Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Nienna]

Last night I felt nauseated sometime after eating a lot of bacon and sausage grease. I thought I might feel better doing full EE, like I did the previous time I felt nauseated. I didn't feel much better after 3 stage and warrior's breath, and I thought perhaps it was anticipation. I forgot about feeling better sometime during beatha, and by the end of meditation I felt good again. So it worked again!

If you are feeling nauseated after the amount of fats you are eating, I'd say to back off of so much at one time. It may be better to let your body get used to the increase in fat by incrementally increasing it rather than all at one time. That seemed to me to be what you are doing as stated in the thread in the Diet and Health section.

Along with adding a bit more fat with your meals, you can add fat to tea or bone broth and drink those at different times. That way you won't be overwhelming your digestive system with so much all at one time.

 

[Mackenzie Farm]

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Hi

I wanted to talk about the meditating part of EE and in particular of something that happened that I didn't understand and scared me, I don't have much experience and so it could be nothing so pardon me if it's a silliness. I was doing the meditation and felt very relaxed, eyes were shut and I was looking what there was to see that is oval forms that expanded and contracted themself and meanwhile changing color, from yellow to emerald green, blue. At some point I felt like a warm wave expanding through the body, I think it originated from the navel area or so it seemed, it's not so clear.

I felt a sensation of happines, I don't know how to put it but I can say that I felt loved at the point of tears ( it could have been all suggestion ), this sensation happen frequently during meditation. Then happened something completely different that induced me to retreat and open the eyes, I felt a sort of ascensions movement like I was going swiftly out from the top of the head I felt really scared.

I don't know what I've done of wrong and so I'm asking please if anyone had felt something similar,if someone has an answer or an hypothesis for what happened .

Thanks for whatever comment.

 

[Ollie]

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Hi

I wanted to talk about the meditating part of EE and in particular of something that happened that I didn't understand and scared me, I don't have much experience and so it could be nothing so pardon me if it's a silliness. I was doing the meditation and felt very relaxed, eyes were shut and I was looking what there was to see that is oval forms that expanded and contracted themself and meanwhile changing color, from yellow to emerald green, blue. At some point I felt like a warm wave expanding through the body, I think it originated from the navel area or so it seemed, it's not so clear.

I felt a sensation of happines, I don't know how to put it but I can say that I felt loved at the point of tears ( it could have been all suggestion ), this sensation happen frequently during meditation. Then happened something completely different that induced me to retreat and open the eyes, I felt a sort of ascensions movement like I was going swiftly out from the top of the head I felt really scared.

I don't know what I've done of wrong and so I'm asking please if anyone had felt something similar,if someone has an answer or an hypothesis for what happened .

Thanks for whatever comment.

Many things may happen whilst doing the meditating part of EE, shapes, forms, colours, temperature changes - all as you describe, check the EE FAQ's thread for other effects too.

A sense of happiness, tears, are all part of the process of the vagus nerve being activated - which is what happens during EE - whatever occurs during EE is safe and a gentle release from whatever needs releasing - DCM is looking after you, and within you, doing what needs to be done. Embrace the fear and enjoy the ride. :) Whatever has gone needed to go.

 

[Mackenzie Farm]

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​

Hi

I wanted to talk about the meditating part of EE and in particular of something that happened that I didn't understand and scared me, I don't have much experience and so it could be nothing so pardon me if it's a silliness. I was doing the meditation and felt very relaxed, eyes were shut and I was looking what there was to see that is oval forms that expanded and contracted themself and meanwhile changing color, from yellow to emerald green, blue. At some point I felt like a warm wave expanding through the body, I think it originated from the navel area or so it seemed, it's not so clear.

I felt a sensation of happines, I don't know how to put it but I can say that I felt loved at the point of tears ( it could have been all suggestion ), this sensation happen frequently during meditation. Then happened something completely different that induced me to retreat and open the eyes, I felt a sort of ascensions movement like I was going swiftly out from the top of the head I felt really scared.

I don't know what I've done of wrong and so I'm asking please if anyone had felt something similar,if someone has an answer or an hypothesis for what happened .

Thanks for whatever comment.

Many things may happen whilst doing the meditating part of EE, shapes, forms, colours, temperature changes - all as you describe, check the EE FAQ's thread for other effects too.

A sense of happiness, tears, are all part of the process of the vagus nerve being activated - which is what happens during EE - whatever occurs during EE is safe and a gentle release from whatever needs releasing - DCM is looking after you, and within you, doing what needs to be done. Embrace the fear and enjoy the ride. :) Whatever has gone needed to go.

Tankyou Prodigal Son for your answer, your words reassured me; as for the suggestion of the EE FAQ's thread, I'm going to read it now.

 

[daddycat]

I did back down from eating that amount of animal fat at once, and don't seem to have a problem. If anything, it seems I may have to increase it again.

I've been ill for 5 or 6 days, common cold perhaps or accumulated effects of not getting enough sleep and stress. Yesterday I did the full EE program, and afterwards for several hours felt much better.

That is 3 out of 3 times recently that I physically did not feel well, decided to do full EE in an effort to feel better, and felt much better afterwards.

 

[CelticWarrior]

Although one may reap the benefits of doing full EE every week, it may help to not see it as a last resort to wellness when confronted with multiple physical issues. However, it's not without it's power on a regular basis when it comes to just the pipe breathing, warrior's breath, and prayer of the soul.

I've caught myself in the past wanting deeply to do the full program and only the whole program or I wouldn't do it at all. Kinda ridiculous on my part, so it's my experience to be consistent no matter what may be plaguing your body. Just found out that I've recently improved my habits with practicing how to breathe without count since it can eventually come to the point where I've wanted to have more use of air than others may be used to doing.

I can't wait to go join our group in few days!

 

[cubbex]

I have a question. I've been training my abs, and as a tip the couch says that we should breath out to engage a good contraction of the abs, and he says that we need to contract essentially the diaphragm, so, maybe I was breathing wrong while doing the 3 stage breathing, but I applied that tip so whenever I needed to breath out I just tried to breath out and try to feel the contraction, that I was able to feel through a horizontal line that crossed my belly button, and the stress revealing worked way better, I mean it improved a lot.

Thing is I'm confused, I know that we need to hear our bodies and do what it works for them better, but I just want to know if I'm doing it correctly, or the part that I need to be contracting is that part between my belly and my ribs?

 

[SeekinTruth]

I have a question. I've been training my abs, and as a tip the couch says that we should breath out to engage a good contraction of the abs, and he says that we need to contract essentially the diaphragm, so, maybe I was breathing wrong while doing the 3 stage breathing, but I applied that tip so whenever I needed to breath out I just tried to breath out and try to feel the contraction, that I was able to feel through a horizontal line that crossed my belly button, and the stress revealing worked way better, I mean it improved a lot.

Thing is I'm confused, I know that we need to hear our bodies and do what it works for them better, but I just want to know if I'm doing it correctly, or the part that I need to be contracting is that part between my belly and my ribs?

I'm not sure what exactly you are asking. Could you please clarify a bit? Just to note, from my understand, when you breath properly using the diaphragm, your belly moves out when you breath in (the diaphragm pushes the viscera down and out). Is that what's happening when you're belly/diaphragm breathing?

 

[aragorn]

I have a question. I've been training my abs, and as a tip the couch says that we should breath out to engage a good contraction of the abs, and he says that we need to contract essentially the diaphragm, so, maybe I was breathing wrong while doing the 3 stage breathing, but I applied that tip so whenever I needed to breath out I just tried to breath out and try to feel the contraction, that I was able to feel through a horizontal line that crossed my belly button, and the stress revealing worked way better, I mean it improved a lot.

Thing is I'm confused, I know that we need to hear our bodies and do what it works for them better, but I just want to know if I'm doing it correctly, or the part that I need to be contracting is that part between my belly and my ribs?

What kind of coach are you talking about? First thing, when the diaphragm contracts, it descends. This is what happens when we inhale correctly, like during EE (breathing during heavy physical activity is another matter). In order to it to descend properly, we must relax the belly (see below). In EE, we use a long and exaggerated exhale because according to studies, this stimulates the vagus nerve even more. If your exhaling muscles are very weak, you may not be able to do this properly. By this I do not mean the superficial muscles, like the abs (see below).

Sometimes it's good to train your breathing by exhaling first, using mainly the "core muscles" i.e. the pelvic floor and the transversus abdominis muscles. There are two reasons for this:

- When you start with an exhale, pushing and really emptying the lungs (you can't empty them completely, otherwise the lungs would collapse and you would die) the diaphragm is pushed upwards, more than when exhaling passively. What happens is that the core muscles simply narrow your waist, thus pushing your inner organs, the diaphragm and the bottom of your lungs. What this results is that when you feel completely "emptied" and your diaphragm being pushed up - the natural reflex then is to relax the waist and belly while you inhale. I've used this procedure with great success with some pupils. In this way they are not as easily tempted to do shallow breathing, i.e. lifting the ribcage when inhaling by using the emergency breathing muscles in the neck and chest: the pectoralis minor, scalene, and sternocleidomastoid muscles.

- When your core muscles are strengthened, it's easier to relax the surface of the belly and lower ribs. You can think of this as two tubes, with one inside the other: the inner tube consists of the core muscles (deep inside) and the outer tube consists of the superficial muscles. One of the main functions of all of these muscles is to maintain our posture - otherwise we would collapse! So, if your inner tube is too weak, the outer tube has to take the main responsibility of "holding you up" - thus the superficial muscles of the waist (external obliques and the abs, i.e. rectus abdominis, lower ribs and belly are chronically tense. By training the core muscles, the inner tube can take more responsibility, and the superficial muscles can relax. And voilà, breathing becomes easier!

So, in other words, I don't see any problem training the abdominal muscles as long as you are strengthening the inner, core muscles. Doing a lot of sit ups, training the abs will do you no good. It will just make you tense and impair your breathing.

 

[cubbex]

I have a question. I've been training my abs, and as a tip the couch says that we should breath out to engage a good contraction of the abs, and he says that we need to contract essentially the diaphragm, so, maybe I was breathing wrong while doing the 3 stage breathing, but I applied that tip so whenever I needed to breath out I just tried to breath out and try to feel the contraction, that I was able to feel through a horizontal line that crossed my belly button, and the stress revealing worked way better, I mean it improved a lot.

Thing is I'm confused, I know that we need to hear our bodies and do what it works for them better, but I just want to know if I'm doing it correctly, or the part that I need to be contracting is that part between my belly and my ribs?

What kind of coach are you talking about? First thing, when the diaphragm contracts, it descends. This is what happens when we inhale correctly, like during EE (breathing during heavy physical activity is another matter). In order to it to descend properly, we must relax the belly (see below). In EE, we use a long and exaggerated exhale because according to studies, this stimulates the vagus nerve even more. If your exhaling muscles are very weak, you may not be able to do this properly. By this I do not mean the superficial muscles, like the abs (see below).

Sometimes it's good to train your breathing by exhaling first, using mainly the "core muscles" i.e. the pelvic floor and the transversus abdominis muscles. There are two reasons for this:

- When you start with an exhale, pushing and really emptying the lungs (you can't empty them completely, otherwise the lungs would collapse and you would die) the diaphragm is pushed upwards, more than when exhaling passively. What happens is that the core muscles simply narrow your waist, thus pushing your inner organs, the diaphragm and the bottom of your lungs. What this results is that when you feel completely "emptied" and your diaphragm being pushed up - the natural reflex then is to relax the waist and belly while you inhale. I've used this procedure with great success with some pupils. In this way they are not as easily tempted to do shallow breathing, i.e. lifting the ribcage when inhaling by using the emergency breathing muscles in the neck and chest: the pectoralis minor, scalene, and sternocleidomastoid muscles.

- When your core muscles are strengthened, it's easier to relax the surface of the belly and lower ribs. You can think of this as two tubes, with one inside the other: the inner tube consists of the core muscles (deep inside) and the outer tube consists of the superficial muscles. One of the main functions of all of these muscles is to maintain our posture - otherwise we would collapse! So, if your inner tube is too weak, the outer tube has to take the main responsibility of "holding you up" - thus the superficial muscles of the waist (external obliques and the abs, i.e. rectus abdominis, lower ribs and belly are chronically tense. By training the core muscles, the inner tube can take more responsibility, and the superficial muscles can relax. And voilà, breathing becomes easier!

So, in other words, I don't see any problem training the abdominal muscles as long as you are strengthening the inner, core muscles. Doing a lot of sit ups, training the abs will do you no good. It will just make you tense and impair your breathing.

The abs was just for reference to let you know how I found out about this. When people train their abs they need to breath out with the diaphragm and of course make the belly descend to gain fully contraction, as simple as that.

No offense but you are over complicating things with that description, I have no idea about the neck use nor the pectorals. What I'm asking is if i'm breathing out improperly when the only part that goes down or descend is the belly from the area of the belly button, because I used to breath out and instead of just making the belly contract I just tried to pull up my guts.

 

[Oxajil]

The abs was just for reference to let you know how I found out about this. When people train their abs they need to breath out with the diaphragm and of course make the belly descend to gain fully contraction, as simple as that.

[...] What I'm asking is if i'm breathing out improperly when the only part that goes down or descend is the belly from the area of the belly button, because I used to breath out and instead of just making the belly contract I just tried to pull up my guts.

Hi Prometeo,

What kind of exercises do you do when you train your abs? Is it with heavy weights? The trainer (kettlebell training) that I follow directions of when it comes to abs training, says to contract the abs during the exercises as to not put too much pressure on the back or harm the back. So I think it's okay to contract your abs during the exercise. During the breaks in between you can breathe in and out normally, letting the belly come out and letting the abs to relax as you breathe in. Not sure if this makes it any clearer, so for what it's worth.

 

[aragorn]

The abs was just for reference to let you know how I found out about this. When people train their abs they need to breath out with the diaphragm and of course make the belly descend to gain fully contraction, as simple as that.

I think that you're misunderstanding the process. The diaphragm doesn't contract when you breath out, nor can you contract it by contracting the abs. The whole idea is to relax the abs when you inhale - that's when the diaphragm contracts (via a nerve signal), and your belly expands outwards. When we breathe out, the diaphragm relaxes, and the belly starts moving inwards.

No offense but you are over complicating things with that description, I have no idea about the neck use nor the pectorals. What I'm asking is if i'm breathing out improperly when the only part that goes down or descend is the belly from the area of the belly button, because I used to breath out and instead of just making the belly contract I just tried to pull up my guts.

But, learning is fun, isn't it? ;)

If you've inhaled properly, using the diaphragm (descended, contracted) and just let the air out in a relaxed manner, then I would think that largely only the middle section moves inward. It's like just letting go, no 'abs' are consciously activated.

Now, if you want to extend your exhalation, like in Pipe Breathing - that's when you start contracting those muscles I mentioned in the previous post. You do it after the point where the relaxed exhaling would have ended. But I don't think you need to analyze it too much - just deciding that I'm gonna exhale until the count reaches 9, often makes these muscles active in a natural way. As I said, the main muscles for extending exhalation are the pelvic floor and the "inner abdominal muscles on the sides", that's were you should feel contraction.

Consciously 'pulling up your guts' does sound like too much. To avoid tension and stiffness during exhalation, I would recommend not to harden the upper section of the belly, e.g. solar plexus. This is what you do if you lift something heavy - when you do this you can also feel the throat and glottis (space between the vocal chords) closing very tightly. The belly button going inward (not upward) is okay, that means your using the pelvic floor muscles.

 

[SeekinTruth]

I agree with Aragorn. It's important to understand how the whole thing works and (re)train your body to use the proper optimal breathing using the diaphragm which is specifically designed to pull air into the lungs and then relax during exhalation. It's not hard to learn proper belly breathing through the EE program. Then after a short period of proper practice, you start to breath with the diaphragm automatically all the time.

 

[mimimari]

I would like to share my experience with the EE breathing program. I have been doing the program for a couple years, but not on a regular schedule. I will have months where I do EE a couple times a week and then months when I don't do it at all. I am currently trying to do it more regularly, on Mondays and Thursdays. I used to do EE in the morning, but I am finding I like to do it more in the afternoon or evening.

A few things I have noticed is that the bio energetic breathing part has become easier. I used to find it difficult to keep up with the pace when the breathing became faster, but that has subsided and I can do it much more smoothly now.

Many other forum members have reported a tingling feeling at various points in their bodies. I have felt the same tingling sensation in my hands, arms, and face. Sometimes my face and hands becomes stuck in a certain position during the bio energetic stage, then they become unstuck during the meditation portion—hope that makes sense.

Sometimes during the program I become very thirsty for water (which is difficult to drink if my face and hands are stuck), I also start burping a lot, even if I have not eaten or drunk anything. The past few times during the meditation portion, while laying down, I felt as if I'm laying on the wall and not the floor. Like in a vertical position rather than a horizontal position, it's difficult to describe.

My cats usually lay next to me while I am doing EE, although they get a little freaked out during the Worriers Breath, but they don't run away or anything. I do zone out during the meditation portion and bring myself back to Laura's voice saying the POTS. After doing the full program I always feel calm and relaxed, yet energized and focused.

I'm really enjoying doing EE and am thankful to Laura and everyone who helped make it possible. I have not had an emotional experience while doing the program, but it does really help me handle the anger and frustration I feel everyday.

 

[monotonic]

I'm surprised you can breathe that hard without your nose freezing and falling off! As I understand it is okay to breathe gently during the beatha or round-breathing. I don't know what effect exactly the strength of breath has, aside from turning your fingers into stiff claws. I had the impression at the beginning that beatha was supposed to be forceful, and I'm not really sure why. I had to stop that because it was painful for my nose.

I was told that beatha was somehow symbolic of the cycles of life, and that it isn't necessary to breathe fully in or out, just don't breathe shallowly.

There is an Eiriu Eolas FAQ here if you haven't found it yet. It's very worth reading through every now and then even if you've read it before.