holding the breath

[Yoda]

In Secrets of Wilder, Yogani says that holding the breath and depriving the body of oxygen forces the body to find and release other sources of energy. Chia says the same thing. What he added was that this was a release of sexual energy into the body. The jing to chi button and is essentially the gas pedal for how fast you want to go and you have to be careful to follow your inner speed limits.

[thelerner]

You hear about the wonders of holding your breath from a number of sources. From Bodri's 9 bottle breathing to Japans modern Edison, who gets his best ideas from while swimming under water til he's 'almost' about to die.

 

Michael

[Trunk]

to Japans modern Edison, who gets his best ideas from while swimming under water til he's 'almost' about to die.

 

Is that a contemporary fellow?

 

Seeing "Edison" made me wonder if he wrote an autobiography. Bet he had some cool stories.

[Yoda]

The original lead singer for NXS was into it too. Along with many Japanese teenage boys.

[Leo]

Here's a link about exactly that: http://www.winwenger.com/ebooks/guaran.htm

[Pietro]

In the water method you don't hold your breath, in fact we work hard not to stop breathing at all, as this is the moment when you get more easily distracted. But the breath is made smooth, continuous and Looooooooooooooooooooooooong. Until you enter into chi breath. So I suppose there might be some relation.

 

BTW I think also Osho use to go through his crises by throwing himself in the gorges of a river. But it might be more a need for adrenaline.

 

Pietro

[Yoda]

Cool article! Maybe Michael Huchins and Osho were just smarter than the rest of us?

 

Matt Furey and Pavel type folks are very into anaerobic type activity like sprinting, hindu squats, kettlebells, etc. They cite that the anaerobic stress entices the body to release lots of good growth and strengthening hormones which is very good for the body. Perhaps even for the mind.

 

In the past, I've commonly maxxed out on this type of activity--it would make me a bit out of sorts.

 

Yogani says that this sort of practice is the cat's meow, but it needs to be done sparingly and in the context of an energy practice that incorporates energy moving up and down the spine as well as daily meditation.

 

Breathing practice is superior to sprints b/c it is very beneficial to meditate immediately after breathing practices as you've just 'plowed' the field and you don't want weedy thoughts to grow from your effort, so planting deeply blissful thoughts is the way to go.

 

An extreme example of breathing and not meditating is the author of "Solitary Fitness" jailed in England who can punch his hand through bullet proof glass, but can never behave for long enough to get out on parole.

 

That article got me to see the parallels between pranayama and anaerobic exercise--it's a link between the worlds of spirituality and athleticism.

 

Thanks!

Yoda

 

PS I wonder if nxs' muse came through on a breath suspension type hallucination? Anyone know the details of his death? All I know is that it was an autoasphixiation accident. Too much of a good thing.

[hagar]

Interesting.

 

I heard my master tell a story (can't remember if I already told it), about him sitting at the bottom of a swimmingpool in Spain, doing "Turtle breathing", which is a type of meditation where you work at attaining "static breathing".

 

The pool attendant discovered him lying in a yoga posture there at the bottom, and thought he was dead, called the police, and then got the shock of her life realizing he was a ok.

 

Doing this practice can be abit intimidating, due to the fact that the mind is not used to not breathing.

 

h

[affenbrot]

 

I heard my master tell a story (can't remember if I already told it), about him sitting at the bottom of a swimmingpool in Spain, doing "Turtle breathing", which is a type of meditation where you work at attaining "static breathing".

 

 

9227[/snapback]

 

turtle breathing and static breathing - can you explain this a little more? I'm very curious!

 

affenbrot

[Yoda]

When I was a kid, I'd take a 10 lb iron plate and jump in the pool and relax at the bottom. I found it quite addictive and extremely relaxing. Stranger in a Strange Land did the same thing.

 

Another interesting part of the article is on the reading bit. To learn speed reading, you have to learn how to detach your breathing and subvocalization in order to read fast.

[hagar]

I am not really familiar with it, but is is a technique where you imagine that you are breathing from the points behind your jaw, underneath the ears, (where the fish breathe) and hold your hands in a particular postion, infront of the chest, one hand on top of the other. After a while, the energy starts to pulse, and you find that the breath almost tops, and then after long practice, the breath becomes "static"... Like the turtle in hibernation. It's a way to induce the embryonic breath.

 

h

[DustWalker]

[affenbrot]

I am not really familiar with it, but is is a technique where you imagine that you are breathing from the points behind your jaw, underneath the ears, (where the fish breathe) and hold your hands in a particular postion, infront of the chest, one hand on top of the other. After a while, the energy starts to pulse, and you find that the breath almost tops, and then after long practice, the breath becomes "static"... Like the turtle in hibernation. It's a way to induce the embryonic breath.

 

h

9235[/snapback]

 

thanks for sharing... never heard of that before!

 

Re: Gurdjieff

I don't want to buy that kind of story any more. This dervish doesn't even talk about the water method.

I only can see the old power game between master and pupil: stupid seeker approaches big master,

master knows everything better and warns about any other path (you are learning from

books? very dangerous!) but in the same time does not teach his thing either (not yet,

pupil must found to be worthy first blabla).

 

...but thanks for posting the link, I sure will read it :-)

 

affnbrt

[thelerner]

When I was 15 I went to a camp that had lots of snorkling and some scuba. The instructors could easily go down 40, 50 feet and stay there for quite a while. I was eventually able to hold my breath 1 minute and 36 seconds! I'm only good for 40 to 50 seconds these days.

 

Its a mind game really. I saw a show on people training for some world championship that included depth 150+ and length. One training method was holding your breath while lifting weights rapidly. It seemed like a really dangerous and silly sport, ie that corpse over there is the winner by a nose.

 

 

 

Michael

[GrandTrinity]

Where does Chia say the holding of breath draws sexual energy?

[Yoda]

On his morning chikung dvd, he says that if you hold your breath you begin to draw in chi from the air through the skin. Yogani says that breath holding pulls sexual energy from the bottom of the spine into the bloodstream.

[GrandTrinity]

Very interesting.

[DustWalker]

thanks for sharing... never heard of that before!

 

Re: Gurdjieff

I don't want to buy that kind of story any more. This dervish doesn't even talk about the water method.

I only can see the old power game between master and pupil: stupid seeker approaches big master,

master knows everything better and warns about any other path (you are learning from

books? very dangerous!) but in the same time does not teach his thing either (not yet,

pupil must found to be worthy first blabla).

 

...but thanks for posting the link, I sure will read it  :-)

 

affnbrt

9246[/snapback]

 

Of course the Dervish is not talking about the waterpath of Taoism.. in that case I would've been extremely surprised!

 

True.. There are so many different ways to play the game and so many different paradigms out there.. Better to trust yourself and follow your heart and don't belive anything just because you read it somewhere.

 

But I like to read and compare paths even though I know it might be a stupid habit.