Thanks for the breathing tips, Xan.

I did notice it's an unfortunate side effect of the meditation...that when you meet ordinary people afterwards their energies seem more damaged or negative by comparison. I remember once I was doing the 'small universe' - this is master chunyi lin's variation of the 'microcosmic orbit' meditation. I did this meditation at night and had wonderful purples around the head (I saw it as internal vision only) and the next day when I went out - everyone had this slightly negative, pessimistic or problematic energies...

I could detect minor feelings of apathy, irritation, selfishness, anger - all these leaking off people across the room into me. However I normally feel pretty great when I'm alone, so I spend an increasing amount of my free time alone...of course this can get lonely, haha.