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View Full Version : Pranayama and rhythmic breathing... a new way to meditate?


-Fuck-
06-12-2009, 11:38 PM
I want to first write a disclaimer, before I post this and go watch a movie and eat dinner.

I am in no way encouraging people to mess with their breathing patterns. Depending on how tense you are, you could cause yourself damage or perhaps even a heart attack or something. The way society has become, I am sure they will do it to most people anyways. What I'm talking about is something that can never be understood intellectually, only physically experienced.

The body sucks. Let's admit it. It gets diseases, dies, gets sick, and the best we can do for it is to keep causing ourselves physical pain at the weight bench in order to make the muscles more resistant to pain - the pain that is life. I heard a workout-obsessed woman at work today once again going on and on about how much protein something had, and simply shook my head in disappointment. Yeah I workout too, but seriously, there's so much more we're capable of that I see being obsessed with big muscles as just another distraction from real inner peace. This body is a stupid piece of shit that is going to die, and the sooner we admit it, the better off we are at seeing life for what it is.

Over time though, all this pain causes so much tensions and what I will simply call "mucky karma" that is, a general annoyance in one's attitude due to the sum of all actions their body has recorded in a given (and possibly past) life. I don't even mean the outer parts, I mean the inner parts we can't even see. Joint pain. Vitamin deficiency. Too much food in the stomach. But most importantly, shortness of breath due to living in a world where breathing correctly is painfully ignored.

I don't want to make this a long post, so I'm going to keep it brief (also because I wanna go watch this movie "Get Smart" it looks funny. Exhaling is good, laughter is good for you :))

Pranayama, is loosely defined as breath control. Maybe some people remember me from totse posting about it zillions of times, but I just cant stfu now, because I will have lived in vain if I do not continue to spread what I have learned. It's hard realizing things like this and then being part of the crowd, you will NEVER find as much interest in stupid things anymore. Your whole direction in life will change, and if you don't speak your mouth out, people will think you're psycho and are hiding something, maybe bad, maybe you hate them, etc. Maybe you just dont want them to stone you to death when you talk about something that would flip their mind completely. So, here totse, is my gift born from my repression.

The most amazing day of my life was a day after I timed my breathing patterns to an outside sound, for an ENTIRE night. A good 6 or 7 hours at least. On this day, I woke up from years and years of...what I believed was... my identity. Please realize every word I say right now will absolutely FAIL to describe what such things will do to you, besides this: I will never again doubt that there are psychics, mystics, that people can leave their bodies, or that this universe isn't infinite in size, ever again.

Everything changed after that. I didnt know what I was doing, I just was released from the hospital (I ate too much food at once, and they had to literally cut open my ass so I could shit again, it hurt, it sucked, moving on) and I was getting in touch with deep breathing, being away from work and all. I just had this sudden notion to watch it all the time, so when I was going to sleep near someone I know, I decided to use their breathing pattern, as a timer, which I know sounds completely fucking psychotic and weird, but just hear me out.

If you ever really wanna get into meditation and yoga, cleansing, healing, WHATEVER you want to call it, it takes real dedication and focus, and Im sure you can do an hour a day and that will be very good, but KEEP IT UP everyday, make it the most important goddamn thing in your life. I know I post a lot of bullshit here on totse but you must realize in the back of my mind, this is going to be, I know it, the most IMPORTANT thing I live for.

On that day many things happened. I could say it and no one would believe me, but the one thing I want to point out is how I felt other's emotions VERY, VERY strongly at work, and the whole world looked like a nightmare. Painted faces, repressed emotions, Pain, pain, PAIN. SO MUCH PAIN you have no idea what opening yourself can actually make you see, it's literally indescribable. I immediately realized I had never seen people for who they were because I simply was unaware, and bounded by my own "mucky karma" which in one night, I seemed to have erased a lot of (a lot of it is back btw, which leads me to keep saying that this IS going to have to be important in my life, or I will die in vain. Realizations are harder than gold, and even harder to deal with when everything around you seems to misunderstand). The mind was gone, and I was cleaned out, I couldnt even feel negative at all, or feel bound by a personality. Everything was just openness, and I actually for once in my life felt real silence and compassion, towards EVERYONE.

I'm going to cut it short now. I think one day Ill write a better article and post it all over the net (before aliens kill me or something! Im sure SOMEONE out there wants people to just IGNORE this shit).

You don't need to be at an ashram to be into this. You dont need to go to the himalayas or cut your dick off or any nonsense like a lot of people think. Also, I think MANY "spiritual" people are unaware of using a beat, a timed rhythmic beat to become aware of the breath. I say this because the mind is SO powerful these days, we have literally been trained to NOT concentrate. Trying this without the beat, most of us will probably immediately forget, get caught up in thinking (and dreams) and be discouraged or think this has no real benefit. See, the human mind is so strong that it's literally thinking it's own thoughts are more important than correct breathing. Our whole society is obsessed with thoughts and the mind. You want proof? For all of most people's lives (in America) they will be trained since 5 years old to

1. Sit at a desk
2. Breathe incorrectly and be uncomfortable
3. Think what people teach you to think, constantly think this, that, and the other thing.

Ive come to a crossroads in my life. I need to make pranayama a priority over EVERYTHING, at LEAST an hour a day and a lot more on the weekends (I honestly need to transition into being that "open" again before I go back to work, it can be so psychologically fucked up that its actually scary to release so many inner demons all at once, I guess you could say.

We are in a VERY ignorant state right now and the war on drugs, and religious brainwashing are two of the greatest monsters to plague mankind, and both are born out of the MIND. People who take mushrooms or drink ayahuasca tea, or smoke salvia divinorum, or do acid, etc, I think, are fucked for life as far as social interaction goes, in mainstream society. You cant just see a deeper aspect of life then go back to being like everyone and thats exactly what Im trying to say here. SO anyways to cut it short I want to say this, and I hope others get this message and do something for themselves.

Oh and one more warning.
It can be VERY DANGEROUS to breathe deeply incorrectly. Intent guides the breath, and we have a lot of negativity so if you ARE going to do this, do it with the UTMOST caution and listen to every tension in your body, you will be going so deep I cannot explain, I do not even think I have gone as deep as one can as of yet, but the journey has definitely begun.

So now I'll break this post down to a few main points, and you guys can do what you want with it.

1. This guy, is right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjbMB5IEUFI

2. What this guy might not have considered is using a sound as a guidance. Kind of like you use music to jog to a beat, it makes things more controlled, and I think he suggest starting slow simply because our minds as so psychotic that he knows we can concentrate for tiddly shit.

3. Repetitive beats are easy to make using a program called fruityloops, Im sure there is a demo version that can be downloaded somewhere. Im also sure you can download some drumming tracks somewhere on the internet.

4. Another program called AUDACITY can be used to loop music, or beats, record, and save as an mp3.

Everyone's computer is different, and so I cant really get into specifics. It's possible to even use a song you already have, Im sure, but you need to REALLY CONCENTRATE for this to work, if you lose yourself to thoughts, just gently find a spot in the rhythm to breathe to. If the breath is too constricted, loosen it. You are LETTING GO of pain in this practice.

5. When this had a significant life shattering effect on me, Im sure I was laying on my right side, right hand under the cheek and left arm along body, not sure if I used pillows between knees, maybe.

Yeah.

I feel like even this post does this magnificent discovery no justice, but its a start for now, I do think I will write a better article and spread it more...definitely a goal of mine.

A great pain of mine is being truly incapable of explaining this to those I love, and expecting them to not get freaked out by me and think Im a lunatic. My only choice is to keep going, further and further and hope it will be easier to tell others when I get better and more open again, because this is something that needs to live after I die. Mostly my siblings, because it was by PURE CHANCE I got into lucid dreaming and meditation, and by pure CHANCE it just might slip them by, as this world tears them apart. It's extremely easy to go your whole life being fooled, lied to, and misled, in fact it's happening to most people right now. Im realizing that my main priority in life is going to have to be getting skilled at this practice, and then leaving it for others, before I die. I can honestly say that is the only real way I will die happy, and I have a lot of skills and an oppurtunity to make a lot of money, and maybe I will, but see the problem is after something like this happens you can never be interested in anything lesser, like money or having everyone like you, because its just another distraction to keep you ignorant of who you are, at the deepest core, which can only be found by GOING to that depth, and THIS technique is one of the greatest ways to go there.


Enough for now.

Cult Leader
06-12-2009, 11:56 PM
Awesome man.. I had a similar experience once, when I tried meditating for hours on end and at the end everything seemed to have left my mind and I felt truly free. Only lasted about a day though...

How long did your altered state last after that experience?

Cult Leader
06-13-2009, 12:35 AM
Oh and when you are in the process of this, are you thinking about anything? Like stuff that pops in your mind are you trying to make it go away?

Thanks.

nutsack
06-13-2009, 12:45 AM
Cool post. Chants help in the same way as a beat does.

Oh and when you are in the process of this, are you thinking about anything? Like stuff that pops in your mind are you trying to make it go away?

Thanks.

I wouldn't try to make anything go away. Slow down the waterfall of thoughts until you can look at each drop as it falls. Just keep watching your breath

0omnidirectional
06-13-2009, 06:54 AM
Oh and when you are in the process of this, are you thinking about anything? Like stuff that pops in your mind are you trying to make it go away?

Thanks.

I'm interested in what Fuck has to say about this also.

But in my experience:

When I'm trying to shift my focus from the physical facet of to another facet of this vast spectrum, I don't tell my self to shut up and suppress the thoughts. I let the stream of thoughts continue their flow, but rather than being concerned about this stream by letting the currents affect me, causing me to adding more agitations, I sort of take a step back. I get into this abstract state where I'm watching this river, but I do not care what happens to it. Like making a shift from a floating state being at the mercy of this river, to a state where I was hovering above the river.

This was a bad explanation. I remember back when I was meditating for multiple hours a day, I wrote a poem about this after I had did it. If I can find it I'll post it.


Thanks for the reminder -Fuck, I've been breathing poorly lately.

Rizzo in a box
06-13-2009, 08:13 AM
You don't need to explain anything to anyone, much less anything so personal as spiritual truth.

Don't speak the truth. Be it.

Pranayama is an incredibly invaluable tool but I've found at certain times, an aspirant has to let go of control, controlling the body, mind, self, whatever...Just let go....

Also, why are you scaring people? Nothing wrong will happen by breathing CORRECTLY. We inhale so much poison and garbage anyway. Try something new...give peace a chance?

aha...

-Fuck-
06-13-2009, 09:09 AM
You don't need to explain anything to anyone, much less anything so personal as spiritual truth.

Also, why are you scaring people? Nothing wrong will happen by breathing CORRECTLY. We inhale so much poison and garbage anyway. Try something new...give peace a chance?

aha...

I know, but it really bothers me to see the state the world is in. My own breathing has once again become really incorrect over the years, and this is really the only cure, everything else in the world controls it, constrains it, and is influenced by the minds of others constantly. That's not correct. Sitting in an office chair all day isn't correct to the body. Laying and dreaming of nightmares that arent real, which leave emotional traces and constrict the breathing isn't correct. It depends on what you call correct - completely mindful, or completely mind. I mean, one can survive without doing anything, but to experience a blissful state of mind, Ive found just control is actually not such a bad thing, I think people give it a bad rep, but nobody has tried it for hours on end, if they have maybe not enough times to really clear it... Im not role model myself.

It's like in the book "Under the Influence" about the war on drugs. It refers to 1984's mention of the oldspeak and newspeak language and how everyone completely forgot oldspeak, as if nothing were being missed, nothing important anyways. I really feel people should know more about these experiences. I for one would not have gotten deep into lucid dreaming if not for hearing other's experiences.

Im not trying to scare people, but it was actually kind of scary yet mind shattering. It was more mind shattering than scary I guess. It was just so much at once for an inexperienced meditator that I wouldnt suggest 8 hours of this at first, maybe an hour a day like the guy in the video said. Because you really can go deep into your perception. Im sure mushrooms or acid scares some people. Everything can be scary in a way, but I mean what I said, people's emotions can be felt really strongly if you transcend your own. It's like being a newborn.

As for the other kind of scary - the world IS scary right now. It's frightening how miserable everyone is. Day in and day out living this life and feeling worthless, like theyre just meant to work all day. THAT is scary. Religious influencing and the damage it has caused, and the mind control. THAT'S a nightmare.

Im sure you can just let the breath go naturally and mind it, I mean when I was at work I was back on automatic mode, yet it was still completely conscious, maybe for a few days even, due to that full night of practice... but something inside me had been strengthened, my very willpower and perception had been strengthened using the focus of an outside sound and I also think this is something really unspoken of/unheard of and these kinds of things shouldnt just die while things like fast cars and rubbish flood people's minds for an entire lifetime. Please understand Im not trying to sound super spiritual, or say Im an enlightened master, because Im not. Just trying to give people something interesting and maybe someone else will have some kind of experience, maybe not, I don't know. Yeah maybe I get too dramatic, I can admit it.

Still you can't just shutup forever about spiritual things. Even if you do them, it will drive you insane to not share. "If you hold in what is yours, it will consume you" it's very true. I know these things can't be spoken of, their effects and realiztions, and I might have missed those realizations, why not share a useful technique that could help others. I cant tell people in person without risking certain dangers, like discrimination at work, thinking Im a coo coo clock, so it's easier to say something here.

Oh and when you are in the process of this, are you thinking about anything? Like stuff that pops in your mind are you trying to make it go away?

Thanks.

I wasn't interested in trying anything this night except watching my breath, for mainly health purposes/ feeling of inner peace and rest. Honestly, you shouldn't either because it's very wrong to be thinking of doing this for a goal, as much as I say here about my own experience, do this just for the benefit of body and mind, just do it to do it and do not think of any other reason. This is the only way, to not be concerned with results. Just play the guitar perfectly. Dont be concerned with being a rock star. Youll never get there unless you play perfectly, but cant play perfectly unless you dont even consider "getting there". There is "nowhere" to go, you just go in, it's letting go of effort, and keeping things simple, very simple. Its tricking our mind to shut down, its not needed anymore, instead of the usual: it tricking us and saying "Im needed! Im needed! Think!"

It wasnt influenced by trying anything with the mind, it was purely about me watching the breath. Also, this wasn't influenced by anything Ive read about meditation. My only experience with concentration before this was visualization for lucid dreaming and OBE. I wasnt concerned with losing thoughts, only concerned with watching the breath. IN a way, I guess you could say, your concentration can give energy to your thoughts, or to your breathing/your surroundings/the present moment, and maybe it's hard for it to do both, maybe that's how it happened. Naturally that morning, Im sitting in the living room, looking at the tv, and my mind is completely gone. Im sitting there thinking "this is God, all of this right now is God" and it's not even a thought. The absence of thoughts are there, unless I will for them to exist. This had never happened to me, I was pure perception without a thought. I knew this was a grand discovery and it has really changed me, which is why I go into great detail sometimes. I work in a wire transfer room, I can play music, I workout, I can design graphics like a pro, and I can do anything with a computer. Im sure all these skills are great and well, and could help me and others. None of these things are as important to me as this, not one of them. I think this is what alienates me from a lot of people, my main focus can't just be to attain worldly wealth, I forever will hunger for that inner peace, because there is no higher happiness I know of; not even sex.

All I know is it's hard to do this for even an hour without falling asleep unless the volume is up significantly or youre really focused. It's not easy to stay awake and lay down and do these things.

Sure you can watch your breath. Im sure thats easy for some of you guys. Im sure a lot of you are better at this than me, and feel no need to tell others anything, because it doesnt matter anyways, but where would we be if Buddha just never said anything (once again, I am not comparing myself to buddha, just making a point that someone who found something interesting shared and helped others). No you dont need a timer. For thousands of years Im sure nobody had timers or music or computerized beats or even used the sound of another's breathing or the idea of using anything like time. Well actually I did once read about tibetans using the pulse, which is basically the only real rhythm that is close and observable without technology. Thats great for some people, guys. Im not saying anything is wrong with that, just being aware naturally, that's kind of the aim here. Im just saying there are different ways to do things, and one shouldnt judge until practicing and seeing for themselves, and also that sometimes something powerful can be done to compensate for years of being dull. I found myself laughing so hard at things that day that I felt I havent laughed this way since I was a kid. I had never purely looked at things with innocent childish eyes, for so long, due to mental influencing. You guys call that correct natural breathing? I call it the worst sin being committed against humanity.

And you know what else? Sure, some people have GREAT lives. Theyre in shape, theyre happy, theyre full of oxygen, and their good karma pays them back by attracting good people to them, and it keeps the cycle going. They dont need meditation, nothing needs to be said, they just thrive while others have shitty lives and are full of just misery, maybe some of them who have even had great lives. On and on, the mind goes and shapes the breathing and the body, and some have greater joy than others and we just ignore the missing link like oh that's just the way it has to be. Really, it doesn't, we're all quite the same and we all deserve to be happy with ourselves.

Some people have lovers that keep them alive and breathing strong. Unaware of it, they are more mindful than others because of that aspect in their lives. When it's taken, once again, they're in despair, miserable, or feel theyre missing something again. Unaware of it, they are now breathing less, maybe worried they will die alone, etc, you get my drift? This kind of practice is something that can be done without need for anything other than a beat, which can also open inner doors and release negative emotions, it's GREAT for doing that, it's like laughing without the sound. You're forced to listen to your body instead of your mind and find what it needs, if it needs more exhalation, you exhale more. If it needs more inhalation, you inhale more. In fact, I hate to even call this spiritual or use that word, because it just sounds religious. Let's just look at this in basic terms. Some people have really shitty health problems and maybe even die for it, when they dont have to, and sure physical exercise is great, but as for cleaning the inside, or as the man in the video calls it "nervous cleaning", it simply can't compare to deep, controlled breathing for long periods or for a long period everyday. This, Im totally sure of. I intend on making this a lifelong practice and not for one second do I deny that the world over time, can very easily once again lead one back to that negative pool because there's so much of it. I'm not talking about "poison in the air" or carbon monoxide, Im talking about invisible poison, the kind that ruins one from inside out, the more stronger poison.

Rizzo in a box
06-13-2009, 09:18 AM
Dude, don't even fret. I know & feel you man, I am in, or have been standing exactly in your shoes.

From personal experience, I've found that the people that you really, really feel you need to go out and tell are doomed anyway. I've had the biggest impact by just talking about these things to random people, whoever, whenever, and wherever. It helps one to really understand and be able to make ANYONE else understand such a topic.

In this new age, spiritual truth won't be held by masters and gurus, but rather by the perpetual novices. Only those continually learning can ascend to knowledge, not the know-it-alls and those who have convinced themselves they have thoroughly Become and are Done with The World.

Going too far and too fast spiritually is a sure-fire way to send you to the brink of madness and beyond. I would know man, I've gone the distance both ways several times over the past like, two years. I'm constantly in that quantum state of being neither here nor there. It's odd to say the least, but I abhor complaining because I would never, ever beg for it to stop. Some of us can enjoy our madness, and even the psychosis and evilness of the world around us.

In fact, sometimes I wickedly contemplate how I can add just a bit more fuel to the fire, perhaps topple the beast forever...Maybe join the CIA, or start a cult...

-Fuck-
06-13-2009, 09:51 AM
Haha yeah... the world is a mad place. But really that madness is just due to ignorance. Nobody can help it, really.

I protect my own safety sealing my lips in public. Ive told a few friends, and have impacted them, but honestly people in this world are so crazy they could want you dead for talking about this kind of stuff. They could want you dead for being too quiet, usually that's the case for me. I just think of my brother and sisters when people look threatening, and know I wont hesitate to completely demolish them if they dare threaten me. No, I guess Im not a peaceful man but how can I be with so many snakes around?

Sure I joke, I laugh at people, I still have my personality. I still think christians are fucking psychotically sexually repressed, and that big businessmen are drunk with money and obsessed with compensating for their small cock size... I want to tell the protein junkie chick at work that it doesnt matter, because she's old, and tell her to watch "my new haircut" on youtube, in fact I might just tell her to watch that video to see her reaction. Sure, the fatty talking about their weight watcher's "points" sounds hilarious to me because they never get off their ass to go for a walk. People create their own misery, sure. But there is also a lot of influencing, and all that influencing can be broken - this is what is usually so misunderstood.

At the root though, I know the greatest thing I could achieve is telling others who want to learn a method to go in - it's like I say I post a lot of bullshit here on totse, just look at all my posts. I only get serious in this specific forum.

Im glad you get me :D
And no, I dont want it to stop either. It just gets really lonely being the only one who wants this, sometimes. You can leave it and come back to it but you know one day youre gonna wanna come back to it more than anything, and I guess that's starting to really hit me: that I really want to go deeper, farther, higher and won't stop until I will. I guess there is no other direction to go now but too fast spiritually. I just feel these days life is getting short, the more I sit in that goddamn chair the more my neck strains and I get hives/stress issues, I just feel myself wasting away. I find myself uninterested in talk about red sox, weddings, or college graduations, and trust me I hear it every second, everyday and just shrug and say "yeah, cool.". It's torture and not the type of torture that will go away until maybe one day I work alone (which I hope comes true if I work for it).

I think the more I feel like Im going to die, the more Ill want to show this to other people, because yeah the world is a big fucking miserable joke, almost as if they love misery, but mainly it's because they dont understand what a human being can perceive. If we ever want the war on drugs to be a memory, I think a lot of people should open their eyes. How can we do that unless we hint a way? At least, when we can. It's like I said, Im no buddha, no savior, no Jesus.

live
06-13-2009, 09:21 PM
-Fuck-
Have you ever tried Bikram Yoga? It would change your life.

Cathy McGee
06-14-2009, 03:04 AM
-Fuck-
Have you ever tried Bikram Yoga? It would change your life.

ooh theres is a bikram yoga right by me. i was really considering going.

is it really good?

live
06-17-2009, 04:48 AM
ooh theres is a bikram yoga right by me. i was really considering going.

is it really good?

Yeah man. It's a really intense workout, but it will change your whole outlook on life. Makes me much calmer.. I can't really explain it. It saved my life. I don't have to take medication because of it.

Centipede2
03-04-2010, 09:35 PM
OH shii.

Gotta say the search function rules for finding threads like this!

Figured I'd share my mp3:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wcngtunqmnz

Chyeah.

It's at 96 BPM so you can do 6 breaths per minute if you breathe every two measures. This is really nice for when you're high and meditating and forget how to breathe properly, haha.

Gantz Graf
03-04-2010, 10:11 PM
Pranayama isn't really new. Many yogic systems teach pranayama just after asana and before pratyahara. Which makes sense, once you slow your rate of inhalation enough, your heart rate drops, and awareness is naturally internalized or withdrawn from external perception. This is found in many studies that track respiration Biofeedback and ECG... this ability to slow metabolism and by extension withdrawing awareness is very conducive to pratyahara, which is essentially all about withdrawing or selectively engaging with the senses and the mind (indriyas), or rerouting them through internal awareness so they are engaged in a more 'detached' or volitional manner.

A person can also use pranayama as a focus for pratyahara practice, basically selectively engaging awareness/the senses only with the breath to the exclusion of other perceptions. The two practices are very effective together. Pranayama is the last yogic skill for physical mastery, and pratyahara is the first skill for mental mastery. The one blends into the other very well. Though they all lend strength to each other. Asana (proper posture) allows all of the muscles in the body to fully relax, thus decreasing arousal. This relaxation contributes to better breathing, more masterful breathing translates into the ability to internalize awareness at will, which finally leads to one-pointedness (Dharana). Once you can withdraw from distraction (pratyahara), you can focus completely on one object to the exclusion of other objects. This is essentially true meditation (Dhyana)... essentially a more sophisticated combination of Pratyahara and Dharana (internalized awareness and one-pointedness).

Pranayama is invaluable for the mystic path, if not simply because it can slow (or speed) physiological responses to control arousal and achieve desired spiritual states, such as deeply relaxed or ecstatic meditative states.

edit: I myself am soon obtaining a respiration and ECG biofeedback device (in addition to temperature, GSR, EMG, etc) in order to train breath control and other measures of physiological control, used conjunctively with yogic practices. I have read a study that said that simply providing a feedback tone upon exhalation causes the subject to become increasingly more aware of the exhalation phase of breathing, which causes them to naturally extend this phase, which leads to deep relaxation and decreased heart-rate.

helliotion
07-13-2011, 05:04 PM
What are other popular breath-work techniques?