why do I feel the sensations of pins and needles in meditation?

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Intense pins and needles
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I tried meditation literally just now...Monday 24 November 21:00 UK time. This is the second time I have ever tried it... literally twice this evening. I have tried before lying down in bed etc to see if I could get out of body experiences but no luck. So tonight I had nothing to do and tried sitting up (the classic meditation look.)

I sat in a dark room with low level background sounds. My mind went blank and concentrated on my breathing which went super super slow. Then my airways opened up...i heard my air passages "click." Then i felt slight tingling. Then the tingling seemed to travel over my whole body then it was REALLY REALLY itchy tingling or "pins and needles" darting over my whole body...I had to stop as it was starting to hurt a little!!!!! After I started itching...mainly my back area and got a bit blotchy. I have just had a hot shower to help with the itching.

As I know NOTHING about what Im doing, Is it normal to have that experience? I literally could not carry on. What would happen if you forced yourself to carry on? What should I be looking for when trying to meditate?

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. This isn't my scene really but Im interested in learning more.

Thanks for your time.

pins & needles, the feeling of ants crawling over your face, or all over your body, body shaking, bodily pleasureful sensations, bodily painful sensations in localized spots only during meditation, those are all normal byproducts of correct meditation, nothing to worry about.

Normally, people are tense and thinking too much, it constricts the energy flow (not just blood) in the body.

In correct meditation, when we break out of the normal habits of mental and physical tension and instead relax deeply, a force permeates the entire body, and massively increases circulation of blood, lymph, qi. Wherever there are blockages that the force runs up against, you'll feel it as itchy, painful, tight, uncomfortable. If you persist long enough in meditation (days, weeks, months, years), once the blockage starts to melt and clear out, then pain and discomfort fade, the brain pleasure chemicals start to fire, and you feel it as physical pleasure, bliss.