Technically this is not the discussion of energy body practice as I was doing vipassana. However....

On a Mahasi retreat recently I had the following experience:

With an awareness of subtle vibrations all over the body I observed a pressure moving in my head followed by a point of uniform ringing which passed through it. This ringing has always preceded powerful kundalini events for me.

The vibrations started cascading with the residual ringing, resulting in a crescendo of vibrations, increasing intensity of breath and heartbeat.

A few seconds in my body suddenly felt stretched/distorted and airy, like in 1st Jhana. At this point my eyelids started fluttering uncontrollably.

It all seemed to be culminating towards the crown of the head. I saw a horizontal arc of light.

My heartbeat became so intense that it felt dangerous. The physical intensity was such that my concentration was compromised and it all fell apart.

I repeated it in the next sitting (it seemed like a good idea at the time!)

Afterwards there was a surge of energy which turned to fear/anxiety.

Following an unpleasant evening with not much sleep I was essentially unable to sit for the last 2 days of the retreat as it was clear that the energy body had become highly volatile, and doing so would only excite it further, potentially yielding psychosis.

During the conclusion of the retreat, it came to light that this energy body activity had caused my roommate to hallucinate snakes during the night, and possibly caused another retreatant to see them in his dreams, despite being a couple of rooms over.

If it were possible to handle this amount of energy and use one's intentions in conjunction with A&P, I can imagine it would be incredibly powerful, given the effect it had on my for only a few seconds in two sits (perhaps 30-40 seconds max each time?). However, I am clearly nowhere near ready for it right now, too many blockages perhaps?

My concern is that it seems like a natural inclination for me and will only serve as a roadblock on the progress of insight.

Anyone else out there had similar experiences?

Any advice?

Anyone?

Bueller...? Bueller...?




Sounds intense, but since this is something you think is going to be part of your practice (and to me it's normal to have these kind of jolting surprises to which a fear response is sort of predictable in older-than-young-kids) I'd let it go by considering it as "nothing special, re-attend."

[edit: I know attention and energy around the heart can be unnerving. Again, to me, this reinforces why stimulants like coffee are not taken to support wakefulness in meditation (not that you do! I just re-iterate that point often), and why a receptive alert attitude is well balanced by a timely "nothing special" attitudinal approach, too.

You can also try to think about the heaviness of the hands and feet and sometimes that can give release, but it's useful too to just abide calmly and observe when energy/sensation is staying in the chest, just "Okay. Nothing special".

And I'm a fan of applying long, slow, gently breathing to help the parasympathetic brain soothe a fight-flight (anxious) sympathetic brain reaction. The thing is if the stronger perception of heart beating continues, one just continues to relax, consider it all as "nothing special", have long slow breathing and not getting attached to making/not making the sensations change. One is staying with them as they are, watching them or moving attention if needed to another part of the body like the anapanasati spot at the nostrils or to the back and base of the head, while still applying a calm, long breath to just balance or soothe anxiety that may be circulating or starting to fire up in the brain. Makes sense?]

If you feel like you really can't handle it, walking meditation for a while is a perfectly reasonable solution.

Sounds like good advice.



Realised that the other day after a double espresso and a 6 minute sit!



This is what I've been doing. My current plan is to stimulate the energy body only sufficiently to generate managable activity so that whatever transformation needs doing will be done whilst allowing me to function 'normally' during the day and without impacting my sleep too much. The trick will be finding an appropriate dosage. Last night 30 minutes around 9pm followed by some time watching the breath before going to sleep proved too much - I can still feel the effects now the following day!

The strong heart beat isn't so much the issue, that only lasted during the crescendo thing (although while the energy is raised there is a marked increase in the the intensity of the heart). It was more the psychic(?) energy that was aroused as a result of this experience. It initially manifests as excitement, then nervous excitement, then fear, and I can imagine that sufficient levels would result in full-blown psychosis; hence the kundalini horror stories you hear about. I think it's this energy that's responsible for these auspicious/premonition dreams I keep having...

Thanks for your advice Katy, much appreciated

Thanks Mario,

This is what I did for the last 2 days of the retreat and it did indeed seem like a good solution.

sounds like -
1) A&P
2) A&P
3) Fear
4) Fear
5) Fear

You say you were repeating it in the next session....is this how you were taught to do vipassana? or were you really doing energy work by having preconceived notions and modifying what was to happen?
I would recommend you continue practicing and see what happens next without trying to modify what is happening...don't get stuck by recreating a cool transitory experience. Keep heading toward the permanent shifts.
Have fun though, its your practice
~D

Some good observations DW, though I should point out that I actually didn't experience fear until after I'd spoken to the teacher and he'd told me of a woman that had been messed up for 4-5 years following a powerful kundalini experience (I think that would be enough to scare most people, wouldn't it?)

I passed through DN proper on my last retreat and the difference here is definitely this excess energy. I remember something from a Tummo link Tommy posted along the lines of energy being generated and if it's beyond what the practitioner can handle it will 'manifest as free-floating fear'.

I must admit I was gunning for SE, and perhaps this intent/ego crossed the line of simple awareness into 'willing results to happen', though I did not consciously try to change anything or induce any specific results.

Just sat for 12 minutes and was super-careful just to be aware, nothing more. Still the same dramatic stimulating of the energy body - I can feel it in my chest and face still - think I'll have to stop sitting at night for a while!