Body zap/jolt has scared me.

[Mav]

I have never had this, I was meditating and I fell almost into a sleep state sitting up and i was jolted awake and it scared me. Just now I was focusing on watching something on my lap top and my body jolted, I almost felt like I blacked out almost, it was so scary and now I feel anxiety.

I had no anxiety then, I was perfectly calm before the jolts. I am scared and feel tired and weak now.

[KK77]

Meditating can cause this...think how high those pesky yogis can leap when orbiting Nirvana! :ohmy:

Certainly nothing to fear.

[bby2018]

Did you feel any pain? Or did it just feel like you were suddenly awoken for some reason?

[Mav]

Did you feel any pain? Or did it just feel like you were suddenly awoken for some reason?

I didn't feel pain, it was like a large pulse in my body/head. It freaked me out, I don't even remember it properly because once it happened I had a wave of anxiety and then almost fell into a panic attack.

I've been feeling tension in my chest lately, today I was calm and fine and all of a sudden that happened.

I was bent over a bit so maybe something in my body didn't get enough oxygen, it just really freaked me out. I feel like its something serious even though I don't even know what it was.

Now just feel tired, sleepy and panicked.

[bby2018]

You probably were just so relaxed and something external woke you out of it without you realizing what it was. If that makes sense. Or maybe they are mini panic attacks. Our bodies can do some weird thing with anxiety. And anxiety can make us think normal things are not normal.

[Mav]

You probably were just so relaxed and something external woke you out of it without you realizing what it was. If that makes sense. Or maybe they are mini panic attacks. Our bodies can do some weird thing with anxiety. And anxiety can make us think normal things are not normal.


I understand, I was extremely calm, in a day dream state almost. I had a cup of tea in hand, I felt fine, then all of a sudden I felt my vision feel a bit weird suddenly and my body shock itself (I can't describe it any better) and then came a huge wave of panic that I'm slowly getting over now. It was a horrible since I have been doing well today. I ****ing hate anxiety.

[MyNameIsTerry]

The brain sleep stages Hypnagogia (falling asleep and within the first 2 hours of sleep) and Hypnopompia (waking) are known to experience many sleep phenomena. These jerks are one such recorded phenomena.

Meditation is naturally relaxing. Therefore you might have slipped into a Hypnagogic sleep stage where this phenomena can occur. Like you said, you feel almost into a sleep state.

But these jerks can occur anytime too. There's been many a time I've had a leg jerks enough for it to move quite a bit.

What I've found, and I known others on here who say the same, is that these jerks are at their worst when your anxiety is worse. When anxiety reduces so does do the frequency & intensity of these jerks.

At my worst I felt like I was jumping up off the bed.

As disturbing as they can feel try to remember they are just part of how the body responds and they are just pronounced right now and your reactions are sensitised to such things. Don't let them stop you doing healthy things like meditation. If you are too tired to meditate perhaps choose a time you are less likely to fall asleep.

I've watched my dog sleeping and he does it too. When he's dreaming he will sometimes start running in his sleep :woof :biggrin: