| | Hi David,
Like Nick, I've made the experience that too much effort is just as bad as too little. There's even a simile in the suttas about tuning a string instrument: too much tension on the strings will break it, but if the strings are loose, you get no sound. Sometimes I check my practice for balance, usually with the "five spiritual faculties" teaching recommended in MCTB.
The energy in the chest, the heartbeat: I've experienced that, too. I started experimenting a bit: is it really my pulse that I'm feeling (tested pulse at the neck)? What happens if I let my focus shift to the energy accumulation (there was a definite pull towards the chest)? The thing is, I've found that there seems to be quite a bit of truth in those chakra energy models, even to the point of them pulsating or spinning or whatever it is they do. Whatever it is, it can be an object for insight as well as tranquility, and actually the border is hard to figure out, because I can "go with" such a slow-ish vibration of an energy accumulation, and it will take me to a jhana, or I can watch the same vibration, and get into fast momentary concentration, doing insight meditation.
Finally, note that meditation sessions have their cycles, too. If you continue to sit, I'd bet you'd get into a concentration state again, stay in it, drop out, have lots of energy to play with...
Cheers, Florian |