For the last few weeks, in the minute or two after I finish a sitting, there's a very low tone. Hard to describe — lower than a hum, more like a pressure in the ear that has a pitch to it. It fades within a minute once I stand up and walk around. ;)
I'm not claiming it's anything. I'd just like to know if it's a common thing people notice, or whether I'm the only one sitting here listening to my own head. Anyone else get a low tone afterwards?
Yes, sometimes. For me it's more of a soft ringing than a pitch, and it's louder if the room I sat in was very quiet to begin with. It always goes when I put a kettle on. I've never been sure if that means anything or just that I finally have another sound to listen to.
I want to be the boring voice here, kindly: a faint tone in a silent room after you've been very still is also just... how ears work. Tinnitus is incredibly common and gets more noticeable the quieter and more attentive you are, which is exactly the state we sit in. I'm not saying that's what yours is. I'm saying it's worth holding as one of the ordinary possibilities before it becomes a "signal."
That's genuinely useful and not boring at all. I think part of me wanted it to be something, which is probably a good reason to be careful with it. It does track that I only notice it when the house is dead quiet.
tbh Data point for the "nothing" column: I've sat consistently since January and never once heard a tone. So it's clearly not a required part of the practice, whatever it is for those who get it.
I get something similar but I'm fairly sure mine is my blood pressure — it has a pulse to it if I really pay attention, in time with my heartbeat. Might be worth checking whether yours has a rhythm, LucentMoth. If it's steady and pitched it's a different thing than if it's throbbing.
Good, careful thread — I appreciate that the ordinary explanations came up early and warmly. A couple of things from my side.
First: this is exactly the right way to hold a sensation like this. Describe it, compare notes, keep the mundane explanations on the table. A low tone after stillness is a very human thing and does not need to become a claim about the Counterplane to be worth noticing.
Second, and I mean this only as ordinary care, not alarm: if the tone persists outside your sittings, gets louder, or comes with any dizziness or ear pain, please see a doctor or an audiologist about it. Ringing in the ears is a normal thing bodies do, but it's also worth having checked, and it has nothing to do with whether your practice is "working." Ground after each sit, and don't chase the tone — let it be as small as it is.
Circling back to close the loop for future readers: I mentioned mine to my GP at a routine visit, entirely calmly, and it turned out to be mild and completely benign tinnitus I'd just never noticed until I started sitting in silence. Weirdly I'm now fonder of the tone than before — it's just mine, part of the quiet, nothing to solve. Thank you all for keeping this so level-headed.
Forum testimony is movement-side and is not Meridian-validated evidence. Members describe personal experience only. Begin with grounding. Do not practise while distressed. Nothing here is medical advice.