Breathwork vibrations and cramping

[alchemizt]

I started doing breathwork every morning 2 weeks ago and every time I do it, I feel these vibrations get more and more intense and my hands and face eventually cramp up. I experience this phenomenon sometimes when I drink ayahuasca, it gets really intense and feels like something is being released. I experience it strong with breathe meditation too. I see that there are these constrictions in my breath which make it hard to breathe and when I breathe meditatively I start breathing into these tensions and I start to get pins and needles. 

Does anyone here with a lot of experience with breathwork have an understanding of what these vibrations are? Why do they cause your hands to cramp? I have experienced it really intensely on ayahuasca and the last time it happened, a shaman who I was with asked me about it, she said she could see "vibrations" in me and said it was something being released from my energy field

[universe]

Depending on how you do the breathwork it is caused by the low CO² in your body.

https://www.breathewithjp.com/hyperventilation-hands-curl/

[Loving Radiance]

@alchemizt  In addition to universe's comment above, what you can do is to slow down the breath or to even breathe out fully and hold the breath for as long you can. However you can play with the breath a bit: try breathing in with force and letting go on breathing out, that you only are active while breathing in. I for myself will slow down or stop the breath when the hands begin to hurt.

 

 

@Forestluv

Edited April 19, 2021 by Loving Radiance

[Forestluv]

@alchemizt If you want to learn about Breathwork and get good at it, I would highly recommend joining an online breath group with a facilitator. I'm involved with several. My favorite is Breathchurch, that meets at 6pm (NYC time) every night. 

Zoom Link

Regarding the pain you describe:

It's called tetany and is very common in breathwork. It is due to a change in O2 and CO2 balance. Some say it's due to "holding on" to something. Maybe, yet I prefer the physiological explanation.

Tetany is harmless and will go away, yet it can be very uncomfortable and painful. 

If you are experiencing that cramping, it means you are activated. Congrats, you have arrived. Imo, breathwork isn't about taking massive breaths as deep as possible, as fast as possible for as long as possible. I think Breathwork is more about getting into "the zone". That does not mean hyperventaliting to the point it becomes excruciatingly painful. 

If you are at the point that tetany is painful, back off. You should be in an "activated zone".

Once you get activated, start doing other breaths. Do some slow Ujaji breaths on the way out. Do some shallower breaths. Do some breath holds. Play with the breaths like you are playing a saxophone. Do body awareness. Look at the nuances of breath. As you do Ujaji breath, notice how the energy in your body changes. Relax. Pretend your body is so relaxed you are a corpse that is breathing. Allow creativity to enter. If insights arise, let them. If spirits arise let them. If old emotional memories arise let them. If tears arise let them. Be present and let go. Don't be so obsessed with breathing as fast and deep as possible. 

The key is to relax, especially on the outbreath. Yet if tetany gets severe, start exploring other stuff. Imagine scuba diving down 50 meters and thinking "I'm feeling intense pain, yet have to dive deeper". . . Why? Diving 50 meters is amazing!! There is amazing stuff to explore between 10-50 meters. Relax, and swim around. . . 

Overtime, the body will start adjusting and you may find that you can deep deeply and fast for a longer period without tetany. 

[alchemizt]

On 4/19/2021 at 4:35 PM, Forestluv said:

@alchemizt If you want to learn about Breathwork and get good at it, I would highly recommend joining an online breath group with a facilitator. I'm involved with several. My favorite is Breathchurch, that meets at 6pm (NYC time) every night. 

Zoom Link

Regarding the pain you describe:

It's called tetany and is very common in breathwork. It is due to a change in O2 and CO2 balance. Some say it's due to "holding on" to something. Maybe, yet I prefer the physiological explanation.

Tetany is harmless and will go away, yet it can be very uncomfortable and painful. 

If you are experiencing that cramping, it means you are activated. Congrats, you have arrived. Imo, breathwork isn't about taking massive breaths as deep as possible, as fast as possible for as long as possible. I think Breathwork is more about getting into "the zone". That does not mean hyperventaliting to the point it becomes excruciatingly painful. 

If you are at the point that tetany is painful, back off. You should be in an "activated zone".

Once you get activated, start doing other breaths. Do some slow Ujaji breaths on the way out. Do some shallower breaths. Do some breath holds. Play with the breaths like you are playing a saxophone. Do body awareness. Look at the nuances of breath. As you do Ujaji breath, notice how the energy in your body changes. Relax. Pretend your body is so relaxed you are a corpse that is breathing. Allow creativity to enter. If insights arise, let them. If spirits arise let them. If old emotional memories arise let them. If tears arise let them. Be present and let go. Don't be so obsessed with breathing as fast and deep as possible. 

The key is to relax, especially on the outbreath. Yet if tetany gets severe, start exploring other stuff. Imagine scuba diving down 50 meters and thinking "I'm feeling intense pain, yet have to dive deeper". . . Why? Diving 50 meters is amazing!! There is amazing stuff to explore between 10-50 meters. Relax, and swim around. . . 

Overtime, the body will start adjusting and you may find that you can deep deeply and fast for a longer period without tetany. 

Thanks for sharing all the insights and experience! Can you explain what being "activated" means? 

 I like the non physiological explanation because it means I'm reaching emotional blockages rather than just depleting my body of CO2. I can see that its connected the blockages in the breathe, when I repress emotions my breathing becomes shallow. When I start breathing into these constrictions, the tingling and vibrations start. Facing fears on ayahuasca triggers this too. 

I've been experiencing really positive things during the breathwork like my depression disappearing temporarily and being replaced with inspiration and old memories and images coming back and good feelings but Ive been feeling worse than ever this past week and dont know if the breathwork is actually helping or making things worse. Is it one of these things were it gets worse before it gets better?

[Waken]

I wanted to mention https://breathworkonline.com/about-michael-stone/. I don't know if it's common but he uses music too. You can always pay for one session, record the audio, and use the audio from that point on. The music really added something in my experience and could make it more powerful.
Not sure about the vibrations. Perhaps they are the results of big amounts of oxygen that reawakening/'aliving' your cells or something. So perhaps you feel these sensations more on places where you used to be more numb or have stuck emotion/tension. When I did breathwork, at times if people would have seen it would have said that I looked like an exorcism, because I could start shaking with my head, arms and legs and my face could make even angry faces, while experientially I would be in a very blissful state. That's how the body released tension

Edited April 22, 2021 by Waken

[alchemizt]

2 hours ago, Waken said:

I wanted to mention https://breathworkonline.com/about-michael-stone/. I don't know if it's common but he uses music too. You can always pay for one session, record the audio, and use the audio from that point on. The music really added something in my experience and could make it more powerful.
Not sure about the vibrations. Perhaps they are the results of big amounts of oxygen that reawakening/'aliving' your cells or something. So perhaps you feel these sensations more on places where you used to be more numb or have stuck emotion/tension. When I did breathwork, at times if people would have seen it would have said that I looked like an exorcism, because I could start shaking with my head, arms and legs and my face could make even angry faces, while experientially I would be in a very blissful state. That's how the body released tension

Thats really interesting, I've had these exorcisms on ayahuasca, things I didnt even believe existed until I experienced it. Experientially I wasnt in a blissful state though, I was in a dark and scary place. I've not got this far with breathwork, I would love to. How long was the breathwork session? The longest one Ive done so far is 10 minutes

[Waken]

1 hour ago, alchemizt said:

Thats really interesting, I've had these exorcisms on ayahuasca, things I didnt even believe existed until I experienced it. Experientially I wasnt in a blissful state though, I was in a dark and scary place. I've not got this far with breathwork, I would love to. How long was the breathwork session? The longest one Ive done so far is 10 minutes

Well I would start with perhaps 20-30 minutes, and made the sessions longer and longer. Ended up with doing it often around an hour, sometimes up to an hour and a half. Then it got into really high states. That's why I think music with headphones can be nice, it might allow you to get into a trance more easily which keeps you going.
Years ago I made a video of myself doing it, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38CthsJDqUE check out 36 minutes lol, and that session definitely wasn't the one most intense or exorcism like

Edited April 22, 2021 by Waken