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Chrisk
USA
87 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 05 2011 : 5:12:54 PM
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This has been with me for quite some time now, about a year, or so, I' m a long time practitioner of meditation coming from another discipline and new to AYP, well, it happens that after a few days of vigorous deep meditation, I experience significant shortness of breath and inability to run, or go up a flight of stairs without having to stop to catch my breath. I even went to the doctor for a full medical and he said everything ok, but still get this strange shortness of breath, which it seems I isolated it to be caused by over- meditation.
I talked to another person doing the same spiritual work as me and he also replied that he was experiencing the same thing after days of long meditation. If we are right, it seems meditation is causing this since I stopped myself any pranayama, or other activity.
Would anyone have a clue as to why this effect is happening? I' d appreciate very much if someone can shed some light on this activity.
Thank you again very much,
Chris.
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chas
USA
209 Posts |
Posted - Jan 05 2011 : 7:19:01 PM
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Hey Chris,
Consider practicing diaphragmatic breathing. Start your inhale with the diaphragm muscle located at the base of the lungs. Breath in with the muscle until it reaches it's limit. Exhale by squeezing in the muscle. Make sure you squeeze all the way in and get all the air out. If you are doing it right, you will notice that your belly rises and falls and your chest area doesn't move much. Practice this technique when ever you remember. In time, your diaphragm will get very strong and you will have trained yourself to breath correctly (that is if you currently breath into your middle lung area like most westerners). Most westerners rely on the middle lung area too much. For maximimum lung capacity, you start the inhale with the diaphragm and when your lower lung area is full, breath into the middle lung area, then into to upper lung area..Google diaphramagtic breathing for more info. - chas |
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Jan 06 2011 : 04:31:35 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Chrisk
Would anyone have a clue as to why this effect is happening? I' d appreciate very much if someone can shed some light on this activity.
Hi Chris,
That is an interesting question. You will need to experiment for yourself to learn what is going on in your particular mind/body journey, but here is my guess about what is going on.
You said you are doing Deep Meditation. Are you doing any pranayama? Perhaps what you are experiencing is an automatic constriction of the muscles associated with and preparing for yogic breath retention. Your inner yoga body is leading you into slow-down mode where not much breath is needed. Your decision to do active aerobic exercise is willfully going in a different direction.
What if you willfully did spinal breathing pranayama? Experimenting with SBP might get you in touch with what your body is telling you. Note that according to Lesson 62, over time, there are natural shifts in breath cycle during the practice of AYP SBP. The practice instructions allow for going with where the body is leading rather than trying to force a breath cycle.
http://www.aypsite.org/62.html
Be |
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Chrisk
USA
87 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2011 : 5:13:26 PM
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Hello and thank you very much. Diaphragmatic breathing is basically abdominal breathing, isn' t it? Wel I do some as it comes natural sometimes and for my sport, kung fu, etc.
AS for pranayama, I find it exacerbates things so I avoid it. I know Don Yogani recommends we do pranayama as a means for male energy to unite breifly with female energy but to me, it doesnt help much, though I do so now and then just to test things out and take it from there.
Thank you very much,
Chris.
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Jan 07 2011 : 5:34:40 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Chrisk
I find it exacerbates things so I avoid it.
Chris:
You wrote of SBP: "I find it exacerbates things..." What things? Are you saying that it exacerbates the problem of "shortness of breath"?
Be |
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awaevo
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2011 : 08:42:52 AM
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Hi Chris-
I used to experience the same thing. It started when I would fast for a few days. I would notice an extreme shortness of breath and tension around my solar plexus. It was very uncomfortable. Then it began to happen regarless of my diet. I would often get a headache just from trying to draw in a decent amount of air.
The first thing that helped me was - not "trying" to breath deeply and slowly as I was accustomed to doing. When I would get short of breath, I would allow my body to breath however it saw fit. I would just concentrate on keeping the breath soft and smooth. Also, keeping a breathing ratio of 2:4 (inhilation:exhilation) helped a lot (a ratio like that is supposed to expel toxins). So no matter how fast I was breathing I would keep that ratio consistant. I notcied that after a while my breath would begin to get longer and deeper. And if it Didn't get deeper, at least I wasn't struggling to breath.
The thing that has finally began to "fix" me, seems to be kapalbhati. It does wonders if I do a vigerous session before I meditate. |
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Chrisk
USA
87 Posts |
Posted - Jan 08 2011 : 5:19:41 PM
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Hello BeWell,
Pranayama exarbates my kundalini symptoms. I' m new to AYP, I come from a different discipline, I' ve been doing kung fu for about 5 years now. Kung fu has a lot of breath control inlcuding the Small Circulation which we were accustomed to do. In addition to this, well, it has a multitude of other kinds of breathings, some include vortexes in various areas of the body, reverse Small Circulation, abdominal breathing, normal lung breathing at specific times and we also time breaths according to our rate of punch, etc, etc.
In addition to these we' ve been doing basic and advanced chi kong work as well as ground exercises and yoga.
Anyways, we were also encouraged to have a meditative, or Ki kong state of mind, well, it seems I was doing this wrong, probably none of the practitioners do really know well how to meditate as it' s tough to empty the mind, etc.
Furthermore, we were doing some circulation of chi, we basically were learning how chi travels and where it goes in the body as well as how to develop chi.
Well, the outcome is that it is a little mess the whole thing. The result is that students/ instructors end up a little innervated in the end, might I say aggressive and it' s difficult to hold the practice after that.
I basically stopped when I saw that I wasn' t going anywhere, or that it was perhaps damaging, since the instructors themselves werent actually very skilled at what they taught and had personality problems.
Now I am trying to smooth out any kundalini symptoms surfaced out of all this ordeal that is why I am on AYP.
If you can help me additionally of the AYP lessons and of course the Books by Yogani which I started purchasing, I would appreciate very much. My mission now is to learn all there is to learn of this whole practice and move on from there.
Just one last note, is that people should probably stay away from such sports as Kung Fu and Karate since especially the internal aspect of them is too mysterious and capricious to be mastered, thus perhaps creating damage as well. Perhaps they are only good for exercise and that' s it. |
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2011 : 09:41:26 AM
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Chris
I have been reading and re-reading what you have said. I have been pondering it and relating it to my experience. Like you I am sensitive to the kundalini energy in my body. Like you, I often have relative shortness of breath. I say relative because I have some sense that I could be breathing deeper, but actually I do not feel deprived of breath or oxygen.
My sense is that when you are doing your Deep Meditation practice, it is the pranic energy rising that results in your shortness of breath. My further hunch is that it will pass. It is all part of the purification process. Your breathing will return to your normal or some new normal, but in any case, you will find a balance again.
Thanks for sharing about your journey. It was really interesting.
Namaste,
Be
PS Another reason I have had shortness of breath sometimes is that I fill my belly with too much food. I have eaten too much as one method of "grounding" the pranic energy. When my stomach not full, I breathe much easier. |
Edited by - bewell on Jan 09 2011 09:51:34 AM |
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Chrisk
USA
87 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2011 : 10:56:40 AM
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Hello, Bewell,
My shortness of breath was/ is the kind that I would feel deprived of oxygen and the body would do shallow breaths. I was trying to breathe deeply bust still feeling depreived of oxygen and had to sit down and rest, or relax. Lately i feel better, much better to the extent that I think it is over. I believe it comes from the stress, psychological and physical that is present during kundalini symptoms, it' s been about couple months I' ve been on AYP and I beleive it is gone. Exercise helps also, so I try to do that and avoiding anymore any energy work from sports like karate, kung fu, etc. so it is much better now - thank god.
Thanks for all the info.
Chris.
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2011 : 11:11:21 AM
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| Oh, that's good news. |
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JosephUK
United Kingdom
212 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2011 : 12:19:11 PM
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Hey Chrisk,
If you have another kundalini awakening try the samyama routine on it. This means you release your intention with regard to the kundalini into the inner silence produced by meditation. This helped me to control the kundalini awakening i had.
The inner silence became active and rebuked the kundalini symptoms (Which were causing me to lose concentration and I felt quite delirious) after that kundalini settled in and I now am quite healthy.
Hope your nervous systems settles in for the long AYP ride :D
Joe |
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tonightsthenight
846 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2011 : 4:47:06 PM
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Hey Chrisk,
There is no way for someone on these forums to determine exactly what is causing the shortness of breath.
With that said, I suspect that you do not generally breathe correctly in your normal state, and that during deep relaxation, those muscles that you (incorrectly) use to breathe are not aiding in inspiration/expiration.
I asked this in the other thread you posted but didn't see a response. Do you carry a lot of muscle tension? I suspect so. This is a very common thing among the general population.
As others have said, you should practice breathing with the diaphragm. |
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Chrisk
USA
87 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2011 : 3:00:10 PM
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Thank you Joseph. As you say managing kundalini is important.
Thank you TonightTheNight for the suggestion on diaphragmatic breathing. I am aware of it and do it quite often. It does help.
I take all suggestions in mind and feel much better. |
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Shortness of breath following meditation
