Question: When I was meditating I felt really sick. My head was hurting and I felt I was pulling my meditation.

Sri Chinmoy: If you get that kind of tense feeling, immediately breathe in very fast, and when the rhythm of your breathing increases, the tension goes away. You are meditating and you are getting a tense feeling. Just imagine a flight of stairs, or a ladder that has got quite a few rungs. Try to feel you are climbing up, and you are breathing in as you are climbing up. One, two, three steps: you are going up, up. If you feel this ascent, then tension goes away. Tension comes when you are stuck at one place. But when you are climbing, it is like a bird flying up into the sky. When the bird is flying up, where is tension? Similarly, if you are climbing up, climbing up, then there will be no tension. Before you come to meditate next time, breathe in seven long breaths; that will help you. If you breathe very powerfully, you will energise yourself and, at the same time, conquer sleep for a few minutes.