2 very simple but very powerful meditation techniques

I would recommend preparing the body (in many ways) first with yoga asanas before starting practicing pranayama.
Take your time, find a nice yoga center and practice as much as you can, you will be surprised what you find and it leads you to. Pranayama will bring you many many good things but find a good teacher, if you dont know what your doing it can be dangerous.

Here is a link to the 'Eight limbs of Yoga'. www.expressionsofspirit.com...

It is very necessary to practice all these things to the best of your ability. But dont listen to those people who say that you have to reach perfection in asana before starting pranayama. Practice both side-by-side. Some people are attracted to asana more than others. Personally i only do some basic stretches to keep all the muscles loose especially the spine and this only takes 5 min twice a day.

As for pranayama possibly being dangerous this is true for some forms of pranayama , but with this particular technique as long as you dont hold the breath until your dizzy or do anything that makes you feel bad then there's nothing to worry about. If your doing it in a way that is dangerous youll know because it will feel unpleasant. There is nothing dangerous about slowing down the breath and making it smooth and calm.

Just curious about the breathing technique.. I think I am doing it correctly but it seems that even within a small amount of time my throat starts feeling rather dry. Is this also normal when first starting out, or am I doing something wrong (like breathing too heavily or something).

Thanks.

Originally posted by emeris
reply to post by RhinestoneCowboy

 

Yes definitely mouth closed. I only meant to take a couple breaths with the mouth open so that you get an idea of the type of breathing im talking about. Try it first with your mouth open just for a few breaths and then close your mouth and continue to breath in the same way through the nose. The sound will be more of a hissing sound. Just do the best you can to start and the quality will improve automatically.

I looked at the link and the only problem i find with it is that like most people they suggest a ratio of 1:2. This means that the exhalation should be twice as long as the inhalation. I dont find this to be very natural for me. For me the inhalation and exhalation are naturally the same length. Also most sites talking about Ujjayi dont include kumbhaka which is breath retention, the pause after inhalation(puraka) and exhalation(rechaka). Also i never find anyone who stretches the breath past maybe 10 sec for each part. So they will breath in for 10 sec. and breath out for 10 sec. and thats it. This is why theyre only getting the most basic benefits like the ones mentioned on the link. The real Ujjayi has 4 parts (inhalation,pause,exhalation,pause) Start with 5,5,5,5 then move to 10,10,10,10 but dont stop there. Thats only the very beginning. Wait until you reach 60,60,60,60 thats when you start to see the real benefits of this technique. Once i found out that this was a common technique i started reading every link i could find on it but was disappointed to find noone really practicing anything but the lowest stage. Im not the best at explaining things and even if i were it can still be difficult to understand even if i were there in person to show you. So please ask as many questions as you need to really understand the proper technique. I only posted this so that others can benefit from it and that means they need to understand clearly. So if it takes 1000 posts it will be time well spent.

edit on 7-1-2013 by emeris because: (no reason given)

Sir, I have deep respect for you. Thank you so much for this valuable information. I think I have a pretty nice guidelines now. All I need now is start practising and stop being lazy

reply to post by inval

Yes this can happen in the very beginning even when your doing it correctly. If it starts to feel like it might be creating a sore throat then wait until the throat feels better before practicing again. (You may have to wait a day or two) If you are practicing correctly and it bothers your throat in the beginning then that is just a temporary reaction. I can promise you after the first few weeks it wont do that anymore and the throat will start to actually feel better then it would under normal circumstances. But let me ask a few questions to make sure you are practicing correctly:

Are you breathing through your nose or your mouth?

You should only breath through your nose. I only suggested trying it with the mouth open for a couple breaths just to get the feel for it and then to close the mouth and continue breathing through the nose only.

Now if your breathing through the nose and still your throat gets dry then i would ask how long is each breath? Are you breathing rather quickly or is it fairly slow and smooth?

If its slow and smooth and still your throat gets dry then i would say that its probably just a temporary thing and not to worry about it too much. Drink something to lubricate your throat.

The cause of this may be that in the beginning before the quality has improved so that the breath is more subtle each breath will be rather forceful creating a lot of friction in the throat where the air is forced through the restricted glottis. But after the first few weeks you will gain more control and the quality of the breath will improve. As the quality improves the breath slows down and passes through the restricted glottis in a very gentle smooth and soft manner so that no irritation is caused. So keep practicing but be gentle with yourself. If you feel that your throat is starting to get too dry/sore then take a break and come back to it when your throat is better.

reply to post by emeris


Thanks for the advice. I am breathing through my nose after feeling how my throat should be by doing the HAA thing. It did indeed feel like it was going to cause a sore throat if I continued for much longer (I was only trying it for around 5min). I think I need to just get my breath more shallow and smooth though.

reply to post by inval


Continue to tinker with it. It will improve very quickly if your dedicated. the first few weeks to months are just trial and error getting to know the breath and slowly gaining some control of it. Eventually youll just slip into the right gear and it will be smooth sailing from there on out. I cant describe to you how silky smooth the breath will become and therefore how peaceful and calm your mind will be.

So keep up the practice but know your limits and be gentle with yourself.

Thanks so much for this info! im so glad i read it (:

I am so pleased that i came into the philosophy forum today and saw your post, i very rarely leave the paranormal section of ats.
Anyhow i have always been put off meditation by the usual exercises but i have had a try at breathing the way you have described and am excited by the effects already. I am going to persevere and hope to master it.
Already in your thread people are advising that a meditation class would be better but i like the sound of your self discovered method better.
If as you say none of the groups advocate the exact breathing method you have discovered then maybe you have hit on something unique and i certainly don't see the harm in trying it especially if it brings the blissful feelings which you describe.
Having to go to a meditation class is what puts a lot of people with children or busy lives off doing any meditation at all. Although i'm sure many will progress to classes your technique will attract many who would never have tried meditation at all usually. Thankyou very much

reply to post by transubstantiation


If you persevere you will master it without a doubt. Like i said these came naturally to me so don't feel like you have to mimic the technique to the letter. Listen to your own body, you may feel that a slight variation works better for you. So feel free to experiment and play around with it.

Sometimes for example i may feel like taking some powerful breaths before starting the gentle subtle breathing. Sometimes i might practice inhaling as slowly as possible without worrying about being able to match it with the exhalation so that the inhalation can be stretched to several minutes before quickly exhaling and then ill practice the exhalation on its own making it as slow, and smooth as i can. The more you practice the slower you can breath and the smoother the breath becomes so that there are no breaks or subtle sputtering(im sure theres a better word but i cant think of it) Basically the breath becomes a straight line rather than a squiggly line.

So whatever you have to do to stretch out the length of the breath and smooth it out.

I should mention that when the natural pause starts to become quite long it can be alarming when you suddenly notice that you've stopped breathing/thinking and this will cause you to come out of it. There is nothing to be afraid of this pause can go on for a very long time without any harmful effects in fact your body will feel incredible.

reply to post by emeris


Hi, Emeris. Thank you.

I'm practising your first and simple technique for meditation/relaxing ... I think it's helping me. Thanks.

For me, I notice that the expiration-pause time is the double then the inspiration-pause.

reply to post by voyger2


Yeah it was the same for me in the beginning but as i got better at the inhalation it started to match the exhalation.
It seems that most people are better at the exhalation than they are at inhalation. This might be because exhalation doesn't require as much effort. Once the lungs are full the air wants to come out and you basically just open the valve and the pressure will do all the work of pushing out the air but the inhalation takes a little more work.

So the exhalation is easier to slow down and control than the inhalation and this may be why its longer than the inhalation in the beginning. But as you get better at the inhalation it will become longer and smoother and it seems that at least in my case they naturally sync up.

When i first started practicing this technique i didn't sit down and decide on any specific ratio i simply started slowing down the inhalation and exhalation. Then i suddenly noticed that as the breath slowed and i became calm and relaxed i started to naturally pause after the inhalation and again after exhalation. Like i said the exhalation was longer than the inhalation at first but as i practiced they started to even out.

After a few months the breath started to become so long i decided to time it by counting in my head and it came out to be about 25,25,25,25. A few months later it was 40,40,40,40. So it evened out naturally without me trying to adhere to any certain rules. Of course this was 5 years ago and ive never taught this technique until now so im actually just remembering a lot of the things that can come up in the beginning.

But from my experience i can tell you with certainty that if you follow the 1:1:1:1 ratio and if you make a strong effort you will progress very quickly to the highest stages of breath control.

Now if you don't like following the rules feel free to simply focus on lengthening, slowing, and smoothing out the inhalation and the exhalation. The pause will come in naturally and become longer and longer until its the same as the in and out. The in and out will sync up and youll naturally fall into the 1:1:1:1 ratio anyway.

In the end though you stop breathing all together for the length of your meditation and this can last several hours or longer. Almost everyone will laugh at that and say its not physically possible but how many of those people have dedicated themselves to several hours a day of this kind of breath control for several years? There are many cases of yogis demonstrating this if you want to look it up.

When thoughts stop breath stops. When breath stops thoughts stop. Breath and mind are linked together. If you slow your breath you slow the thoughts if you slow the thoughts you slow the breath. And when they slow to a stop the body does not die but is simply suspended. Why cant everyone do this? Well, why cant you? Because you haven't practiced. Even on the first day you see that you can slow your breath down. Now 5 years later i'm telling you it can be slowed to a stop without the body dying. But think about how rare it is for anyone to really pursue this and you'll understand why it's not common knowledge.

Now when the mind and body are temporarily removed you remain as that which is beyond the body and mind.
There are lots of different names for that like soul etc. but these people who throw these words around are just talking about something they've heard about or thought about but have never really experienced. Of course 'experienced' is a misleading word because it implies that there are 2. There's the soul and then there's you experiencing the soul. That's not the case here. You are the soul and you simply abide as the soul. The temporary veil of body and mind are removed and you remain as that which you already are but don't see because you think you are the body and mind.

Of course i know the average person practicing meditation is just looking for a way to relax and be more calm and not necessarily take it so far and for those people these techniques will take them however far they want to go. If you reach a certain stage of peace, a certain length of the breath you may feel that its good enough and not care to go further but remember the story of the woodcutter:

The woodcutter met a sage in the forest, who said, “Go forward!” So he went past the grove of trees where he was cutting and he found a silver mine. And after becoming very wealthy and mining all the silver he remembered the sage said, “Go forward”, he didn’t say, “stop.”

So he went further into the forest, until he found a gold mine. But he didnt stop there he remembered the sages words: “Go forward”. So he went even further into the forest and he found a mine of diamonds and emeralds and jewels.

Keep going forward and go quickly. Lets not waste any time here.

What a splendid thread!!
You are very good in explaining things!!

By now i like the second technique most.
After doing it for some minutes i really fell asleep
I wanted to sleep but i often have so much in my mind that it can took ages until i finally drift away...
So your technique helped me already!

S&F

Keep up the good work

reply to post by Snaffers


Yeah i always practice the body awareness before going to sleep and before getting out of bed. Luckily i dont have to get up at any certain time because the relaxation is so nice i may lay there for a couple hours before getting up. I dont make any effort to fall asleep at night. I just lay flat on my back and practice the technique until i feel sleep coming on and then i just roll over and drift off and as soon as i wake up i go back into it.

Anyone has a tip on how to eliminate sounds?
I find it's very difficult to meditate without binaural beats. The sounds of cars, voice of people in the apartment, etc are difficult to eliminate.

The binaural beats help me a lot to lose all the senses in my body.... except my head haha...

But then with binaural beats, I feel like my meditation level will not improve further. Yesterday I felt like I was being absorbed but then the sound from earphone somehow distracted me.

Thanks

reply to post by dodol


Practicing acceptance of whatever is happening in the present moment is an essential element to a meditation practice.

The sounds themselves are neutral they dont force you to be bothered or distracted. Remind yourself of that each time you feel bothered by a sound and then practice complete acceptance.

Dont try to only eliminate sounds. Eliminate the mental resistance to them by accepting instead.

As for binaural beats i have only a very limited experience with them. When they first came on the scene many years ago i was very excited by the concept of just putting on the headphones and letting the music do all the work. But i soon realized that just wasn't going to cut it. Luckily i already had years of meditation practice so that i could immediately recognize the shortcomings of this method.

First of all, the effects of binaural beats can never compare to the effects of the techniques in this thread that i had been practicing before trying BB. Also, you become dependent on the earphones and the music and you never develop concentration or inner awareness. If you had then you would not be complaining about distractions because your concentration would quickly reach a level where even though you may hear the various sounds around you they wouldn't be a problem. And as i mentioned before in the thread when concentration gets deeper you dont hear the sounds around you at all.

So if you really want to get rid of noises you should develop your power to concentrate. In the first technique you concentrate on the breath and in the second you concentrate on the feeling of the body. In BB you may concentrate on the sounds but really its a very passive method where you just sit back and expect the music to do all the work and like i said thats not going to cut it.

Now if a sound or a thought comes in and distracts you from your concentration thats ok. As soon as you notice youve been distracted just calmly come back to the object of concentration. With practice you get distracted less and less and eventually you will gain the ability to withdraw your senses completely like a turtle withdrawing its limbs. This is the same experience you would get in a isolation tank but you can enter it anytime anywhere.

So you can continue to use BB if you enjoy it but i would recommend adding either these 2 techniques or something similar to your practice.

Originally posted by emeris
reply to post by dodol

 

Practicing acceptance of whatever is happening in the present moment is an essential element to a meditation practice.

The sounds themselves are neutral they dont force you to be bothered or distracted. Remind yourself of that each time you feel bothered by a sound and then practice complete acceptance.

Dont try to only eliminate sounds. Eliminate the mental resistance to them by accepting instead.

As for binaural beats i have only a very limited experience with them. When they first came on the scene many years ago i was very excited by the concept of just putting on the headphones and letting the music do all the work. But i soon realized that just wasn't going to cut it. Luckily i already had years of meditation practice so that i could immediately recognize the shortcomings of this method.

First of all, the effects of binaural beats can never compare to the effects of the techniques in this thread that i had been practicing before trying BB. Also, you become dependent on the earphones and the music and you never develop concentration or inner awareness. If you had then you would not be complaining about distractions because your concentration would quickly reach a level where even though you may hear the various sounds around you they wouldn't be a problem. And as i mentioned before in the thread when concentration gets deeper you dont hear the sounds around you at all.

So if you really want to get rid of noises you should develop your power to concentrate. In the first technique you concentrate on the breath and in the second you concentrate on the feeling of the body. In BB you may concentrate on the sounds but really its a very passive method where you just sit back and expect the music to do all the work and like i said thats not going to cut it.

Now if a sound or a thought comes in and distracts you from your concentration thats ok. As soon as you notice youve been distracted just calmly come back to the object of concentration. With practice you get distracted less and less and eventually you will gain the ability to withdraw your senses completely like a turtle withdrawing its limbs. This is the same experience you would get in a isolation tank but you can enter it anytime anywhere.

So you can continue to use BB if you enjoy it but i would recommend adding either these 2 techniques or something similar to your practice.

Thank you very much!!!

After reading your reply, I realized i am just too impatient. hehe
I will try to focus on breath as you suggested.

I only tried the meditation objects so far but not productive hehe


I will try harder this time. Thanks!!

reply to post by dodol


Who's impatient? The mind.

When you realize that you are not the mind you are free of it. Watch the mind and its impatience. Laugh at it. Its nothing.
Practice these techniques and watch the mind slow down. The more the mind stills the more transparent it becomes. Just like when the ripples on the surface of a pond settle down and the more they settle the more you can see through to the bottom. Let your goal be stillness. Stillness is the measure of progress and in the stillness there's bliss, there's love. You are the stillness not the mind, the mind is just a tool. Learn how to set down the tool when its not needed. As it is now the tool is so prevalent it seems that the tool is who you are. You are the unconditioned awareness in which the body and mind are contained. These techniques can bring about the realization of this if practiced sincerely.

So again, realization of your true self, your true nature beyond the mind and body is the goal here and nothing else. The more stillness the closer you are coming to it.

I mentioned this somewhere in the thread but i just wanted to remind everyone that as the breath slows down and becomes more gentle and subtle it will become silent. There will still be the restriction in the throat but the air will just creep through extremely slowly so no sound will be produced. But until the breath can be slowed down to this rate some sound will be produced.

Today mey i share you Ujjayi pranayama stretches as well as warms the breath before it enters into the lungs. Read more: 7pranayama.com...