvements in my overall well being.

Nice.

My usual method includes either relaxing binaural beats or isochronic tones, along with focused breathing and picturing light entering my body from Earth's core. I then picture the light permeating my chakras from the bottom up, cleansing my body and flowing from my crown, releasing positive energy which is recycled through me, increasing in radiance.

Fair enough. Probably be able to refine that as you go along.

Oftentimes, I will feel a sensation that I can best describe as the feeling in your muscles when you stretch in the morning. Though I'm trying to relax my body while meditating, the urge to tighten every muscle in my body becomes so strong. Afterwards, my stomach muscles often feel sore, like I completed a set of crunches. Sometimes the deep, "I need to stretch" feeling in my stomach can last for days.

Is this normal? Is this a symptom of a kundalini block? ...Or maybe simply my body releasing negative energy?

Usually meditators experience the body behaving strangely, but think nothing of, it is as it is, might last a little while, and then it will be passed.