There’s a dark side to meditation that no one talks about

... the survey respondents didn’t necessarily perceive every non-euphoric event as negative. In fact [the study authors] deliberately avoided the word “adverse” in their study for this reason. Instead, they chose “challenging,” which better captured the meditators’ varied interpretations of their experiences.

I've meditated and attended multiple 10 day meditation retreats and I can attest that yes there are challenging moments and I have yet to experience an "adverse" event.

I would not say that meditation has a dark side. I would say that the meditators' minds are being stressed and challenged to the point where these react with such a force for which they were unprepared due to many reasons such as environment, emotional state, health issues, memories, etc. Like any activity, your mileage may vary.

I personally like to make that analogy of the mind to an OS which is trying to help you, an organism living in a giving environment, to identify and classify the stimuli it receives and generate an appropriate response. These responses are like programs that the mind/OS has generated to deal with the stimulus. All this is mechanical/automatic. If my limited understanding is correct, then meditation helps control this process and the process becomes less automatic and more controlled. The mind becomes more calmed and ready to focus on what you choose instead of whatever the stimuli dictates. Little by little the subconscious becomes conscious.

Zen priest Brad Warner talks about this quite a lot in his books and on his blog:

http://hardcorezen.info/bad-buddhism-part-a-million/586 (one example)

So I wouldn't say "no one" talks about it. It's more like, the people selling meditation as a cure for modern life are downplaying this stuff because they don't want to scare away people paying them to learn how to do it.

Related story from The Atlantic(2014)[1]. HN discussion about it[2].

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-dark-...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11752317

I've seen this posted on r/meditation a few times, and my own thoughts are that meditation can sometimes allow underlying issues to come to light that otherwise wouldn't have.

However, as with most things, it's markedly better to deal with those as they come rather than ignore them. Sure, they might be "negative" but that's what gives reason to grow and change. The hope is that when adversity comes you wont be weighed down because already dealt with it/recognized it and learned tools and coping methods.

A good example of a "bad" feeling that's actually pretty positive https://www.reddit.com/r/Meditation/comments/57bl4t/dark_sid...

The framing of this article is strange. It presents encountered emotions arrived at through meditation in a clinical setting, as if people may not expect underlying anxiety about their lives to emerge.

If anything, this speaks to the human propensity (both good and bad) to endure despite the stacking existential odds of the modern social order.

In other words, life is tough, it has always been tough, and there are many unpleasant aspects of all of our lives, even when one's life is seemingly chugging along just fine. Counter to the argument of the article, many who meditate are keenly aware of this full emotional spectrum -- it's the people who are jumping on the bandwagon that are surprised that mindfulness isn't all Lululemon peace and love, or something that will enhance your focus in pursuit of your next capitalist adventure.

When you are set in the between waking-and-dreaming state the reality becomes malleable and artificial, meditation allows this midway state filled with mental scenarios coming to surface at lower focus level. The condition is best described here(the focusing and persistence of hypnagogic process): "In his book, Zen and the Brain, James H. Austin cites speculation that regular meditation develops a specialized skill of "freezing the hypnagogic process at later and later stages" of the onset of sleep, initially in the alpha wave stage and later in theta.[44]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia

If you wish to understand the negative experiences in your own practice better, I recommend "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha". The author is super-geeky about this stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Core-Teachings-Buddha-Unusu...

I wonder if some of this is due to the brain reacting to the sort of sensory deprivation that meditation entails. Meditation is quite hard work, because you are trying to prevent your unconscious mind from controlling your consciousness. With the latter 'cut off' from the normal constant input from the former, I wonder if it can sometimes react to that badly?

This just in: thinking may be bad for you! Side effects include headaches, nausea, frustration, painful thoughts and existential dread.

More studies required before this is considered safe for the public!!!!! Caution!!!!! Caution!!!!! Caution!!!! Dont try this at home without expert supervision preferably costing $100/hr or more!

FTA: "The answers, which still require future research, ..." If I had a nickel for every study that included this line, I'd be rich!