Chuck Kasmire:
Don't know where or if there is a real dividing line between these two things
Glad to hear you say so. I think Daniel's right that numbness and pain in this case indicate nerve involvement, but I'm having a hard time particularly in the last few days teasing out how much of it is getting instigated or magnified by energetic stuff. There have been some indications that the two sets of conditions are affecting each other, and it's been making the medical decision-making difficult.
Chuck Kasmire:
Energy will respond to directed attention. For example: If you have a numb area put your attention on that area and invite it to dissolve or break up. If energy is moving in the arms see if you can gently draw it in one direction or another – say up the arm or down and out through the finger tips. Have some patience – I have had areas that took several days before they broke up.
Okay if numbness comes again I'll give dissolving a try. Can this also be used in areas of pressure buildup or where it feels like there is energy congestion or blockage?
Regarding moving arm energy in a direction...in my case most of the time the flow is from areas of buildup in the head/throat/trunk and out to the limbs. If I'm feeling like there's too much energy in the body is it better to move it out the finger tips rather than back up the arm again?
Chuck Kasmire:
If you do notice that they respond to directed attention (and it may be that some will and some won't) then you might try working with Robert Bruce's New Energy Ways techniques – good for working with energy in the extremities. Also, you might try an acupuncturist – they will probably be more open to your practices also.
I've skimmed through parts of Robert Bruce's site. Looks to be a lot of valuable instruction there. I have a question about it, though. I notice there seems to be a lot of emphasis on stimulating and raising energy. Many of the techniques seem geared toward creating or increasing sensations of tingling, buzzing, heaviness, pressure, flow, etc.
At this time I actually feel like my body is over-energized. There are already a lot of those sensations throughout my body without my intentionally cultivating it. The overall feeling is that either I've got too much energy, or else it's distributed or flowing in imbalanced ways that makes it feel like this is the case, both when I am meditating and when I'm not. Besides the energy sensations there are some weird musculoskeletal reactions that go with it, most of them are not harmful, but some of it is pretty strong.
Are the exercises on Robert Bruce's site something appropriate under these conditions?
I am aware that in MCTB Daniel mentions that in his experience the best way to get inconvenient raptures to subside is to progress on to the next stages of insight. I'ma workin' on it!

But in the meantime I'm open to exploring other avenues too. I am interested in anything that will help my energy system get back into balance (again, in MCTB "energy imbalance" is held to be an unhelpful perspective, but for better or for worse that's how it's often framed in my thinking when the results are unpleasant), but I don't know the rules of the game so to speak so have been leery about being too aggressive about it.
One web page I came across while reading what I could find on kundalini had this to say:
Some qigong masters can help with energy that is too intense and some acupuncturists can help. Be careful because they can also make it more intense. Most healers, whatever the type - Reiki, healing touch, etc. - work by passing more energy into the person. For most ordinary conditions that a person needs healing for this is fine. But with Kundalini challenging a person's abilities to tolerate it or continue their necessary work, etc., then just dumping more energy into their system will only make it worse. It is much rarer to find an energy worker who can, in a sense, siphon off excess energy, help it go to ground.
(from here:
http://sites.google.com/site/kundalinijourney/howdoyoudealwithkundaliniawakeningsympto)
I don't actually know if what I'm dealing with is kundalini according to his model, but in general what do you think of this?
Having read and heard caveats like that are part of the reason I've not gone the energy route when dealing with these rapture-things, other than doing some tai chi or "generic" qi-gong.
Chuck Kasmire:
If it looks like you need to go the medical route and it is going to get real expensive consider
these folks.
I'll keep this tip in mind. I know their reputation is good, and I certainly could use a vacation, too!
Thanks, Chuck!