Shamanic Breathing Mega-Thread

[herghly]

I've been doing the shamanic breathing the way Leo teaches, bu today i tried something new 

Shamanic Breathing: - Lay down in the same way with your head in alignment with your chakras. - Breath as aggressively as possible for 10 to 15 minutes. - Every 10 – 15 minutes you will stop and hold your breath. This I usually do on the inhale, as opposed to the last one the down breath. - Then after you can’t hold your breath any longer let it out slowly and start again.

I found doing the breath retention made the practice much stronger. 

 

Anyone else have experience doing it this way too?

[Pernani]

On 30/07/2018 at 11:05 AM, herghly said:

I've been doing the shamanic breathing the way Leo teaches, bu today i tried something new 

Shamanic Breathing: - Lay down in the same way with your head in alignment with your chakras. - Breath as aggressively as possible for 10 to 15 minutes. - Every 10 – 15 minutes you will stop and hold your breath. This I usually do on the inhale, as opposed to the last one the down breath. - Then after you can’t hold your breath any longer let it out slowly and start again.

I found doing the breath retention made the practice much stronger. 

 

Anyone else have experience doing it this way too?

I kinda tried it, but I felt like it gets harder to start the breathing again after the pause. I'll try it again.

Ive actually been doing this technique once every week consistently for about 30mins, theres the vibrations and my traps get tense along with heavy sweating sometimes but that's all there is to it in my experience really, I'm not feeling any sort of emotional releases, how do i know there's an emotional release? Other than maybe crying or some shit

 

[Elisabeth]

I did my second holotropic breathwork seminar last week. It was a four day group "retreat" with two 3 hour sessions (again, it's not required that one breathes non-stop), plus sitting through two other sessions watching another person, which can also let some stuff loose, plus sauna, some relaxation exercises, and sharing with the group. (As a side note, this was like the most "green" group of people I've been part of so far.)

My first seminar, nearly two months ago, from hindsight seems to have had a slight but undeniable effect on my confidence and overall approach to life. So I decided I could trust the method.

I went into this seminar with an intention to breath through some really dark emotional pain I've been living with for basically my whole life, that I feel almost physically in my chest. Heavy shit that I have been able to look at in psychotherapy, but found no way to change it. At the seminar I finally got the tool, the space and incredible support to do this work - once my process started there were a facilitator and my sitter doing bodywork with me for a full hour or two. I really had no idea about time, I was coughing and fighting and screaming and crying, and breathing intensely anytime I felt the emotions mellowing out. I got both insights into the nature of my pain, and partial relief. It seems I've purged some family grief, while other bits are not yet quite clear. The painful feeling in my chest changed slightly in it's nature (and it may continue to change more during integration) - this is an incredible result for me, because I had been watching it for years prior and it seemed unchanging and unchangeable.

I'm so glad I made space for this, and I'm sure I couldn't have done this alone anytime soon. I think I also got lucky with the people leading the seminar. because they were willing to give me so much attention, although there was a room full of other people. (Hint: The most expensive seminar is not necessarily the one organized with most love.)

Hearing people's stories was also incredibly interesting. Not everyone was working with emotions/body sensations. A lot of people get full blown visions/stories during their sessions, someone being a dragon or an eagle, someone else having to watch his kids die, someone talking to a spiritual guide etc. There were also two people spontaneously falling into self-inquiry. It's a versatile method indeed, and although intentions sometimes guide the process (like in my case), you can never really know what will emerge.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Elisabeth

[Mart]

@Marcell Kovacs Hi Marcell. I was just reading your reports, very very interesting. I kind of forgot about the technique after about 10 sessions and didn't do it for a while but i am continuing the practice from now on because i remembered this one time i had a strong emotional release. I went to work after (wasn't great). But anyway, i was wondering if you would like to share your experiences up until this point, and any tips and tricks. Thanks for the detailed reports, these work inspiring. 

[Forestluv]

I've done about five sessions over the last two weeks. At first, it seemed silly and odd. My hands clenched and my arms and face were tense and tingly. I thought this is just hyperventilating - the kind of thing we did as kids to get loopy. The third or fourth session was a game-changer. I went deep into repressed memories of the body. In particular, being told tens of thousands of times that "You're not good enough! You're not doing it right! You screwed it up again!". Each time I had acted with good intentions and tried to please the other person. Yet, over and over again being told by teachers and parents I was a screw up. Then dating girlfriend after girlfriend of continuous criticism as I tried to make things ok. I've dealt with this mentally years ago, I understand it mentally and have helped other walk through it. Yet, apparently my body remembers and is not too happy about it. The shamanic breathing turned primal, animal. I have no idea how fast or deep I was breathing, what time it was, if my nose and throat were dry etc. I went into this zone - a mixture of anger and "enough already"! It got intense. Tears streamed down the side of my face. Not tears of joy or relief. It was just another way the trapped energy was seeping out of my body. Upon cessation, there was a lot of tension in my arms. I layed there for about 20min as the tension slowly seeped from my body.

The next session, I revisited an Ayahuasca retreat I did last year. I was like I met Mother Aya for a bit to discuss some of the experience and how I've integrated it into my life.

I've noticed some members compare shamanic breathing to tripping. I've had many trips on about 8 different psychedelics. So far, I would say the mindspace is like a half-step to a trip. Perhaps a bit milder than a weak psychedelic like Ald-52. Yet, the bodyspace of shamanic breathing is quite strong for me.

[Leo Gura]

@herghly That sounds like a neat innovation. I can def see it being very powerful.

[luismatos]

I've tried this breathing exercise with my friend. He did a whole 20 minute session with lots of physical phenomena and amazing effects in the end with lots of laughter and freedom.

However, when I try to do it I somehow disappear at the 5 minute mark - I totally go blank. I don't pass out or anything I just become like not there or very spacey and my breathing slows down and my friend is like "oh man you're doing it wrong again, ok enough."

[Marcell Kovacs]

On 2018. 08. 15. at 7:10 PM, Mart said:

@Marcell Kovacs Hi Marcell. I was just reading your reports, very very interesting. I kind of forgot about the technique after about 10 sessions and didn't do it for a while but i am continuing the practice from now on because i remembered this one time i had a strong emotional release. I went to work after (wasn't great). But anyway, i was wondering if you would like to share your experiences up until this point, and any tips and tricks. Thanks for the detailed reports, these work inspiring. 

Hi there. Yes, I did two more retreats after the one I posted my insights about, however since the post wasn't too popular I didn't really bother sharing them.

My stance hasn't changed on the technique, it's fantastic! I put the technique on hold for a while, because during the end of my last retreat I wasn't experiencing anything serious happening and also in a sense I'm having an ego backlash right about now. It's safe to say that these sessions and retreats have produced enough growth that many of the emotional and psyhological issues I had (and still have in a sense), while they haven't fully been worked through I definitely feel authenticity being unleashed and also the deeper issues which while as I said before, didn't get fully resolved are definitely much easier to resolve right now and I'm much more comfortable with them, I'm not too resistant towards them. In a sense I guess you could say that the wall has been demolished and now the work can begin. Also I'm experiencing great shifts in my consciousness to the point where I'm facing a similar decision in my life which Leo describes the following video: 

I can also see flaws in the way I was thinking just a year before, which is another sign of real growth happening for me. Also my meditatioon after the retreat has deepened a lot as well, I even had a mini enlightenment experience after waking up one morning for a mere 5 seconds, where I realized I was everything, however my ego kicked back in pretty shortly.

All in all the technique is pretty amazing, I'm looking forward to getting back to it in a few weeks time, I'm taking a little break from it for a while.

[Elisabeth]

On 8/17/2018 at 5:28 PM, luismatos said:

However, when I try to do it I somehow disappear at the 5 minute mark - I totally go blank. I don't pass out or anything I just become like not there or very spacey and my breathing slows down and my friend is like "oh man you're doing it wrong again, ok enough."

I don't think you're doing it wrong. This happens to people at the seminars. Maybe your system needs to work on something in deep relaxation, so why not just let it have the time.

[tenta]

I went for 20+ minutes, 3 times, and nothing actually happened other than me getting in a different emotional state

I know I should go for 30+ minutes but I didn't get any results similar to what I expected, so I stopped... was I doing something wrong? I think I followed all the instructions properly, but I didn't close my eyes

Maybe my breathing wasn't deep enough? Now when I re-watched the video, leo's chest really moved while doing the technique

[Mart]

I've been studying bio-energetics and just read some relevant information for this thread in a section about the breathing exercises. It says that all the hyperventilation symptoms just occur because your body is not used to this amount of air coming in. You are overcharged in bio-energetic terms. Over time of practicing you will notice the symptoms you used to experience don't occur anymore, even tough you take in the same amount of air. 

[Mart]

@tenta as far as i know it just takes more sessions before you get the kind of results Leo talks about. I experienced that after the 45 to 50 minute mark it went a little deeper and random feelings of anger and sadness came out. I let myself express it by hitting my bed really hard. After doing so i completed the hour and definitely felt revealed. 

It tends to take a little more practice before the results start to get better with these kinds of practices. Just give it a fair chance by building up to 60 minutes and maybe do a couple 90 minute sessions and then decide if it's worthwhile. That's how i do it and i already see the potential in this exercise. 

[lennart]

I did 18 minutes but the effects were only physical. I had intense vibrating and buzzing sensations in the Uppervody area and the was this very high sound in my ears. But no emotional releases or something 

[Craigxt22]

I can't seem to do get past 3 minutes of doing this, I feel like I am suffocating/ dying. However after those 3 minutes and I start breathing normally I do feel sort of 'spaced out'/ stoned. 

 

Am I gaining any benefit by doing shorter sessions, say if I could build it up to 5 minutes? Or do the only true benefits happen after 30 mins?

 

 

Do I need to just push through to longer peroids?

 

Thanks

[moon777light]

@omTom the backlash that occurs the next few days, how do you best deal with that? anyone answer pls :D, ive been on a shamanic breathing streak recently, and i notice i become easily pissed/triggered/and scared the next few days, but im unsure of how to meet/deal with these emotions, i kinda just go about my day as i usually do, tolerating the emotions.

[herghly]

Has anyone tried this type of breathing while on psychedelics?

[youngshinzen]

Intro: I‘ve done the technique a few times now, ranging from 20min-60min. From 30-60min my heart opens up and I feel less fear, more joy and love towards others. The longer the session, the more intense this feeling becomes.

Heart opening and affirmations: After a one hour session I felt that certain sentences enhance the heart opening effect (ordered from less to more powerful)

• You can do it
• I love you
• I love you more than anything—————————
• That (After raising the level of love, something higher was beyond that and I asked the question: “What is god?“ The emotional answer was: “That“)

Blood pressure (30min session):

Before:

ca. 120/80 - 70bpm 

->30min of breathing

After:

+0min: 102/58 - 78bpm

+10min: 119/75 - 73bpm

+20min: 116/74 - 71bpm

Hallucinations: During one session I opened my eyes (15min in) and looked at the couch cushions in front of me. For a second it looked like a real and alive bird sitting there:

Questions: 

• Does anyone else get the munchies after a session? What could be the reason for that?
• Can such differences in blood pressure have long term negative/positive effects?

Edited November 30, 2018 by youngshinzen

[Truth Addict]

I don't do shamanic breathing usually, but when I do, I do like two minutes, and then what happens is that nothing matters to me anymore for like one minute, then everything goes back to normal.

It's nice exercise for relaxation, and raising your sensitivity.

[Cocolove]

I did it 6 months ago and got next to nothing. I did it for the second time yesterday and I'm going to do it once a weekend. I did 28 minutes(couldn't make 30). I felt waves of energy pulsing through my body and especially my hands. I felt a deep sense of love and breathing was the most pleasurable thing, it felt like I could breath very deep and fully. It felt similar to tripping. After 20 minutes I felt normal again. I am currently having an ego backlash. I realized that if I keep meditating I will feel super good in the long term. 

[LJZ]

My suggestions when breathing.

Safety and comfort:

- I suggest preparing a bowl for vomiting and spitting,
- prepare a bottle of drinking or throat water,
-toilet paper
- pillows to hit if the process would lead you into anger and land your anger

- good to have a bed close if your process turns out to be dynamic and you would feel need to jump

- go to tolilet before start

Process:

- already preparing for breathing, realize that you are doing a unique ritual
- follow everything that appears, do not block emotions
- if you feel pissed that nothing is happening follow the pissed off
- if you feel frustrated that nothing is happening, follow the frustration
- if sadness follow sadness                                                                                                                                                                              - do not set the watch follow the process                                                                                                                                                    - make sure that nobody will disturb you                                                                                                                                                    - -give yourself as much time as you need
- give the process a natural swim and let it finish by itself
 Just follow the process.

 

Before breathing, I proposes 5-10 minutes of sitting in silence with his eyes closed, with the intention of invoking an inner healer and asking for support in the process.

If you already have the first experience, you can breathe blindfolded to strengthen the process and let the music be as loud if possible

Integration.

You can prepare a sheet of paper and crayons to draw a mandala after breathing, which will symbolize you process.

After all, it is good to go for a walk.

After It's good to come up with some activities that will ground us.

In short, for me, there are 3 basic principles to make the process juicy.
- take care of your safety and comfort
- follow the process, forgive
- breathe, trust your inner healer

Edited December 4, 2018 by LJZ