I've been following Thanissaro's model of breath energy manipulation for the better part of a year now. The general outlook is very similar to qigong, and there is an overview in
this talk.
Since listening to that talk a couple of days ago, I have been doing a meditation where roughly speaking I see the body as represented in the breath energy, and see the energy dissipating into space. I do this on both the in-breath and the out-breath.
This seems harmless and like a great way to attend to nirodha-dhatu. Curious about anyone else's experience with this kind of manipulation. It definitely goes against the grain not to fabricate any kind of formful breath energy, so critical feedback is welcome. Feels right, though.