Éiriú-Eolas - Breathing Program

[Bobo08]

I think that those of you who aren't getting any real action in the Beatha breathing portion should probably just drop that from your program. That's supposed to access and free up stuck emotions/programs and maybe you don't have any of the kind that this works on. Or, it may require group practice for this to activate anything for you. If you concentrate on just doing the meditation before bed, and utilize the pipe breathing as needed, see what happens over the next couple of weeks. Just an intuition here.

I don't know if this apply to me or not. I never really get much action with the round breathing portion, but usually have an overwhelming urge to sleep/dissociate. In the early days of my practice, it took a lot of concentration just to keep breathing deeply and regularly. When the POTS portion was reached, as soon as I lied down, got comfortable then out I went, usually even before hearing the prayer at all. And I remember I slept a lot, up to 8-9 hours every days during that time.

Now it has changed somewhat. I can now get through the round breathing fairly easily, and listen to the prayer portion. The amount of sleep has also stabilized to about 7 hours. But there is still nothing much that can be counted as "action" in the whole meditation. Oh, last Sunday, when I succeeded in focusing totally on the breathing and the prayer, for a very brief moment near the end there was a feeling like floating up out of my body. It disappeared when I opened up my eyes.

Outside the meditation, I notice a marked increase in the number of dreams of various sorts. It is also much easier to stay present during the days. So that's improvement.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

I think that those of you who aren't getting any real action in the Beatha breathing portion should probably just drop that from your program. That's supposed to access and free up stuck emotions/programs and maybe you don't have any of the kind that this works on. Or, it may require group practice for this to activate anything for you. If you concentrate on just doing the meditation before bed, and utilize the pipe breathing as needed, see what happens over the next couple of weeks. Just an intuition here.

I will admit that after initially doing the full program (minus the relaxation exercises as I was doing it before bed and really didn't need them) I've morphed into only doing the pipe breathing and POTS meditation portion nightly now. Bedtime seems to work best for fitting it in.

I start my mp3 player with the meditation part beginning where you say "relax your body...." and while you're talking giving the instructions, I do a set of 12 (or more) pipe breaths, and then it's time for the meditation to begin. I'm usually drowsy by the end, and am able to go to sleep within a short period of time.

I will also admit that I haven't had any "reactions" lately other than I get cold (despite the blankets) sometimes. Maybe I've already processed a lot of my "stuff."

 

[cubbex]

Everytime I do the Ba Ha breath I feel like, like a big sensation in my chest, my head, face, my hands, and my feet, it's like I am recharging myself.

And I have to be honest, but when I really began to do the EE program, sometimes when I was thinking I felt a big love for evrything, I don't know if this was part of the program. And how do I know if I have secret negative emotions, how do I know that, because if I have to purify my being I have to do it now. And I have to comment to that when I began the program, I had a lot of trouble on understand and think, like having a lot in my mind and I wasn't able to control myself. Pretty interesting.

 

[Ollie]

Hi Redfox

I haven't had any more emotional outbursts in quite a while. I've noticed a marked increased in yawning. With the exception of yesterday, I've been yawning pretty much all the way through the program. Loads of yawning and constant eye leakage but nothing I would classify as crying.

Thanks for mentioning that, I've got so use to yawning during the program over the last few weeks that I forgot to mention it. I yawn during the pipe breathing and Beatha portions.....sometimes almost constantly during the Beatha part. Its really weird.... Huh?
I'm yawning just thinking about it!

This may, or may not. provide an explanation for what is happening - especially as emotions may, or may, not be involved.

”A very important role in the human machine is played by a certain kind of accumulator. There are two small accumulators near each center filled with the particular substance necessary for the work of the given center.

“In addition, there is in the organism a large accumulator which feeds the small ones. The small accumulators are connected together, and further, each of them is connected with the center next to which it stands, as well as with the large accumulator.”

[…]

“Accumulators work in the following way,” he said. “Let us suppose that a man is working or is reading a difficult book and trying to understand it, in which case several ‘tolls’ revolve in the thinking apparatus in his head. …

In the first instance the intellectual center, … draw the energy necessary for their work from the small accumulators. When an accumulator is nearly empty a man feels tired. He would like to stop, … to think of something else if he is solving a difficult problem. But quite unexpectedly he feels an inflow of strength, and he is once more able to … work. This means that the center has become connected to with the second accumulator and is taking energy from it. Meanwhile the first accumulator is refilling with energy from the large accumulator. The work of the center goes on. … Sometimes a short rest is required to insure this connection. Sometimes a shock, sometimes an effort. Anyway the work goes on. After a certain time the store of energy in the second accumulator also becomes exhauster. The man again feels tired.

“Again an external shock, or a short rest, or a cigarette, or an effort, and he is connected with the first accumulator. But it may easily happen that the center has drawn energy from the second accumulator so quickly that the first one has had no time to refill itself from the large accumulator, and has take only half the energy it can hold; it is only half full.

“Having become connected with the first accumulator the centre begins to draw energy from it, whie the second accumulator becomes connected with and draws energy from the large accumulator. But this time the first accumulator was only half full. The centre quickly exhausts its energy, and in the meantime the second accumulator has succeeded in getting only a quarter full. The centre becomes connected with it, swiftly exhausts all its energy, and connects once more with the first accumulator, and so on. After a certain time the organism is brought to such a state that neither of the smaller accumulators has a drop of energy left. This time the man feels really tired. He almost falls down, he almost drops asleep, or else his organism becomes affected, he starts a headache, palpitations begin, or he feels sick.

“Then suddenly, again a short rest, or an external shock, or an effort, begins a new flow of energy and the man is once again able to think, …

“This means that the center has become connected directly to the large accumulator. The large accumulator contains an enormous amount of energy. Connected to the large accumulator a man is literally able to perform miracles. But, of course, if the ‘tolls’ continue to turn and energy which is made from air, food, and impressions continues to pour out of the large accumulator faster than it pours in, then there comes a moment when the large accumulator is drained of all energy and the organism dies. But this happens very seldom. Usually the organism automatically stops working long before this. …

[…]

Our aim … is to learn to connect the necessary center with the large accumulator. So long as we are unable to do this, all our work will be wasted, because we shall fall asleep before our efforts can give any kind of results.

“Small accumulators suffice for the ordinary, everyday work of life. But for work on oneself, for inner growth, and for the efforts which are required for a man who enters the way, the energy from these small accumulators is not enough.

“We must learn how to draw energy straight from the large accumulator.

“This however is possible only with the help of the emotional center. It is essential that this be understood. The connection with the large accumulator can be effected only through the emotional center. The instinctive, moving, and the intellectual centers, by themselves, can feed only on the small accumulators.

“This is precisely what people do not understand. Therefore their aim must be the development of the emotional center. The emotional center is an apparatus much more subtle than the intellectual center, particularly if we take into consideration the fact that in the whole of the intellectual center the only part that works is the formatory apparatus and that many things are quite inaccessible to the intellectual center. If anyone desires to know and understand more than he actually knows and understands, he must remember that this new knowledge and this new understanding will come through the emotional center and not through the intellectual center.”

I get a slightly different experience in the Ba-Ha portion of the tape - a switching off of breathing entirely - until I notice and get back on track; something is happening as I get wet eyes, and yet it is as if something (Predator's Mind?) is attempting to stop the underlying process of bringing emotions into awareness.

 

[Alana]

I stopped doing the baha for over a month, as i was feeling intense emotions and felt i was going a bit mad, but then for a couple of weeks now i feel much better, so on sunday, i did the full program, baha included. I don't know if this is related to the strange night i will describe below.

I just want to jump in here about the lights people are seeing. These are actually a normal part of the process, and in fact, they're the first stage in altered states of consciousness, i.e. shamanic "hallucinations". David Lewis-Williams talks about these universal experiences in his book The Mind in the Cave. He calls these lights "entoptic phenomena". He writes:

The exact way in which entoptic phenomena are 'wired into' the human nervous system has been a topic of recent research. It has been found that the patterns of connections between the retina and the striate cortex (known as V1) and of neuronal circuits within the striate cortex determined their geometric form. Simply put, there is a spatial relationship between the retina and the visual cortex: points that are close together on the retina lead to the firing of comparably placed neurons in the cortex. When this process is reversed, as following the ingestion of psychotropic substances, the pattern in the cortex is perceived as a visual percept. In other words, people in this condition are seeing the structure of their own brains.

In addition to psychotropic substances, this process occurs during meditation/dissociation (i.e. it is helped along with trance-inducing activities like drumming, dancing, chanting, as well as sensory-deprivation, physical discomfort, etc.).

I came back to read this, because i had an unusual "light" experience, but i don't know whether it falls under the category Williams talks about or under high strangeness. Or none...

The night before last, i went to bed at 2 am and did the POTS, listening to the CD track 4, through 5. All the music was over before i fell asleep, so i hadn't slept for long when i woke up at 4 am, heart pounding, feeling an intense brightness in my usually completely dark at night room. I could "see" the light with my eyes closed, and when i opened them, there was some luminosity in the room. I also felt very hot and dehydrated, yet i always drink lots of water before i sleep.

In this little time that i was asleep, i had a dream where i was at this big event with many people from work, and there was this band of males who were dressed up as something, which i can't recall. But you could not see their faces. In the event, i interacted a lot with them and i felt i knew one of them. After the event was over, one of those dressed up men, gave to a female coworker of mine something to give me. It was a white porcelain pot with a plant, and a card in it with that man's name, who turned out to be my ex. He approached me and my coworker and wanted to talk to me alone. The other woman did not want to leave me alone with him (he is somewhat pathological in real life) but i insisted that i will be fine, and she left. I remember then that while holding the white porcelain pot in my hands, it started to disintegrate. My ex wanted me to sit next to me but i sat elsewere a bit further. He said, "at least look into my eyes", and when i turned up to see him, that's when i woke up, and experienced all that i describe in the beginning.

I did not feel scared when my heart was pounding however. Afterwards, i went back to sleep and had a different interesting dream. This one made me happy to recall upon awakening for some reason:

I am in this huge three stories house. The walls are fully painted with pictures full of intense colours, symbols and depictions of places ancient, scenes of lives, etc. In many places in the house are stacks of books and Cd's. Nothing else is in the house. I know that at some point the owner of the house leaves away for a while, and in his absence, something happens, somebody paints those beautiful walls over with white paint! Then a long time passes, but i sit around trying to preserve the images that were lost in my mind in order to reproduce them again. And the owner comes, a very kind smiling man, who puts his arm around my waist and we walk through the house, and i tell him what was where, and i discover two things to my amazement: that he remembers how everything was better than me, and he brought his friends with him and already started on repainting the images, and that there are parts of the paintings that are still intact, even though i thought that all were lost. So everyone is happy, and works joyfully on the paintings; slowly the images emerge, though there's still lots of work to be done!

Still, just writing about it makes me feel very good!

 

[RedFox]

In this little time that i was asleep, i had a dream where i was at this big event with many people from work, and there was this band of males who were dressed up as something, which i can't recall. But you could not see their faces. In the event, i interacted a lot with them and i felt i knew one of them. After the event was over, one of those dressed up men, gave to a female coworker of mine something to give me. It was a white porcelain pot with a plant, and a card in it with that man's name, who turned out to be my ex. He approached me and my coworker and wanted to talk to me alone. The other woman did not want to leave me alone with him (he is somewhat pathological in real life) but i insisted that i will be fine, and she left. I remember then that while holding the white porcelain pot in my hands, it started to disintegrate. My ex wanted me to sit next to me but i sat elsewere a bit further. He said, "at least look into my eyes", and when i turned up to see him, that's when i woke up, and experienced all that i describe in the beginning.

The symbols are pretty strong in this. The men dressed as something, with hidden faces...one of who turns out to be pathological (in real life)...who tries to get you alone and at least look into his eyes (which psychopaths can do as a form of hypnosis/control)! It has Predator writtern all over it. It sounds exactly like a Dark Man dream (bold added).

The Wave: Chapter VIII
Everywhere you look, There is the Face of God

At that point, I could have plunged back into denial, into the old belief system, for the sake of peace and keeping everything stable, but I had a dream that clearly told me that I was in mortal danger if I did not take immediate action. It was the standard "Dark Man Dream" as described by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a Jungian psychologist, who uses ancient tales as maps to chart our unconscious knowing in her book Women Who Run With The Wolves.

"The natural predator of the psyche is not only found in fairy tales but also in dreams. There is a universal initiatory dream, one so common that it is remarkable if a person has reached age 25 without having had such a dream. The dream usually causes the person to jolt awake, striving and anxious. The dream usually involves being in a house with danger outside or darkness outside. The dreamer is frightened and frantically tries to obtain assistance. Suddenly, they realize the danger is virtually on top of them, or right with them, or cannot be overcome or avoided, or that they have lost. The dreamer awakens instantly, breathing hard, heart pounding.

"There is a strong physical aspect to having a dream of the predator. The dream is often accompanied by sweats, struggles, hoarse breathing, heart pounding, and sometimes crying and moans of fear. We could say the dream-maker has dispensed with subtle messages to the dreamer and now sends images which shake the neurological and autonomic nervous system of the dreamer, thereby communicating the urgency of the matter.
"The antagonists of the 'dark dream' are, in people's own words, 'terrorists, rapists, thugs, concentration camp Nazis, marauders, murderers, criminals, creeps, bad men, thieves.' There are several levels to the interpretation of the dream..."

"Often such a dream is a reliable indicator that a person's consciousness is just beginning to gain awareness of the innate psychic predator...."

"The dream is a harbinger; the dreamer has just discovered or is about to discover and begin liberating a forgotten and captive function of the psyche.

"The dark man dream tells a person what predicament they are facing. The dream tells about a cruel attitude toward the dreamer. Like Bluebeard's wife, the dreamer can consciously gain hold of the 'key' question about this matter and answer it honestly, and can then be set free. ...

"The dark man appears in dreams when an initiation - a psychic change from one level of knowing and behavior to another more energetic level of knowledge and action is imminent. The initiation creates an archway which one prepares to pass through to a new manner of knowing and being....

"Dreams are 'portales,' entrances, preparations, and practices for the next step in consciousness.

"Dark man dreams are wake-up calls. They say: Pay attention! Something has gone radically amiss in the outer world. ....The threat of the 'dark man dreams' serves as a warning to all of us -- if you don't pay attention, something will be stolen from you! The dreamer needs to be initiated so that whatever has been robbing her can be recoginzed, apprehended, and dealt with.

"In the Bluebeard story we see how a woman who falls under the spell of the predator rouses herself and escapes him, wiser for the experience. The story is about transformation through knowledge, insight, voice, decisive action. We must unlock the secrets and use our abilities to be able to stand what we see. And then, we must use our voice and our wits to do what needs to be done about what we see. When instincts are strong, we intuitively recognize the innate predator by scent, sight, and hearing... we anticipate its presence, hear it approaching, and take steps to turn it away. In the instinct-injured (i.e. nuts and bolts person) the predator is upon them before they register its presence. We have been taught to be nice, to behave, to be blind, and to be misused. [We have been hypnotized to give up our flesh and skins.]

"The young and the injured are uninitiated. Neither knows much about the dark predator and are, therefore, credulous. But, fortunately, when the predator is on the move, it leaves behind unmistakable tracks in dreams. These tracks eventually lead to its discovery, capture and containment.

"Wild Ways teaches people when not to act 'nice' about protecting their souls. The instinctive nature knows that being 'sweet' in these instances only makes the predator smile. When the soul is being threatened, it is not only acceptable to draw the line and mean it, it is required."

I am in this huge three stories house. The walls are fully painted with pictures full of intense colours, symbols and depictions of places ancient, scenes of lives, etc. In many places in the house are stacks of books and Cd's. Nothing else is in the house. I know that at some point the owner of the house leaves away for a while, and in his absence, something happens, somebody paints those beautiful walls over with white paint! Then a long time passes, but i sit around trying to preserve the images that were lost in my mind in order to reproduce them again. And the owner comes, a very kind smiling man, who puts his arm around my waist and we walk through the house, and i tell him what was where, and i discover two things to my amazement: that he remembers how everything was better than me, and he brought his friends with him and already started on repainting the images, and that there are parts of the paintings that are still intact, even though i thought that all were lost. So everyone is happy, and works joyfully on the paintings; slowly the images emerge, though there's still lots of work to be done!

Talk about complete contrast....I really like this dream. From an esoteric point of view, it reminds me of the quotes I've read from G about 'preparing for the masters return'. Given houses in dreams usually represent the self....to have so much of yourself buried (under white paint) only to have the owner of the house turn up and help you put it all back to how it should be is a really strong message :)
I think it at least shows the effect the E-E program is having on your 'self'.

I get a slightly different experience in the Ba-Ha portion of the tape - a switching off of breathing entirely - until I notice and get back on track; something is happening as I get wet eyes, and yet it is as if something (Predator's Mind?) is attempting to stop the underlying process of bringing emotions into awareness.

Thanks for the quote Trevrizent, it may well apply. However when I am yawning its not because I'm tired it seems......it just 'happens'. I wonder if resisting the urge to do so would be a good idea or not??
I use to have the same thing happen that you mention......what I found is that I would actually zone out during the 3 stage breathing and BA-HA part, causing me to stop breathing for a moment. Now it seems that this has been replaced by yawning instead.

 

[avalon]

This breathing program is extremely powerful. It's not to be taken lightly I can tell u that!! Anyway but thanks Laura for laying the stepping stones for the rest of us to build upon. Laying the foundation is always the hard part of any growth in knowledge and is usually a lifetime of work eg. Einstein. It makes sense what the cassiopaean's say about doing your own research and thus growing stronger. Just another random question I would like to add because i don't see any discussions on the forum about it. What do you guys think about joining the french legion? I know that the military is not always the best option nowadays but the french are known for looking after their people. Also another interesting fact why would laura of all people move to france? That already should be an indication if you are paying attention to what's going on around you. Anyway do you guys think it would have any negative effects on being able to interact with the wave when it comes? My viewpoint is it doesn't matter where you are, if you ready, you are ready. I would like to hear your comments on this please.

 

[Jacques]

Hi Avalon,

Welcome to this forum,

Since it is your first post, we recommend to the new members to post a little intro in the Newbies section. Just tell to the members of this forum, how you have discovered this forum, what books of Laura you have read, are you familiar with the 4th way and Gurdjieff.

You can read a couple of intro and it will give you the general idea.

 

[dantem]

I've still blockings regarding the EE program, and difficulties to breath with my stomach/chest and up, as if what I've in the belly can't go up properly, hitting repeatedly the wall on the three stage breathing. I'm taking notes.

Perhaps I'm missing something? Any clues?

 

[vinny]

I've still blockings regarding the EE program, and difficulties to breath with my stomach/chest and up, as if what I've in the belly can't go up properly, hitting repeatedly the wall on the three stage breathing. I'm taking notes.

Perhaps I'm missing something? Any clues?

a couple of things that might be useful. Are you maybe not moving the diaphragm correctly - it needs to tighten downwards when you breath in, and then relax back up again into a dome shame when you breath out to fully expel the old air, it should come naturally once you are used to the movement. Do a quick google image search on 'diaphragm' - If you can picture it, it might help, and you should be able to feel it pull down and flatten out as you breath in - which will also lift your ribs once you are breathing deeply.

Another thing might be your posture, perhaps it would be worth you doing some simple breathing exercises standing up, to stretch everything out and give you more capacity, whilst paying attention to keeping your spine straight as well - as you breath in. It's hard to know exactly what the difficulty is without being there in person and seeing you breathe, to see how your body is moving, but it sounds like there is some constriction, maybe some tension where there shouldn't be. Then for the full 3 stage breathing, the idea is to carry on breathing in, as the diaphragm contracts, so that the air fills right up, and the rib cage expands, because of of the pressure and from the contraction of the diaphragm muscle at the bottom, and the air filling, allowing the chest to lift (especially good stretching with 3rd stage, putting your hands behind your shoulders to really stretch the chest out), and NOT from 'pulling' upwards by hunching your shoulders (keep those shoulders relaxed!).

All this will help maximise your breathing capacity. Another thing might be that you are not relaxed, you shouldn't be tensing the other muscles around your torso / stomach / chest, because that tends to act 'against' the expansion, and lock your body into a stiff position and not allow things to move. So, perhaps practice just some simple deep breathing, basically *relax*, and try to feel the air fill your body, and feel everything moving in the right way without becoming tense, keep a good awareness of the position of your body, and maybe that will help. Stick with it!

 

[Nienna]

I've still blockings regarding the EE program, and difficulties to breath with my stomach/chest and up, as if what I've in the belly can't go up properly, hitting repeatedly the wall on the three stage breathing. I'm taking notes.

Perhaps I'm missing something? Any clues?

As Nomad said, you need to be relaxed. That means your stomach also. you need
to have your entire abdomen in a relaxed state. No holding in of the belly.

Nomad gave a very good description of how the diaphragm works and feels, but
maybe just relaxing and trying to fill your belly with air. (Of course it is
not your belly filling with air, but the diaphram pushing the intestines out as
it pushes down, but the feeling is the same.) Then, take deeper breathes where
you feel you belly filling, then as you continue breathing you feel the chest
expanding as the upper lungs fill with air.

As Nomad said, it's hard to know what the problem is not being able to be there
as see what is going on.

 

[Laura]

Ya'll hang on for the video that is in editing. It will have a lot of graphics and images and a viewable demonstration.

 

[aragorn]

I've still blockings regarding the EE program, and difficulties to breath with my stomach/chest and up, as if what I've in the belly can't go up properly, hitting repeatedly the wall on the three stage breathing. I'm taking notes.

Perhaps I'm missing something? Any clues?

Do you have this problem while breathing and lying on your back? As pointed out by previous posters in many cases it is the surface muscles that are causing the problem, they are too tense; ones posture shouldn't be kept by the means of the surface muscles (especially around the waste, e.g. abdominal) but the inner muscles. Thus it is easier at first to accomplish a more relaxed breathing while lying on your back, since the surface muscles are in also in a more relaxed state. Have you tried the exercise of placing of books on your belly and breathing while lying on your back?

In my experience with e.g. singing students finding a free, deep and full breathing is most difficult while standing since there are even more parts of your body that can "mess up" your posture (e.g. the tilt of the pelvis/swayback) and cause tensions. This isn't a problem while doing the EE I guess, since it's done while sitting, but the way one walks and stands while doing things in every day life can cause severe tensions in the spine etc. if done in an unergonomic manner. Problems in the spine are a very common cause of poor movement of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is connected to the spine and the lumbar vertebra, so any problems and tensions there will mess things up with the movement of the diaphragm.

And then there are of course psychological aspects, like traumas that can effect the diaphragm. I don't have any expertise in this, but in my laymans understanding the diaphragm is a "tricky" muscle (not volitional) and cannot be "commanded" directly. It needs the right sort of subtle signals from the brain to function properly. So, ones mental state plays a huge role also. But the good news is, that the more one does these breathing exercises and meditations like EE, thus cleaning up the "penthouse", the more it will free ones breathing. So, it's sort of a win-win situation, one just has to have the discipline to continue...

 

[dantem]

Thanks All for the quick replies!

That's a bigger clue I was missing, that of stretching out! I've started it all with a few breathing session while sitting on a chair, but afterwards I was breathing most of the time on my bed, and breathing while laying down is entirely different.

When I lay down I feel certainly more relaxed, there's far more less tension in the chest area even if it's like there's a string of muscles pulling down during the 2nd stage, and often the problem is to remain awake till POTS in this position. Maybe it's just silly here, I don't know, but breathing in a standing position vs laying down is like day and night to me, and problem is that I mostly breath during the day ;D and whit that bad stomach pressure it isn't fair to stand. It comes and go. One moment I notice it and the next I don't, and it was during the most recent sessions that I've noticed that there may be something wrong in there that wasn't going to go away.. anyway.

It could be also an emotional block as I have a long story of acidity and cramps in the stomach going back from childhood and it's very difficult to not to hold that minimal 'bent ahead' position during my daily routine. Here and there I have a glimpse of awareness of my bad body posture and I react pulling my shoulders back and spine upright. Reading about adrenal fatigue helped me a lot too, but still there's this knot there. I'll do more relaxation before the breathing and see what happen.

 

[Bobo08]

That's a bigger clue I was missing, that of stretching out! I've started it all with a few breathing session while sitting on a chair, but afterwards I was breathing most of the time on my bed, and breathing while laying down is entirely different.

When I lay down I feel certainly more relaxed, there's far more less tension in the chest area even if it's like there's a string of muscles pulling down during the 2nd stage, and often the problem is to remain awake till POTS in this position.

Hi dantem,

In the beginning, I had the same problem. Now I'm doing the breathing while sitting on a pillow and leaning against the wall in a slightly reclining position. It makes the breathing easier and is still not lying down so you won't fall asleep. Maybe you can try it to see if it helps.