Dear Soul Arcanum:
Over the past couple of weeks, I have started to meditate and open up to the Universe. My goal is to try to bring the New Age into being, for as all the crazy stuff happening with the government and U.S. president shows, we desperately need change in this world right now. Since I’ve been doing this, I’ve been waking up with headaches. My question is, are my headaches just physical in nature, or is something happening on a spiritual level? Can meditation actually cause headaches or other physical problems?
– M.
Dear M.:
While meditation and accelerated spiritual growth can lead us to profound well-being and feelings of bliss, they can also cause headaches and other unpleasant physical sensations. Meditation accelerates our vibration and sparks a stronger/higher flow of life force energy. If this strong energy meets resistance or obstructions as it tries to move through our being, we can experience all kinds of unusual and even painful symptoms. These are actually old wounds and limiting issues rising up to be healed, and often, healing is painful. (Please note that it is not meditation or growth that causes the discomfort, but the blocks to the flow of that higher energy.)
I recommend you search the internet for “kundalini experience” or “kundalini symptoms.” If you do, you’ll discover that you are not alone. In fact, it is very common for periods of spiritual growth and awakening to produce uncomfortable physical sensations. This includes periods when we’re simply engaging in new spiritual practices. Often one experiences alternating states of bliss and struggle. For example, Krishnamurti suffered from terrible headaches and other physical symptoms throughout his life. Many saints similarly had strange illnesses that left them miserable when they weren’t having ecstatic experiences.
These headaches are basically caused by energetic pressure in the head. Have you ever gone to a sad movie and cried really hard, but tried NOT to cry because you were embarrassed? I did this many times, and every time, I left the theater with a horrible headache. Then I figured out what was happening and integrated the wisdom of how important it is for us to process our emotions instead of resisting or suppressing them. When we let emotional energy flow freely, no pressure builds, and we naturally maintain healthy balance.
As I stated above (and as Edgar Cayce taught), it isn’t meditation or psychic development that causes problems, but rather a lack of flow in one’s being on some level (physical, emotional, mental and/or spiritual). To “heal” the discomfort, we can either clear the blocks to flow or slow down the growth/ energy or both.
There are many things we can do to clear blocks and come up to speed with the new energy flowing in and through us. On a practical, physical level, we can purify the body by following Edgar Cayce’s diet recommendations (eat a lot of whole, raw, natural food). We can get our energy going by moving our physical bodies via exercise as well. Yoga and Tai Chi are especially effective for increasing energy flow. Massage and energy healing are also good choices.
To release and process all those thoughts and emotions, anything that keeps energy moving will help, such as journaling, feng shui, engaging in counseling, etc. This is where your own specific situation comes up, for on one hand, you’re igniting high level energy via meditation, but on the other, you’re carrying all this negativity with you into that practice. Your cynical thoughts and feelings about the state of the world are not a good match for the high vibration of meditation, so you’re encountering a chasm between the two. Trying to stretch yourself across that chasm is creating tension, which you experience as headaches.
It’s time to dump all those negative thoughts and feelings about the world, both for your own sake, and for the sake of the rest of the planet. After all, believing that the world is in dire need of help and fixing will only send more energy to that idea. As I wrote about energy healing last week, the best thing we can do to heal anyone and anything (including the planet) is to see only perfection. Whatever we visualize is what we are creating, after all.
Luckily, this is exactly what you need to “heal” yourself of the headaches and move into a much happier experience both in your meditations and in your daily life. When we believe that the world is a bad place to be (or is unsafe, untrustworthy, dark, cold, etc.) we pinch off our crown chakras. This of course makes it hard for that energy to flow through us and out the top of our heads. You meditating to bring the New Age in because this world needs so much help is like you taking the weight of the world on your shoulders. It’s no wonder you don’t feel well – that’s heavy, man! The closer you are to a state of bliss and joy, the more kundalini (life force energy) will be able to flow through your being.
I recommend you begin your meditations by visualizing your crown chakra opening like a lotus. Whenever you have a headache, open your crown chakra and visualize all that energy just flowing out into the Universe to be assimilated and transformed. I have a Chakra Clearing and Charging Meditation that would really help you with all of this. Also, RELAX. You don’t have to save the world while you’re meditating. Just sink into a sense of profound well-being via your conscious connection to the divine.
At the same time, I recommend you get more grounded and reconnected with the physical world. In meditation, you can do this by visualizing the perfection that you DO see in the world. Bask in appreciation for kind people, beautiful sunsets, the amazing creatures of the ocean, the bounties of the fields, the planet’s endless turning from day to night and day again, the beauty of the night sky, etc. Ponder all the people who are constantly trying to help others and make the world more wonderful by inventing new cures for diseases, creating works of art, writing beautiful books, etc. Perhaps even give thanks that there are people who are willing to serve as president. (I wouldn’t want the job – would you?)
When you’re not meditating, get out in the world and look for beauty! Go barefoot, take walks in nature, and work in your garden. As you consciously step more and more into all that is good and right in the world, your vibration will naturally rise. Then you will be able to meditate and send healing love to the world, and instead of headaches, you’ll experience only bliss!
– Soul Arcanum