Shamanic Breathing Mega-Thread

[Cocolove]

This technique is going great!

Is it normal for it to take 20 minutes to be able to move my hands after?

[brugluiz]

I want to do Shamanic Breathing, but I don't think it's a good idea without supervision. Just getting prepared to it with access bars.

[Cocolove]

I was going to make a post but I decided to just ask the question here

I have a huge resistance to doing this technique, i rarely ever procrastinate or have so much aversion to doing something, but it takes everything in me to do this. It's way easier to do an SDS or kriya yoga, which I'm doing both of daily. I have been doing shamanic breathing weekly for a few months for around 30 minutes. 

I'm considering quitting doing this technique, but I'm not sure. Why am I experiencing such huge resistance to doing this technique and what does it mean?

[Ionaran]

I also experience a lot of resistance to doing this technique. Maybe my subconscious knows that if I release any trauma I have, I will change and my ego doesn't like that. I also get some pain on the sides of the stomach for no apparent reason. I thought it was because I was breathing to hard but I've tried doing it in a calm manner but it still happens. Sometimes it happens after 10 minutes, sometimes it starts almost immediately. Anyone know why this happens?

[tedens]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilation

https://pl.scribd.com/doc/76669667/Stanislav-Grof-The-Adventure-of-Self Discovery 

p.165

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by tedens

[Ionaran]

@tedens Thank you for the links!

 

[Dima logach]

does it matter if you put your hands about 45 degrees from our body or do you have to put them up as in the video?

i did it for 20 min and my hands got very very tense ,felt as they were strongly squeezed and after i finished it took about 5+ min until they got back to normal ,pretty intense .

aside from that it was a really unique experience and ill sure do more of them

[Jordan94]

@Cocolove @Ionaran Same i get a lot of resistance for that too, I do 2 hours meditation daily (kriya yoga and vipassana) and i have way more trouble/resistance doing 10-30 minutes of this, I did a few 10 minutes sessions like 6 months ago and just stopped after that, huge resistance

The most apparant sign of resistance for me was huge discomfort in the throat due to the breathing

I definitly think that it's the type of resistance that's indicating a really good thing that we don't want to do but would be so beneficial and should do, so I definitly want to get back to it, I'll start to experiment back with it in February for sure

[Jordan94]

So i followed my words and tried it again a few days ago, and i've been doing one small session per day since then and will follow on that pace

I've been doing really small or mini session to ease my way into it and make it more comfortable though, what i did was just lie down and do at first just 2 minutes, I can already feel a lot of sensation (vibrating / tickling) after that, then observe the sensations for a few minutes, then again 1-a few minutes of breathing, then observe, and like this for one hour

It's way more easy to do and bring less resistance that way, and the effects are still great, I can feel a lot of sensations popping up, and my awareness / focus is increased a lot just after a few minutes of breathing, which gives me a really good meditaiton in that hour

[saffron]

Is it dangerous and damage the brain? Someone mentioned in this thread and I would like to know

[Iiris]

This was my second time doing this technique properly. I did it the same way as the last time, 20 minutes with shamanic drumming music, and it also felt pretty much the same as then.

I couldn't breathe through my mouth the whole time so I alternated between breathing through my mouth and nose. After breathing for some time I felt like I couldn't continue anymore. I grabbed my phone and saw that only seven minutes had passed, there were thirteen left. I felt really exhausted and I wanted to stop, but I kept on breathing and it slowly became easier. It actually started to feel natural and almost enjoyable. The drumming music definitely helps to keep the rhythm. As I was breathing I felt a need to move my body.

After 20 minutes had passed I stopped and felt really high. Last time I was afraid that I was going to die or something, but now I knew the effects so I was able to just feel it. My mind was quiet and I felt really peaceful. I heard a buzzing sound. There was a hell of a lot of energy in my hands, also on my head. A weird circle of energy on my face was expanding and contracting. I noticed that I was squinting, looking at my nose lol.

I felt pretty relaxed, but I took a look at my hands and they were in this weird shape lifted above the floor, in some kind of spasm. There was energy especially in my little finger and ring finger, ecpecially in my right hand. I had a really weird feeling that there were some kind of plastic over my fingers that started to peel off from my fingertips.

I didn't notice any emotional release or weird thoughts, I just felt high. The effects lasted maybe about 15 minutes, and now, a few hours later, I feel completely normal. I was hoping for some kind of emotional release, but maybe it only happens when I do this technique for a longer period of time. Next time I'll try this five minutes longer and see if I find anything new.

 

[Waken]

When I'm doing the technique, my breathing becomes slow and more forcefull after a while, spasmlike, and the experience becomes similar to what 5meo can do. Made a video of it, because I'm not sure if it would be more beneficial to just keep up the same breathing speed as in the beginning (the faster speed) when the breathing starts getting slower. (edit: video link removed)
Any thoughts? Letting the body do its thing seems to make sense, but the slow breath and bodies movement is different from how the technique was suggested to be done, so I don't know.

Edit; did it again, seems that at some point I go through a barrier of fear, In the beginning I want to stop when that starts, but then want to hang in there for just one second longer, and a second longer, and second longer, until the fear is noticed to lessen. Jeezz that's intense. Must be using the technique properly then after all lol

Edited February 10, 2019 by Waken

[Charlotte]

Read last journal entry

 

 

[Cocolove]

how long are you guys able to do it for? I've done it about 15 times and still haven't gotten past 30 minutes. This morning I only got to 20 because I started feeling really nauseous.

 

[lmfao]

Anyone else find that this technique makes their throat hurt a lot and dry out their mouth really quickly? 

[OmniYoga]

@Cocolove  first time I did it 20 minutes, second time I wanted to make 40 minutes - but it turned out that is not easy and I failed ... haha I don't how people can handle and hour or 90 minutes, 2h ... (sick!), this weekend I will try to pass 30 minutes

@lmfao throat hurt - NO, a lot and dry out their mouth really quickly - Yes, that is natural symptom

I felt like my tendons tighten up, (not sure is that actually tendons, but seems like it) especially in palms, a little bit in legs and around belly.

QUESTIONS:

• should I bulit up timelimit gradully or push my limits ?
• breathing should be very deep, just deep or normal?
• the pace: slow, normal or as fast as possible?

btw is this technic somehow connect to Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen or not?

Edited February 21, 2019 by OmniYoga

[Jordan94]

@lmfao Yes definitly

I can't do more than 5 minutes without at least swallow a bit of saliva for now

 

@OmniYoga I would say gradually, especially if you can increase by 5 minutes each time it's not gonna take long for it to pass 30min

Breathing I woul say deep/normal and pace normal, but with no pause between inhale and exhale, definitly not as fast as possible, leo talks about those 2 in the video

Edited February 22, 2019 by Jordan94

[OmniYoga]

my 3th weekend
I set the timer for 40 minute , but around 25 minute I felt massive pain in my palms and I had to stop it breathing this way
I don't place my hands like Leo in the video, because it's not comfortable for me,
I place them aside from the body, something like being crossed, but slightly less angle not 90
maybe I should try different position for my hands? this one seems to too much unstable in long run, too much oxygen accumulated there or smt ? I don't know

how do you guys place your hands?

[kieranperez]

On 4/9/2018 at 3:58 AM, Socrates said:

Wait a second, isn't this exactly the so called "runner's high"? We just recreate it on a home setting.

It makes perfect sense since when you run you have this exact same breathing pattern. 

Not at all. A runners high is actually extremely rare among runners. If you’ve ever done ecstasy, it’s like that. It’s a combination of like a true flow state and feeling you’re on ecstasy that’s the closest thing I can equate that to. It’s quite surreal. Usually after a pretty long period of intense exhaustion. Like you’re running in the mountains for the last hour and a half to 2 hours and you’re absolutely gassed and then all of a sudden a switch flips and you went from being ready to fall over to you’re not even tired and you’re flying. I’ve only had that happen once on that level.

This is very different. I honestly see this as almost like a shamanic exorcism of all the neurosis in the body held together by the egoic character structure as a lot of the ego is energetic holding patterns you could say. Or trapped energy. 

This is very similar to Reichian Therapy, bioenergetics, and also a more tame process to how Martin Ball talks about the ego and how to process and release energy.

[billiesimon]

Noob sticking point:

I've been practicing this breathing for 5 weeks now, only on Sundays. 

1st session was 20 minutes straight!

2nd session was 25 minutes! 

At the third session something absurd happened. I lost all my gained stamina and i did only 5 minutes. 

4th session: 5 minutes again. Then i lost all energies and my body reacted very bad by giving me HARD SHAKING! 

5th session: i regained a bit of stamina. 9 minutes. Then the hard shaking made me stop. 

 

Why did i lose all the excellent stamina I had in the beginning? Why the shaking? 

Some of you have explanations?