Shamanic Breathing Mega-Thread

[eskwire]

38 minutes ago, InfinitePotential said:

Word af Leo. 

There seems to be parallels to this technique, and fasting / dry fasting. Both bring out "psychedelic like effects", negative emotions, heighten awareness, go against mainstream medical advice, bring you to the brink of death, etc. With a possible difference being that fasting appears to be extremely physically healthy, when done correctly. And fasting of course has been used extensively throughout history for spiritual purposes. 

Would be very interested to hear if you've tried any fasting before, and your thoughts and experiences from it. For me personally it's had an amazingly positive impact on my health and well-being. 

I thought the same thing. It reminds me of fasting - something people also spazz out about.

[eskwire]

3 minutes ago, Mikael89 said:

So it just adds to my point. Although of course it's not 100% sure that her migraine is caused by the breathing, but most likely it is.

She is also your mom - I think you cause her migraines. Same amount of evidence. ? Think what you want. Do psychedelics instead, like there are 0 mental or physical risks with that (massive eyeroll). Alright man, I'll leave you alone now. ? 

[bq30]

There's a book called "The Presence Process" by Micheal Brown. His method of breath work he speaks about in it is where you connect the breath and you don't pause. You do this for 15 minutes, once in the morning and then at night. 

Isn't this essentially the same thing that Leo is recommending?

 

In the video below is his recommended starting pace for breathing and then he recommends doubling the pace and then tripling it. What do you guys think?

 

 

[LiakosN]

I don't know why but this breathing Xtechnique seems easy for me. 35 minutes seems like they past way too fast. Today will be my 7th and last day of this technique.. Seems like it works for me. A lot of anger is coming up but I stay calm 

[moon777light]

7 hours ago, InfinitePotential said:

@moon777light nice! Doesn't facing your fears and coming out alright on the other side just make you feel so alive. This will pass and things you'll be back to normal in no time, perhaps feeling a bit more fearless and courageous.

Be sure to compensate all that over breathing with some under breathing. Wim hoff advocates this after performing such exercises. I find this exercise from "enlightenment through the path of kundalini" to be incredibly calming:

(Always with the nose) "breathe in naturally (NOT deeply) to the count of 1,2,3... breathe out naturally (NOT forced in any way) to the count of 4,5,6...   Then, hold your breath on empty lungs to the count of 7,8,9,10,11,12....20,21... (make sure you are not breathing in inadvertently). Repeat over and over to establish a rhythm. The longer the break from the outbreath, the sooner your anxiety will calm down". I'd add that you shouldn't hold it so long that you need to gasp for air on the next inhalation, and that you should relax your body as much as is possible during the outbreath and hold. 

Extraordinarily effective and seems like a perfect exercise to perform after shamanic breathing (which I've yet to try cause I'm such a wuss ). Do it while walking and you'll be unstoppable.

As for the demons, nothing to fear, it's all you and nothing can posses you without your consent (not that it isn't next level scary af). It is recommended to send them love and compassion and wish for their healing. You can always say no to them.

Thanks  , after reading leos response, i truly do feel like this is benefitting. Especially if i purged that much emotion only after 15 minutes, i probably have a lot of emotional baggage that im not even aware of. I'll be doing the once weekly thing for a year starting from yesterday and record everything in my journal here. You should try it and i await your trip report ;). 

As for the breathing technique, yes i remember watching a wim hof video where he explains something nearly identical, i should probably do that, since holding the empty lungs probably will help normalize the levels of o2/co2 faster, thank you!!

[InfinitePotential]

4 hours ago, moon777light said:

You should try it and i await your trip report ;). 

@moon777light Me rn

 

[Guest Quanty]

I am not sorry and i will say this:

The Shamanic breathing from Leo is mediocre. Because feeds directly the fight or flight response in the body/muscles/ego. 

It is a a very good breathing technique for those who start in highly physical activity and sports. 

 

Real meditation comes naturally and the breathing evolves at the same pace as energy opens up in you. Real meditation envolves the reptilian parts of the body to be switch and be in tune with the conscious mind and breath.

 

 

<3

[moon777light]

but its not meditation, its intense psychotherapy  

 

[InfinitePotential]

1 hour ago, Quanty said:

I am not sorry and i will say this:

The Shamanic breathing from Leo is mediocre. Because feeds directly the fight or flight response in the body/muscles/ego. 

It is a a very good breathing technique for those who start in highly physical activity and sports. 

 

Real meditation comes naturally and the breathing evolves at the same pace as energy opens up in you. Real meditation envolves the reptilian parts of the body to be switch and be in tune with the conscious mind and breath.

 

 

<3

I feel like any technique that gets you close to full nondual realization is going to activate the fight or flight mechanism in your ego, as it completely (albeit, temporarily) destroys it. 

Even in meditation (especially self-inquiry or other techniques to bring about ego death), when everything feels like it's about to disappear, I have a sudden rush of terror and quickly snap out of it like "oh my godddd wtf was that!!!" 

I believe this is why all of the spiritual traditions talk about how God should be feared. 

 

That being said, I'm not sure one necessarily HAS to experience terror to get enlightened, although that is one aspect of everything that can be experienced (or "you"), so it is there. 

 

As for the health concerns of depriving your brain of oxygen, it seems like depriving your body of any nutrients in moderation can be very good for you, and make you come back stronger for it. To be fair, I haven't yet tried this technique, and there's no denying that if you deprive yourself of oxygen too much, the body is gonna die / bad things are gonna happen.

Safe breathing! 

[moon777light]

3 hours ago, InfinitePotential said:

@moon777light Me rn

 

SING SING!!!!!

[MikeB]

Thanks Leo. Now I'm all fucked up. LOL. Did the breathing for a whole 30 minutes. My fingers and wrists locked up and I couldn't use them for about 20 to 30 minutes. This is real shit. I could not use my hands. They were fucking locked up. It was scary. Then I proceeded to jog around a couple blocks... 24 hours later I feel enlightened and I no longer give a fuck about what anyone thinks about me. I feel like the world is mine and I can do whatever I want. I cannot wait for next weekend to do this again, but I have tomorrow off and I am contemplating doing it again.

[MM1988]

I tried it 3 times and couldnt do it for more than 15 minutes, my hands and chest get numb and it feels kinda weird. Afterwards I like to lay and stare at the ceiling. The day after I cried for the first time in years for no reason reall,, I think thats a good thing. I'm a very unemotional pragmatic IT guy, it felt good to me. Powerful technique, I was suprised I thought nothing would happen honestly.

[Leo Gura]

An additional point of clarification:

Some of you guys pounce on each new technique I share as though it was the silver bullet to solve all of your problems. That is the wrong attitude. Doing a self-help technique once or twice and expecting something miraculous to happen is the wrong attitude.

I never said that this technique will produce enlightenment. That is not its goal.

This technique is not a replacement for meditation, yoga, or self-inquiry.

Deep psychotherapy can take years and costs tens of thousands of dollars. So if this technique can speed up that process by even a factor of 2x, all in the comfort of your own home, that would a huge thing.

[Source_Mystic]

Let's dispense with the bullshit and call a rose a rose. The mechanism that causes the effect is extended oxygen deprivation.  That is what I am calling this practice from now on from now on.  If you want more actual info from a person that actually tried it twice measured my SpO2 levels (Oxygen saturation percentile)  immediately after I stopped then realized that they were lower and wanted to actually know what the mechanism was that was causing  the effects go here.  

If you want to keep following a person that does not even understand the effect that is taking place or what damage it may cause I can not help you.  leo himself states  "It is because you are oxygenating brain so much" (direct quote from video) has little to no understanding of blood chemistry or what he is talking about on this subject.  Your blood saturation will never go above 100% ever.  The above statements are made out of ignorance and laziness of someone that  actually refuses to do the research . I am not a fan of willed ignorance and I never thought I would  see it out of leo.  But here we are.

The fact that he places a legal disclaimer on a video of something he still refuses to research adequately is absurd.

The very fact that he uses rhetoric skills to talk around a subject and influence you without knowing what is going on is lazy and ridiculous. I expected more out of leo that this shotty half ass assertion of something he refuses to just take 20 minuets to research into or even recognize the dangers thereof. I  am fine with his self proclaimed status as Guinea pig and his irresponsible actions regarding himself.  Where I have a problem is him leading and influencing others into something that could be dangerous.  Where is that radical open-mindedness now leo? Where is that due diligence? Where is that quest to know the truth at all cost? From where I stand I do not see a great man I see a man that refuses to see the truth  and only wants to see what he wants though willed ignorance and laziness. I also see a person that is abusing his power and influence here and very well may be leading people down a path that could potentially harm them. and I can not tolerate that.

Do your own research  and do something even leo has not done this time.  Make a well informed decision based on the facts. My results are verifiable just go look and repeat them yourself then once you know the risks and you still want ignore them so be it.  At least  you will know what is going on instead of standing on the side of ignorance.

If people really want to hallucinate though extended oxygen deprivation no matter the cost or damage done to their body or brain maybe they do not need it anyway. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Source_Mystic

[Faceless]

So many time bound movements around here. ??‍♂️ 

[LiakosN]

Here is an interesting Report:

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v23n1/v23n1_24-27.pdf

[Elisabeth]

17 hours ago, Source_Mystic said:

 leo himself states  "It is because you are oxygenating brain so much" (direct quote from video) has little to no understanding of blood chemistry or what he is talking about on this subject.  Your blood saturation will never go above 100% ever.  The above statements are made out of ignorance and laziness of someone that  actually refuses to do the research . I am not a fan of willed ignorance and I never thought I would  see it out of leo.  But here we are.

 

Yeah, Leo is likely wrong on the physiology, and he could as well admitt to it. Leo is sometimes wrong even on basic facts (esp. numbers, which he tends to grossly overestimate.)

I don't think it's a good enough argument against the technique, or against following Leo. It's an argument against following Leo (or anyone) blindly, for sure. 

The hollotropic breathwork facilitator I spoke to (70y old and in a great physical and mental shape) did mention that HB could lead to similar physiological effect like being 5000m above sea (forgive me if I don't remember the number), so they know. He said you're there for only a few minutes so it's basically safe (but he also asked thoroughly about our health conditions). 

The thing that bothers me about Leo's modification of the technique is, that he urges people to breathe continuously through a whole 90 min session and basically push through any discomfort. I think with HB you have 3 hours, but it's generally ok to make pauses and just savour what's going on, dance if you get the urge etc.. Listen to your body, people!

They're also able to help you with the trauma that may surface via bodywork and do not recommend doing it all by yourself. But I guess it's a matter of beliefs whether you hand out powerful and risky techniques to everyone, or whether you discourage them.  

Edited April 16, 2018 by Elisabeth

[moon777light]

@Elisabeth

How long has the facilitator been practicing HB?

thanks for your explanation

[Elisabeth]

1 minute ago, moon777light said:

@Elisabeth

How long has the facilitator been practicing HB?

thanks for your explanation

I have no idea of the frequency of his actual practice ... but he's had the training with Grof early 90's I believe, so he's been teaching it now for like 25 years. He must have gone through a number of these seminars prior and during the training.

[Leo Gura]

@see_on_see Darker stuff probably comes up at longer durations.