161–170 of 174 posts
I have a bad habit of holding my breath for a long time. I don't do it on purpose, sometimes when I'm super focused I just notice I haven't taken a breathe in a while. Its kind of alarming tbh when it happens, not sure if maybe this will help.
1 point by dragonsh 3 minutes ago | root | parent | next | edit | delete [–] I follow these simple rules for breathing 1. Breathe to stomach not chest. 2. Breathe by nose (unless swimming or underwater). 3. Inhalation time and exhalation time should be equal and gap between inhalation and exhalation should be sum of it. If it takes x seconds to inhale exhalation should begin after 2x seconds and should finish in x se…
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Apparently among the other things it develops are a contempt for most of humanity?
Saying that science done in Europe and the US about ancient Asian breathing techniques is embarrassing is way less offensive than thinking that Europe and the US are most of humanity.
I am ambivalent about "western science", it's very useful, there are also other modes of inquiry and discovery that are useful.
However, it's funny to think that one might do lots of meditation and consciousness altering meditation, which some people say can lead to some form of enlightenment, spiritual calm, and/or compassion for humanity, and instead it leads you to sum up those who don't follow your directions as "mindlessly scrolling, eating hamburgers and watching football" in a generally contemptuous screed.
I have a bad habit of holding my breath for a long time. I don't do it on purpose, sometimes when I'm super focused I just notice I haven't taken a breathe in a while. Its kind of alarming tbh when it happens, not sure if maybe this will help.
Why is that a bad habit? What are the negative consequences?
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Ehhh. a) "Box Breathing", as mentioned in the article. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold. Same rate for each step. Ex: in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. Repeat as long as you like. Very calming and "centering" (in the sense of moving you toward "neutral" physiologically). More effective if you can breathe through nose and use diaphragm/belly breathing, but that's optional. b) "Coherent Breathing". Inhale, exhale,…
What if controlled breathing gives you a feeling of dyspnea?
2) Change what you're doing. I don't know what you're doing, but the most common trigger for this in my narrow piece of the world is people pushing too far too soon. ex: shorten the count, or lengthen the count. Experiment, basically.
3) As an option to consider: ignore it and keep going. Some forms of breathing exercises make me feel on the verge of panic momentarily. It appears to be related to changes in the level of carbon dioxide where the brain mistakenly believes it is suffocating. The only two things that have worked for me are ignoring it or changing my timing slightly and building up a tolerance. (Well, a third: ensuring I am adequately hydrated.)
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Another one is "meditation with a seed" and "meditation without a seed". From Raja Yoga. Translated. Samprajnata Dhyana and Asamprajnata Dhyana, respectively.
From what I know, meditation without a seed is "just" observing your own mind, with full attention, to let it release to its natural state (kun-dzi).
When you say OM (Aum) out loud properly you do controlled breathing. Here is the way I was taught. 1. relax. 2. deep inhale. 3. pause (1 count) 4. say 'O' (2 or 3 counts, you can stretch it further if you can). Here you are basically exhaling through mouth. 5. slowly transition from 'O' to 'M'. for a brief period in the transition try to say 'O' nasally. might need a bit of practice but basically you are slowly trans…
3 Steps, to be repeated thrice in the order written.
1. Stretch O and keep M short.
2. Keep O and M equal length.
3. Keep O short and stretch M.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Saying that science done in Europe and the US about ancient Asian breathing techniques is embarrassing is way less offensive than thinking that Europe and the US are most of humanity.
I didn't say anything involved was "offensive"! I am ambivalent about "western science", it's very useful, there are also other modes of inquiry and discovery that are useful. However, it's funny to think that one might do lots of meditation and consciousness altering meditation, which some people say can lead to some form of enlightenment, spiritual calm, and/or compassion for humanity, and instead it leads you to s…
Musicians and athletes practice structured breathing as a way of building cardio and increasing lung capacity. Your lungs don't change, you just learn to control airflow better. The way "ancient traditions" are frequently framed makes me avoid and treat them like pseudoscience. Framing it from the persepctive of an athlete helped me evaluate it more seriously. Mindful meditation is beneficial but completely indepedent from breathing exercises and you don't need the former to get benefits from the latter.
I am not arguing the value or validity of "ancient techniques", I am sharing my initial bias when I was first introduced to pranayama, and how it's taught as if it exists in isolation. This post doesn't mention sports or singing/musicians once.
There's many techniques but box breathing where you take extra air in after you feel like your lungs are full, and a longer period exhaling than inhaling, is the primary technique I was taught for marching band/trombone. The "cyclic sighing" described in the paper, but with a longer inhale and exhale. We did, at ~80 bpm, 4 counts for inhale, 4 counts of holding, and 8 counts of exhale, with whatever extra "sip" of air we could manage to inhale during the hold. If you're not used to breathing exercises, doing 4+4+8 a few times can leave you light headed. It's normal to cough from the extra sip of air.
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I am beyond disinterested in football. Don't really like hamburgers much. And it's certainly debatable how mindfully I scroll. I find value in mindfulness and am open to suggestions and teachings on breathing and meditation. But you'll need a heeeeeelllaaaa more data before you casually add "psychic powers" to the claims :-)