Painful larynx tension while meditating

[fivebells]

I'm experiencing pain in my larynx while meditating. Tension is building up there, and I can't relax it. It's causing a sharp pain at the top of my Adam's apple. (At the intersection of what seem to be called the left and right thyroid laminae.) The pain is getting worse, and is spreading into the rest of my day. As a result, I have decided to skip meditation, today, something I don't think I've deliberately chosen to do in the past eight years. Anyone here had any practical experience with this? Obviously there is some emotional content to be released, here, but the pain and resulting fear is making it hard to relax and watch. I'm hoping for some advice on ways to learn to relax the muscles there, or something like that. I've tried making noise while I meditate, and I've tried the roaring lion pose. Neither have helped much. Drinking water seems to help, but I can only do so much of that.

[Leslie]

Here are a few ideas.

Bring your attention to your navel chakra and holding it there for the whole session.

Receive healing light at the chakras; brow, throat, heart, upper belly, below the navel and just above the pubic bone.

Open to your whole body and as you experiencing pain in the throat, which corresponds to the air element, bring awareness to the sense of movement, lightness, delicateness,-even go outside when there is a light breeze and become the breeze.

On the psychological level, is something coming up that you want to speak?

Imagine blissful nectar melting on top of your head and pouring through your central channel and over you, washing away any pain.

While you experience the pain, fill the surrounding space with compassion, holding the pain tenderly.

Imagine a small dot of light with incredible powers of healing and bring it into the center of the pain and let it start vibrating and breaking up the pain, then open widely and rest, keep alternating.

Add some natural flowing movements to Qi gong that undulate around from the back of the heart to the top of the head, down the front of the face and throat and back to the heart.

Follow any of these ideas with the primary practice as taught by Ken.

Give Ken a call.

If those don't help, try some form of healing with a practitioner(healing touch, reiki, acupuncture).

If that doesn't help....see a doctor!

[A Serious Buddhist]

See a doctor. You want to be 100% sure there is nothing physically wrong.

Also, investigate: how are you relating to the pain? How much is about exploring it, and how much is about getting rid of it?

One more suggestion: meditate and, as the pain approaches, rest your attention with the pain AND with a part of your body that feels no pain. Say you pick your left elbow: rest with the larynx and left elbow, simultaneously, for a period of time. What happens?

Overall: Don't push, don't abandon. Hang in, but be super gentle. Treat your larynx as you would a distressed child.

Let us know how it goes.

[Tardy Eye of Common Courtesy]

Fivebells the fire your feeling is probably in your throat Chakra . Something not expressed verbaly vocally it could be from a past experienc. Try Gently holding your right hand to the back of your neck and the left hand on the front of your neck/throat for a couple of minutes. Do this in the evening while lying down, you can do this at anytime of course . The Anger & frustration can get caught in the throat area and cause a lot of discomfort. Be gentle with yourself . The fish pose in Yoga is also a good one to help release the throat. Keep the throat as open and relaxed as possible. The restriction and pain we feel is often our resistance to what we are experiencing. And yes it is as you say the fear... hope this helps.

[fivebells]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I went to see a yoga teacher about it today. She has a fairly strong focus on the cultivation of awareness. She helped me to get back to what I'm experiencing here and now (so initially, the anxiety and anticipation of the throat pain, the desire not to be anxious, etc.), rather than what I've been targeting in my practice (the emotional content presumably behind the throat pain.) It's helped a bit.

[Loren Enders]

Meditating with another for a couple sessions might help. The presence of somebody might change the dynamic. But I would imagine it would probably be best if they were doing the same meditation as you.

[Kevin B. Walsh (Sunshine)]

I like all the other suggestions, especially the one that recommended checking with a doctor (although, one has to be fortunate enough to be able to afford that).

Thinking of your description of the constriction, I found myself reminded of a painful constriction I felt in the throat when, as a child, I was about to cry. I still feel that constriction, from time to time, as an adult. Generally, it is part of my physical expression of sorrow and frustration. In the past few days, I have found that singing seems to help ease the constriction. About two weeks ago, a friend gave me a mountain dulcimer, after a bit of experimentation, I settled into a locrian mode tuning and I improvise. It has been wonderful. In fact, I sometimes find myself singing for over a half an hour, which, for my untrained voice, is a bit too much on the physical level. Still, I somehow feel that the slow improvisational singing with the dulcimer has let the sorrow dissolve or be consumed in some way.

Perhaps its effect works on the same level as the breathing exercises, or perhaps it is the musical mode I chose. I don't know, nor do I know whether the effect will continue as powerfully for me or even appear at all to anybody else.

[A Serious Buddhist]

Singing, chanting, or any other kind of sounding can rattle blocks on a purely physical level, and of course the emotional and energetic effects are powerful, both when hearing and when creating sound. What a great suggestion!

Didn't even think of the affordability issue vis-à-vis consulting a doctor. I'm fortunate enough to live in Canada. Sad to be reminded that affordability must be a factor in the decision for our neighbours.

[fivebells]

Thanks for the suggestion.