Oh, it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion. It's just that, in my case, it finally drilled through my thick skull that I was reliably triggering emotional reactions that were like despair, the kind that people often feel when exhausted. And I know what I can handle emotion-wise - I've been having to learn to deal with more and more emotional shit for a few years now. So I could rule out emotions, because I can handle "just" emotional energy.

(I'd better - most of my shamanic work goes through emotional energies :-) .)

So, I could rule out emotions driving the mental/physical state, just because I was on the inside. And then, when I found that exercise could reliably trigger emotional "pulses" - "hey, I *felt* that happen - I just went from feeling okay to feeling close to despairing" - that clinched it for me. It had to be a physical-feedback-thingy (I believe that's a term of art :-) ). And if it was "just" an emotional reaction, well, I'd dislike it, but I'd handle it. And it wouldn't cause me to notice that, wow, I'm breathing heavier after 3 flights of stairs, rather than just barely noticing.

The stuff you were bringing up was good stuff to consider - it's just that I'd been working on the puzzle for a long time already, and hadn't bothered to mention most of the groundwork I'd already laid.