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I welcome everyone to this forum, I have been reading this wonderful forum for a long time, but I registered only today in order to write this text. This will be a long text. I will tell you a little of my story, so that the essence of the question is clear, I will try to write as briefly as possible, but I am afraid the text will still be voluminous. I want to warn you that English is not my native language, so I apologize in advance for the logical and grammatical errors in the text. I hope that you will be able to understand what I will try to tell you) If I briefly talk about my practice, then expressing myself within the framework of traditional terms for better understanding (although I consider this practice universal and natural), it consists of trying to remain in a state of dzogchen / rigpa / non-dual contemplation in all my affairs, deepening and stabilizing it. After I recognized myself as consciousness/spirit/revealed my true self/authentic nature beyond the limits of intellect and concepts as a result of practicing Atma-vichara and meditation, my range of perception expanded and things began to happen that will be discussed in this text. Before this experience, I had never done energy practices, I worked directly with consciousness through the methods of jnana yoga (Advaita Vedanta) and raja yoga (Dzogchen), but after the experience of minor enlightenment, I began to intensely feel the energy flows in my body and energy centers. I also began to be able to direct the flows of this energy with my attention and stimulate the energy centers. At that time, I was absolutely unfamiliar with energy practices and all this was surprising and incomprehensible to me, all my actions related to the energy in the body were completely intuitive. Now, several years later, I understand that thanks to non-dual contemplation, an automatic process of transformation of the energy body was launched. The first thing that began was pressure between the eyebrows, it can also be compared to pulsation, expansion. (I have been feeling it for 3 years now, the deeper and more stable my non-dual awareness, the more distinct this sensation between the eyebrows, I also feel many other energy centers on the head and on the body.) Slight spasms and twitching in the body appeared, during meditation and not only. Then for some time there was a period of spontaneous movements during sitting contemplation, the body swayed in different directions, the head swayed, the fingers folded into spontaneous mudras, the head was thrown back, the mouth opened and I felt something energetic crawling in and out of the mouth, if you compare it with something, it looks like a snake. Then I felt that an energy rod of such density was passing through my head that I could completely relax my neck and the head held itself as if it was suspended on a thread. To understand what was happening, I began to study energy anatomy and energy practices, this greatly expanded my horizons in this topic and gave a partial explanation for all these phenomena. I also discovered new methods of working with energy. Over time, spontaneous movements passed and the most interesting began. Actually, from this moment the main part for which I am writing this text begins. I often engage in sedentary motionless contemplation before going to bed in a dark room. I sit with my eyes open and look into the space in front of me, delving into a state of emptiness, allowing thoughts to appear and disappear, which ultimately leads to a stop in internal dialogue and a state of thoughtlessness. And suddenly, at one point, I found myself in a new territory, a map of which I do not have. I need to be in this state for about a minute, and sometimes less, and the room seems to begin to lose density, it begins to vibrate, the space/air begins to move, something similar to visual noise appears. All of these are, of course, approximate comparisons. I began to see energies, I see clubs/clouds of energies of different colors, most often these are purple colors, I also see a ring of golden energy inside which is purple energy, I also saw rainbow energy, I see how white-gray energy surrounds me. Sometimes the energy becomes so dense and intense that I can take pieces of these clubs in my hands and feel tingling as if from an electric current. If you run your finger through these energies, a trace remains, as if I were running my finger in thick syrup. If you bring your palms closer and further away from each other, I see how pale white energy emanates from them. If I look at my hand, it will seem to dissolve in the air and disappear. There was also a case when the whole room vibrated especially and was covered with purple fog, and then I also felt something similar to the sensations when separating an astral projection. (My heart started beating very fast, and there was a vibration in my body.) With my lower peripheral vision I began to see a white light coming from my chest, if in complete darkness at that moment I bring my hand to my chest, a light falls on it like from a flashlight But I see this light only with my lower peripheral vision. Along with all this, in the space in front of me in my room in the dark during contemplation, 1.5-2 meters away from me, images/muzzles/faces of non-human creatures began to appear. They are difficult to describe, but if you compare, it looks like some kind of fantastic creatures of a very bizarre appearance that do not resemble any of the ordinary creatures that you can see in life. And those that lend themselves to some more or less specific description are something similar to lizards, frogs, snakes. I also saw eyes similar to cat or reptile eyes. They are not dense, they are as if translucent and vibrating, closer to a hologram. Along with these manifestations, when I note to myself, mentally, that I see them, an electric current runs through me. I also began to see thick shadows that crawl along the walls and ceiling, and later, with my peripheral vision I began to see a thick black and constantly moving shadow, if you turn your head you can’t see it. But on the periphery I clearly see a black thick dynamic puff of smoke. This “shadow” is darker than darkness. The movement of these shadows resembles black, impenetrable smoke. An interesting point is that some phenomena are visible with the lower peripheral vision, some with the side, some with the frontal. Along with its appearance, I feel a slight pressure on my chest, as if wires with a very weak current were connected to it, as they sometimes do in some physiotherapy procedures. Sometimes this shadow literally jumps on me and at these moments my body is completely pierced by electricity and it seems to vibrate from the inside, sometimes this is accompanied by a headache. I also feel light touches to my head, eyes, hair, face, like light tingling or hair movement, as if these places become electrified. Also, when it is near, I hear clicks near my ears and in the place where this "shadow" moves. If I mentally say "I see you" I get an electric shock. It seems to me that this "shadow" is not tied to any specific place, but follows me. Also, being in my apartment, I can feel and see this shadow with my peripheral vision even during the daytime. But closer to night it gains strength, becomes denser and clearer. At night it is much more active and it is much easier to see it. My cat also sees this creature, from time to time he begins to meow and run strangely in the place where it appears, as if he were chasing a fly and staring intently as if into nowhere, although in fact he is looking where I see this "shadow" I will describe a couple more vivid cases during contemplation with open eyes in a dark room, this is not a completely dark room, just a room with the lights off in the evening. In the space in front of me both times an image/face of a snake or lizard appeared, and along with it healthy thick black moving shadows appeared to the left and right, at first they were not very big but then they grew and filled most of the wall. From these shadows to the right and left of me a white glow emerged, similar to rays, they were directed precisely at my chest where during the day I felt pressure and tingling. Breathing became difficult, current began to flow through the body, and at the same time the body was thrown into heat and covered in cold sweat. In the chest there was a feeling of heat, pressure and tingling. I just let it happen, keeping my composure. The sensations reached their maximum and retreated, as a result I sat in contemplation for another 20 minutes, the shadows were jumping on the walls, and the lizard-like image with large snake eyes remained in the air. I lay down, turned on my side and fell asleep to the clicks and crackles heard in the room. The next morning there was a sediment of these sensations in my chest and I was coughing. Also during the day I felt a pressing feeling on my chest and slight shortness of breath. For some time I interrupted my practice in the dark room in order to ground myself and reduce the influence of guests from the subtle plane a little and began to practice only during the day. During the day I also see some manifestations, I see many small and fast-moving luminous particles, chains of small transparent balls, I see how space is distorted similar to what can be seen in very hot weather when the air is hot and vibrating (this can be compared to the invisibility technology of the "predator" from the science fiction film "Predator".) I also see changes in space and energy, but not as intensely. But in general, the manifestations of this "shadow" in the form of clicks, sounds, pressure on the chest almost disappear when I stop practicing at night and practice only during the day, the shadow is still visible at any time of the day, but not as strongly. If I start practicing in the evening, the influence of the subtle plane begins to increase. As a result, for more than a year now I have been seeing this shadow with my peripheral vision from time to time, for example, I can lie down and read a book and see this creature with my peripheral vision. I understand that with this vision I not only began to see, but also became visible, I began to open up to beings of a different order, as if I began to glow and "they" began to flock like moths to a flame. I also understand that they were always around anyway. As I understood for myself, the mechanism of these phenomena is that in a state of non-dual contemplation we stop perceiving the world through the prism of personality. When we look through the prism of personality, the play of energy of the basis of being, refracted through our dualistic dichotomous consciousness, is condensed and acquires material aspects, after which it acquires names and labels. The world becomes very dense, which narrows the range of our perception and deprives us of the opportunity to see subtle planes. During non-dual contemplation, the reverse process occurs and the range of perception expands and this allows us to see more subtle energy-informational structures. After recognizing emptiness and one's true nature, one gains a certain equanimity to external and internal phenomena. Therefore, I am not afraid of these phenomena, rather I am irritated by the lack of a full understanding of what it is, whether it is dangerous, how to work with it or how to manage it. I want to take control of this situation and figure out what is going on here. Ahead of some advice in the style of "it's all a game of your own mind, you don't need to do anything, om, shanti, peace", I will say that it is impossible to simply brush it off and say that this is a "game of the mind", these are quite dense and tangible phenomena that are clearly autonomous from me and have consciousness. Yes, in the end, everything is an illusion and we are all one, but when my head is broken, I do not say that it is an illusion, but take a bandage and give myself first aid. Also, if a tick has bitten me, I pull it out, and do not remain passive with the words the tick and I are non-dual. Being in your true nature is not the same as inaction, otherwise it becomes nihilism and getting stuck in the absolute truth. The absolute transcends and includes the relative, and does not deny the relative. These are two equal sides of the same coin Of course, there were enlightened people whose level of realization allowed them to completely ignore the laws of nature, but unfortunately this does not apply to me. While exploring the vastness of the Internet in search of answers, I found a community studying the works of Castaneda, whose members describe and even illustrate an experience that is very similar to mine. Using a neural network, they create pictures illustrating their experience and what is depicted on them completely coincides with my experience. I would be amazed when I saw these illustrations. This is the only place on the Internet that I was able to find where people openly discuss such an experience. In short, their practice is that they regularly sit in a room completely devoid of light in a state of switched off internal dialogue with open eyes and contact energies and inorganic beings that begin to manifest in space. Unfortunately, the mood of their community is extremely fanatical and aggressive towards anyone who does not want to blindly agree with everything their leader says, so my communication with them did not work out. But despite all the shortcomings, the information and methods that they openly provide are working. Here are links to their community, perhaps you will be interested in this https://www.instagram.com/darkroom.practice?igsh=MXB5M3llanI5ZmJ5bg== I told about this community only to better and more thoroughly describe my situation. Here are the videos that very well illustrate what I described: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3K7iZlk3V8&list=LL&index=2 Also from what I managed to find, Daniel Ingram in his book "Fiery Cassina" describes a similar experience. Here are two of his interviews where he talks about this in detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd79YHBhWNE&t=36s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW884GpnDvc&t=5s This also reminds me of the Tibetan practice of Yangti and Togal, which I read about in the treatises on Dzogchen. To sum it up: I know that there are many experienced practitioners on this forum who could have encountered a similar experience and know more about it than me. I will be grateful to everyone who shares their experience, ideas and recommendations regarding these phenomena. There are thousands of books about how to achieve a state of non-duality, but unfortunately there are practically no books that describe such an experience and methods of how to work with it. But this experience, as it seems to me, will sooner or later inevitably happen to any serious practitioner. So I think this topic can be extremely useful for many. P.s. I kindly request you to refrain from skeptical comments and ridicule that are written simply for the sake of expressing your skepticism for the sake of skepticism, I will completely ignore such comments. For me, my experience is genuine and tangible, for me it is a fact. For skeptics, materialists and those who are worried about my mental and physical health - I have undergone a full medical examination of the brain on various devices, had an MRI and CT scan, everything is fine with me. Let me emphasize once again that all this happens with open eyes in a fully awake state. These are not hypnagogic visions with closed eyes. Sometimes I edit my post, not to change its meaning, but to correct grammatical errors and improve the structure. For better understanding, I will attach to this post images that illustrate the experience I described, some I found on the Internet, and some I made myself using AI. Of course this does not convey my experience 100%, but it is very similar.