No worries, that's normal. So start working higher up, since it sounds like you have no blockages in your legs.
One thing with new, don't be afraid to 'go all the way' from time to time to see how your doing. That is, if you try for a full body powerup, and you feel you heart, head, and left arm aren't doing much, you know you have blockages there, or you simpley haven't stretched your mutaphysical muscles yet. 2 weeks on toes is sometimes 13 days too much [;)]
Thanks Rastus, I appreciate it. [:)]
I've never been afraid to "go all the way", the problem is that I only ever do energy work in bed so I don't have much time to do much before I fall asleep. I really need to start devoting some time to doing it during the day.
I read somebody saying on this board, a while back, that he found NEW useful when his feet were cold in bed. Same here! My feet easily get cold if my girlfriend is hogging the blanket, and NEW works wonders for it! [|)]
Honestly, I had this same problem after about a month of NEW. However, I didn't take it quite as well as you have, nor did I ask questions here which has been a problem of mine. I actually lessened the practice, quit and thought it wasn't helping anymore. I decided to pick it up after about a month off after some chiding from one of the people I introduced to it. I've found that the sensations I get from it currently (it's been about a year since I restarted, about 1 and half total) are quite subtle. However, I've also started other OBE techniques like concentration excercises. Using these I can basically concentrate on those subtle feelings and kind of zone in on them and experience them greater. Whereas, at first the sensations were fantastic, I believe the ones I get today are even moreso, but you have to work a bit harder to feel them tot he full affect. I hope that this encourages you to keep on with energy body development even when you think it might be fruitless, because I can assure you it isn't. Also, I would try some focus excercises.
I would also suggest that you start your arm work if you haven't. You say you have limited time at night, so I would work my feet/legs one night then hands/arms the next, and keep alternating. This will get you better prepared than just one or the other.
Marker, that alternating thing is an excellent tip, thank you very much. I'll definitely give that a try until I finally manage to achieve the discipline to devote some time throughout the day to energy work.
As for concentration exercises and focusing on the energy movement sensations - would you mind being a bit more specific please? [:)]
One place that I get a lot of good NEW practice and recharging is while laying on a couch watching a movie in the evening. I find that I can put my attention on it for only a few minutes now, programming myself to pull in and circulate the energy on every single breath. After a short time, it become habitual and I do it almost subconsciously for the whole 2 hour movie.
Sometimes it's so effective that after an hour or so I start to get extremely powerful sensations in my subnaval storage area and I have to stop the gathering action for a while to let my body readjust to things.
I also do some energy raising before sleep while in bed and it's good. But I can seldom stay awake long enough to get nearly as deep into it as I can while watching TV or a movie.
I never feel the bubbling or surging feelings any more in my arms and legs like I felt in the first month of practice. I think it's a good sign if you feel the strong sensations at first and then push on through for weeks until you feel only a smooth, subtle, almost cool "wind" blowing through your extremities.
Also, I think it's good to practice doing it both with and without breath syncronization. I find that sometimes a steady vacuum-like pull from the abdominal area can create a very powerful and steady flow which can be sustained for a long time with determined concentration. Other times it really helps to use breath syncronization. It's good to be able to do it both ways.
Huwie, I had the same problem. At least I thought it was a problem. But actually it's like this. When you start doing energy work your energy pathways are very narrow, and leading energy through them is like trying to put you arm through a keyhole. That's what causes energy-movement sensations. Later, the keyhole gets bigger and your arm fits right in (so to speak). Your energy pathways grow wider, and there is no more friction between energy and its pathway so the sensations are greatly reduced. Still they are noticable enough..
Boydster - thanks very much for the tips, I'll try those out.
Rakon - thanks for the confirmation. It's a relief to know there's nothing wrong, isn't it? I was getting quite worried, occasionally wildly thinking I may have damaged my pathways somehow. [|)]
At some point they can be barely noticable. Think of it as getting bigger and bigger garden hose. 3/8 inch, then 1/2 inch, then 5/8 inch, each lets more water run though.
Beware of firehoses, they take 2 hands to control [:P]
I have what may or may not be a problem with NEW.
Being tremendously undisciplined, I only tend to do energy work before I go to sleep. I have therefore not progressed beyond the feet and legs part of NEW. That's fine...I realise I have to give myself a kick in the bum and start doing it during the day so that I have longer to do it. But I digress.
My problem is that when I first began NEW I would always get incredible energy movement sensations in my feet and legs. As Mr Bruce puts it in AD, I took to energy work like a duck to water. The sensations included warmth and tingling, and usually what felt like a bubbling beneath my skin.
These sensations are now almost gone. I still get the warmth, but that's about it, and it's less pronounced than it has been in the past. Now, in AD Mr Bruce says that strong sensations are actually caused by poorly-formed pathways, so what I'm hoping is that the reason I don't feel much now is because - having done NEW on my feet and legs so often - my pathways are very well-formed. Is this the case, or do I have a reason to start worrying?
Thanks in advance for any opinions. [:)]