How's that for a tantalizing title? I thought it might be worthwhile to describe a kind of shift in the subtle energy I perceive, which I had experienced for many years as cycling in a regular fashion which corresponded with the vipassana ñāṇas.

Firstly, a definition of "subtle energy":
It feels like a gathering of sensation or pressure internally within the body, in particular locations, often corresponding to the chakras. The sensations feel internal, not on the surface of the skin, almost like some pressure was being applied internally. It might be likened to the sensation of pressure from lightly tensing a muscle. The intensity of the sensation can vary, depending on various factors, primarily the depth of samadhi. There is often an accompanying feeling of bliss. I've rarely found it to be unpleasant. It's distinct from the sensations of subtle vibrations that are often prominent at the A&P stage.

Here is the sequence of energetic changes over the years:

Pre-SE:
- A long time ago now. I don't recall any noticeable patterns to the subtle energy during those early years of practice. Sometimes I would feel some vibrations while body-scanning. Eventually while practicing jhana, I would begin to feel some build-up of energy in my head. Back then I struggled to let go of effort while practicing, and would often engage in subtly clinging to seemingly desireable states of mind. Eventually, I began to experience the 8 jhanas, albeit feather-weight forms, and I first began to notice the correspondance between the location of the energy and particular jhanas.
    - Basically, the energy would first gather narrowly at my forehead, then expand outward to roughly around the temples at the 4th jhana. At the 5th jhana, there would be a sudden sense of expansion with a sense of infinite space, then consciousness, then nothingness, then a final gathering around the back of my head at the 8th jhana with neither perception nor non-perception.
        - I won't go into the pure land jhanas [1], as each has a distinct energetic signature that can't be quickly described.
        - With deeper states of samadhi, the energy would grow more intense and pervasive. So if in the 1st jhana, in addition to an intense build-up of energy at the forehead, there would be further less intense sensations of suble energy throughout my head [2].

Post-SE:
Distinct, impossible-to-miss sensations of the subtle energy cycling through my head, especially in the first 5 or so years. The pattern is equivalent to jhanas 1 - 4. Then at the 4th vipassana jhana (a.k.a. EQ), a cessation would occur and the energy would suddenly gather at my forehead again. I could always tell which vipassana jhana I was in based on the presence of this subtle energy in my head, often before I would notice any of the other well-known characteristics of the vipassana jhanas. 

In the early post-SE years, the stages of insight were often intense, and the dark night stages could be quite debilitating, though not to the point where I had to totally abandon my ordinary life and go into retreat. Eventually, my practice matured and I learnt to apply attention and effort in a much more subtle and skillful way. I've described elsewhere the breakthroughs in my practice that helped me advance beyond the turbulence of intense dark nights. Eventually I'd only experience a kind of Dark Night Lite™ which was far more tolerable.

Another facet of this is the Review stage, after the completion of some kind of "new" path, there was a kind of clearing of the air energetically, and no build-up of energy would be apparent in any location.

Strange energetic shifts beginning to occur:
After 5 or so years, I had begun practicing Dzogchen. Thankfully I found a teacher pretty soon who continues to guide me, and I had access to a local Dzogchen group. Initially, there can be some clinging to certain states that one equates with enlightenment. For example when practicing Trekcho, one experiences a momentarily blank non-conceptual awareness. With further practice, I began to experience these deeply blissful periods where my energy would settle. At some point around this time, I also began to have these really compelling glimpses of enlightenment (or so I interpreted them as, at the time), where there would be a breakthrough into a seemingly lasting state of non-duality. I'd often get excited by this, and start to come to conclusions about achieved some final attainment. But then these states would fade after a couple of days or weeks and I would return to the cycling.

A characteristic of these states I began to notice was a shift in the concentration of energy away from the usual cyclic pattern. Initially I'd notice the energy gathering at either the third-eye chakra or the crown chakra. Sometimes it would start at the third-eye and slowly shift to the crown. I eventually noticed a total re-orientation of the cyclic energy, which aligns with the description Kenneth Folk gives in one of the Hurricane Ranch talks. In this pattern, the energy would gather at the crown chakra, then seem to shoot out the top [3], i.e. there would be a sudden dissipation of energy as if it was expelled accompanied by subtle sensations of a flow of energy down to the heart chakra. Then after a short time, the heart chakra would suddenly activate, i.e. there would be a sudden gathering of energy in that area, and then the energy would flow back to the crown.

This alternative pattern of cycling has not stabilized for me (as it apparently had for Kenneth, though I'm just basing this on the Hurricane Ranch audio). Rather what began to occur was a simultaneous activation of the third-eye, crown, and heart chakras. This activation would last for a few days initially, before fading and the cyclic energy predominating once more. But over time I began to notice the heart and crown chakras would activate without any prior intensive practice on my part. There can also be some activation around the lower occipital bone area. There is a sense of a strong energetic connection between these chakras, I presume due to the structure of the human nervous system.

About 4 months ago, the activation of these 3 chakras seemed to permanently lock in. I didn't notice this immediately, it gradually became apparent. I believe this was precipitated by a period of paying careful attention to subtle contrivance in my speech and behavior, although frankly I think the key point has been a relaxation into non-doing, not any particular form of doing. This has been a big deal for me, because the old pattern of cycling through A&P, dark night, EQ, cessation, over and over for years, has almost entirely vanished. I hesitate to speak in absolute terms, because I have noticed cessations occurring occasionally, and there can be some signs of a slow-moving outer cycle, e.g. increases in energy and focus around the A&P. The dark night phenomena are now so faint as to be rarely noticeable.

It's mysterious to me why my dharma practice has resulted in this energetic activation. There are other aspects of this I'd like to write about in time. I'm convinced that a fully matured enlightenment would entail a complete cessation of cycling. I find it highly instructive to observe the Dalai Lama in video footage. His body language communicates unmistakably a state of complete presence and uncontrived spontaneity. With this new energetic shift, a lot of gross capacity for contrivance has fallen away; one is moreso riding the coattails of karmic aftermath. But one is not yet fully settled into the Dalai Lama's level of deep non-doing.

I hope this raises some interesting topics for discussion, such as the question of whether the cycling phenomenon is truly permanent post SE, and how common is it for practitioners to notice a correspondence between subtle energy activation and the jhanas. One can also be frequently seduced by temporary states, and in writing this I'm on some level granting a degree of importance to these shifts, which don't ultimately mean anything and may only serve as distractions for practitioners, or worse yet a source of confusion. A big focus of my practice of the past few years has been letting go of the fixation on achieving any particular state. And yet, and yet... these shifts can occur. Suffering can be overcome. It's not all a big joke. So in the spirit of transparency for the sake of inspiring and encouraging practitioners, this is my contribution.


[1] Of which there are actually 8, I found, not 5.
[2] I have little experience of deep jhanas so I don't have much detail to offer here, and these have been thoroughly described elsewhere.
[3] By "top" I'm referring to the vertex region of the skull