Musings on feeling energy

I’m talking about the feeling of energy that radiates throughout the body and in the space around it when meditating, doing qigong, or giving a biodynamic session in my work. I don’t know what this energy is exactly, but it is palpable, and it feels good.

I’ve read the theory that it is electromagnetic energy, and that the fluids in our bodies somehow manifest it, or perhaps electromagnetism or something else somehow manifests the fluids, or maybe it works both ways, because it does seem like this is a non-dual experience. If being somewhat fluid is a prerequisite for this energy, then I guess all of Earth’s life must have this energy, because water is part of every living thing, right? Perhaps this energy is the life force.



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When I measure my heart rate variability (through HeartMath, using a sensor that clips to my ear lobe, and an app, Inner Balance), the stronger I sense this energy field as radiance emanating from my body, the higher my heart rate variability (HRV) is. HRV is an indicator of well-being. It measures the resilience of the autonomic nervous system, from what I understand.

In that sense, feeling this energy is the opposite of feeling stress. I feel relaxed yet aware in a state of higher HRV, and I’m training myself to maintain it at higher and higher levels. I can sometimes feel it in others too. Once I did 10 minutes of biodynamics on a client after a 90-minute integrative massage, and his energy field felt so dense and potent, I wondered if I dropped a quarter several feet above him if it would bounce off his field! (Having about 50 years of experience as a martial artist probably contributed to that.)

I notice that when I engage in words, either talking to someone or engaging in internal dialogue, my HRV goes down. When I focus my attention on sensing my body or on this surrounding energy field, it rises. Sensations occur in the present moment (unless we’re remembering or imagining vividly). Talking and internal dialogue are less present. Thinking and words are involved. My mind loves thinking, and my awareness loves silence and sensing. Sometimes they compete for dominance, which at this point in my evolution, is a bit entertaining, at least when it’s not annoying. Awareness is winning, more and more!

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Source: Waking Times.

I started taking qigong classes this year, and in the third class, after learning the moves, I noticed this energy. Qigong is about gathering and cultivating energy. In qigong energy anatomy, we have three dan tiens (energy centers), lower middle, and upper, as shown at right.

These are also the second, fourth, and sixth chakras in yoga anatomy, which adds a few other energy centers so there are a total of seven physical chakras in most schools. I’m more used to tuning into my chakras, having lived in the yoga world for over 30 years, but my dan tien cultivation is coming along nicely.

In the Gurdjieffian model of energy anatomy, humans have the thinking center in the head, the feeling/emotional center in the heart, and the instinctive/moving center in the pelvis.

This head/heart/gut recognition of energy centers could easily be fairly universal in those subcultures and practices in which energy is considered important (i.e., not in modern Western culture). There’s something archetypal about it, based on our structure, our bones, our containers.


Energy is also a key component when giving biodynamic sessions. It has qualities such as rhythms, pressure, temperature, and density. One of the metaphors in biodynamics is the sensation of sitting on the bottom the sea, feeling slowly moving currents and tides swirling around and through one.

I once had a dream in which I was in a living room on the sea floor. The water around me was body temperature, and breathing was not a problem. It felt very comfortable. The living room, which didn’t have any walls but just faded into darkness, was furnished with an easy chair, an end table, a lamp, a rug atop the sandy ocean floor, perhaps some book shelves, a refrigerator — and a tiger casually walked past me in that beautiful way tigers walk, just going about its business! I marveled during and after this dream. I could not take my eyes off the tiger and felt graced by its presence.

This was before I had taken any biodynamics classes. I had felt the sensations of sitting at the bottom of the sea surrounded and penetrated by currents before in meditation, and thought of them as a by-product of prolonged stillness. To me, it felt wondrous and healing. I felt held in place, surrendered, without will, content.

When I finally grokked that the sensations of this meditation experience were what’s called the tides in biodynamics, it was an aha moment! Later I remembered the dream and connected it with biodynamics. The tiger was a symbol I could understand for potency (a biodynamic term for strong energy), and with hindsight, it was as if my dream life was predicted my outer life, as has occasionally happened. Sometimes my conscious mind needs help connecting the dots and understanding my path.

I understand feeling doubtful about this energy stuff. I did, for a long time, even though I’d had a major crown chakra opening in my 30s. The culture around me didn’t exactly support it, and I had other things on my mind.

You can feel this energy by placing your palms a few inches apart, facing each other. Move them closer and farther away, and see if you don’t feel a magnetic attraction between them! It’s real, it’s palpable, it’s just not visible — to most people. You can develop it into healing energy. I find it fascinating and want to explore more.