A. We experience consciousness inthe head, and it’s here for the most part we think we are, and therefore where we live. But when we move our consciousness into the body, it crosses an apparent boundary and becomes awareness, and it is here that we alight on the threshold of the Dharma. Awareness is linked with and indeed caught by consciousness, but if we stay with our awareness (which is especially possible in formal meditation), our imprisonment in the narrow confines of dualistic consciousness begins to dissolve. From this point we begin to enter a vast expanse that has no limits, is bound by no ‘person’. When we enter this expanse we can use the insight tools offered by Buddhism, that if nurtured correctly will transform and break through the limits of the samsaric world (which consciousness supports) into the infinity of our original nature.

From what you say it seems a good idea to cultivate still more deeply your experience of that expanse (samadhi) over a period of time, and then to make good use of that precious emptiness, with guidance, and begin to familiarize yourself with an insight practice.

As to your second query, all emotions originate in the hara.