(okay, this is a long one. Hopefully not too long.)
I’ve done energy work.
After reading a recommendation from @SubliminalUser back in January, I also library-requested two books by Robert Bruce ‘Energy Work’ and ‘Astral Dynamics’. They finally came last week and kind of rocked my week.
One thing that caught my attention at first was Robert Bruce’s discussion of ‘tactile energy work’. That sounded really interesting to me, since I have very low mental visualization ability. After I started to skim through the instructions for his energy exercises, I found that 60% - 70% was similar to what I’d been taught by my qigong teacher in the past. (Qigong translates to English as ‘Energy Work’). My teacher never used the word ‘tactile’, but he was teaching the same method. Far from being a disappointment, this was actually a confirmation for me of the quality of Bruce’s work.
In contrast, Bruce’s explanations of astral travel and the context for it gave me some new and extremely helpful concepts. I’ve returned the books for now and will dive back in when I have more time in a couple of months. I’ll probably end up buying the Astral Dynamics book, maybe Energy Work too.
Okay, so energy.
It’s natural, man.
Take me as an example. I’m not particularly talented, yet I was able to feel clear and specific energy movements and phenomena in the first 20 minutes of the first workshop I ever attended. (It tends to show up as tingling, numbness, a wind blowing movement, vibration, magnetism, temperature changes, hot and cold sensations, and so on.) It’s basically like this. “You’re alive? Then you’ve got energy.” In Chinese it’s called 氣 or Qi (“chee”).
It’s life energy. And your nervous system is not only able to sense it, but is also basically running on it. So don’t worry too much about the dramatic examples and experiences described in books. All living things have Qi. (Ecstatic religious experiences? Very much involve qi.)
But the main reason that I was able to sense it on that first day was this: I was in a room with someone who had a great deal of it and a very powerful energy flow. The person teaching the workshop was a qigong master. So it was like being next to a big waterfall of qi. When you’re near that, it’s much easier to sense and also your own qi responds much more powerfully. Also, when you’re in a room with a lot of people who are also practicing, it creates an energy field. You can feel the same thing in large groups of worshipping people or even in angry mobs. It’s concentrated life-force.
After I left the workshop and went home to practice by myself, I did not feel it very powerfully at all. Often I didn’t feel much of anything ‘special’.
So one trick that I would recommend, especially since you’re Christian, is to combine the energy work with your religious practices. This is a common trick in the esoteric branches of most world religions. It’s easy.
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Intention makes a big difference. You’ll see that in Robert Bruce’s books. But it’s an old idea. 意到,氣到. That’s the Chinese expression. When intention arrives, energy arrives. Well, guess what prayer is? Concentrated intention. Consider your prayer as a part of your energy work. And also directly speak in prayer about how you intend to move your energy and what purposes you intend to use it for. (You don’t have to know all the answers. If you’re not sure, then pray about that. You can tailor this to your own needs.)
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When you do an energy practice, think of it as a kind of prayer-in-motion, a body-based prayer. Do it with a sense of gratitude. Be grateful to be alive. And offer your energy as an expression of gratitude to God (as you understand God). This is not just to have some ‘miracle’ happen. It’s a sincere way of connecting to and thanking God. The more beneficial part is that now that you’ve given it to God you don’t have to be like a little kid opening the oven every minute to see if the cake is finished baking. (Which is what we often do at first when we’re just practicing for ourselves. 
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Ask God to guide your practice. Then dedicate the practice to God and LET GO OF OUTCOME. Who cares? Are you constantly checking to see that your heart is still beating and your blood is still flowing? You just gratefully accept it. Do the same with this.
(From my own journey, I’m more likely to speak of Cosmos or Great Nature than ‘God’ most of the time. But for me, it’s expressing the same thing.)
Instead of worrying about supernatural or paranormal superpowers developing (and by the way, they’re all natural), you can now feel a sense of completion and success in having given a special kind of prayer that involves more parts of you.
That will make it much easier to be patient.
Oh, and I may not have fully expressed this clearly but if you join a class, workshop, or a group with a qualified teacher, it will be easier to progress. This can even work through Zoom, though it’s probably more powerful in person. This is also very natural. Put two pianos or two guitars next to each other. Firmly press (or pluck) A# on one. The same tone will resonate sympathetically in the other one. Just basic wave mechanics.
In joining classes and studying with teachers, you’ll want to avoid weird, manipulative, overly mystical asshole-gurus; just go for someone normal. And realize that no matter the realization of the teacher, they’re still human and will make mistakes. But the biggest danger to look out for is not an external teacher. It’s our own childish tendency to aggrandize and worship role models due to our need to see them as perfect. Try to root out this tendency in yourself as it has a good track record for messing up all types of contemplative work.
Okay, another long post. This is one of my passion areas. (Also, I’ve noticed this tendency to write very long passages while listening to Quantum Limitless.)
I will look into adding Kriya Yoga. I feel like I’ll recieve a more energetic reward from that versus “Hulking it out.” Thanks for the help.