Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[monotonic]

Often when I'm quiet and listen I can hear repetitious noises like tones, humming, static, something like an engine or like an air conditioner; this happened after a I first began meditation. I've looked for an explanation but I haven't found anything that I could verify and it usually involved metaphysics. For all I know it could be none of that and just a neurological condition.

 

[Oxajil]

For those of you experiencing strange things with the program, perhaps keeping in mind what Laura said here might be helpful:

Generally, when certain channels/circuits begin to clear and open, but are not yet tuned, all kinds of stuff gets picked up. It's like turning on a radio receiver or a TV that is "between stations" or receiving interference. You can see faces, hear sounds, experience all kinds of interdimensional stuff. The key is to not get distracted by that stuff. Keep your eyes and focus on the light/knowledge.

 

[Explorer]

For those of you experiencing strange things with the program, perhaps keeping in mind what Laura said here might be helpful:

Generally, when certain channels/circuits begin to clear and open, but are not yet tuned, all kinds of stuff gets picked up. It's like turning on a radio receiver or a TV that is "between stations" or receiving interference. You can see faces, hear sounds, experience all kinds of interdimensional stuff. The key is to not get distracted by that stuff. Keep your eyes and focus on the light/knowledge.

Thanks for the post Oxajil. Kind of encouraging, actually. :D

 

[Yas]

Hello!

I wanted to share an experience I've been having lately...

The last sessions of EE that I've been doing have been really difficult. Specially when doing pipe breathing in the first portion of the program. I find this strange because the whole process was quite easy for me before and I felt really relaxed and 'renewed' after it.

I practice EE two time per week and do some pipe breathing and pots the other days (not EVERY day though)... I wasn't too regular before so I did twice a week for some time, then I stopped, then I did it again... and so on... It is just now (for about a month and half) that I'm being regular with this two times per week schedule. So one of my ideas is that what I'm feeling might be due to the fact that I'm being more regular in the practice... Maybe the real process of cleansing and healing is just starting (???)

What I have experienced is something like a resistance to do it and when I finally go and start it I feel blocked, as if I can't breath well. So I do my best to do the three stage breathing exercises and due to the blockage - I guess -, I feel a pressure in the front of my head, and it gets really difficult to find the right position of the throat muscles, etc... Once I finish the three stage breathing with a lot of struggle I go well through the rest of the program but I usually feel so tired that I fall asleep during the meditation - if not during the Beatha portion.

Yesterday I decided to try Pipe Breathing laying down instead of sitting. It was very good.... :) I've read that it is OK to do it laying down sometimes, but I was wondering if you think it is OK that I do it like that for a while until I feel 'strong' enough to do it sitting down again. Maybe my own body is telling me to go slow...

What do you think?

Thanks a lot in advance :D

 

[Alada]

Yesterday I decided to try Pipe Breathing laying down instead of sitting. It was very good.... :) I've read that it is OK to do it laying down sometimes, but I was wondering if you think it is OK that I do it like that for a while until I feel 'strong' enough to do it sitting down again. Maybe my own body is telling me to go slow...

I don’t see a problem with that, the main thing is to be relaxed and comfortable, so what works for you at the moment.

Also it might help not to overdo the force with which you breathe if the feeling is one of constriction/tension. A more gentle, shallower breath can work just as well, just concentrate on the timing of the breath and getting that in sync. I find that sometimes breathing can be very gentle and shallow to begin with but that the breathing can then open up in a fuller, freer way as the body relaxes.

 

[Mark7]

Yesterday I decided to try Pipe Breathing laying down instead of sitting. It was very good.... :) I've read that it is OK to do it laying down sometimes, but I was wondering if you think it is OK that I do it like that for a while until I feel 'strong' enough to do it sitting down again. Maybe my own body is telling me to go slow...

I don’t see a problem with that, the main thing is to be relaxed and comfortable, so what works for you at the moment.

Also it might help not to overdo the force with which you breathe if the feeling is one of constriction/tension. A more gentle, shallower breath can work just as well, just concentrate on the timing of the breath and getting that in sync. I find that sometimes breathing can be very gentle and shallow to begin with but that the breathing can then open up in a fuller, freer way as the body relaxes.

I was wondering about whether it would be ok to lie down during EE or not myself. When I do it sitting down on the floor my back and neck feels strained after just a few minutes. Lying down does seem to work for me... what about sitting in a chair with a backrest? Also, is the "ha" sound made on exhale a brief sound at the beginning of the exhale or should I protract it out the full count, "haaaaaaaaaaa"

 

[Ollie]

...

I was wondering about whether it would be ok to lie down during EE or not myself. When I do it sitting down on the floor my back and neck feels strained after just a few minutes. Lying down does seem to work for me... what about sitting in a chair with a backrest? Also, is the "ha" sound made on exhale a brief sound at the beginning of the exhale or should I protract it out the full count, "haaaaaaaaaaa"

The main thing is to do whatever feels most comfortable to you when doing EE, and you can vary your position as you go through EE. For example I tend to stand for three-stage pipe-breathing, sit for BaHa (when I do it), and lay on the floor for PotS.

The "ha" sound on exhalation is 'protracted out for the full count', and will arise naturally if your throat is slightly constricted on the out-breath, and for its duration.

 

[Alada]

The main thing is to do whatever feels most comfortable to you when doing EE, and you can vary your position as you go through EE. For example I tend to stand for three-stage pipe-breathing, sit for BaHa (when I do it), and lay on the floor for PotS.

The "ha" sound on exhalation is 'protracted out for the full count', and will arise naturally if your throat is slightly constricted on the out-breath, and for its duration.

I agree with Prodigal Son, do whatever feels most comfortable to you. I like to do the three stage breathing sat on the floor but with some back support, so either leaning against the wall or the sofa, or the head of the bed. Ba-ha lying down and also the meditation lying down.

To be absolutely clear on the "ha" sound (as I misunderstood this to begin with), it’s just the sound of the air passing through the wind pipe not a literal "ha" produced by the vocal chords. Laura says "ha" on the audio as a reminder for us to pipe-breathe, but we don’t literally say "ha", it’s more of a soft sound as you would get when breathing onto a pane of glass to steam it up.

The sound is controlled and made equally over the full measure of the count, so try not to let all the air escape at once when first exhaling so you don’t end up with a big "ha" on count 1 and then nothing towards count 9. Working on that consistency over the full measure will help develop control of the diaphragm too.

 

[Tristan]

I have a question, how one must feel the body during EE if at the time of the expiration should start noticing the body relaxed, ie abdomen and noticed as floating ribs are released. I also notice that in the moment of inspiration I feel more tense.
I perform seated tubular breathing, breathing warrior standing, ba-ha portion sitting in zafu and finally lying POTS

 

[Mark7]

The main thing is to do whatever feels most comfortable to you when doing EE, and you can vary your position as you go through EE. For example I tend to stand for three-stage pipe-breathing, sit for BaHa (when I do it), and lay on the floor for PotS.

The "ha" sound on exhalation is 'protracted out for the full count', and will arise naturally if your throat is slightly constricted on the out-breath, and for its duration.

I agree with Prodigal Son, do whatever feels most comfortable to you. I like to do the three stage breathing sat on the floor but with some back support, so either leaning against the wall or the sofa, or the head of the bed. Ba-ha lying down and also the meditation lying down.

To be absolutely clear on the "ha" sound (as I misunderstood this to begin with), it’s just the sound of the air passing through the wind pipe not a literal "ha" produced by the vocal chords. Laura says "ha" on the audio as a reminder for us to pipe-breathe, but we don’t literally say "ha", it’s more of a soft sound as you would get when breathing onto a pane of glass to steam it up.

The sound is controlled and made equally over the full measure of the count, so try not to let all the air escape at once when first exhaling so you don’t end up with a big "ha" on count 1 and then nothing towards count 9. Working on that consistency over the full measure will help develop control of the diaphragm too.

Thanks for the clarifications Alada and Prodigal Son, slight constriction, thus "pipe", it makes sense, I had been doing correctly but was not 100% sure, I will be able to continue with more confidence now.

 

[Yas]

Yesterday I decided to try Pipe Breathing laying down instead of sitting. It was very good.... :) I've read that it is OK to do it laying down sometimes, but I was wondering if you think it is OK that I do it like that for a while until I feel 'strong' enough to do it sitting down again. Maybe my own body is telling me to go slow...

I don’t see a problem with that, the main thing is to be relaxed and comfortable, so what works for you at the moment.

Also it might help not to overdo the force with which you breathe if the feeling is one of constriction/tension. A more gentle, shallower breath can work just as well, just concentrate on the timing of the breath and getting that in sync. I find that sometimes breathing can be very gentle and shallow to begin with but that the breathing can then open up in a fuller, freer way as the body relaxes.

Thanks a lot!

I'll be doing tubular breathing laying down then and see if I do a shallower breath.

:)

 

[Gaby]

Sometime during this month, I did the PotS with a clear intent that seem to have eased up during my meditations. That night I ended up dreaming that I was outside my hometown house, in front of it, looking back to it. It was curious because I never saw the house from that angle before, or just briefly when my front neighbors first arrived into the neighborhood when I was very young. I was also attending a man who seemed to be injured, he was laying on the floor unconscious, with a row of ants crawling round his head. I was clearing them up as I realized I was outside the house and he was just there, laying down.

I thought it interesting in that I always dreamed I was inside the house, in various rooms, looking outside through the window at best, but mostly laying hopeless on my bed in my room. I came to understand my hometown house as my personality if that makes any sense.

The unconscious man laying on the floor was also interesting in the sense that before all of this I was thinking about what I read in Unholy Hungers:

"The warhorse does not contemplate life in a cognitive way; he simply perceives and mulls and feels. Sometimes he does nothing more. But sometimes he is impelled to act instinctively in response to the truth that formulates in his great heart. The warhorse is that in us which sees the truth, feels its shape, hears its voice, knows its essence, and then acts on what we know. He is also that which jogs us out of our victim's lethargy, just as he jogged the poisoned apple out of Snow White's mouth. When we feel we have been brought to our senses, gently or with a jolt, after a period of delusion or inertia, we are experiencing the intuitive power of the warhorse."

Don't know about the ants, but it seems this one meditation set the tone for the rest of the month. I'm getting rolfed as well, and on uncertain terms, my rolfer told me that now was the time when the "rolfing changes" would set in, so that sessions will be more spaced out. It has stirred a lot and I've been having moods and despairs coming out of seemingly thin air.

The last two EE sessions had been characterized by zoning out during most of the beatha portion of the program, or most of the program for that matter. I know I am not asleep, I'm just gone. It has "settled down" whatever has been stirred up by Rolfing. But it is somewhat frustrating to have no recollection of the zoning out. It makes me feel like, "I can't handle the truth". So I've been meditating instinctively on "I can handle the truth" and hushing down introject's message of: "I can't forgive myself".

So I hope that in upcoming weeks as the rolfing changes get "solidified" and as I continue learning and meditating, that my warhorse will recover from the slumber. That I was attending to it (or so it seems to me) was rather hopeful, despite the ants and him lying on the floor and all. The hope comes from finally dreaming that I was outside the house looking back to it for the first time in my life. ;)

 

[irjO]

I don't know if i'm not doing it right but lately (well almost all the recent sessions) i ended falling asleep. it is normal? i mean in the meditation part i get to relax so much at the end that without realizing it i ended asleep :/

 

[truth seeker]

I don't know if i'm not doing it right but lately (well almost all the recent sessions) i ended falling asleep. it is normal? i mean in the meditation part i get to relax so much at the end that without realizing it i ended asleep :/

Hi irjO,

Yes, falling asleep or zoning out can be a common occurrence during ee.

 

[irjO]

I don't know if i'm not doing it right but lately (well almost all the recent sessions) i ended falling asleep. it is normal? i mean in the meditation part i get to relax so much at the end that without realizing it i ended asleep :/

Hi irjO,

Yes, falling asleep or zoning out can be a common occurrence during ee.

Okay thanks!! another question, what time of the day is better for the meditation? i do sometimes the beatha part during the day and the meditation part at night before sleep! but sometimes i do the meditation part without listening to Laura, i do it with the instructions and praying the prayer of the soul in my mind!