Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Xico]

Hi :

well my diet, i have changed it since i read something about it, and this feeling beat up...yes it pain in my body, feel tired....

 

[Ennio]

I like to do EE at least an hour before I think I'll start to get drowsy so I can be awake towards the end for pots. Having said that, I am quite often so relaxed that I sometimes fall asleep anyway! You can also try scheduling EE for the afternoon when you are less likely to fall asleep.

For more information about people's experiences with EE, you can see this thread too:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,12837.0.html

 

[Meg]

It could just be a detoxing affect as Turgon mentioned. Diet changes would be the best approach if that is the case. The Life without bread thread would be a good place to start. There is also a list of important threads here in the diet and health section.

 

[monotonic]

Hi :

well my diet, i have changed it since i read something about it, and this feeling beat up...yes it pain in my body, feel tired....

What are the changes you made?

 

[Erykah]

Hello Xico
Good to hear you have been practicing EE for some time now. Are the feelings you are having, being beat up and grumpy the next morning, something that has only started recently or has this been ongoing since you started the program?

Also wanted to ask if you are doing any of the warm up exercises demonstrated on the EE DVD before the breathing exercises? I ask because sometimes, after doing the EE practice regularly the body starts to release tensions we are holding onto. Doing the warm up exercises before the breath work helps you connect and feel where you maybe holding tensions/tightness in the body. When you settle down to do the pipe breathing exercises you can focus on letting any tension/tightness you felt release.

When I first started doing EE regularly I found it really hard to sit still, especially during the BaHa portion, it was a sensation like my body was too tense and tight to relax, so for several months I would literally pace back and forth during BaHa as a way to release built up tension. After a while this pacing stopped and I was able to sit and really enjoy Baha...now it is one of the most enjoyable parts of the program. :)

I found the information in the book "In An Unspoken Voice - How the body releases trauma and restores goodness" by Peter Levine, PhD. very helpful, it gave me a deeper understanding about how pain in the body can be stored trauma and how by doing small movement exercises, like the warm up exercises on the EE DVD can be very helpful in identifying and releasing tension. Below is a link to a discussion about Levine's book:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,23581.30.html

 

[Torstone]

Hi,

to me the breathing program have been an essential part of my ability to return back from stressfilled emotions.
For a long period though it was only used as the perfect "sleeping pill" because it easily puts me to sleep.

I have close to never done the EE-program at the beginning or in the middle of the day,
always thinking I don't have the time preferring to read, or study instead so I have the feeling of doing something.
While the breathing program really calms me down at night it often also spark tons of ideas of how I can solve problems,prioritize my time,
approach reading material etc. in other words not thinking in an emotional stressed out way but in a more long term sustainable way.
And than it is usually to late for me to take a real look at these things and a new day begins, same as the old..

So I am implementing the program to the middle of the day where I am the most productive so I can be more
in controll and not let the emotions drift me in every direction prompting behavior that should be based on a plan
and long-term actions rather than the terror of the situation.

What surprises me the most was my inability to really SEE the efficiency of the Breathing program after a long time doing it, my understanding of emotions was not sufficient and I used it as a tool to just "feel good" rather than helping me to take a closer look and release emotions in
a safe way. In other words I got the end-product but did not understand what happened behind the scenes.

The books The Polyvagal Theory and The Archaeology of Mind I feel really brought this home for me.

 

[Michal]

Hi,

After almost two months practising EE 5 days a week I have following experiences:

1. My heart feels stronger. I may count already one year I had very intensive period in my life in work and at home. I was tired and working like slave. I felt that this is not going in good direction but it was slow and it was not switching me off completely so I was managing it. Anyway since I've started the program my strange feeling in left upper part of my torso is gone.

2. I have a bit more energy. I mean "a bit" is subjective - I am rarely satisfied with what I do and how much I do so this is my quirk.
For example this week I was reading a lot about farming, also Gabor Mate and almost every day I was going to sleep around 12 p.m.. Normally recently it was sure that I would be completely useless next day but now I feel tired but it is not that feeling of being drained like before.

3. For the moment I do not have any emotional issues after EE. Maybe my body is still exhausted and not ready to take more yet? My hypothesis. Anyway I like to shout making warrior's breath :). Baha is making me so calm that I am ready to fall asleep.

Just a question to You - I have one colleague in work who has this electronic device in his chest for heart (google translate = pacemaker???). I have not read Polyvagal Theory yet (collecting dust for the moment on my book shelf) and I am not sure if I may recommend this type of breathing to him?
After I felt difference for myself, thought came to me that maybe he could also benefit?
Anyone here has experience with EE and this kind of device? Thanks.

 

[Gawan]

Thanks for your updates Torstone and Mikel.

Hi,

After almost two months practising EE 5 days a week I have following experiences:

Did you practice the entire program 5 days a week? I ask because the beatha part should only be practiced 2 times a week to give emotions time to be released. The rest of the program can be practiced five times a week without any problems as far as I'm aware of.

Just a question to You - I have one colleague in work who has this electronic device in his chest for heart (google translate = pacemaker???). I have not read Polyvagal Theory yet (collecting dust for the moment on my book shelf) and I am not sure if I may recommend this type of breathing to him?
After I felt difference for myself, thought came to me that maybe he could also benefit?
Anyone here has experience with EE and this kind of device? Thanks.

Imo he should be more careful especially with warriors breath and beatha as far as I'm concerned and take it slowly in general even with the three stage breathing that he still feels comfortable. At least these are my two cents and maybe he should know, where his limits are in breathing, though maybe someone else could add something to it.

 

[Torstone]

Thanks for your updates Torstone and Mikel.

Hi,

After almost two months practising EE 5 days a week I have following experiences:

Did you practice the entire program 5 days a week? I ask because the beatha part should only be practiced 2 times a week to give emotions time to be released. The rest of the program can be practiced five times a week without any problems as far as I'm aware of.

Just a question to You - I have one colleague in work who has this electronic device in his chest for heart (google translate = pacemaker???). I have not read Polyvagal Theory yet (collecting dust for the moment on my book shelf) and I am not sure if I may recommend this type of breathing to him?
After I felt difference for myself, thought came to me that maybe he could also benefit?
Anyone here has experience with EE and this kind of device? Thanks.

Imo he should be more careful especially with warriors breath and beatha as far as I'm concerned and take it slowly in general even with the three stage breathing that he still feels comfortable. At least these are my two cents and maybe he should know, where his limits are in breathing, though maybe someone else could add something to it.

Hi, Mikel

I will not try to give a yes/no answer since I have no experience with the program and pacemakers combined, but my first tought was also to take it slow.

When you look at the EE-program in parts.
The pipebreathing activates the vagus nerve and one of the consequences is lowered heart rate.
The Warriors breath part involves quick in and out breath and will create a higer heart rate.
The BAHA part has both steady slow breathing and quick breathing, so the heartrate will change up and down.

So for the heart it is a controlled change by your conscious breathing.
During the BAHA part it may be more difficult to know how the heart will react since this part is involved in the
releasing of emotions, so if you for example have a fear-response in this part, your heart rate will go up more than usual, but much of the concept
behind the program is that this happens in a controlled manner so that things don`t go out of hand.

And since this is a more controlled way of doing it, it surely beats the sudden change caused by immediate stress
in the work place(for example).
And, you get the benefits of a more trained and resilient Sinoatrial Node(our own pacemaker) through the activation of the vagus nerve
and better emotional control so that this again lowers the risk of causing dramatic changes in heart rate.

So I think it comes down to how sensitive your friend is to changes in heart rate, if he knows his limits and why he has a pacemaker in the first place.
So a cautionary answer seems to be the best approach and to take it slow.

 

[monotonic]

I was doing the POTS in bed last night, and I began to have the sensation of falling asleep while still awake. This is the kind of sensation that usually accompanies lucid dreams and related strange experiences. I resisted falling asleep by remaining aware of my surroundings and focusing on the POTS.

In the middle of the POTS, something new and unexpected happened. I fell into the in-between state between lucid dreams and waking. My proprioception and skin sensations changed to behave as though I was standing. I "knew" that I would be shot. That moment came, and then I felt as if I fell forward on the ground. Then I "knew" that I would be dragged somewhere, and that I would very soon die. I felt someone put their arms around my chest to lift and drag me, then a tension in my chest, which then burst, and then nothing.

It was strange, like it was a recording, with just proprioception and skin sensations, but without pain and only a small amount of contextual information included.

 

[Wisteria]

Just finished practicing EE, and I thought I would share my experience as it is something that happens with some regularity (although not all the time).

I find that during the three stage breathing I get rather panicky. During the 2 second hold, I can feel my whole body starting to tense up because I desperately want to take that next inhale. I try to relax myself and hold on, but sometimes I simply cannot, so I relent and take a few normal breaths before continuing. I used to really beat myself up when this happened, until I realised that I was defeating the whole purpose of practising EE by doing so. So now I try to take it a little easier on myself, and just do what I can do.

I believe these feelings of panic probably stem from my childhood. I was born an asthmatic, and suffered rather severely throughout my childhood. For long periods of time I needed to use a nebulizer a few times a day, and middle of the night mad rushes to the emergency room were frequent. When I was three years old it morphed into full blown pneumonia. Apparently I was very close to death. The thing is, I can remember this experience rather vividly, especially the gasping desperately for air. It was terrifying.

I guess I should just continue to be easy on myself during the three stage breathing, but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I would love to hear them.

 

[Gawan]

Just finished practicing EE, and I thought I would share my experience as it is something that happens with some regularity (although not all the time).

I find that during the three stage breathing I get rather panicky. During the 2 second hold, I can feel my whole body starting to tense up because I desperately want to take that next inhale. I try to relax myself and hold on, but sometimes I simply cannot, so I relent and take a few normal breaths before continuing. I used to really beat myself up when this happened, until I realised that I was defeating the whole purpose of practising EE by doing so. So now I try to take it a little easier on myself, and just do what I can do.

I believe these feelings of panic probably stem from my childhood. I was born an asthmatic, and suffered rather severely throughout my childhood. For long periods of time I needed to use a nebulizer a few times a day, and middle of the night mad rushes to the emergency room were frequent. When I was three years old it morphed into full blown pneumonia. Apparently I was very close to death. The thing is, I can remember this experience rather vividly, especially the gasping desperately for air. It was terrifying.

I guess I should just continue to be easy on myself during the three stage breathing, but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I would love to hear them.

Hi wisteria and I'm sorry to hear what you have gone through, have you tried to do your own counting, so that you don't have to force yourself? The main important part is when counting for yourself, that you only need to exhale longer than you inhale, just as an example you could try 4 (inhaling) - 2 (stop) - 7 (exhaling). Or just try to experiment that makes you feel comfortable, or you could count faster too the original rythm (6-3-9).

 

[Erykah]

Hi Wisteria
I agree with Gawan about the suggestion quoted below:

Hi wisteria and I'm sorry to hear what you have gone through, have you tried to do your own counting, so that you don't have to force yourself? The main important part is when counting for yourself, that you only need to exhale longer than you inhale, just as an example you could try 4 (inhaling) - 2 (stop) - 7 (exhaling). Or just try to experiment that makes you feel comfortable, or you could count faster too the original rythm (6-3-9).

The most important part is to feel comfortable and not force yourself past your comfort level, the idea, like you shared, is to not to create more tension and stress in the body, but to find a rhythm that works best for you, in the moment. This may differ day to deepening on your stress levels and emotional state. Remember the exercises are a practice and with conscious, sustained, effort the practice becomes more natural over time. One of the benefits of a regular practice of EE is, over a period of time, you will increase lung capacity ;)
Hope this helps :)

 

[Wisteria]

Hi wisteria and I'm sorry to hear what you have gone through, have you tried to do your own counting, so that you don't have to force yourself? The main important part is when counting for yourself, that you only need to exhale longer than you inhale, just as an example you could try 4 (inhaling) - 2 (stop) - 7 (exhaling). Or just try to experiment that makes you feel comfortable, or you could count faster too the original rythm (6-3-9).

Thanks Gawan. That is a really good idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it previously. Very sensible and logical.

The most important part is to feel comfortable and not force yourself past your comfort level, the idea, like you shared, is to not to create more tension and stress in the body, but to find a rhythm that works best for you, in the moment. This may differ day to deepening on your stress levels and emotional state. Remember the exercises are a practice and with conscious, sustained, effort the practice becomes more natural over time. One of the benefits of a regular practice of EE is, over a period of time, you will increase lung capacity ;)
Hope this helps :)

Very good points. :) It definitely does differ each time I practice. Some days I have no problem whatsoever.

I'll keep on practicing, but make sure that I take it easier on myself. Cheers! :D

 

[aragorn]

Just finished practicing EE, and I thought I would share my experience as it is something that happens with some regularity (although not all the time).

I find that during the three stage breathing I get rather panicky. During the 2 second hold, I can feel my whole body starting to tense up because I desperately want to take that next inhale. I try to relax myself and hold on, but sometimes I simply cannot, so I relent and take a few normal breaths before continuing. I used to really beat myself up when this happened, until I realised that I was defeating the whole purpose of practising EE by doing so. So now I try to take it a little easier on myself, and just do what I can do.

I believe these feelings of panic probably stem from my childhood. I was born an asthmatic, and suffered rather severely throughout my childhood. For long periods of time I needed to use a nebulizer a few times a day, and middle of the night mad rushes to the emergency room were frequent. When I was three years old it morphed into full blown pneumonia. Apparently I was very close to death. The thing is, I can remember this experience rather vividly, especially the gasping desperately for air. It was terrifying.

I guess I should just continue to be easy on myself during the three stage breathing, but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I would love to hear them.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like you might not be "filling up from the bottom". That is, your expansion with the inhale goes too quickly to the upper parts of the body, without filling the "root" or lower part first. Holding the air with the chest (upper part) without having first filled the "basement" will cause a feeling of panic. Think of it as filling up a glass of wine (with water!): you start at the bottom, then slowly fill it up. The idea of the hold is not to do it only with your chest or whole ribcage. Instead, the diaphragm plays a crucial role: you can think of it as a beach ball that you are pressing under the water - the 'hold' is the feeling of keeping it under water, despite the tendency for it to bounce back up on the surface. When you master this, you can incorporate more of the lower ribs, perhaps even sternum. But always start by feeling the diaphragm going as low as possible - one teacher told me, that when you do it properly, it feels as your hips are expanding to the sides!

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. :)