Why Do I Feel This Sensation When I Meditate on My Forehead?

Dear Arun,

An experience of pressure on the forehead during meditation is usually due to excessive muscle tension there. My guess is you may be tensing the muscles around your eyes or forehead in an effort to bring your focus to the point between the eyebrows or spiritual eye which is physically located between and slightly above the center of the eyebrows as you describe.

In meditation, we direct people to bring their awareness to that point because it is the physical location of an important spiritual center called the Ajna chakra. It is also called the Christ or Krishna consciousness center and is a doorway to union with the divine. Part of bringing your awareness there is to uplift the eye gaze to that point behind your closed or half-open eyelids.

This center is actually a center of energy in our astral body. To experience it we have to direct our attention in a RELAXED way. We can experience pain or pressure on the forehead during meditation if we try to uplift the eyes to an extreme upward position or if we tense the forehead muscles, such as knitting the brows together, in an effort to concentrate. Our eyes should be gently uplifted as if gazing at a distant mountain peak.

You might try this technique to help with eye position. Extend your arm out in front of you with your thumb upturned. Gazing at the thumbnail lift the thumb so your gaze is now above the horizon line. The thumbnail may be level with the top of your forehead. Close your eyes and maintain this gentle upward gaze. Check your forehead to be sure the muscles there remain relaxed, without wrinkles and without raised eyebrows. Once you have a feel for this relaxed, upward gaze you will no longer need the thumb to locate it. Be aware of energy but not tension at the point between the eyebrows. As we go deep in meditation we may at times see the spiritual eye which is at the Ajna chakra. This is a deep blue field surrounded by a ring of gold with a white star in the center, seen with our ‘inner sight’ not the physical eyes.

I encourage you to continue your meditation practice. It is one of the most beneficial activities you can do for body, mind, and soul. If you would like to learn more about meditation techniques as taught by our guru Paramhansa Yogananda you will find extensive resources at Ananda India.

Many blessings on your meditation practice and your spiritual life.
Nayaswami Mukti