Q. In my meditation practice I am increasingly working on my mind through the body. I feel I have very much sort of groped my own way of doing this. During a long retreat I have recently completed I experienced quite strong twitching and what felt like bolts or twitches of energy release in different parts of my body, which I don’t understand or particularly know what’s the best way to work with. More lately I’ve been experiencing regular sort of energy releases from what I can best describe as the tail bone area, which seem to arise when I get concentrated or feel a bit inspired during my yidam practice. Could you offer any guidance on how to work with this in meditation?

A. This is an issue I’ve dealt with on several occasions answering forum questions, so I recommend you search through the archive to find those relevant questions and answers. Bringing your attention to the body and the hara area not just in sitting meditation but also throughout your daily life will familiarise you with the true and complete practice of reintegrating mind and body, and it is most important to be aware of this. Returning that wandering and erratic energy back into the hara again and again, and doing it with awareness, will promote a balanced practice of Dharma and give you a healthy, balanced body and mind. I have met many ‘victims’ in my time around Buddhism, practitioners who either have no knowledge of this or think it isn’t important enough. But to me this is the most crucial issue in practice. To ignore this understanding and stay stuck in unskilful imbalanced habits will only get you into trouble, which could be serious and bring great danger to yourself both physically and emotionally.