Experiencing Physical Discomfort After Meditation? Here’s What You Need to Know

Experiencing Physical Discomfort After Meditation? Here’s What You Need to Know

Meditation and Energy Practices: Why Some Feel Worse Before They Feel Better

If you’ve experienced physical discomfort after meditation—especially fatigue, pain, or dizziness—you’re not alone. This is especially common among individuals with chronic health conditions. On a Reddit thread in The Occult community, one woman shared how her illness prevented her from standing and left her feeling drained after spiritual practices. Her frustration resonated with many, including myself.

Having walked a similar path, I want to share my experience to help others who may be facing the same challenge.

My Personal Journey: Energy Overload and Physical Imbalance

There was a time when I began practicing a form of energy meditation regularly. During one session, I felt a powerful unfamiliar energy enter my body—it was intense, almost exhilarating. Encouraged, I kept meditating at the same time every day to reconnect with that sensation.

Gradually, I could feel my mental clarity sharpen, and I felt deeply aligned when working with spiritual matters. But physically, something started to go wrong.

Despite my mentor’s repeated advice to maintain physical cultivation alongside spiritual practices, I had only half-heartedly followed through. One day around New Year’s, I was hit with severe lower back pain that made it difficult to even stand. Medical exams showed nothing abnormal, and I was prescribed painkillers—yet the pain lingered.

Eventually, I realized that my body wasn’t prepared for the high-frequency energy I was trying to receive. My mentor had been right: without grounding through physical exercise, spiritual practice can overwhelm the body. After pausing my energy work and focusing on movement and recovery, the pain subsided.

Why Balancing Mind and Body is Essential in Meditation

Over a thousand years ago, Taoist master Lü Dongbin warned that focusing solely on spiritual cultivation without training the body can lead to major imbalances. Another master, Zhang Guolao, stressed that the body and spirit must be cultivated together—only then can energy flow harmoniously.

This wisdom still applies today.

Tips for Meditators with Chronic Health Conditions

For those with chronic illnesses, it’s especially important to approach meditation carefully. Here are two suggestions that may help:

1. Choose the Right Time:
Try meditating between 1 PM and 3 PM, when yang (active) energy is strongest. Morning or nighttime practices, when yin (passive) energy dominates, might increase fatigue or imbalance.

2. Move After Meditation:
Do light stretches or gentle exercises after your practice. This keeps energy from stagnating and helps it flow naturally through the body.

A Note of Caution and Hope

I once wanted to tell that girl from Reddit:
“If you had a true mentor guiding your practice—someone skilled in real Taoist alchemy—and if you cultivated deeply enough to form the jindan (golden elixir), your body might begin to heal itself.”

But such mentors are rare. Offering hope without a path can sometimes feel cruel, so I stayed silent.
Still, if she—or anyone else reading this—is meant to find this message, perhaps that is fate’s way of guiding them.

Final Thoughts

True healing through meditation and energy work is possible, but only with the right guidance and balance. Practitioners often wish to help others but must also avoid being caught in karmic entanglements—a difficult but necessary boundary.

May more people find peace, health, and clarity through their journey. And to those facing discomfort: you are not alone, and your path—though hard—is sacred.