Twitches during yoga nidra

this happens often when I do something along the lines of yoga nidra, I get random muscle twitches in my hand/arm. like my thumb jumping occasionally, or my arm twiching to scratch my face(like I’m not even trying to do shit with it), take into account this also happens when I get really pissed, I’ll start getting random twitches. you guys have any Idea what this is about? should I just keep calm and soldier on? or should I try and do something to fix this.

ps. Yoga nidra is still awesome as hell.

That’s a really well-known phenomena, and opinions vary on whether to soldier on through or ease back on the practice.

PS the two possible causes are muscular tension at a deep level being released, that’s the “relax and stretch more then carry on” thing, and the argument for easing back a bit is described on this page: [url=http://ebooks.gutenberg.us/HimalayanAcademy/SacredHinduLiterature/mws/mws_ch-42.html]http://ebooks.gutenberg.us/HimalayanAcademy/SacredHinduLiterature/mws/mws_ch-42.html[/url]

Scroll down to “Tuesday LESSON 289 Kundalini Out of Control.” You could probably use some basic divination on it to decide the best way to proceed.

him, the overly intellectual silent type describes me pretty well. I don’t intend to take his advice though, I just need to figure out how to switch the channels without stopping my practice. I know the guy who wrote kundalini: the evolutionary energy in man had a similar problem, and then he found a way to switch channels. though his was more serious due to his kundalini being completely active at the time.

the muscular tension thing would make sense, I work out sometimes hours a day. and my body feels like it wants to move the entire time I’m in corpse pose.

Yeah, those guys are very traditonal & conservative and also opposed to all magickal/occult stuff which they see as a distraction, but their theories about how things work are solid and I’ve used a lot of their teachings in my own way with great success.

[quote=“Icarus, post:3, topic:3063”]him, the overly intellectual silent type describes me pretty well. I don’t intend to take his advice though, I just need to figure out how to switch the channels without stopping my practice. I know the guy who wrote kundalini: the evolutionary energy in man had a similar problem, and then he found a way to switch channels. though his was more serious due to his kundalini being completely active at the time.

the muscular tension thing would make sense, I work out sometimes hours a day. and my body feels like it wants to move the entire time I’m in corpse pose.[/quote]

I don’t know if it hasn’t been blatantly obvious before, but I have been that same overly intellectual and analytical type. I have the same muscle twitches from time to time, and one of the main reasons it doesn’t bother me much is due to my experience having been in the hospital for so long. It’s likely just kinks in you muscular matrix, points of unresolved tension that are getting dissolved. It’'s a good chance to get to know secrets about your own body you might not pay attention to before.

It’s most likely not a problem, especially if this is a newer practice for you. Muscles certainly get “twitchy” when they are adapting to either a new movement pattern, or heavier resistance. In fact, both types of major muscle groups have “twitch” in their names (Slow twitch and Fast twitch, having to do with their specific type of contractions).

If this is something you’ve been doing for a while/you feel the problem has more to do with the nervous system/it causes pain, then you might want to get it looked into. Nerve problems aren’t a joke.

I have been using the method from the book: The Path of Fire and Light Vol. 2

I never have any types of strain. I start with the 61 points where I first tense and relax my body parts then go through 61 points of my body feeling the awareness within those parts.

The next step is the breathing which is from the crown to the toes and back to the crown then the ankle then crown and back and forth till you finally get all the way back to the crown again. I usually end up in trance at that time; fully awake and aware of everything and feeling of sleep paralysis while awake.

I can tell of one experience though; I had been chanting the Mantra: Om Namah Shivaya while I was going to sleep I had said it close to maybe 3,000 before I started to lose consciousness. I was still saying it though as I lost consciousness. When I woke up some time in the night, I found out I was still saying the mantra, then when I went to move my fingers, I had no control of them. They started to go in a weird form like a mudra (something to do with kundalini) and my feet folded in a way I thought impossible to do myself. I never had that experience again because I stopped chanting it for awhile. I think i’ll delve deeper into it now that I know the power of the mantra.

[quote=“Omnipresent, post:7, topic:3063”]I have been using the method from the book: The Path of Fire and Light Vol. 2

I never have any types of strain. I start with the 61 points where I first tense and relax my body parts then go through 61 points of my body feeling the awareness within those parts.

The next step is the breathing which is from the crown to the toes and back to the crown then the ankle then crown and back and forth till you finally get all the way back to the crown again. I usually end up in trance at that time; fully awake and aware of everything and feeling of sleep paralysis while awake.

I can tell of one experience though; I had been chanting the Mantra: Om Namah Shivaya while I was going to sleep I had said it close to maybe 3,000 before I started to lose consciousness. I was still saying it though as I lost consciousness. When I woke up some time in the night, I found out I was still saying the mantra, then when I went to move my fingers, I had no control of them. They started to go in a weird form like a mudra (something to do with kundalini) and my feet folded in a way I thought impossible to do myself. I never had that experience again because I stopped chanting it for awhile. I think i’ll delve deeper into it now that I know the power of the mantra.[/quote]

YO. THIS. RIGHT. HERE.

[quote=“blacklamb, post:6, topic:3063”]It’s most likely not a problem, especially if this is a newer practice for you. Muscles certainly get “twitchy” when they are adapting to either a new movement pattern, or heavier resistance. In fact, both types of major muscle groups have “twitch” in their names (Slow twitch and Fast twitch, having to do with their specific type of contractions).

If this is something you’ve been doing for a while/you feel the problem has more to do with the nervous system/it causes pain, then you might want to get it looked into. Nerve problems aren’t a joke.[/quote]

the sense of uncomfortableness that is associated with the twitching is only there when I lie in corpse pose, as I’m kind of manic, and this pose prevents me from going to sleep, so my body just decides it wants to go running while I’m trying to meditate lol. the twitching itself only seems to happen when I listen to audiotapes, but then again, that’s the only time I use corpse pose.

Yea, agreeing with Eva and the others - I think it’s muscle tension. Robert Bruce gives a pretty solid physical relaxation series in Astral Dynamics. He considers deep physical relaxation to be just as important, if not more so, than the rest of the techniques. According to him, and apparently what you’re experiencing, any kind of leftover tension can totally kill your experience.

So yea, pick it up. In a nutshell, you systematically tense each muscle group for several seconds, and then release. Starting at your toes, moving all the way up your body, even including your facial muscles, eyes, tongue, etc. The whole process should take about 5 to 10 minutes, and you should do it at the beginning of any astral work or meditation/trance session.

Yeah, I know the phenomenon. This usually happens when I go into deep trance and indeed, I also took it as tension releave. I don’t do anything agaisnt it though. I see it as good sign of a succesful trance, so I just let it happen. It doesn’t even distract me anymore.