Head pain and Breath Awareness

[Korpo]

Whenever I try to focus on my breath I get strong problems with the blockages in my forehead. Muscles and tissues in my scalp and my face and all around my 3rd eye act strongly, tense up and induce chronic feeling of enormous tension.

While I do energy work on my blockages, the blockages in my head have been a real problem. Their intensity is similar to a headache or tooth ache in that it is hard to consciously deal with them. Sometimes it feels as if my head itself is in a bench vise, but what actually tenses up around my skull are my own muscles!

Whenever I try to follow the breath I feel blocked up structures in my forehead or behind my nose especially strongly, even if I pay attention to my abdomen only. Focussing my awareness around the navel *seems* to help a bit, in that a bit of attention is withdrawn from the tension points in my head, but I don't know if it will solve the problem.

I have worked with muscles as tense as this around my body in multiple places. Some were so hard they seemed like bone. Part of jaw was so hard in inner feeling I was thinking I was feeling bone! Instead it was the jaw muscle... Go figure. Most places in my body however are easier to develop an "inner distance" towards. I can regulate my awareness of them more easily and without as strong sensations.

Any suggestions?

Oliver

[ButterflyWoman]

I've had some success easing blocks in my neck, jaw, and head by using my energy body's hands to "massage" the areas. Try it with your fingers first to get a pattern and rhythm that feels nice, and then do it energetically. See if it helps.

I have problems with tension in my shoulders, neck, jaw, and head, too, for what it's worth, including significant tension headaches that can last for days (longest I ever had was six weeks). I have some suggestions for material ways to deal with it, but energetically, the only thing so far I've found that does much good is the massage technique.

[CFTraveler]

I used to have similar problems when I did certain types of energy work- it seemed trying to focus in a specific part of my body caused my head area (especially my eye/brow area) to tense up. What I did was to change the order of things, and I don't know if this helped or not, but the problem seemed to go away on it's own.
I don't know how helpful this is, though, or how to apply it to your problem specifically.

[Korpo]

CF, that is an interesting idea.

I'm not sure, but I have the feeling that focussing on the breath flushes my system with energy, circulating it in the "orbit", and that it then hits this "bottleneck". In this way breath awareness works for me like energy raising...

When I just do blockage work without awareness of the breathing process as a whole, or at its key points, but only at the point of blockage, I do not have the same problems. Maybe it is easier then to fine tune the breath to the problem? Don't know.

It is just frustrating as these blocks bring multiple problems, especially impeding any kind of breath awareness meditation.

Oliver

[Tom]

The first thing that comes to mind is that you should stop doing it while it hurts. You are clearly building up too much energy in your head. You have techniques in chi kung for bringing the excess into the tan tien, which you can use frequently if you must keep doing breath awareness at the current location, but it would be easier just to get it out of your head to begin with. Instead of following the breath at the nostrils, keep it to the movements of the stomach or even switch to "breathing" energy in and out through the feet.

[sleeper]

what kinds of breath awareness meditations have you been doing? Would you detail them? They might lend some insight into your head pain.

if you're doing something like Kriya yoga, which is a very powerful technique, then, you know. Strange things happen.

[ButterflyWoman]

Oh, maybe I misunderstood... Hmm. I get headaches when I put ANY attention at all on my brow chakra. It didn't used to be problem, but the more sensitive to energy I become, the more of an issue it becomes. If I even think about my brow chakra, my sinus cavity feels like it's filled with pressure and my head starts to ache from just behind the middle of the forehead. I have to be super careful with it. I can send energy around the "edges" of the area and that's okay, and I can look out of the "corner" of my third eye, so to speak, but looking directly is really painful (too bright, too big, too MUCH).

When you're doing breath awareness, part of the place the breath goes is right up into your sinuses, certainly. Perhaps you're just putting too much concentration there? Have you tried to keep your attention directed on your lungs and diaphragm instead of the sinus area?

Or am I confused again?

[Korpo]

Hello, all.

Thanks for all the good answers. I guess I'll help out by explaining a few things.

As for Yogic breathing: No I do not do any forced methods of breathing. I just try to breathe in and out with awareness.

As for massages: OW, you recommended energy massages, which did not work so well. But you inpired me to get some head massages from my wife and myself, and that helped somewhat. Thank you.

As for nostril breathing: I dropped the technique two years ago. It led me to wonderful relaxation and an inner sense of letting go. And then it induced nose bleeds, over and over again. Now I can see that the blocked structures behind my nose, which tie in with certain places in my forehead and jaw blocked the natural energy flow that arises with this kind of awareness. I had indeed always better results with focussing on the abdomen after recognising this, Tom.

As for focussing on the diaphragm: I have recently focussed my energy work on my diaphragma, generating a breath that reaches farther into the abdomen and makes my organs move - a massaging effect. Staying on the diaphragm as a focus - that's new. Gotta try it.


My problem, in general terms is, that as soon as I become aware of the blocks in my forehead, nose, upper jaw, throat, and sometimes other places in my head, that breathing becomes a painful and very tense process. Same thing when during my meditation I get drawn towards my third eye, or when I spontaneously get drawn towards one of the blocks described.

This morning I partially dissolved more of that "nose complex" of blockages, but it will take as long as it takes. I make progress and refine my methods to deal with this, but it is painful and can be very problematic.

These problems have been with me periodically ever since I started more intensive energy work. The blocks in my head have at least come from headaches several days long with cold sweat and a feeling like the head cannot decide whether it will ex- or implode down to an intense feeling of tension that is somehow controllable. Still, when these blockages are stirred, it is hard to get awareness elsewhere or to keep relaxed and work them.

Thank you all,
Oliver

[ButterflyWoman]

But you inpired me to get some head massages from my wife and myself, and that helped somewhat. Thank you.

You're welcome.

I make progress and refine my methods to deal with this, but it is painful and can be very problematic.

That's always the way, it seems. Bleah.

[Korpo]

I make progress and refine my methods to deal with this, but it is painful and can be very problematic.

That's always the way, it seems. Bleah.

As long as I have some feeling of actually making progress, I'm fine with that.

Oliver