I am meditating for 6-7 months. Recently, I feel a huge kundalini energy flowing from the lower ckakras and hitting my forehead (which I enjoy and have no issue with at all). However, I am almost unable to focus on my breath and get easily distracted by the huge energy pressure on my head. My question is: should I turn the pressure into my meditation object? When I do this the pressure gets less but it immediately starts again when I go back to the breath.
—Saeid, Germany
Dear Saeid,
Meditation can indeed awaken energy and we should offer up any energy that we experience up to the Divine at the spiritual eye. I cannot be sure from your description whether the pressure you experience at the spiritual eye is due to an energy movement such as kundalini or whether it may be associated with how you are breathing.
Deep states of meditation when kundalini rises usually are accompanied by a period of ceasing to breathe or breathlessness. This is not to be confused with holding your breath, which is not part of meditation practice. These deep states are also usually associated with experiencing some aspect of the Divine presence such as infinite peace, infinite calmness, infinite love or infinite joy. When we go into deep states of meditation the kundalini energy does rise whether we are aware of it or not – so the real goal is the experience of the Divine Presence. When we experience this Presence we are very aware that our level of consciousness is uplifted and the experience is blessed. We are not in an ordinary state of mental activity.
In the foundation meditation practice that Yogananda brought called Hong Sau meditation, we watch the breath but do not control it in any way. Our breath is slow, relaxed and diaphragmatic. During diaphragmatic breathing our muscles around the chest and belly are relaxed. As the breath flows in the belly expands outward to allow the lungs to fill, and when the breath flows out the belly gently returns to normal position as the air flows out. There is no forceful deep breathing and there is no use of the accessory muscles of breathing in the upper chest, shoulders or back. If your breath is tense, forced, rapid and not diaphragmatic you might experience pressure in the head, light-headedness and other sensations of hyperventilation.
You will need to assess for yourself if the experience you are having in meditation is associated with a deep spiritual state or whether it might be associated with some unhelpful breathing pattern. If indeed it is associated with a deep spiritual state then, to answer your question, offer your experience up to the Divine at the spiritual eye. When experiencing this bliss there is no need to use a meditation technique as you have reached the state that is the purpose of the technique. Do not try to hold onto this energy or claim it as your own for this is the divine flowing through you and to complete the circle you must offer it back. Offer yourself into whatever aspect of the divine you experience. Rest in this oneness. After a time of enjoying the bliss brought by accessing this state of oneness, you may find yourself returning to more usual mental activity and you can use meditation technique again if you like to go deeper.
If you would like to learn more about the meditation techniques taught at Ananda, I encourage you go to www.ananda.org and search for the free Learn to Meditate email series.
Many Blessings,
Nayaswami Mukti
