Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Iron]

More and more EE shows to me that knowledge of yourself is, at times, a very sour affair.
To uncover my role in relationships, my lies, my narcissism, to realize that I never got over my Dad's issues...
Strangely, the more that I dig, and cry, the better I feel about myself.

 

[cubbex]

I had a dream the last night, there was a big room with you know, like a politician room an on the front was Laura talking about a plan or something like that, on the other chairs was soldiers and politicians and other people listening what Laura was talking about the next days. I know that dreams could be just dreams, and that Laura was not the Laura of my dream. But I am one of those who dream but like I throw away the usual dreams, but this last dream was so vivid and so real. It was not usual because I remember a lot of the dream. Some suggestion?

 

[Laura]

Hi there, I'm in need of sharing a few things about the recent impact of EE breathing on me.

I'd like to start with a strange dream(?) which I had a few weeks ago. After the full programme while I was in bed ready to fall asleep, fully relaxed, my vision suddenly changed and I was seeing through the eyes closed. As it happened I just became mentally awake and thought "what the .... ?". Then a big wave of fear came. A fear of something but I didn't know what. I heard my heart pounding like it was going to explode, it was going mad. Quickly after I heard a voice saying "demon" and I woke up.
What was interesting is that I was observing the whole situation, I felt the enormous fear, the pounding heart but I seemed to be untouched by it. Like I was observing all the impressions of "myself". Hard to explain. Anyway when I woke up, I was emotionally and mentally untouched but my body was shaking and I had a strong pain in my shoulder and my temple. I felt it even the next day but the pain eventually vanished.

Some time later after that dream I started to feel more and more depressed. I don't know, maybe the extensive learning for exams also causes it, but I'm feeling now "drained" :( I get this feeling of unworthiness, I waste a lot of time on doing nothing and the "nobody likes you" kicked in.. After yesterdays EE, a thought was looping in my head: "you will never make anyone happy" and the images of my past, unsuccessful, relationships made me fell really bad...
I just don't know what to think of it all...

Which parts of the program are you doing? The pipe breathing (gentle stimulation of the vagus nerve) and meditation are totally safe for anyone and everyone. But, as we have said repeatedly, the round breathing should not be done by anyone with certain conditions and if you have these negative effects from round breathing, then you may have some undiagnosed (or diagnosed - you don't say) physical chemistry issues.

 

[Alana]

Hi all. I thought i'd report some changes i see in myself, and i really have nowhere else to attribute them other than on the EE program. I've been reading the psychology books here and doing the detox diet for a long while now, but it's only since last summer that EE entered our lives that i saw these changes manifest. And it was a bumpy ride for a while, especially with all those anger emotions that literally flooded my being and drove me nuts at some point in the process. That's when i stopped the Baha part, and continued only with pipe breathing and meditation. Seriously, anyone going through a rough time, do stick to pipe breathing and the POTS. It's already been recommended many times, i know, but it can't be stressed enough imo. They are emotionally healing indeed. And you can get back to including the Baha part when you feel ready, and you will know when you are ready. At least that's how it worked for me.

But anyway, i wanted to report something that really shocked me in a pleasant way. Since 911, for some unknown reason i developed a fear of flying (with an airplane ;) ) Previous to that, i actually enjoyed every single flight. After 911, i would find myself truly putting enormous amounts of efforts not to start screaming when in an airplane, and no matter how long the flight was (and i was doing the New York-Athens route at the time!) i would be sitting with toes and fingers clenched, my heart pumping like crazy and all my muscles tensed throughout the flight. Not healthy at all!

So, this past summer, i had to take a long plane trip, and i loathed the thought of it. This time however, i started doing pipe breathing when i felt the panic creep in, and immediately felt better. So i traveled half way around the globe and back, with minimum anxiety and stress. I was sooooo glad to see how pipe breathing was helping here!

Now, this month, i again had to take many flights and travel far. So i found myself sitting in the airplane, waiting for panic to come so that i can shoot it down with pipe breathing, and guess what.... it NEVER came!!! I was surprised, and even tried to play some of the horrific images that usually play in my mind when flying to see where did that fear go, you know, the likes of: my plane is exploding and we are all dying, that the plane will have problems and we will all have slow and horrific deaths, etc... And again, nothing. No fear, no panic. I actually enjoyed all my flights.

And upon observing these changes on myself regarding my reactions to this experience, i noticed that several other aspects of myself have changed recently, and it became clear that it was all these changes that produced this extinction in the fear of flying, rather than being a change regarding only this. I for example observed that i have been much gentler and understanding with myself when i spot my mechanical self in action, or when i find myself wishfully thinking, or when i can't catch up with everything i'd like to catch up with everyday. Also, i find that i am more relaxed at being myself without worrying what others think of me, and not just my fear of flying, but other fears seem to have diminished. I have yet to check out my fear of heights though

Certainly i still have a long way to go, but it is becoming blatantly obvious that EE is helping me become the person i always wanted to be And that's just grand :D

 

[Nem]

Many of us have felt like that before. But rest assured that this too will pass, and again, breathing and praying will help considerably if you practice constantly. Such states may take some time to be solved, or may come and go a number of times, but they are not forever. In fact, I think they might be a necessary part of the process. If you don't feel the negative emotions that are buried in your psyche, how are you going to learn the lessons and clean the emotions? Sometimes cleaning means that your hands will get dirty! But the peace and freedom that will come once you've done it are worth the effort and suffering.

I think you're right, I need to go over those emotions, understand them as there is no easy shortcut. I'll try to have more faith in the cleansing process and I will carry on with the breathing and praying. It's just a tough time when the feelings, that make me suffer a lot, emerge and want their own piece of the cake. Thank you for your comment, I now see that it's actually a good opportunity to clean the burden that was in me all the time.

Nem, did you read about the negative introject discussion?

No I hadn't but will do now.

Which parts of the program are you doing? The pipe breathing (gentle stimulation of the vagus nerve) and meditation are totally safe for anyone and everyone. But, as we have said repeatedly, the round breathing should not be done by anyone with certain conditions and if you have these negative effects from round breathing, then you may have some undiagnosed (or diagnosed - you don't say) physical chemistry issues.

Generally I do the full breathing program (including round breathing) but If I don't have the access to the audio file I do pipe breathing and meditation on my own. As I had been doing round breathing, the most noticeable effects were the tingling sensations mostly in legs and hands but it's quite common among forum members, I suppose. Couple of times my fingers went stiff but after a minute or two everything was ok. Also, I'm usually more alert after.
About physical chemistry issues, I don't have anything diagnosed and I'm rather physically well (or so I think), physical activities don't trigger any abnormal reactions in my body. However, I haven't had any blood tests for a looong time so I can't be certain. But I think it's little propable, especially when during the recent weeks I often did EE without round breathing. Anyway, thanks Laura, I haven't thought about the physical chemistry stuff in regard to the negative effects.

 

[anitasweetie]

Hello Everyone, my partner and I, have been doing EE since August. I've had anger and depression issues at times, sickness such as sinus infection
and really bad cough. Been working slowly on detox diet, but since EE starts cleaning out your system, your body lets you know when something
is "bad"... Alcohol for example, after 30 years, it is no longer needed! Time to grow up indeed!!!!
Thank You, Laura and all the others who have made EE possible!

 

[wanderer]

Been working slowly on detox diet, but since EE starts cleaning out your system, your body lets you know when something
is "bad"... Alcohol for example, after 30 years, it is no longer needed! Time to grow up indeed!!!!

I've been going back and forth about how to post about my recent experiences because EE, diet and detox seem to be so intertwined that it's hard to pick a topic to post under. I have experienced depressions after doing the full program that have seemed to be related to bad habits in eating, drinking and other things that I had not grown up (50+ years for me) enough to face and eliminate. Once I eliminated these things, one by one, those post EE depressions went away. I'm now fully on board with the detox program, and it's doing great things for my mind and body.

After a rice fast recently I had a terrible time with mucus choking me so that it really interfered with the breathing exercises. I decided that smoking was the problem and quit cold turkey. The mucus went away, but after a couple of weeks I was in such a deep state of depression that I couldn't deal with it anymore and started smoking again. The depression went away, I can function again. I went out and bought a netti pot to clear my nasal passages and that seems to be doing the trick.

My first full EE session after that was intensely blissful, after 2 weeks of faithful but distracted sessions. When POTS was over I was almost completely absorbed in bliss centered on the third eye. I felt like I was immobile, I was so deeply relaxed. I knew I could move if I wanted to, not exactly paralyzed, but stayed sitting (I do EE sitting, it's how I've meditated all my life and is the most comfortable for me) while the track 5 music played for another 20 minutes or so. Thoughts would pop up and quickly vanish, like moths burning up in a flame. Bliss!

Thank You, Laura and all the others who have made EE possible!

Yes, thank you Laura and all

 

[Evolutionary1]

Quote from: Evolutionary on January 27, 2010, 10:16:29 PM
Quote from: Sitta
I have couple phisical occurences during meditations for about a week, week and a half. Most notable was pain in my right shoulder and lesser pain in left forearm.

I have noticed a few short but quite sharp pains during meditation as well, also in my right shoulder as well as the right side of my rib cage and in the area of my heart. I checked out the EE faqs page and saw that this is one of the common experiences and probably nothing to worry about.

I knew it was quiet common from previous posts, and wanted only to report that it happened. I should have stated it clear for others participants too

No worries :)

Of course, I again forgot to utilize that prime opportunity to contain those intense feelings, but once I felt better (actually, I feel pretty great )I remembered to check out the "Depression as a Stepping Stone" thread again, which I seemed to better grasp. It think that we women have a great opportunity each month to attempt to transmute the many negative emotions that often come up during menses, and I mean to take advantage of that next time!

I have this thread open in a tab for a very long time. I can't find it in myself to actually read it. Always have very good excuses not to
Predator in overdrive mode.

Again, no worries! I'm sure you'll get around to it when you get fed up enough, so don't beat yourself up (I know, easier said than done). If anything, try the abridged version with a simpler breakdown and work your way up to Laura's full examination, there is a link for it near the top of the thread. I still haven't read that one myself; maybe I'll start it after this post...


Best wishes

 

[Evolutionary1]

I keep seeing these things about myself now that I am less in the habit of projecting my feelings unawares. I certainly have a long way to go. I still need to meet the challenge of changing my diet and detoxing...but I find myself excited about the prospect of doing so more and more as I observe myself and see the real benefits of Eiriu Eolas and personal responsibility. It may be painful at times to know that a lot of the ugliness I experience comes from within, but it's real and I can see it and I can change.

That is great work, Evolutionary, sounds like you are really practising self observation and gaining a lot of knowledge about your machine. And yes, it is painful at times, but that pain leads to growth and awareness.

Thank you for the encouragement, I agree that it is indeed worth it.

For me at least it seems I need to be aware that part of me thinks it can do all this by myself (I have been a bit of a loner in the past, and tended to isolate myself...then think other are rejecting me). The last session I felt quite down and a little isolated, only to read forge's post regarding his perception of a buildup of energy that day......reading that I realised I'd not been aware of any (weather there was one or not I don't know), more so I was focus/fixated on my pain to the exclusion (and that's the important part) of everything else.
I don't think it was to quite the level of self pity/self importance as I've tended to get lost in in the past...but there seemed to be just enough (despite trying to keep everything below my neck) to block any help I had asked for.....which seemed to exaggerate the depression.
I think the mindset I was in demanded help be 'my rescuer'....where instead you should be open to help in any form during the POTS. osit

This is a great point you make about the programs you've noticed in yourself. I've noticed quite similar ones in myself, and a slight (yet significant for me!) lessening of such, as well. You should be proud of your move toward liberation and keep it up! :)

Quote from: Evolutionary
I keep seeing these things about myself now that I am less in the habit of projecting my feelings unawares. I certainly have a long way to go. I still need to meet the challenge of changing my diet and detoxing...but I find myself excited about the prospect of doing so more and more as I observe myself and see the real benefits of Eiriu Eolas and personal responsibility. It may be painful at times to know that a lot of the ugliness I experience comes from within, but it's real and I can see it and I can change.

I think if you keep with the program, many things to do with emotional toxicity will be processed and cleared eventually. The diet and detox will work synergistically as well when you start. Just keep at it. As you seem to have realized the progress in the Work accelerates but you still need to deal with your issues and continue the Work. Also being more responsible and externally considerate is my experience with doing EE. Making the efforts and superefforts seems to accelerate the results as well.

I will keep at it. Besides getting on top of diet and detox, I do think I need to more actively work on external consideration now that I am a little less self-centered. "Be my daily bread that I may give bread to others" takes on a new significance when one isn't only thinking about the first part, huh? :P
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[seek10]

This time however, i started doing pipe breathing when i felt the panic creep in, and immediately felt better. So i traveled half way around the globe and back, with minimum anxiety and stress. I was sooooo glad to see how pipe breathing was helping here!

I had intense emotions when ever I confront the emotions of "behind the schedule". That includes the working in this forum. I started to realise that when ever I starts breath-in with nose and breath-out with the mouth., they disappear. some times I would like to catch the emotion for observation, but I see emotion disappear and I find my self puzzled about what am I doing. I can recollect the emotion after a second. I made it a point that I do this entire week what ever I am doing , where ever it is possible . I started seeing some change in general mood and stress levels for good . Thanks for sharing.

 

[aragorn]

I would like to make an inquiry regarding the holding of the breath in the three stage breathing. My question is, to put it simply, how do you Laura and other designers of the program feel that the holding of the breath should be accomplished after the inhalation?

Until now, I haven't really thought about other ways of doing the holding than what I wrote earlier in this thread:

As i feel it, the actual "holding of the breath" is mostly accomplished by keeping the sides of the ribcage expanded. In my opinion this is the right and most natural way. You will most certainly get rigid if you'll try to hold the breath by just concentrating on the upper chest and "being pumped up".

The thing is, that I continued again with my training in bioenergetics last weekend and we did a meditation program by Osho called Gourishankar. Now, the meditation is of no particular interest here, but it starts with 3-stage breathing (without constriction in the throat), as many of you may know. The interesting part was, that after the meditation our teacher pointed out that all of us were too stiff when holding the breath and our emergency breathing muscles were too active. He said that the holding of the breath after inhaling should be done with a gentle closing of the glottis, thus allowing the breathing muscles to relax. I'm still puzzled about if this procedure had to do with the Osho meditation especially, or if he meant that holding the breath in this type of exercises should mostly be done in this way. We have scheduled to talk about this on the phone tomorrow and hopefully he can elaborate on this.

Please don't feel that I'm trying to tweak or enhance the EE-program somehow here. I'm just trying to clarify this for me, and maybe some others wondering about the same thing. I looked at the EE-videos and searched the FAQ, but it really wasn't explained anywhere how the 'holding' was supposed to be done. Looking at Laura in the video, when she demonstrated the 3-stage breathing, it seemed that in addition to keeping the ribcage expanded she used a slight closure of the glottis in order to keep the breath in, but I could be wrong.

I experimented this morning with doing the 'pipe breathing' part of EE and holding the breath by closing the glottis - relaxing completely the breathing muscles. It did feel different, and maybe the biggest benefit I did observe was that the emergency breathing muscles didn't tense as much as before - but this could be just my individual problem and result. But, as I said earlier, I'm by no means suggesting that anyone should switch into doing it in this way (not that I know what ways people use to hold their breath anyway)! I'm just hoping to clarify and sharpen the details of the program.

 

[vinny]

I would like to make an inquiry regarding the holding of the breath in the three stage breathing. My question is, to put it simply, how do you Laura and other designers of the program feel that the holding of the breath should be accomplished after the inhalation?

...

I experimented this morning with doing the 'pipe breathing' part of EE and holding the breath by closing the glottis - relaxing completely the breathing muscles. It did feel different, and maybe the biggest benefit I did observe was that the emergency breathing muscles didn't tense as much as before - but this could be just my individual problem and result. But, as I said earlier, I'm by no means suggesting that anyone should switch into doing it in this way (not that I know what ways people use to hold their breath anyway)! I'm just hoping to clarify and sharpen the details of the program.

I think that, when you hold your breath, it is best to just do it by softly closing the windpipe in the normal, natural way, and gently holding your diaphragm in place, so that the air does not escape. There is no need to tense-up and 'hold out' the chest, making the torso rigid, because that works against the whole effort to relax your body, especially those parts that have become accustomed to wrongly tensing up during breathing. Part of the deal is trying to reprogram the body, so that you are not breathing with the chest/shoulder muscles.

 

[aragorn]

I would like to make an inquiry regarding the holding of the breath in the three stage breathing. My question is, to put it simply, how do you Laura and other designers of the program feel that the holding of the breath should be accomplished after the inhalation?

...

I experimented this morning with doing the 'pipe breathing' part of EE and holding the breath by closing the glottis - relaxing completely the breathing muscles. It did feel different, and maybe the biggest benefit I did observe was that the emergency breathing muscles didn't tense as much as before - but this could be just my individual problem and result. But, as I said earlier, I'm by no means suggesting that anyone should switch into doing it in this way (not that I know what ways people use to hold their breath anyway)! I'm just hoping to clarify and sharpen the details of the program.

I think that, when you hold your breath, it is best to just do it by softly closing the windpipe in the normal, natural way, and gently holding your diaphragm in place, so that the air does not escape. There is no need to tense-up and 'hold out' the chest, making the torso rigid, because that works against the whole effort to relax your body, especially those parts that have become accustomed to wrongly tensing up during breathing. Part of the deal is trying to reprogram the body, so that you are not breathing with the chest/shoulder muscles.

Thanks, this sounds logical. I guess my training in vocal technique has made me overemphasize the role of the "expansion muscles", e.g. the lowest ribs, and keeping the throat open. Do you think however, that it could be an idea to put a short description of this procedure in the FAQ or/and elsewhere?

 

[Laura]

When I hold my breath, I do it in the throat.

It really is sounding like a LOT of folks are having some real, deep, significant changes happening in their lives. And this is only the beginning! The Cs were right, this can do in a few months what can otherwise take years (if ever).

I noticed this, from Wanderer, in particular:

I've been going back and forth about how to post about my recent experiences because EE, diet and detox seem to be so intertwined that it's hard to pick a topic to post under. I have experienced depressions after doing the full program that have seemed to be related to bad habits in eating, drinking and other things that I had not grown up (50+ years for me) enough to face and eliminate. Once I eliminated these things, one by one, those post EE depressions went away. I'm now fully on board with the detox program, and it's doing great things for my mind and body.

It seems that depression and anger issues are related in some way to self-destructive habits or to taking in things that the body KNOWS are not good for it! And if a person continues to have these reactions after they have cleared out their old childhood issues, then they should look to what else it is they are doing that their body is trying to tell them about.

 

[wanderer]

It really is sounding like a LOT of folks are having some real, deep, significant changes happening in their lives. And this is only the beginning! The Cs were right, this can do in a few months what can otherwise take years (if ever).

I can attest to that. I spent those years and never gained what EE has blessed me with in a few short months.

I just spent 45 minutes composing a long winded post full of personal stuff for this and then fat fingered a CtlV paste and lost it all My loss is your gain ;), because in the process of writing my life story I had an Aha moment and now I can just write that and skip all the noise. I really need to start journalling.

Q: (Joe) I wonder if those cells have anything to do with the third eye, like when you do the breathing and you look up...

A: Close, more like a "homing device".

While writing/thinking in my first (lost) version about my previous path and identifying and giving up self destructive behavior the phrase "homing device" came to me, having read it this morning in the post above. Now, I realize that the C's didn't make an explicit connection between EE, spindle cells and homing devices, and I have no idea if this has anything to do with spindle cells, but that's precisely what I feel developing within myself through practice of EE - a homing device. I spent years meditating hours each day and eating a pure vegan diet but never before experienced a homing device.

How was I able to instantly quit a lifelong self destructive habit? Because my homing device is pointing me in an unmistakable direction, and the habit was a diversion. I started following the detox recommendations because those were the instructions given here and part of the requirements to advance in FOTCM levels. But as I progress, I'm not doing it because Laura, or someone else I might consider an authority said so. I'm doing it because it's part of the path my homing device is guiding me on.

It seems that depression and anger issues are related in some way to self-destructive habits or to taking in things that the body KNOWS are not good for it! And if a person continues to have these reactions after they have cleared out their old childhood issues, then they should look to what else it is they are doing that their body is trying to tell them about.

I've been trying to figure out what my body is telling me a long time, with only limited results until now. When you're not really sure if what you're doing is right, it's easy to get sidetracked, hard to continue to sacrifice your comforts for reasons you don't completely understand or believe. When you have a homing device, you know, and you know that you know.