I have been meditating for a year and a half now every morning. I started this past week with 2 new mantras by Sadhguru. The first I can do with no problem but when the second one starts I am good until about 2 minutes into it. All of a sudden I get a pain in the left side of my head behind my ear and up towards the top of my head. The mantra is Sadhguru — Brahmanandha swaroopa. When the next mantra comes on it goes away. Not sure why this happens. Is it something I am doing? Is this normal?
—MARY KATE Villacres, United States
Dear Mary Kate,
What does it mean if your head hurts while meditating? Meditation should be relaxing, calming, and uplifting. You should not be experiencing headaches, which indicates tension. It sounds like your first mantra helps you move in the right direction but not the second. You might experiment a bit to see what might be causing the headache during meditation. You could try a few yoga postures before meditation to help with the relaxation of the muscles of the upper back and shoulders. Also check that you are not inadvertently raising or furrowing your brows, squinting your eyes, clenching your jaw, or tensing your shoulders during meditation.
If these suggestions do not do it, I suggest dropping the second mantra for now and working with the first one. Possibly sometime later you could try to resume the second mantra and see if things are better. Meditation is an individual quest for divine connection and it is important to work with your body and mind in the way that is best for you.
If you would like to learn more about meditation as taught here at Ananda you can check out our free mini-course in meditation.
Many blessings on your meditation practice,
Nayaswami Mukti
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