Meditation Q&A | Chopra Blog

Question: I know that everyone’s experience of meditation can be different, but I just have this need to know what is really going on. I have been meditating for a year or so, on and off, usually clearing my mind and being silent for an hour, but  recent, I have started to meditate regularly, and feel a physical sensation, of my body vibrating and I seem to be free from my body and my head feels like its swirling around, its almost as if I am drunk! Though, I have to agree this is an amazing sensation like I am intoxicated, I feel fresh and awake after that.

Can you explain what is actually happening on the spirit level as my physical level goes through this? How is it possible that my mind, when it is silenced to such a deeper level, is able to cause this freeing of my body, when I know that I am not my mind or my body? How does it influence my body . . . or is it that my mind has been taken over by my spiritual self and it is indeed the spirit self that’s causing this? I would really appreciate it if you could relieve me from this curiosity.

Answer: Even though meditation is in one sense a mental process, because the mind and body are intimately connected, when the mind experiences silence, it affects the body and provides a corresponding degree of restfulness in its physiological functioning. It is this depth of rest that allows the body to normalize any imbalances that inhibit its full expression of health. What you experienced was a somewhat entertaining version of the very mundane process of the body’s release of stored stress and conditioning, and the consequent sense of rejuvenation and freedom afterward. It’s  a matter of understanding the interrelationship of the mind and body and how the two function symbiotically during meditation.


It’s important to keep in mind that what happens during a meditation session isn’t actually all that important. Where you really begin to experience the benefits of meditation is in all your daily activities. As you meditate regularly, you carry some of the stillness and silence with you into everything you do. Instead of being reactive and reflexive, you are more responsive and reflective.  You release constriction and become more creative, relaxed, and expansive. 


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