Energy work and physical effects

[Mekhet]

Hey everyone. I've been working rather seriously on developing the energy body, but started with legs and arms for a while. Only after a few months of not so regular work, I've started struggling with the spinal bounce. And that's when things started to become awkward. Once in a while my body aches all over, bones snapping (specially my spine - and I don't know how to say it in english, so I used snap. Like when you press your fingers against your palm real hard and the joints snap/crack/make some noise). My muscles hurt, usually my upper arm's and shoulders, and the lower line of my shoulder blades has now tow special little spots which hurt A LOT when my back is stressed (did I mention it only hurt on one side, and when I started to work on it, sometimes it now hurts on the other side of the spine, the exact same spot?). And my groin's right side, where the leg joins the lower body is hurting more than usual, and the list goes on for what I can't remember. All this is very ok and predictable, but, for how long? Why did it show up only when I started to work on my spine? I feel like my body is giving me a royal woppin...

As a side note, the first two or three days I've started to work seriously on my spine I felt real feverish and tired. And I started hatching a cold a week later, but it disappeared after a day. Doing only spine work. Yay!

[CFTraveler]

I don't think this is predictable or ok- but in reading the end of your post I'm thinking you just started when you were coming down with the flu/cold and became more aware of the body aches associated with it. I'm not sure what the bone cracks mean (they just mean I'm old for me, but they didn't start when I started energy work.) I'm not sure what to tell you- I do know that ework causes an increase in circulation, which can cause discomfort and rashes at first- the joint cracks are new to me.
I would say give it a month and if it doesn't ease up go to a doctor (for the physical problems, obviously)- the ework may have stirred up an underlying problem that was either cooking or previously unnoticed.
I am also thinking that you may be tensing up when doing your bounces hence muscle pains- but the occurence of your viral illness is too coincidental, IMO.

[Mekhet]

Well, I was under the idea that some pain would be expected in early work. About the cracking joints, well, I never treated them well, but they rarely cracked "spontaneously" with simple movement (I'm 26 btw). As for the viral occurrence, I never had mucsle pain for it, it seems too localized and limited to my back, which otherwise seems to get me problems frequently (weak muscles in a tall guy who doesn't exercise). I'm tending to lean towards the increased body awareness you mentioned. Symptoms are stronger in the upper body and the leg joints to the lower body. I'll follow your advice if it doesn't work itself out and go to the doctor. In the meantime I expect to do some exercise and see if it helps. Thanks. (Pardon my english).

[Korpo]

Disclaimer: I'm not a medical practitioner, I just speak from personal experience and stuff I read that explained phenomena I encountered.

About the "bone snaps" - a cracking sound occurs when a joint releases tension. Tension usually occurs from misalignment. The spine vertebrae can do this, all joints in the shoulders arms and legs, and like you observed, also the joints in the hands/fingers (and feet). I get this *every time* when I work on my shoulder.

I have a severely tense shoulder which had ongoing circulatory and calcification problems for which I got treatment at your age. Working it with energy exercises has had the following effects: crackling and crunching sounds of the joints, unwinding and lengthening of shortened muscles, feelings of pulsation and awkward tenseness. I have come to expect and understand these sensations.

As for the hurting of the other side of your back: Your back is a system that has its own balance. When muscles on the one half shorten due to tenseness, improper use, bad posture (usually all three go hand in hand and reinforce each other), they start to strain the opposing muscles on the other side. When you do energy work you start to revive the nerves - the shortened muscles hurt because they are tense and constricted, and the lenghtened muscles hurt because they are elongated and strained.

Energy work tends to revive numb, sore and "dead" nerves that the brain started to ignore. Usually the "reported damage" has been there all the time, but the brain started to "switch off the alarm" to continue function without getting pain signals all the time. Subconsciously your body now wants to avoid retriggering the pain, so your posture gets worse, making unintended curves and misalignments that remove pressure from the pain areas but place more strain on other areas. What was originally sore muscles now becomes joint tension. The joints are pulled out of alignment.

When you do energy work, the shortened muscles soften, allowing also the elongated muscles to shorten. While this goes back into alignment, the tension in the joint gets released while it slides back into alignment. This produces the crackling sound.

Working the spine through the spinal bounce has the potential to influence many other systems, as the spine is one of the central energy relays of your body. It connects many systems, that is also why it is central to so many advanced practices in many spiritual disciplines, especially in Indian and Chinese energy work.

Take good care,
Oliver

[Korpo]

PS - depending on the quality of health care you get, your practitioner may find that physiotherapy, massages and similar measures might help to bring your back into balance and restore proper posture. So it might be a good idea to check in on a doctor.

Oliver

[asalantu]

Hi..!
If energy work has undesirable effects over health that arise when unbalanced development is done, I think it is wise to heavily draw energy into subnavel storage in order to trigger and maximize body selfhealing capabilities. Then undesirable effects should be prevented to a reasonable extent.
Sincerely,
Ángel

[Korpo]

Hi..!
If energy work has undesirable effects over health that arise when unbalanced development is done, I think it is wise to heavily draw energy into subnavel storage in order to trigger and maximize body selfhealing capabilities. Then undesirable effects should be prevented to a reasonable extent.
Sincerely,
Ángel

I really don't think that is the case here at all. The spinal bounce is more like an exercise to get energy moving, not a storing exercise.

Oliver

[Mekhet]

Thanks for all the advice :) Now that you mention muscle stress and nervous "shutdown", I've also realized my left shoulderblade area and upper arm tingles a lot when I work on my spine long enough. So your advice is to keep working on it? I usually don't store energy in the subnavel (or at all), but I've started working on this from the online articles, and just started reading astral dynamics, so I hope to get more serious about it, give it more attention and do it properly. (I didn't use the hands advised to manipulate energy, I just willed it through sheer sensory memory power. I've only started to use it today, and found a few other inactive centers, along with a better response from the spine). My head and neck still feel a little feverish, but not as much as it used to, when I work on the spine. On the other hand, my solar plexus responds like crazy when I'm lying in bed bouncing my spine. Feels very good actually, all warm and fuzzy :). Why doesn't the navel respond like this? I've been raised in the belief that the solax plexus is the connection between the most basic and higher aspects of oneself, so I see it as the main energy collector (rather than the navel).

[Korpo]

The solarplexus is a center of willpower and IIRC also thought. Blockage in every chakra or even body part is different in what it represents internally and what it means. I think you are right about "connecting" lower and higher. Your will can make that connection or block it.

My advice is usually to use specific work on identified blockages. Brush and clear them, then ground the energy residue. Feverishness might be an indication that you work your energy too much and your body has problems keeping up with flushing out the toxins and inflammation acts up. There is a limit after which more is not better.

The solarplexus is also IMO tied to the emotional centers and to the Middle Tantien, while the navel is tied to the physical/etheric centers of the Lower Tantien. Its status is an expression of different aspects of yourself. Different energy center, different aspect.

Oliver

[Mekhet]

Humm... I actually had to stop doing energy work for a week because of overdoing myself, so that rings a bell. How do you ground the residue? I've read a few things about grounding, but little that could apply to energy work specifically. My thing with overdoing is that I always work until it responds. And when the response feels good I just keep doing it. Of course odds are I'll feel a little queasy for a while (being the week the longest example). I hope to correct this after reading the NEW chapter directly from the book.

As a sidenote/curiosity, the lack of response was on the ring finger of both hands AND the equivalent of the ring finger of the feet. Curious :) I guess that's just the brain map we have for our bodies. Today I've exercised my hands for the second time with the astral hands, and it was easier to target these fingers :)

On another note about physical effects, I've come to realize that I have days when I feel more rested and other days that I feel more tired. The tiredness happened for a long time when I first started working. I need sleep sooner in the day, but my sleep seems to be more replenishing, and when I wake up I can't go to sleep again, 'cos I don't feel tired. Should I read this like, I use up more energy, but I can recover it faster? Maybe I should start working on energy storage and increase my storage capacity... My body sure seems to be asking for it.

[Korpo]

An easy way to ground is to take any energy you find after cleaning up and move it down below the feet. Doing cleansing work tends to reactivate energies that have been stagnant within blockages and now start acting up again. These energetic residues need to be neutralised or grounded in order to not impact you negatively (again).

The "pinkies", like all other toes and fingers, are termination points of meridian lines. These major energy lines are related to the health of your 12 major organs. I could not unearth which these are for the pinkies, but Mantak Chia lists an exercise in "Iron Shirt Chi Kung" called "Holding the Golden Urn" which employes the pinkie finger/toe lines and actually activates the connection between them. There is a connection between both pinkie fingers and toes, so it is no wonder they feel blocked to you just the same.

The tiredness probably just means that your body is busy flushing toxins. In the beginning that is usually a substantial amount, but when your body has done that you feel so well. I don't think that is directly related to energy storage capacity. There is a limit that grows over time for how much cleansing your body can take. When you go over it you start to feel feverish, inflammed, tired, exhausted, and so on. By recognising this when it happens you learn when it is wiser to stop, and over time also start stopping before it happens. Then you reach your personal comfort zone of energy work, where side effects lessen and you can work without inducing tiredness. There might be times when you make a big step forward or deal with a deeper issue where you have to find this balance again, but once you learn how to recognise your limits, it gets easier to regulate.

Take good care,
Oliver

[VioletImagery]

Ah. This thread answered a lot of the questions I had about the physical effects of some energy work I've been doing (not NEW, but similar, I think). Thank you, especially Korpos! Everyone I had asked about this other places didn't seem to think I should feel any physical effects or attributed it to something else entirely. I practice fairly infrequently and not very long at one time so I haven't noticed anything nearly as drastic as you describe, Mekhet (so far just a sore wrist), but I wanted to let you know that I've been feeling physical aftereffects that I'm sure are from the energy work itself, not muscle fatigue or some sort of injury.

--Kelsey

[Mekhet]

Hey violet! Well, eventually my "symptoms" subsided, but I'm still searching for medical advice. I have a strong suspition of some bone problems, especially joints, so no wonder my whole body gave me a woppin. Either way, my back seems actually better after all of this, and since I've started exercising my energy body, I think I'm developing a better body awareness which allows me to keep my back tension in check (I relax my shoulders and upper back VERY often along the day, and back pain seems to be lower, and most of the time completely gone). Although I still get a little tired which might indicate low muscle strength, so some exercise is still on my plans.

[VioletImagery]

Hi Mekhet,

Thanks for the update! I haven't done any energy work in a while (and also have not had a sore wrist in a while), but I'll see what happens when I get back to it.

--Kelsey