Due to its many positive effects on both mental and physical health, meditation has been increasingly popular in recent years. It's beneficial for general health, mental clarity, and stress management. While meditating, some people may experience yawning or other odd sensations.
Relax! It's fine.
Yawning is usually a sign of fatigue or boredom, yet it has been known to happen during meditation, leaving some practitioners perplexed as to why. Let's look at some common causes of yawning during meditation and, more importantly, what you can do about it.
Reaction of Relaxation
Many people practice meditation to achieve a deep level of relaxation. Meditation is an exercise that can help you to find inner peace by releasing built-up stress and anxiety. Sometimes, yawning is the body's way of letting go of stress and unwinding. Yawning during meditation can be a sign that your body is responding to your body relaxing and letting go of stress, just like you might yawn before going to sleep or during a massage.
Inhale Fully
Changes in your breathing rhythm might also cause yawning during meditation. Many meditators take slow, deep breaths while concentrating on their breathing. This method of controlled breathing has been shown to boost oxygen intake. In this light, yawning can be seen as a mechanism for increasing oxygen intake and decreasing carbon dioxide output. It helps maintain healthy blood oxygen levels, making you feel more awake and clear in your head.
Changes in Energy
Meditation practices can have subtle but profound effects on your energy levels and the flow of vital energy throughout your body. The energetic shifts that may cause you to yawn while meditating are in fact beneficial. Yawning is thought to improve the body's energy flow by balancing and regulating the many energy channels or meridians. Yawning can be interpreted as a sign of energy realignment and balance, much like how meditation can help to awaken and align the body's energy centers or chakras.
Some people believe that yawning helps them release negative emotions and energy.
Freeing Up Stuck Areas
Some people believe that yawning helps them release negative emotions and energy. Practices like meditation have been shown to help people confront and release repressed feelings, unsolved difficulties, and physical stress. These blocks can arise as we let go and relax in meditation, and yawning may be a physical manifestation of that release. When we yawn, we let go of stress and negative energy, bringing us closer to a place of calm and balance inside ourselves.
Mental Processes
Changes in brain function have been linked to yawning. Researchers have shown that yawning stimulates parts of the brain that control state changes like arousal, attention, and awareness. The mind moves through various states during meditation, from a state of disorganized thought to one of heightened awareness. It's possible that yawning is a sign that your brain is moving towards a more stable level of awareness.
Relax, It's Fine
Yawning during meditation isn't uncommon, and it won't disrupt your practice in any way. Accept it as a natural part of your meditation practice rather than something to avoid. If you find yourself yawning more frequently as a result of your meditation practice, take this as a positive indication that your body and mind are responding to your practice and the positive changes that are taking place in you.
If your yawning interferes with your meditation practice, you might try a new method or sit in a different position to see if it helps. If you want to avoid yawning during your meditation practice, try getting enough sleep the night before.
There are several possible explanations for yawning during meditation, such as your response to relaxation, changes in your breathing pattern, shits in energy, clearing blockages, and altered brain activity. Don't let the occasional yawn distract you from the benefit of regular meditation practice. Allow yourself to feel the life-altering effects of meditation by accepting the yawns as part of the process.