Hello all,
I started practicing in 2003 after receiving a Reiki treatment that kicked me immediately into a forceful A&P followed by a few hours of fear and anxiety, an awakening of energy currents in my body, and the permanent dropping away of boredom and irrational anger that had characterized much of my late teenage years leading up to the experience. After that I changed my major to East Asian Studies and began studying Buddhism and Daoism while engaging in all manner of practices, ranging from zazen in the Rinzai tradition, qigong, Reiki, Daoist inner alchemy, some Shingon esoteric practices, and energy work in Robert Bruce's NEW system. I dabbled through these various traditions and techniques as I intensely studied the religions and languages of East Asia through undergrad and grad school. After finishing my degrees I switched gears by teaching the Western classics for the last decade or so. As a result, I am thoroughly versed in the primary texts of the East and the West and have focused all of my free reading time on developing my understanding of the complexity and interconnectedness of the contemplative traditions throughout the world. I also am the type that can easily switch my reality tunnels, going from Christian to Buddhist to agnostic or from faith healer/energy worker to pragmatist to skeptic as the day goes by and my conversational partner switches.
A year ago I discovered The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa and have been working my way progressively through the Stages, which has given me a foundation that my practice has long been lacking. Over the summer I went on a 10 day Goenka retreat (my first retreat that was more than three days) and on Day 5 I had a massive kundalini awakening and I hit a dark night so shockingly powerful that it sent me home early from the retreat in an ambulance (I thought I might be going crazy and the retreat leaders had no idea what to do with someone who was convulsing uncontrollably with kriyas). I experienced numerous permanent shifts (wavelike piti on command, more mental silence, jhanas opened up easily afterward) following the peak experience, but I suspect that I am presently vacillating between reobservation and equanimity, given the anxiety that comes on every few days (following my first passing of the A&P I had stopped feeling any anxiety, even before giving speeches to large audiences). This anxiety is powerful and it does not seem to have any source, but I can pretty easily watch it without any clinging or aversion. Otherwise, my sits are filled with joy and pleasure.
That about sums up where I am right now. I look forward to working with this community.