Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Turgon]

In the past I have felt that the Baha part was too long and was wishing it to be over or at times stopping as my nose felt like it couldn't cope with the amount of air that was trying to pass in and out. This week I have found myself surprised to hear Laura's voice and the pots session beginning. At last the Baha has begun to be an established and welcome part of EE.

Just a quick check Liberty but you are breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth right? The whole EE program works that way.

Liberty, I've felt the same way about Baha. I was discussing this with one of my EE instructors recently, and I think the reason this is, is because of an unwillingness inside, most likely subconscious, to want to deal with deep buried emotions.

Try turning off the A/C. Cold, dry air may be adding to this, or putting something like your t-shirt over your nose so the air isn't so stingy. But I don't think you should discount something deeper as the reasoning for this. my 2 cents.

 

[chaps23]

I have finally invested in this product! cant wait to get involved, Thanx everyone who helped make this program happen.

 

[Nienna]

My joint pain does seem to come and go from one day to the next and so think that I should also be checking diet again and probably cutting the night shade group of foods, so will need to again review recipes and meal ideas as a life with no potatoes, tomatoes, aubergine is getting emptier and my weight loss is on going.

Any advise greatly appreciated.

I think that it would do you a lot of good to read the "Life Without Bread" and "The Vegetarian Myth" threads.

 

[Meager1]

Just a quick check Liberty but you are breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth right? The whole EE program works that way.

I still have problems breathing through my nose and find I can`t do the entire program as it should be done because of that. I have ordered a Netti pot with the hope that that might make some difference.
The upper part of my nostrils are either to small, inflamed or something and even though I do the EE I know I`m not getting as much out of it as I could be because of the difficulty breathing in, the correct way.

 

[Ollie]

...
I still have problems breathing through my nose and find I can`t do the entire program as it should be done because of that. I have ordered a Netti pot with the hope that that might make some difference.
The upper part of my nostrils are either to small, inflamed or something and even though I do the EE I know I`m not getting as much out of it as I could be because of the difficulty breathing in, the correct way.

If you are having problems breathing through the nose, breathe in through the mouth, and, still with the glottal constriction, and you will get almost all of the benefits of doing EE using the nose to breathe in during pipe breathing. The vagus nerve will be operational, and over time your nasal passage may surprise you by clearing, thus allowing you to breathe in through the nose for the whole EE session. Remember that Beatha is just belly breathing, and if you are having difficulties in breathing in with the nose, use the mouth - as long as the breathing is a continuous round of breathing in and out you will get the full effects.

 

[Ollie]

On Monday I experienced yawning and wet-eyes during Three stage breathing and Beatha, and during PotS my right foot/toes started to twitch, so I decided to experiment following Levine’s (In an unspoken Voice) transformational process to move from trauma paralysis to release. I consciously allowed my leg muscles to do what they wanted to do (increased activation of bound-up energy) – to escape from being held down and my body abused, to escape from the surgeon’s knife – for learning that I was other than a helpless victim, but someone who survived and was ‘alive’, to enable the trauma to loosen its grip.

By comparison, Thursday’ session was uneventful.

 

[Hesper]

I know what you mean. We start to get a semblance of emotion, something real inside us but all of a sudden that 'manly' program takes over and we have to hide, suppress it, pretend it doesn't exist. I think there's a certain vulnerability in these emotions that's both scary and liberating because it's the unknown, at least for me. You spend so much time trying to be in 'control' and you realize how little you have and how at the mercy we are to everything around us.

I just read this out of The Vegetarian Myth and thought it would be really nice to share it. It makes a lot of sense to me, to see how the manly program works from a feminist's perspective:

Masculinity requires what psychologists call a negative reference group, which is a group of people "that an individual...uses as a standard representing opinions, attitudes, or behavior patterns to avoid." Boys in patriarchal cultures create negative reference groups as a matter of course. Girls, being socialized to nurture, not dominate, don't. Because the feminine is denigrated in patriarchy, boys' first despised Other is, of course, girls [and hence, the soul/true emotions?] But once the psychological process is in place, the category "female" can easily be filled in by any group that a hierarchical society needs dominated or eradicated.

A personality with an endless drive to prove itself against another, any other, combined with the entitlement that power brings creates a violation imperative. This means that men in patriarchy feel masculine, like "real men," only when they break boundaries. But being a "real man" is a state that can never be firmly achieved. Writes Robert Jenson:

Be a man. It is a simple imperative, repeated over and over to men, starting when we are boys. The phrase is usually connected to one man's demands that another man be "stronger," which is traditionally understood as the ability to suppress emotional reactions and channel that energy into controlling situations and establishing dominance...When we become men-when we accept the idea that there is something called masculinity to which we should conform- we exchange those aspects of ourselves that make life worth living for an endless struggle for power that, in the end, is illusory and destructive not only to ourselves but to others.

I hope there is something in there for you, which can reveal something for you. I'm still rereading it.

I've been meaning to write a post about it for a while (other than the quick post above), but sometimes, getting from the emotions to the mind to the fingers to typing definitely feels like broken telephone. My analytical side dilutes the emotions into wordiness and whatever was true or honest emotionally has been taken over and doesn't wring true in the writing.

Do you journal very often? If not that may be a great way to rewire those circuits. I think, because it's been helping me. By the way, thanks for sharing, Turgon, you've taken the words right out of my mouth with your post.

 

[Meager1]

If you are having problems breathing through the nose, breathe in through the mouth, and, still with the glottal constriction, and you will get almost all of the benefits of doing EE using the nose to breathe in during pipe breathing.

Good to know, thanks.
I didn`t think it was as effective because the last month or so there has been nothing to report, just peace and serenity.

 

[Ollie]

...
I didn`t think it was as effective because the last month or so there has been nothing to report, just peace and serenity.

That's often the case, nothing seemingly significant happens for a long period - peace and serenity seem fairly significant to me though. :)

 

[shadowsaround]

Well today's session went a lot better than any other sessions I have had in quite some time. For once I didn't get angry at the fact that my arms hurt during the 3 stage part. I managed to complete the entire session without stopping to stretch my arms. The amazing thing about today's session was the peace and serenity I felt. After the Beatha portion it seemed as if all of my tension and stress went away and I felt nothing but complete peace. What a feeling compared to all the anger I have had lately. Words can't describe how awesome it felt to get back in touch with my peace and serenity. Nothing really big came up during the Beatha portion other than my mind started to wander a bit.

 

[Meager1]

That's often the case, nothing seemingly significant happens for a long period - peace and serenity seem fairly significant to me though.

If that is the case, then maybe it would be significant to add that the "peace and serenity" didn`t just happen all of a sudden out of the blue, but that it took quite some time to get to that point and I`d like to share that, with others who might still be where I have been.

Anyone that knows my history here knows that for years, and years, I was on an emotional merry go round, living in perpetual brain fog, I was a practicing narcissist whereas any form of mirroring or perceived criticism, even the gentlest, was perceived as a direct stab right in the heart, no one "really" understood what I had been through, was going through blah blah blah!

I seriously doubt that any of that would have changed, or could have changed, until I totally revised my diet as advised, and began doing the EE.

Before that, all the efforts people put in and spent time trying to help me to see, even my own efforts for that matter, with all the reading, all the talking and all the "thinking" couldn`t penetrate enough, or sink in enough, there was no cohesiveness to have the correct and cumulative effects.
It was simply put, a waste of every ones time.

I thought I was eating right, but I realize now that I was eating like 80% carbs and was saturated with gluten and sugar, preservatives and chemicals and it was killing me.
I kept taking more vitamins, used more herbs, but none of that could have helped then, and of course it didn`t.

Since I`ve come "out of the fog" somewhat, I have spent a lot of time rethinking everything I had been told or shown and had tried to learn without actually achieving it, and started doing something about it.
For instance, I spent a lot of time re-reading the older stuff and thinking about old patterns and relations with certain people honestly, all the whys and wherefores, and finally getting enough of a peek to be able to see and take the responsibility for my part in so many hurts and damages that had before, been far to easy to ignore, or blame on someone else.
I relived my part in everything I could think of.

But this time it wasn`t the usual and selfish poor me syndrome but actual grief, regret and sorrow mostly for being a moron for most of my life, and knowing how it could have been so different .

Understanding that it was always me, not doing..or doing the wrong thing and not what I should have done and doing it right, to the best of my ability.
Oh sure, there was that insidious little voice that kept telling me that I had been to tired, to confused, maybe had been provoked etc, etc.
But it all boiled down to just excuses, and I refused to use any of them.

Gradually over time, it got better and easier to stop letting things pile up, or to use any excuses for anything, until gradually I began to be able to kind of put my foot down, and slow down that crazy merry go round, a little bit.
Which I "think" is what has led to these new found feelings of peace and serenity after doing EE.

My point with all of this, is that eliminating all that trash called food, and using the EE to clear out all those years of accumulated toxins, chemical and emotional toxins, have changed everything and now learning is a joy, instead of the dread I once had that it`s all going over my head and hitting the wall behind me.
So apparently, even having to mouth breath is still heading me in the direction I want to go, so I`ll continue doing it that way for the time being!

 

[Nienna]

If you are having problems breathing through the nose, breathe in through the mouth, and, still with the glottal constriction, and you will get almost all of the benefits of doing EE using the nose to breathe in during pipe breathing.

Good to know, thanks.
I didn`t think it was as effective because the last month or so there has been nothing to report, just peace and serenity.

Just wanted to add to Trevizent's post. I thought you would like to know why we ask everyone to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Only breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth brushes nerve endings in the nostrils constantly in one direction. This constant brushing the nerve endings in only one direction synchronizes both sides of the brain causing for a deeper meditative state.

I concur with Trevizent to do the pipe breathing in through the mouth and out through the mouth until you can clear you nasal passages. This affords you to be able to still stimulate the vagus nerve and get the benefits it brings. Also, doing the whole program breathing in through the mouth and out through the mouth enables you to do the whole program and get the benefits from it.

However, it is still encouraged, when you are able, to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

 

[stellar]

Since my 'away' post a couple of weeks ago I decided to do the full EE programme every night ( except last night, due to late vositors ). It was the only wise thing I thought I could Do to get through the emotions I was going through. It has been very calming and helped me control and look at my emotions over the days.

With the Warrior's Brearth, however, I have been struggling. It wasn't an issue before but now I cough so much after the first round that I cannot do the second and third, so I've skipped that part for a couple of days until I can figure out the reason.
My physical health is good so that pretty well eliminates chest and throat issues.

I decided to look up L. Bourbeau's take on coughing as an emotional block:
"If you have a more or less frequent cough without apparent physical cause, you likely tend to be easily irritated. (True, but usually kept to myself. )You are your own worst critic. (True ) Your body is telling you that your heart would like to see you more tolerant, especially toward yourself (That's really hard for me. My introject/inner parent will sometimes just not shut up. ).
Even if you are irritated by someone else or by some external situation, it is triggering your self-criticism. Sneezing is linked to external irritation, but coughing is linked with something irritating inside you "( yeah, I'm seeing it more and more but that's good!)

That brings forward my borderline perfectionism and NEVER feeling like I've done all I can.

On the mental block issue she says:
"Each time you cough without apparent reason, take a moment to evaluate what you are thinking. Everything happens so quickly and automatically within you that you are not conscious of the number of times you criticize yourself and fail to accept yourself as you are.This impedes your deep inhalation of life and the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that comes with it. You are much more than you think you are. The moment you become aware of an inner irritation, be gentle with yourself. Treat yourself as you would like to be treated by others (NOT my introject!). You'll find it's a breath of 'fresh air'."

That really hit home... Hard. And I don't know HOW to do that, except to keep Breathing and thinking on it during meditation.
Any suggestions /comments /experiences welcome.

 

[brainwave]

Steller, have you tried warrior's breath in the shower with steamy warm water flowing? The place I used to live in was very dusty and I used to wake up stuffy and sometimes with a cough. The shower with warrior's breath cleared things up quite well.

brainwave

 

[mamadrama]

I still have problems breathing through my nose and find I can`t do the entire program as it should be done because of that. I have ordered a Netti pot with the hope that that might make some difference.
The upper part of my nostrils are either to small, inflamed or something and even though I do the EE I know I`m not getting as much out of it as I could be because of the difficulty breathing in, the correct way.

Also want to ask if during pipe breath you are concentrating on the inhalation in your glottis and diaphragm rather than your nostrils? Trying to pull the air in from your nostril can also cause what you're describing. In other words emphasize the in flow of air in your pharyngeal passage as it is being pulled in by your diaphragm rather than sucking in air at the opening of the nostrils. Also, during the belly breathing or Beatha, regulate the inhalations and exhalations as if you're sipping in the air slowly and gently with hardly any flare of the nostrils. See if this helps. As Nienna Eluch mentions, your goal is to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Not only does it synchronize the hemispheres of the brain, it also filters out dust and dirt :)