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anticipation, foreigness, empathy, psychological quirks like this
The word "imagination" would have a small connotation of something being purposefully made-up or thought-of. These perceptions are not necessarily imaginary, they can be caused merely by the external stimuli delivered on the unwitting participants, and in that sense they could be as "real" or "imaginary" as love and hate or as pleasure and pain. I would simply prefer a less vague and leading word than "imaginary," so that is why I added all the detail to differentiate from common 2-dementional conceptions of the term.
My thoughts are that whatever you went to, it was not meditation, and I promise you, it had absolutely nothing to do w/ Buddhism of any lineage. Are you sure you are in the right forum?
Fireworks can be fun, but they're just fireworks. Its not worth getting caught up in them.
May I suggest that, if you are interested in meditation, you find a more traditional Buddhist or Hindu practice?
I've been a Buddhist for decades and I've lived all over the US and PR. I have often NOT been able to attend sangha in my preferred discipline but instead many disciplines from all over the world, including China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, etc etc.
I have NEVER had anybody approach me to talk about chakras or do anything like what you describe, in ANY tradition.
I agree, what you experienced is some kind of New Age mish-mosh. As others have suggested, please seek out a more appropriate meditation group. Meditation is strongly spiritual and you may very well experience things that seem startling or unusual - but not out-of-body. Meditation ultimately leads to stronger connections to the real world, and it enables you to experience and recognize compassion (among many many other things).
But it does not lead to imagining you are in somebody else's body.
OP, where were the facilitators from? What was their nationality/ethnicity? Were they from India? Did you ask the facilitators any of your questions afterwards?
You can research kundalini on the internet, or at your local "spiritual" bookshop. One good book is an autobiography by a guy who started spontaneously (after years of meditation) experiencing a kundalini opening. It turned into a multi-year ordeal that took over his body and his life. He was just an ordinary bureaucrat in India, nothing special. It really hit him from left field. A lot can be learned from his personal story of struggling with it. "Living With Kundalini", by Gopi Krishna. (See Amazon)
Kundalini is somehow tied into the nervous system, and it causes intuitive and/or "psychic" experiences; it sounds like you had a small taste of that.
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