There are many books and websites about structures in the energy body. Most of them repeat traditional ideas. For example, some of them describe seven main chakras, the sushumna, etc. — ideas from Indian Tantra. Others talk about meridians, collaterals, etc. — ideas from Chinese Daoism.
Over the years I’ve experienced lots of energy phenomena but I’ve never observed any of the structures that are described in those old books. I have, however, observed other structures.
In this article I’m going to describe a vertical energy channel that came into existence in the front of my body over a period of four years. This structure was extremely tangible and obvious.
I did nothing deliberate to make this channel apparent. It simply came into existence and I noticed it. In general, I think it’s a bad idea to try deliberately to experience phenomena that other people tell us we are supposed to observe. I think that’s a recipe for imagining things. I think it’s better to observe without expectations.
Therefore my advice, for whatever it’s worth, is that you don’t try to experience what I’m about to describe. For the same reason, I advise you not to try to experience chakras or nadis or meridians. There’s nothing wrong with reading about these things and looking a little bit to see if you can find them. But don’t work at it. Don’t make a practice of trying to experience what other people say they experienced. Instead, make your mind as quiet as possible and observe what happens when you have no expectations.
The channel in the front of my body became evident for the first time in 2016. I don’t think it existed before that. At first it felt like some kind of activity going on in my chest, a sort of rumbling like the energetic equivalent of hearing bulldozers and jackhammers at work down the street. I told friends it felt like some sort of “construction” was taking place. The feeling was localized under the breast bone. I didn’t realize yet that it would grow into a vertical channel.
The feeling was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It seemed to be related to consciousness and seeking because whenever I made an effort to stay in myself, to be conscious, the construction-activity in my chest would grab my attention.
Over the next two years the channel grew vertically until it extended from my diaphragm to my collarbone. Even then I’m not sure I realized it would become a channel because it filled a portion of my chest horizontally and didn’t seem tube-like.
In the summer of 2018 a channel began to construct itself in the front of my face. I didn’t realize immediately that it would become a channel because it was composed of a number of separate segments with different characteristics. Eventually these segments linked up to form a continuous chain extending from the top of my forehead to the underside of my lower jaw.
The channel in my chest kept growing vertically until eventually it extended from my belly to my throat. Finally, the two channels (face and torso) connected to each other at the throat, and there was a continuous pathway from the belly to the top of my forehead.
I didn’t know whether the channel had reached its full length because it had no obvious function. I rarely had the feeling that anything flowed in it. It was simply a long vertical tube that felt energetically active. However, during the time when the channel was under construction, especially 2018, many other interesting energetic phenomena occurred which I won’t bother to describe, and I thought the channel might be related to them.
A few months ago I finally noticed the function of the channel. One of the functions, anyway. I was sunk in some kind of state of consciousness, and I realized that the lower part of my torso was serving as an energy source and energy was rising through the channel to my head. It seemed like my belly was powering consciousness or powering what I was doing with consciousnes.
Shortly after that the channel stopped being evident. Right now, for example, if I try to look for it I can’t find it. This doesn’t seem strange to me because over the years the whole energy space of my body has become increasingly open, homogenous, and structureless. Maybe the channel served its purpose and is no longer needed. Or maybe it’s still there but is no longer noticed. I think the second possibility is more likely.
Postscript
A few hours after I published this post, I paid close attention and saw that the vertical channel is still present in my torso. By calling it a “channel” I’ve probably given the impression that it’s nothing more than an inert conduit. This isn’t true. It’s more like an active functioning thing. Perhaps its more like a generator or storage tank than a channel.
As I mentioned above, it’s associated somehow with the state of withdrawal into me, that cave-like state of focusing exclusively on the sense of personal individuality, that “I” state which some people associate with Ramana’s Self-enquiry.
I may have choosen a poor name when I wrote “vertical channel” because there is a sort of machinery in the lower part of it.
I also noticed that although most of this mechanism is centered on the midline of the body and is bilaterally symmetrical, a portion of it seems to be on the right side of the chest. I’ve had vague glimpses before of something of this sort on the right side but could never be sure that I wasn’t just imagining things because Ramana said the spiritual heart is there.
I’m going to write another article now which starts where this one leaves off.