Can Meditation Cause Insanity?

[xp_10K]

I’ve been wondering about this for some time. I’d like to try meditation, but I’m reluctant because of its possible downside. There’s not too much information about the downside on the 'net, but what little there is, is often surprising in that a lot of it comes from practitioners of meditation. I’ve even caught hints about the dangers off the 'net. For example, the author of the book Teach Yourself Yoga warns that one can initiate “psychotic states” if one thinks about the wrong things. The problem with this warning is that the mind, or at least my mind, isn’t exactly a room with labeled buttons and levers so that I know which ones to press or pull and more importantly, which ones not to touch.

Anyway, a few snippets:

The quote below is from Gopi Krishna, from the book Living with Kundalini. After about 17 years of meditation Mr. Krishna “awakened kundalini,” i.e., had a powerful psychological experience. He reported the results as follows:

I could not bear to have a light in my room after I had retired to bed. The moment my head touched the pillow a large tongue of flame sped across the spine into the interior of my head. It appeared as if the stream of living light continuously rushing through the spinal cord into the cranium gathered greater speed and volume during the hours of darkness. Whenever I closed my eyes I found myself looking into a weird circle of light, in which luminous currents swirled and eddied, moving rapidly from side to side. The spectacle was fascinating but awful, invested with a supernatural awe which sometimes chilled the very marrow in my bones.

tearsofllorona.com/gopi.html

Mr. Krishna recovered from the state described above, and went on to lead a happy life–after suffering the above symptoms for about 12 years.

Here’s what Carl Jung had to say about kundalini and yoga:

One often hears and reads about the dangers of Yoga, particularly of the ill-reputed Kundalini Yoga. The deliberately induced psychotic state, which in certain unstable individuals might easily lead to a real psychosis, is a danger that needs to be taken very seriously indeed. These things really are dangerous and ought not to be meddled with in our typically Western way. It is a meddling with Fate, which strikes at the very roots of human existence and can let loose a flood of sufferings of which no sane person ever dreamed.

kundalini.se/eng/yoga.html

Here is a supposedly positive report from a practitioner of Taoist meditation:

They [i.e., the “hungry ghosts” that the writer claims to be able to see] range in number from dozens to hundreds, and most appear around age 20 -25, the ideal healthy age the dead soul fragments see themselves at even if they died much older. The kinds of faces and their dress varies with geographical location. This occurs spontaneously, without any invocation or visualization on my part.

healingdao.com/articles/taoalchemy_aa.html

Not sure I’m up for that sort of thing. Additionally, as I recollect, Sogyal Rinpoche’s book about Tibetan Buddhism, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, mentions having similar or related visions during meditation.

This is from a Wikipedia article on qigong:

Stories are told of people gradually developing chronic mental and physical health problems as a result of such training. A common term used by English speaking practitioners for an example of this is “Qigong Psychosis.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Gong

There’s more on the 'net about problems related to qigong.

From a web article entitled "Meditation Related Problems":

An “overzealous young karate student” decided to meditate and not move for a full day and night. When he got up, he was filled with explosive energy. He strode into the middle of the dining hall filled with 100 silent retreatants and began to yell and practice his karate maneuvers at triple speed. Then he screamed, “When I look at each of you, I see behind you a whole trail of bodies showing your past lives.”

meta-religion.com/Psychiatry … oblems.htm

I’m not condemning meditation, or even trying to warn anybody about it. I really know next to nothng about it. I’m just curious as to what other people might have to say about the alleged problems described above.

[Note to mod(s):
I didn’t put this in the Health forum because it involves issues that may not be exactly about health, and I didn’t put it in the Culture and History forum because it crosses cultural lines or involves things that don’t fit under that rubric. Also, I searched for another thread along similar lines (maybe I didn’t search hard enough) and didn’t find one. Anyway, I know you don’t need my permission to move it, including to Flounder. That wouldn’t bother me; I’m just looking for some feedback.]

xp+10K

[Tetsuo]

Meditation in and of itself is fine. All it is is chilling out and calming down. It’s all the other bullshit that different religions/cults/whackjobs lob on with it that mess people up.

[xp_10K]

Gopi Krishna, guy quoted in the post above yours, warned about cults, etc., but as far as I can tell, he was on his own, i.e., he didn’t belong to any group when he practiced the meditation that led to his mental problems

Changed your avatar and signature, I see.

[Joesox]

I am sure that meditation, done in the wrong way, can cause harmful results. But if you approach it in a sensible way and do your research the risks are minimised.

Firstly, meditation cannot be learned from the internet or from books. To practice any kind of meditation you need an experienced teacher. In the very beginning, people may try a little very simple breathing meditation from the instructions of a book, but basically we all need a good teacher to make any progress.

Then, there is the question of why you want to practice meditation. Buddhist meditation, for example, has a specific goal; to attain the state of Buddhahood. If your primary goal is simply greater peace of mind then there are teachers and groups more appropriate for this.

If you look for a “secular” kind of meditation without any particular religious affiliation you should be careful. Beneficial truly secular meditation does exist, but there are also a number of new religious movements which downplay their more exotic beliefs to newcomers, only to be discovered later. You should ask searching questions about the origins and founders of organisations that teach meditation.

If you really are interested in Buddhism or another religious tradition which uses meditation you should also be cautious. There are a lot of unscrupulous or spurious teachers about. Again, careful research pays off.

Once you have found a reputable organisation with a qualified teacher, diligent practice should bring about beneficial results.

[xp_10K]

Thanks for the help, joesax!

[Tetsuo]

@xp+10K

Gopi Krishna, guy quoted in the post above yours, warned about cults, etc., but as far as I can tell, he was on his own, i.e., he didn’t belong to any group when he practiced the meditation that led to his mental problems

Yeah, but where’d he learn the meditation practice from? What other ideas where fed to him at the time? Personally I don’t think it’s the meditation that screws people up, it’s the other factors - their circumstances, what they’re told (however they learn it) to do and how, any preexisting mental problems, all that sort of thing.

Changed your avatar and signature, I see.

Heh, yeah, I’m trying to change the sig weekly (roughly), and I felt like it was time for a new avatar.

[Screaming_Jesus]

“Meditation” includes many, many different practices. The word (in Latin) was originally used of Christian contemplation (for example, of the horrors of hell, or the stations of the cross). A century or so ago, Western mystics started applying it to Asian religious practices which seemed especially cool to them.

My impression (based on experience primarily of Buddhists, but also of others) is that no, none of these things are likely to make you crazy. However, if you are already prone to psychosis, then some forms could aggravate that. (I did see one guy go nuts at a meditation retreat, and he did have a history.)

Kundalini yoga, like many other traditions, teaches that there is a kind of energy that runs up and down the spine. This is basically a religious belief, and not a fact about the world which you must accept if you are a reasonable person. Assuming that this energy exists, and is powerful, people like Gopi Krishna therefore say that it can be dangerous–which is why you can’t just do it yourself, you have to have a guru etc. A non-believer might say that this is all hogwash and make-believe.

[TainanCowboy]

I have found that a sitting in a comfortable position, slowly breathing while calming ones thoughts can do wonders.
Combiningg this with copious amounts of very strong coffee with Kentucky Bourbon added to it will heighten the meditative experience.
At least it used to work for me.

[xp_10K]

Thanks for the good feedback, Tetsuo, SJ, and TC.