Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Z...]

I always use to meditate in lotus position - With EE I go through round breathing and ba ha in this position and then I lay down for meditation portion. I was tempted to cross one leg over the other (tarot hanged man postion) as this is the position I find very relaxing and comfortable but I ve been avoiding it since Laura instructed not to cross our legs or arms. I didn't think much about it just wanted to do everything literally following the instructions.
But i noticed one thing. My yoga teacher said that we should never meditate laying because the chances are we will fall asleep. In fact whenever I tried to meditate whilst lying down I would indeed fall asleep.
Funnily enough this doesn't happen with EE, I only zoned out once.

Reporting more on the effects... I found that inner smile that use to permeate my body during sessions now lasts longer i.e I am able to recreate this feeling more and more during day to day activities. I found this to be extremely helpful as my job can at times be very stressful.
In general I am more peaceful and at ease with myself and able to observe myself with more clarity.
'Divine cosmic mind live in me now' is indeed powerful mantra for all those pesky situations of daily grind.

 

[Windmill knight]

After venting in the Swamp recently, I decided to re-read Mouravieff’s comments on moral bankruptcy, which can be found in chapter XVI of Gnosis I. What he says is very relevant to our work with the breathing program, especially in the light of the emotional turmoil that many of us are experiencing. And having read through the recent posts on this thread, after I typed up this post, makes me think that Mouravieff’s comments could be very helpful.

Hi mada85. At the moment I am (almost done) reading Dabrowski's Personality-shaping Through Positive Disintegration and I find that what he is proposing in psychological terms is very close to Mouravieff's description of the moral bankruptcy and the process of developing a magnetic center. It has been helpful for me because my emotional turmoil - that came along at the time I started breathing and praying, and I suspect in part because of that - has been mostly of a moral nature.

Basically, what Dabrowski calls a multilevel disintegration (which is 'positive' if it bears the result of a reintegration at a higher level), is an inner conflict full of the symptoms that most psychologists would consider psychoneurotic and 'pathological', such as guilt, shame, obsession, depression, anxiety, nervousness, etc. Dabrowski doesn't think they are signs of illness, but signs of the potential of accelerated development. The disintegration is called 'multilevel' (as opposed to 'unilevel') because lower and higher elements of the self are in conflict, i.e. egocentric and primitive instincts vs moral values, humanistic ideals and altero-centrism (altruism).

The conflict can start in different ways, for example with a shock or shocks from external life, but it becomes multilevel only when we realize that we haven't lived up to our own moral standards (thus the term 'moral bankruptcy' seems very appropriate). It can be painful and quite prolonged, lasting months, years or even a lifetime, but it is possible that eventually a conscious directing center together with other psychic dynamisms (which as a whole are more or less M's magnetic center and its functions) will form around the ideal of a new self and begin to reorganize the psyche into what will become the 'Personality' (Dabrowski calls 'personality' the integrated result of this process, so it shouldn't be confused with the 'false personality' of Mouravieff).

Dabrowski mentions a few things which are helpful to achieve the secondary integration, and interestingly, among others: inspirational literature, the help of a qualified educator (in our case, the network), and meditation and contemplation!

Anyway I just thought I would put him on the table as I've found him useful and hopeful to navigate the turmoil. There's a book of essays about Dabrowski's theory that can be purchased through Red Pill Press.

P.S: Happy anniversary Ark & Laura! Hugs, hugs.

 

[Stevie]

I'd just like to say thanks to Laura and all the Chateau folk for making this programme possible.

I've been doing the full programme twice a week for over a month now and have seen some results which in itself is astounding. Last Monday I was listening to the accompanying audio during the meditation part, really concentrating on the meaning of the Prayer, and at the point of 'Saviour of the Soul' part, I just felt an overwhelming sadness. I've really nothing to compare this to (well, with meditation anyway..), I mean what I was feeling at this time. I really cried for the first time in quite a long time, but logically I didn't know why I felt this pain? A calmness overcame me soon after and I got up/woke up feeling energised but couldn't get what happened out of my mind for a few days?

I also prefer to do the exercises lying down, but do the warm-up exercises before that too (that helps with the BaaHaa part which is amazing!)

Thanks folks
Stevie

 

[Human]

Thanks folks.

I've realized last night, while doing EE program in "sage position" again, that I complicate too much. I've lost sight of the whole purpose of the practice (one part is to get to know your real self), and been focusing on the exterior form instead on the "content".

Btw, last night during ba-ha part, I felt enormous pain and heaviness in upper shoulders and lower neck, but proceeded with exercise, and felt relaxation while meditating (left side of the body start filling with "something"). No significant difference (except of this funny feeling in my left side of the body), compared to previous exercises (performed in "whatever" body position) have been observed.

So, I suspect that all the thrill about EE program in "sage position" may be just reflection of my wishful thinking (maybe program that "I'm something special, because I've been doing it for so "long", and now even implemented something new in it" has been activated). :/
Anyway, it just shows me that I have even more work to do than expected.

So, I'll try Galahad's advice, and sit on the edge of my bed, and see how it works... ;)

 

[manitoban]

So, I'll try Galahad's advice, and sit on the edge of my bed, and see how it works..

Yeah, I think the main thing is to be comfortable. I have tried various positions, standing, sitting, but have settled on reclining for everything but the warrior's breath part. It goes more smoothly for me that way.

I did an extra session on the weekend and once again saw faces, but this time it was people from my past - wasn't expecting that! It's quite exciting how the program kind of unfolds with each of us having our own unique experiences, yet all of us are progressing in our own way. As Mrs. Tigersoap said earlier in the thread -" It just gets curiouser and curiouser as Alice would say.."

 

[Nathan]

Like some of the forum members on here, I came to this a couple of months late. I found the introduction audio very informative. Laura’s narration was confident and engaging. I must admit though, I was doing the pipe breathing incorrectly for the first week! I was saying “ha” without any constriction in the throat!

I’ve also given copies of the program to particularly interested friends and family members. (I found a cheap way to distribute to older folk who don’t own stereos, computers or portable music players by purchasing older generation iPod shuffles on eBay and loading only the meditation audio on there for when they have watched the video on DVD and are ready to do the program. I found a first-generation 512MB for $15 Aus, which is about $13US or 9 euros).

By the way, why was the video shot in the shade? It’s very underexposed, about 3 or 4 stops under. Was this on purpose or were certain conditions out of your control?

I've only done the full program 3 times so far and have very little to report compared to other members, which is okay. I'm not about to draw assumptions or hold expectations. I have experienced no faces, no physical suffering afterwards or being hit by a truck. I'm hoping this is just because I've been detoxing and fighting candida for nearly a year. No tingling, no visions of babies (I wanted that one, darn it!). All I can report is an incredible happiness and peace after the prayer, which sometimes moves me to tears. I zone out a fair bit during the prayer and seem to have no recollection of what happened or what I was doing; and at the end of the Ba-Ha breathing and during the prayer my body heats up from the solar plexus outwards. It is not like a typical increase in body temperature, but seems to radiate outwards. It's enough to throw my blanket off, but it feels pleasant.

It's taken me two weeks to read the 74 pages so far, but I thoroughly enjoy reading everyone's experiences and look forward to reading more. It's almost like reading the dream journal of a soul group. Which in a sense it probably is. :P

Thank you to everyone involved, you've done a wonderful job.

 

[tendrini]

Hi All -

This feels like sending a late birthday card, but I'd like to offer an overdue and heartfelt thanks to Laura and the Team for the gift of this program. I've been doing it every few days since I learned about it and it's made a big difference in my life.

For one thing, the awful, endless anxiety that has been with me for as long as I can remember has pretty much left me alone during this time. I know this is not the purpose of the program, but it's been of great benefit to me and I wonder if anyone else has had this experience.

I also find myself repeating the phrases of the prayer when I confront a problem - I find the phrases of the prayer very comforting.

Lastly, it's good to being "doing" something that might make a difference.

Tendrini

 

[aragorn]

I've only done the full program 3 times so far and have very little to report compared to other members, which is okay. I'm not about to draw assumptions or hold expectations. I have experienced no faces, no physical suffering afterwards or being hit by a truck. I'm hoping this is just because I've been detoxing and fighting candida for nearly a year. No tingling, no visions of babies (I wanted that one, darn it!). All I can report is an incredible happiness and peace after the prayer, which sometimes moves me to tears. I zone out a fair bit during the prayer and seem to have no recollection of what happened or what I was doing; and at the end of the Ba-Ha breathing and during the prayer my body heats up from the solar plexus outwards. It is not like a typical increase in body temperature, but seems to radiate outwards. It's enough to throw my blanket off, but it feels pleasant.

Hi Nathan. To me it sounds like quite a lot is happening, considering that you've done the program only 3 times. But I guess you're referring to doing the WHOLE program three times? In my experience many people have to keep doing breathing sessions for quite some time even to experience the "symptoms" you describe. My bioenergetic therapist always keeps reminding me: "Don't analyze, don't anticipate, expect nothing! Only then can the process develop freely." There's no doubt in my mind that you are on your way

 

[henry]

So, I'll try Galahad's advice, and sit on the edge of my bed, and see how it works... ;)

Be careful if you use the edge of your bed. It may not give as much support as a chair. I tried using my bed and the warrior's breath had me bouncing like a trampoline!

 

[Zadius Sky]

Be careful if you use the edge of your bed. It may not give as much support as a chair. I tried using my bed and the warrior's breath had me bouncing like a trampoline!

Just to be safe, I'd use a chair.

 

[mada85]

So, I suspect that all the thrill about EE program in "sage position" may be just reflection of my wishful thinking (maybe program that "I'm something special, because I've been doing it for so "long", and now even implemented something new in it" has been activated).

I hope this doesn’t confuse matters, but it may also be that you feel most comfortable sitting with your spine straight and unsupported, and that you’re using that as a focus for self-importance. I love doing the program on a kneeling stool, which helps to maintain that posture in a relaxed way. There are various designs of kneeling stool or kneeling chair. Have a look at these websites to see the sort of thing I mean:

_http://www.sitkneelchairs.co.uk/default.asp?

_http://www.bluebanyan.co.uk/jsp/main.jsp?lnk=130

 

[Alana]

It feels like a heavy depression but I don't especially have negative thoughts.

That's how i am feeling these days also. It is however as if this heaviness lies on a deeper layer inside, because on the surface i can talk and joke and be pleasant with everyone, go about my work and noone would suspect a thing. And then beneath (next, behind???) the depression part, there seems to be a calm part, where all are observed and are accepted. It is quite strange to me, i feel nothing like myself at all, yet i am somehow content even if it emotionally hurts at times.

During the breathing meditation parts lately it seems like a struggle to stay focused, as some of you experience, and my mind wants to wander and do its own thing too. Most often is thinking about what i read in the forum, or sott, or a book, trying to convince me that the reasons for its wanderings are noble! Ha! I know better than that.

Another thing that's been happening recently, if i do the EE program laying down, is that my right leg is doing some movements on its own, like it is pulling itself away from the pelvis, straightening it. It feels like chiropractic adjustments in a way.

And in my dreams i travel to countries i've never been before, and i recognize neighborhoods and understand the languages. In a train ride through India i heard a woman sing beautifully in her dialect a whole song about her love of her village and her people. And the colors in my dreams are so beautiful, so vivid But apart from traveling, unconscious stuff come to surface too in dreamland, and i find myself in situations where i have to resolve or come to terms with certain issues or situations from my past, mostly regarding relationships with family and friends.

Well, from all perspectives, this EE experience feels like an Odyssey to all of us so far, eh? ;) Reading all your posts here - after i came back from a trip and having to catch up to over 30 pages of posts! - i was thinking that this journey would have been impossible if we didn't have Laura's guidance, and each other :) Thanks to you ALL for sharing!

 

[Marcus-Aurelius]

But i noticed one thing. My yoga teacher said that we should never meditate laying because the chances are we will fall asleep. In fact whenever I tried to meditate whilst lying down I would indeed fall asleep.
Funnily enough this doesn't happen with EE, I only zoned out once.
Reporting more on the effects... I found that inner smile that use to permeate my body during sessions now lasts longer i.e I am able to recreate this feeling more and more during day to day activities. I found this to be extremely helpful as my job can at times be very stressful.
In general I am more peaceful and at ease with myself and able to observe myself with more clarity.
'Divine cosmic mind live in me now' is indeed powerful mantra for all those pesky situations of daily grind.

I have zoned out everytime I did the program, for some short instants during the baha portion and during the entire meditation portion. I just come back to hear the ending music. What am experiencing now more and more is an electrical surge coming from my belly and expanding to all my body and recently in acouple of occasions a pressure on the 3rd eye area.

 

[broken.english]

I recently got a reminder from Laura not to combine EE and Reiki in one session:

I want to suggest that you do not try to "jump the gun". I sorta suspect that if the Cs had thought that anyone needed to do more than the breathing and meditating right now, they would have said so.

Keep in mind that, the instant any system is formulated for a positive purpose, there will be a whole raft of "thoughts" or "novel ideas" that just appear in the mind that seem to be useful, but can be due to either the predator's mind, programming, or thought wave transmission from STS sources with the intent of destroying your ability to actually make positive progress.

The Cs did not suggest using Reiki with the breathing/meditation, or anything else. So please, for now, all of you just follow the program as it is.

Thanks, Laura.

I followed the advice and am now doing the breathing exercises without Reiki. At first I was rather insecure, if I could accomplish this simple task. The reason is that Reiki comes so easily for me. When I am grounded and hands are on the body I am in Reiki mode. I therefore carefully observed whether the pipe breathing with hands on body would lead me into a Reiki session and I also tried pipe breathing with hands off the body. My observations are that

- pipe breathing leads to an energized feeling in feet and hands no matter, if I have the hands on body or not.

- this feeling is much more stable compared to Reiki, which varies a lot in intensity and also feels a bit different

- I still feel the need to do Reiki sessions even on days when I do the complete breathing and meditation program. It may even come automatically when I am in bed.

My conclusion is that there is no interference between the breathing and Reiki and I can do it according to the current protocol as everybody else here.

Since I started the breathing exercises and meditation my Reiki experience has changed quite a bit:

- the lower positions from hips through upper body are done very quickly, sometimes in less than a minute

- the current focus is on the head positions, forehead, top and back of head and I have several energy surges in these positions, which mostly come in a rather short sequence. These are the same areas, which are affected by EE according to some members here.

I am now contemplating two questions:

- What exactly is the relation between EE and Reiki?
It seems that there is a very close relation and some overlapping effects at least on the surface but until now I am not getting any closer to an answer.

- A little worry: could Reiki be hijacked by EM wave artists and counterbalance the positive effects of EE?
I had this thought when I recently had to interrupt a session due to a kind of flash in my solar plexus area and a subsequent unpleasant feeling. I have been experiencing such things for years though and it could as well be caused by my kidneys, which are not in very good condition.


Other than that I am also having some zoning out experiences:

- I repeatedly zoned out in the FIR sauna. This already started months ago and long before the EE program. It is more like getting tired and taking a little nap. As the sauna is supposed to keep infections at bay I think it could be a side effect of bacterial die-off, a Herxheimer reaction.

- if I am correct with the above, then my first real zoning out was not during meditation but during a recent Reiki session. Sorry, if anybody feels bothered by my Reiki stuff. I am done now.

- The next one happened when I was reading "Conscience" from the Fourth Way e-book collection. Ouspensky writes about his personal attempts in self-remembering by walking through a city, trying to maintain the status of self-remembering and losing it from one second to the other. I paused a little and thought about my first zoning out and that it came also from one second to the next. The I had this light feeling in my head and zoned out. Just for a second or so and zoned in. It was a funny experience. Maybe my subconsciousness likes a little joke here and there. It felt like this.

- During the last meditation I also zoned out. It is somehow good to know that I can zone out like everybody else.


Due to my experiments with breathing and related thinking I got special reminder from Laura:

ADDED: Clearing emotional blocks/burdens and karmic blocks/burdens is the prerequisite for doing anything else. Notice also that the main OTHER thing that is continued throughout this process is "knowledge input on a continuous basis."

Your ability to discern is based on being able to remove your blinders and increase your knowledge. The very fact that you still think that you can think with the way you think is evidence that you are not free of emotional blocks nor have you increased your knowledge.

Think about it.

Thanks for this too and I took the opportunity to read Mme. de Salzmann's essay First Initiation, which I find quite helpful for me and my current state of thinking. Or should I say almost thinking?

Link: http://www.gurdjieff.org/salzmann3.htm

 

[Gawan]

Like I said, I often just curled up on the bed to rock and cry and feel sorry for myself at every stage of my life, and in every life I ever lived, and feel sorry for everybody else around me, those I hurt and who hurt me and didn't mean it... and so on.

Something similar happened last week to me, not that I had to curl up in bed, but I just felt sorry for all the stupid things I have done.
Thanks for sharing Laura.

Be careful if you use the edge of your bed. It may not give as much support as a chair. I tried using my bed and the warrior's breath had me bouncing like a trampoline!

Just to be safe, I'd use a chair.

I'm sitting on the floor and while doing it, the furniture is shaking a little bit.
But it's a funny thought imagining doing it on the bed, but I cannot remember right now if I tried it also... ;)

Well, from all perspectives, this EE experience feels like an Odyssey to all of us so far, eh? ;) Reading all your posts here - after i came back from a trip and having to catch up to over 30 pages of posts! - i was thinking that this journey would have been impossible if we didn't have Laura's guidance, and each other :) Thanks to you ALL for sharing!

I skipped it till weekend until I could take the time to follow up all the multifarious experiences. I believe it's great, because so it's possible that someone can find an experience that is similar to him or her.

I really cried for the first time in quite a long time, but logically I didn't know why I felt this pain?

Yes that happens and happend also to me, that I don't know why I'm crying (It's just a relief doing so), I think as Laura explained there can be many things going on within us, some are conscious and some not.


Today's meditation has been again very intense.
Before I started I had been in absolute stress, the heart beat wildly and I couldn't calm down, so I took the chance: now I make a test myself, starting the program.
And well, it has been relaxing after I finished the 3 stage breathing, no tensity anymore.

During the Beatha-part I saw again someone burning (like what has been done to heretics in middle ages) and there has been also, I call it, a silent screaming (to have the mouth open in a screaming position, but making no sound), my body has been shaking a little bit in consequence. And a sentence from Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the rings, part III, last minutes of the film) is occurring very often in my mind: "Just let it go."
And it's a great advice, again, to have a pillow around to hug it or beat it.

I also saw several pictures during the Beatha and meditation part, the pawn from Pepperfritz and crop circles (crop circles I see now very often anyway) and one crop circle occurred now several times, maybe because I like this one personally so much I don't know. But an interpretation came up in conclusion with the prayer of the soul ("Be my daily bread, as I give bread to others")

On the one hand something is heating within you (feeding) and on the other hand you give it to others and it is interconnected somehow an neverending and depending on each other process maybe.

One last thing, I also felt a pleasant heat in the heart region during the meditation.