Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Lucius]

oh I have just back from
Festival of Slavs and Vikings in Wolinie XV and I miss Monday breathing but I will do it today .

Hmm I have learn Pray of the soul ... in polish :) and I us it about 3-5 time pear day... when I'm relaxed.
I us pipe breathing when I have stress ( about 2 =3 time per day or at evening )

After 2 full session and lots of Small session with Pray + pipe breath .

I start see different thing in my personal reality , communication with other person and what they interpret ate me .
I have start seen MY Person it is hard to say what I mean of MY person hmm...
I just have Start seen MY Self and Other people with OBJECTIVE. ( it is hard to say what I mean of it )
It is strange felling You Caught your self And some voice tell you in your head ... - Oh do You See IT NOW . Look at IT .That IS meaning OF THIS.


And I KNOW JUST KNOW that is from.. pray it is Very important this Pray :) not only meditation.

Greeting.
Lucas.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Update:
It's a very, very stupid bug. There's a setting in the database that can't be edited from the forum software itself. And it doesn't take DST into account. Fortunately, it's fixed now and should automatically work nicely even with DST changes.

I see today on my profile under time offset that my local time is three hours ahead of local forum time, instead of yesterday's four hours.

So, am I posting into the past? ;D

Oh wait, I get it! Duh. The time in the box means the server will add three hours and THEN it will be my local time, right?

What a maroon....

 

[seek10]

I'd like to let you know of my experiences ... and add a question at the end.

Haven't had any major "emotional" releases yet ... just some "waves" during the BE breathing. Kind of heart to describe, but it's like when you watch a sad movie and are overcome by emotion, even though there were no strong emotions involved ... don't know if that makes any sense.

Also struggled a bit sitting crosslegged on the floor for the duration, but have fixed it with sitting on a thick cushion. I'd really like to be able to sit on the floor like that for the entire time feeling comfortable ... so decided that I would accept a little bit of discomfort, which has been steadily improving as I repeat the session.

I sometimes struggle with the BE breathing and I am really happy to reach the end, because my favourite is the meditative portion. I feel very relaxed afterwards and have weird pictures floating around in the dark.

The other day when sleeping in a communal room (thus unable to do the whole breathing exercise) I tried to do the "Prayer of the Soul" by myself - and I REALLY STRUGGLED!

I don't think that I managed to finish the prayer more than once without loosing the thread - often I "zoned out" and didn't remember where I had drifted off. I tried real hard to concentrate on the sequence of the verses, but to no avail ...

Has anyone had a similar experience? It is kind of frustrating - I am normally quite able to focus, but in this respect I fail abysmally ...

I too zone out very easily particularly , if I am tired or didn't have much sleep . but I resolve to be awake and I can hold from zoning out. i think laura mentioned that it is alright to zone out.
for me emotions come very intensly. most of the time if i look at the emotions they are critical parental negative introject messages like 'B* D, you are screwed, you are going to lose' etc. I stop the exercise and allow the emotion to pass on and start the exercise from the point I stopped. this is much easier than distracted or confused what to do. My mind still gets distracted badly, I have to force to focus on breathing and voice.

As a whole this is greatest meditation experience I ever had, despite trying different meditation techniques I tried over 20 years. The amount of energy I feel at the end of the 50 minutes , unbelievably great and this experience I only able to get after 6 months of constant meditation exercise using other methods.

It is interesting to see where all this leads us.

 

[Tomek]

Hello there,

Yesterday evening, as every evening for a week, I fall asleep with the gentle voice of Laura and the nice background music that can be heard behind the Prayer of the Soul. And as always, I felt some difficulty to completely relax and to stop the inner chatter. Maybe I should not worry about it... Anyway. So I tried something else: in addition to concentrating on my breathing, sync on each verse of the prayer, I also focus my attention on my inner field of vision, eyelids closed. Bingo: the chatter doesn't disturb me anymore, it's less and less present until it disappears completely, or at least until I no longer care.

About what I "saw", the usual phosphenes gave way after a few minutes to more concrete things. Pictures from space: stars, constellations, galaxies ... I think I even see some king of "structures" floating in space. Where it becomes less pleasant is that the night I spent was more or less troubled: my heart was "jumping", I didn't really feel alone in my room and finally, I put my headphones back and I listened some trip hop music to sleep more peacefully.

Question: for my next meditation, should I continue to concentrate on my 'field of vision' eyelids closed, or only on my breathing and prayer without really worrying about the inner chatter ? Is this way to focus on the internal field of vision is not something harmful, delusional, or that could "invite" other entities ?

Thanks !

 

[Bluestar]

Been having an interesting experience with the prayer of the Soul. Just before going to sleep, I start the meditation. About the third time in doing the prayer, my body starts to vibrate like all my cells inside me are responding to this prayer. Swirls of energy moving around inside all of my body especially the lower part (hips, legs and feet) then moves up into my torso and finally my head. It is hard to concentrate and almost like I want to leap out of my body. I work my way through only one or two more rounds until I can no longer take the sensation. I try to persist though it is if I must stop. When I am done I have to stretch my body to dispate this energy. Also when reciting the prayer with my inner voice, there is a spot where my mind starts the next line before I have fully let the breath out of the previous line. Of course the little "i's" start to try and analyze these experiences and I am not sure what to think about it. Is it a struggle inside, a diversion? Or part of the process? Has anyone else experienced this?

I have not been a great meditator in the past. Have learned many techniques, but have only done them for a short while and then I give up for whatever excuse fits best. During the full exercise I can complete the audio tape with Laura's voice guiding me. Where as I posted before have some of the same experiences as others. Though I do not have the chance at working this daily, I do try and do the full exercises every other day. And doing the prayer before sleeping for the night. Thanks for any input.

edit: I think I have come up with an explaination of the energy I am feeling. I think it is chakras being energized. While doing the parayer meditation this thought came to me. It is very powerful.

 

[Gaby]

you should raise your gaze upwards, towards the ceiling, to increase mental energy.

Many years ago, in a meditation program, I was told that in order to help the brain be on an "alpha state", you should raise your gaze upwards, because that helps the brain to signal alpha waves. _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

Then, I read recently that Alpha waves are found to accompany a variety of mental states, many of which are not related to meditation. And that Alpha waves are an indication of how much you are attending to visual information from the world around you or to mental images generated from memory.

 

[Gaby]

Many years ago, in a meditation program, I was told that in order to help the brain be on an "alpha state", you should raise your gaze upwards, because that helps the brain to signal alpha waves. _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

It was supposed to be a raising of the gaze of about a 45 degrees angle, or so they said.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

The other day while doing the meditation I had a short experience which only lasted a couple seconds. I had just been thrown into a cage-like pit with a bunch of other men and another man swung a large weapon at me, like an axe or a club or something. I felt as if I was a slave, being killed by someone, but it was so short and all that was clear was the intensity.

 

[Seamus]

you should raise your gaze upwards, towards the ceiling, to increase mental energy.

Many years ago, in a meditation program, I was told that in order to help the brain be on an "alpha state", you should raise your gaze upwards, because that helps the brain to signal alpha waves. _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

Then, I read recently that Alpha waves are found to accompany a variety of mental states, many of which are not related to meditation. And that Alpha waves are an indication of how much you are attending to visual information from the world around you or to mental images generated from memory.

I found a reference to this in an introduction to meditation book by Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, aptly entitled Meditation. This must be the passage that came into my mind yesterday, but at the time I was thinking of a lecture I once attended and attributed it to that occasion. Anyway, FWIW, this is from pages 35-40:

Sit, then, as if you were a mountain, with all the unshakable, steadfast majesty of a mountain. A mountain is completely natural and at ease with itself, however strong the winds that try to batter it, however thick the dark clouds that swirl around its peak. Sitting like a mountain, let your mind rise and fly and soar.

...

In my tradition of meditation, your eyes should be kept open: this is a very important point. If you are sensitive to disturbances from outside, when you begin to practice you may find it helpful to close your eyes for a while and quietly turn within.

Once you feel established in calm, gradually open your eyes, and you will find your gaze has grown more peaceful and tranquil. Now look downwards, along the line of your nose, at an angle of about 45 degrees in front of you. One practical tip in general is that whenever your mind is wild, it is best to lower your gaze, and whenever it is dull and sleepy, to bring the gaze up.

Once your mind is calm and the clarity of insight begins to arise, you will feel free to bring your gaze up, opening your eyes more and looking into the space directly in front of you. This is the gaze recommended in the Dzogchen practice.

In the Dzogchen teachings it is said that your meditation and your gaze should be like the vast expanse of a great ocean; all-pervading, open, and limitless. Just as your View and posture are inseparable, so your meditation inspires your gaze, and they now merge as one.

Do not focus on anything in particular; instead, turn back into yourself slightly, and let your gaze expand and become more and more spacious and pervasive. You will discover that your vision itself becomes more expansive, and that there is more peace, more compassion in your gaze, more equanimity, and more poise.

...

There are several reasons for keeping the eyes open. With the eyes open, you are less likely to fall asleep. Then, meditation is not a means of running away from the world, or of escaping from it into a trance-like experience of an altered state of consciousness. On the contrary, it is a direct way to help us truly understand ourselves, and relate to life and the world.

(italics are emphasis included in the book, bold is my emphasis)

So this is what I think of when I meditate.

The first paragraph reminds me of this post that I read yesterday (I haven't gotten to Political Ponerology yet):

My avatar is Musashi Miyamoto, a Japanese 'samurai'.
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_Miyamoto

(The picture is taken from an old movie of Musashi though... )

At the beginning of Editor's Preface by Laura of "Political Ponerology" starts from his quote.
I became emotional about it so I decided to use this avatar.

The quote was:

Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you.
Miyamot Musashi

 

[Renaissance]

The other day while doing the meditation I had a short experience which only lasted a couple seconds. I had just been thrown into a cage-like pit with a bunch of other men and another man swung a large weapon at me, like an axe or a club or something. I felt as if I was a slave, being killed by someone, but it was so short and all that was clear was the intensity.

Interesting that Sky had a similar experience that he noted a couple of days ago, which may or may not be related:

During the Beatha, an image came to me of a tall, short-haired, blue-eyed, blonde woman, holding a big butcher's knife walking towards me, with an angry expression. That was bizarre and I didn't recognize her. I didn't focus on it but made a note of it, so I went on concentrating on my breathing. Thought I'd throw this out there.

Maybe these are past life memories, or maybe they're symbols of something else.

 

[Z...]

I heard similar as psyche. This was supposed to be achieved by focusing your gaze on the upper part of your central forehead. In addition I was trained to touch soft palate with my tongue as this supposedly establishes circuit in the body for the flow of energy (the premise is that the energy flows from your first l chakra up your spine through your brain to the third eye and then to throat chakra, heart chakra and so on). I was also trained to always meditate in sitting position as laying down inevitably ends up in sleep.
With this program I am not bothered by anything I learned so far, I just follow the instructions and I feel asleep during meditation only once, in fact it happened for the first time yesterday.

All in all yesterday I had very interesting session. The pain I mentioned before stopped, but it was back yesterday, right towards the end of the three stage breathing and culminated during warrior's breath. It was mostly in the chest area and it was somehow different but again the same as previous pain. I ignored it and it completely disappeared during bioenergetic breathing.
Then all of the sudden my body became very light, as if it was made of tightly woven cobwebs, but instead of silk the threads were made of light, at least that was the image I had in my minds eye.
It was kind of grooving experience, I lack better words to describe it as it felt like being fixed into the groove.
I was alternatively dispersing and concentrating (it felt as if my whole being was going through very gentle systole and dyastole ) during Ba ha breathing. Laura's voice and Baa was like immediate focus cue for the systole.
I don't know if this will make any sense but I find it very hard to describe with words.

Also I need to verify something.
I had very interesting thought few days ago, but before I announce this thought on this forum as mine I need to be sure that I didn't inadvertently copy Laura's or someone else's thoughts. It happened to me before, I receive so many information through internet and it is so easy to forget where they were received and to think them your own thoughts.

So the question is - has Laura ( or anyone else on the forum) during audio explanation or anywhere on the forum ever mentioned cat's purr?
I know this sounds strange but I will explain very soon.

 

[Vulcan59]

Hi Corto Maltese,

I remember Johnno and somebody else mentioned earlier in the thread that while he was doing the breathing exercise, the cat jumped on his lap and started purring.

 

[Laura]

When I meditate, I close my eyes and focus on the area of the "third eye" just above the nose. That turns the eyes slightly inward and upward. Works for me!

 

[Seamus]

I heard similar as psyche. This was supposed to be achieved by focusing your gaze on the upper part of your central forehead. In addition I was trained to touch soft palate with my tongue as this supposedly establishes circuit in the body for the flow of energy (the premise is that the energy flows from your first l chakra up your spine through your brain to the third eye and then to throat chakra, heart chakra and so on). I was also trained to always meditate in sitting position as laying down inevitably ends up in sleep.

When I meditate, I close my eyes and focus on the area of the "third eye" just above the nose. That turns the eyes slightly inward and upward. Works for me!

I will try this way tonight!

 

[Tigersoap]

The other day while doing the meditation I had a short experience which only lasted a couple seconds. I had just been thrown into a cage-like pit with a bunch of other men and another man swung a large weapon at me, like an axe or a club or something. I felt as if I was a slave, being killed by someone, but it was so short and all that was clear was the intensity.

Interesting that Sky had a similar experience that he noted a couple of days ago, which may or may not be related:

During the Beatha, an image came to me of a tall, short-haired, blue-eyed, blonde woman, holding a big butcher's knife walking towards me, with an angry expression. That was bizarre and I didn't recognize her. I didn't focus on it but made a note of it, so I went on concentrating on my breathing. Thought I'd throw this out there.

Maybe these are past life memories, or maybe they're symbols of something else.

The few first time I did the breathing exercise I had once a brief vision, I witnessed a Roman legionary cutting the throat of a woman because he had been paid to do so...:|

Maybe it's just a symbolic representation of something else indeed.

On another note, I noticed that I was doing the breathing exercise more mechanically than before, my mind wandering instead of concentrating on the breathing, which I still could follow by the way.
I also feel much more tired in the morning, like I haven't slept much and dreaming often and intensely during the night.