[HN Gopher] Breathwork supports emergence of altered states of c...
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Breathwork supports emergence of altered states of consciousness
Author : rendx
Score : 217 points
Date : 2024-05-08 19:54 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.researchsquare.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.researchsquare.com)
| colechristensen wrote:
| I wonder what other effects this has on the body. The signaling
| around CO2 levels does a lot to cellular respiration everywhere,
| not just the brain (think krebs cycle, etc).
| smeej wrote:
| There's a product out, Freespira, that does breath work
| training monitored by a nasal cannula, to help people who
| experience panic attacks. The theory is that such people are
| chronic hyperventilators, so their blood CO2 is too low for the
| parasympathetic nervous system to operate correctly.
|
| It didn't end up being a good fit for me, but if a person's
| PTSD comes from discrete events rather than a continually
| unsafe environment in early childhood, I think they'd have a
| better experience. (My parasympathetic nervous system never
| learned how to operate correctly, but if someone else's did and
| its function got interrupted later, I think their experience
| would be different.)
| rendx wrote:
| Interesting! Thanks for the pointer.
| plaguuuuuu wrote:
| Strange side note. I've tried n-acetylcysteine as a
| supplement/medication, the weirdest thing about it is that I
| felt like I needed to breathe less often. And like I was
| breathing manually - which you are also doing now, ha.
|
| I wonder if it helps with panic attacks.
| AnthonBerg wrote:
| This makes immediate sense to me after having stumbled upon
| some of the academic literature on N-acetylcysteine.
|
| There are results on it being anti-anxiety, yes.
|
| Tons and tons of results; Wide scope. Pulmonary and
| neurobiological.
|
| The wildest paper imo: "N-acetyl cysteine reverses bio-
| behavioural changes induced by prenatal inflammation,
| adolescent methamphetamine exposure and combined
| challenges" - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4776-5
|
| It's just an... :exploding-head: paper.
|
| There are also studies that check if humans fall into or
| out of various psychiatric disorder diagnostic criteria.
| Yes, NAC is anti-anxiety.
|
| And! NAC is clearly and obviously mucolytic. Slime-
| dissolving. Its use as prescription and OTC medicine in my
| country is--I think, so far--exclusively as a lung-slime
| dissolver to help people breathe better.
| ajb wrote:
| It's a very interesting paper. However, it's in rats, so
| among other things the timescale is very compressed
| compared to humans: we are taking about three NAC
| reversing changes 1-2 months later
| AnthonBerg wrote:
| Ah, indeed, I would like to add that I'd never expect
| anything fully "the same" to happen in us. Nonetheless,
| it does work!, tons of more studies out there.
|
| It's wild to me that this substance--sold OTC as a
| mucolytic!--can have an impact like that in an animal
| model, and the molecular biology mechanisms of how it
| happens that the study shows are... well, yes,
| :exploding-head:
| mjklin wrote:
| Ross and Carrie covered this on their podcast back in 2017, they
| had out of body experiences I believe. Link:
| https://ohnopodcast.com/investigations/2017/10/21/ross-and-c...
| rqtwteye wrote:
| Holotropics has been around for quite a while and some yoga
| pranayamas also can lead to altered states. I have to admit I
| find mushrooms easier to deal with.
| hackernewds wrote:
| An ascetic will tell you that a purer experience of spiritual
| connection is something you can control and remember
| afterwards.
| foobiekr wrote:
| You remember mushrooms after.
| Traubenfuchs wrote:
| Ahhh yes, the bespoke, organic, pesticide free high of the
| true people. Why struggle when 10-20EUR worth of ketamine
| will make you glide through impossible (un)existence for an
| hour or so.
|
| Elitism and snobbism in spirituality and meditation circles
| is real!
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| Spiritual Elitism Aside.
|
| One method is adjusting CO2/O2 levels. And if Yoga, you are
| moving and there are body/mind connections, even weight
| lifters can experience this. Even just stretching.
|
| Versus laying on the couch on drugs.
|
| Psychedelic's do "something", but not the "same thing".
| AstralStorm wrote:
| Remember what, the tingling mess and neuronal misfires of
| endogenous DMT release experience?
| rqtwteye wrote:
| There is a always a purer version of any experience. This
| sounds a little elitist.
| m3kw9 wrote:
| What about LSD
| MrLeap wrote:
| Is circular breath work just hyper ventilating?
| notnaut wrote:
| Yep. Feels good man.
|
| Same as all the psychs.
|
| And altered perspective can make you wiser.
| yencabulator wrote:
| But hyperventilating sounds scientific and reductive circles
| are mystical and sell well! And we gotta separate _our_ ancient
| shamanic yogi breathing school from those damn box breathing
| gurus!
| suroot wrote:
| My buddy goes into schizophrenia episodes every time he goes for
| a long run. Any ideas?
| DANmode wrote:
| Acute toxicity due to distribution of accumulated toxin (of
| some kind) by the violent action of running.
| rustcleaner wrote:
| Probably this House M.D. -tier answer.
| fredoliveira wrote:
| It can't be House M.D. because the diagnostic isn't lupus.
| MrLeap wrote:
| Your buddy ought to see a healthcare professional, I'm just
| some guy on the internet.
|
| That said: here's a description of prodromal schizophrenia.
| Your description reads like category #2 to me.
|
| "Prodrome phase can also be categorized in three different
| ways: Category 1 means the patient should
| have at least one of the following symptoms: False beliefs that
| random events in the world directly relate to them, odd
| beliefs, or magical thinking; visual disturbance; odd thinking
| and speech; paranoid ideation; and odd behavior or appearance.
| Category 2 includes patients who have experienced psychotic
| symptoms that come and go, which have spontaneously resolved
| within a week. Category 3 includes a combination of
| genetic risk (i.e., being the first-degree relative of an
| individual with a diagnosis of schizophrenia) with substantial
| changes in personal daily functioning in the previous year. "
|
| https://www.verywellhealth.com/prodromal-schizophrenia-51942...
| 121789 wrote:
| I believe running, especially long runs will cause changes in
| brain chemistry. Rapid increases in norepinephrine, GABA, and
| serotonin. I wonder if that sudden release triggers something.
| Same mechanism as a runner's high
| swader999 wrote:
| @goggins would agree
| francisofascii wrote:
| Interesting. It is common for marathon runners to experience
| cognitive impairment, delusions, and hallucinations. Does this
| occur late in the run? Is heat, altitude, or lack of fueling a
| factor?
| ergonaught wrote:
| It isn't new, even for the academic community, that modulating
| CO2 levels via breathing alters consciousness.
|
| Some of these sound more like advertisements.
| khimaros wrote:
| if this topic interests you, check out this interview with Dr.
| Jack Feldman: https://hubermanlab.com/dr-jack-feldman-
| breathing-for-mental... -- i found the section about the
| effects of periodic hypoxia without retaining CO2 quite
| fascinating.
| aunty_helen wrote:
| I've done a session of holotropic breathwork before. It was a
| surprisingly strong experience.
|
| 25 minutes of rapid deepish breathing while listening to music. I
| was doing it as part of a group session and funnily it was
| conducted via zoom.
|
| After the first 10, it becomes easy to keep the breathing pace.
| Moderately deep hallucinations, sweating a _lot_ on the bed. The
| weirdest part was that my face wanted to screw up in contortions.
| I felt my lips tight and couldn't control my facial muscles until
| they hurt. I lost track of time and the session felt like it
| ended quickly.
|
| Afterwards there was a positivity mindset like a mild mushroom
| afterglow. I would probably do it again.
| simple10 wrote:
| Yes! Holotropic is crazy strong. I remember having to sign a
| waiver that was akin to a skydiving waiver before doing
| holotropic breathwork session online. Highly recommended if you
| feel inclined to try it.
| adastra22 wrote:
| That sounds like your body telling you not to do it.
| pharrington wrote:
| It sounds like you experienced oxygen deprivation.
| hackernewds wrote:
| oxygen deprivation is not euphoric. shouldn't be so
| flippantly reductive
| huygens6363 wrote:
| I thought it was common knowledge that it is in fact
| euphoric. Happy to be told I'm wrong though.
|
| (Think of nitrous oxide and .. the thing with asphyxiation
| and a certain pleasurable activity)
| karmakurtisaani wrote:
| Definitely mildly euphoric and relaxing. Source: have
| been choked out in BJJ training a few times. Woke up
| happy and relaxed every time.
| aeonik wrote:
| It is common knowledge. Kids play the choking game,
| people die from autoerotic asphyxiation, and folks who
| fly or dive are trained to recognize the symptoms as
| well.
|
| The burning feeling that you get when your hold your
| breath is a build up of CO2, not a lack of O2.
|
| PDF warning: https://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pilotsafet
| ybrochures/media...
| jobs_throwaway wrote:
| how do you suppose he got oxygen deprivation by breathing
| deeply?
| retrac wrote:
| The hypoxia/suffocation instinct, the irresistible urge to
| breathe, is caused by carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
| The nervous system has no means of directly detecting
| oxygen, or its absence. If you walk into a room of pure
| nitrogen there is almost no warning. The CO2 levels remain
| low, everything is fine while all your oxygen is rapidly
| dumped to the oxygen-free air - two deep breaths gets rid
| of most of it. Another 15 seconds after that you are dizzy,
| another 15 to 45 after that you are unconscious. Terrible
| design, IMHO, but presumably not a common situation in the
| ancient environment.
|
| If you hyperventilate, it drives out the carbonic acid and
| CO2 in the body. But the blood is normally already near
| saturation for oxygen. This unusually low level of CO2
| allows you to hold your breath much longer by suppressing
| the suffocation response, sometimes to the point of
| unconsciousness. You don't realize you should breathe. You
| feel fine, just a little lighthea... This is why you should
| never hyperventilate before diving under water.
| Aerbil313 wrote:
| You don't get more oxygen by breathing more. When you
| breath more the CO2 is expelled from your blood and
| hemoglobin cannot efficiently collect and transmit O2 in
| the absence of some specific amount of CO2. In fact most
| people overbreathe, and they should be breathing less to be
| optimally oxygenized.
|
| See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30252284/
|
| The book _Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art_ details
| the journey of James Nestor as he goes over all these
| different methods and exercises, it 's the #1 book I
| recommend to everyone. The number one certain conclusion to
| take home from the book that'll literally extend your
| lifespan significantly: Don't mouthbreathe, never ever.
| teh_infallible wrote:
| It also leaves you in a very suggestive state. I did several
| sessions with a "rebirther" years ago, basically holotropic
| breath work. I decided I didn't really need it, and I went in
| my last few sessions determined to quit, but at the end of the
| session, the practitioner always managed to convince me I
| needed another session. I eventually broke it off with him over
| the phone.
| nprateem wrote:
| I've heard about people awakening their kundalini with that. It
| fucked them for years since they had no clue what was
| happening, and no preparation or support.
| omnimus wrote:
| What changes with oneself when they awaken their kundalini?
| temp0826 wrote:
| Extraordinary sensitivity, internally and externally. It's
| considered a very advanced practice because without a
| trained mind it is extremely jarring, will induce anxiety
| and maybe make you start thinking that you have psychic
| abilities (or schizophrenia).
| bmacho wrote:
| You mean someone awakened their kundalini, wasn't aware of
| it, and it took years for them to figure it out? Can you
| describe the symptoms?
| nprateem wrote:
| No, they were very aware of it. Huge energy surges,
| hallucinations, emotions go haywire, etc. It can take years
| to stabilise if you don't know what you're doing, and
| apparently you can easily question your sanity (even if you
| know what to expect - if you have no guide you might really
| struggle with understanding the process).
|
| One guy would nearly pass out every time he got an
| erection, some people have a phase of not being able to eat
| anything but yoghurt or milk, etc. Huge changes, like a
| second puberty.
| swader999 wrote:
| It can be deeply emotional for some.
| swayvil wrote:
| I think the ancient yoga wizards of yore called that "Pranayama".
| bschmidt1 wrote:
| Combination of excess oxygen and rhythmic/yogic type trance?
| unrealp wrote:
| Sounds counter intuitive but breathwork reduces o2 to brain.
| Basically due to reduced co2, blood vessels in the brain
| constrict.
|
| Having said that, I worked with a breathwork teacher for a while,
| creating narrative for the session, for mental imagery and
| guidance. It also had music as a backdrop. Fun times. And it was
| definitely altered state for a lot of people.
| ay wrote:
| Any pointers to read more ?
|
| My GP friends only pointed me to respiratory alcalosis, which
| doesn't appear to be about O2 levels at all - it's the pH being
| out of the narrow "acceptable" band (too low in the case of
| hyperventilation) appeared to cause a lot of effect.
| unrealp wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilation - This leads
| to hypocapnia, a reduced concentration of carbon dioxide
| dissolved in the blood.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocapnia - Acute hypocapnia
| causes hypocapnic alkalosis, which causes cerebral
| vasoconstriction leading to cerebral hypoxia
|
| Though not acute, you can see the effects very easily. Within
| couple of minutes of deep breathing we could create
| peripheral numbing and tingling effect. (yoga folk say you
| are feeling energy moving though body and that kind of stuff
| haha)
| michael-ax wrote:
| EXACTLY! That's why you breathe into a paper-bag (or smoke) to
| increase CO2 so that the filters open and you get to a point
| where you feel O2 tingles all over your brain. This is
| extremely powerful; I practiced that and underwater held-breath
| swimming and hanging out underwater for a long time to obtain
| permanent changes that have made me far more effective. Based
| on work first published by W.Wenger out of a Maryland Think-
| tank some 50? years ago.
| thatcat wrote:
| What kind of changes?
| rybosworld wrote:
| I think they are referring to this:
| https://winwenger.com/books/books-online/two-guaranteed-
| ways...
|
| "For accumulating 20 hours of held-breath underwater
| swimming within 3 weeks from start to finish- 10 or more
| points I.Q. gain; better span of attention; better span of
| awareness; better awareness of the interrelatedness of
| things and of ideas and/or perceptions; finding yourself
| way better at winning arguments or disputes!"
|
| It should go without saying this is nonsense.
| grugagag wrote:
| This is probably nonsense for a healthy person but for
| someone who doesn't get enough o2 it probably has the
| same benefits of a person who does.
| rybosworld wrote:
| That's the kind of inference that allows these claims to
| proliferate.
|
| This article makes a lot of claims about I.Q. scores
| before and after holding breath (specifically underwater,
| for some reason), but there are no links to studies, no
| mention of who or how many people participated, etc.
|
| This is the definition of a baseless claim.
| algorias wrote:
| Not defending the overall claim, but there's a plausible
| reason why being underwater matters: the mammalian diving
| reflex. Holding your breath on land is not the same.
| relaxing wrote:
| That too is the kind of inference that allows these
| claims to proliferate.
| tapotatonumber9 wrote:
| Perhaps being under water makes it harder to "cheat".
| Etherlord87 wrote:
| So wim hof method, by breathing a lot, deprives you of
| oxygen, reducing brain functionality and therefore giving you
| a drug-like pleasure, whereas recycling air in a bag ends up
| giving you more oxygen and increasing brain efficiency? May
| sound like sarcasm, but honestly, do I need a diving gear to
| test it on myself or is a paper bag enough?
| Taikonerd wrote:
| Was the narrative something like, "you're on a mountaintop. You
| look around and see..." Or was it more abstract than that?
| ilaksh wrote:
| Just the word "breathwork" is obnoxious to me. I suppose it's
| interesting that if you hyperventilate enough you can reduce
| oxygen in your brain to the point where you hallucinate. And that
| is probably safer than taking psychedelics.
|
| But the idea that you would do that routinely seems obviously
| stupid to me. I think if you keep doing it for a number of years
| then you could damage your brain. My understanding is that your
| brain needs oxygen.
| gardnr wrote:
| Got that one backwards:
|
| > Hyperventilation is irregular breathing that occurs when the
| rate or tidal volume of breathing eliminates more carbon
| dioxide than the body can produce.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilation
| yorwba wrote:
| Removing carbon dioxide via your lungs doesn't mean your
| brain gets more oxygen. The "altered states of consciousness"
| are symptoms of oxygen deprivation which can be induced in
| other ways, but maybe hyperventilation is a particularly fun
| way to do it.
| UniverseHacker wrote:
| They were correct. Hemoglobin needs CO2 to release oxygen. If
| you are low on CO2 your tissues become oxygen deprived.
| andybak wrote:
| It seems obvious to me that the things you find obviously
| stupid, obviously aren't.
| codr7 wrote:
| I take it you haven't put a lot of effort into examining the
| practice? Pranayama is a pretty comprehensive system, and it
| has survived to this day for good reasons.
| adrianN wrote:
| ,,It'sa comprehensive system that survived for hundreds of
| years" is true for a lot of woo woo, eg astrology.
| EMM_386 wrote:
| I've done breathwork sessions before.
|
| It felt strange, yes you can midly hallucinate and feel
| "otherworldly" but I always left thinking "ok, I just
| hyperventilated for 20 minutes ... this is exatly how I'd expect
| to feel".
|
| And now we have a scientific study that proves it.
|
| It seemed pretty obvious to me.
| wouldbecouldbe wrote:
| That's a very technologist know it all answer.
|
| As if we fully understand, brain, conciousness, biology, body &
| spiritual experiences fully. There is so much to learn.
|
| The questions for instance arises how does this connect to
| emotional & spiritual experiences that derive from those
| practices.
|
| It's the same with psychedelics, they are chemically induced
| but often lead to meaningful experiences due a shift in the way
| we experience reality & conciousness.
|
| Is it a peak into a wider experience of the world that makes us
| realize the world as we experience it, might not be as real as
| we think it is? Who knows, so many interesting questions &
| options.
| bowsamic wrote:
| Kant already explained this in the mind of all "technologist
| know it all" though
| EMM_386 wrote:
| The funny thing is I spend my free time learning as much as I
| can about consciousness, alterered states of consciousness,
| the nature of reality, spirtual experiences, all that stuff.
|
| That's how I ended up in a breathwork session.
|
| But I still live in the universe, and the universe follows
| rules.
|
| In this case, my body's CO2/Oxygen imbalance was out of
| whack, and I probably should have started breathing into a
| paper bag.
|
| Consciousness is cool and all, but doing solid breathwork for
| over 20 minutes will upset the balance of molecules impotrant
| to a functioning consciousness. So while you may feel
| yourself soaring toward another dimension, it's your brain
| screaming for oxygen.
|
| My 2 cents.
| Argonaut998 wrote:
| FYI: Not all breath-work is hyperventilating.
| unrealp wrote:
| The study that has been mentioned talks about Holotropic
| Breathwork and Consciously-Connected breathwork are. I have
| worked with CCB.
| barrenko wrote:
| This is opening callback to birth trauma.
| FrustratedMonky wrote:
| There are a lot of breathing methods out there, like this, and
| Wim Hof. Is there any side by side comparisons.
|
| Side by Side Down to exact method. So many breaths, long, short,
| lengths, times.
|
| I'd really like to know if it all boils down to just O2/CO2
| balance, and each method just ends up with a different ratio.
| elif wrote:
| As wim would say, get high on your own supply.
|
| But in seriousness hyperoxia is mildly psychedelic, especially
| when you are in a state (athletic, euphoric, love etc) which
| naturally produces high levels of serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine,
| etc.
|
| When I was backpacking for 7 months with my wife, I would climb
| mountains as fast as I could and wait for her at the tops. I
| started doing wim hof while waiting and it was deeply rewarding
| grugagag wrote:
| How exactly do you 'do' wim hof and for how long?
| mettamage wrote:
| If you're open to it, I can teach you. My email is in my
| profile
| thomascgalvin wrote:
| The Wim Hof method is explained here:
|
| https://www.wimhofmethod.com/breathing-exercises
| nico wrote:
| Here's a guided video by Wim Hof, you can just listen to it
| while you lay down and follow along:
|
| https://youtu.be/0BNejY1e9ik?feature=shared
| boringg wrote:
| To add to this - if you get buried in an avalanche you likely
| go hypoxic. Many people pulled out sometimes in the moment
| react negatively to be saved as they are pulled out of a
| euphoric state even though they are literally getting saved
| from death.
| swader999 wrote:
| Just don't do Wim Hof type breathing while driving, near water
| or risk of fall is high. You can pass out or faint easily if
| you do it a little wrong.
| redblacktree wrote:
| Thank you for introducing me to this. Having done just one
| round, the effects are reminiscent of nitrous oxide. Very
| interesting indeed! As you suggest, I think I'll try this again
| after a bout of vigorous exercise.
| rufugee wrote:
| What specifically did you try? The wim hof breathing method
| after strenuous exercise?
| redblacktree wrote:
| Wim hof, no exercise. (but will do so later, after my
| normal workout routine)
|
| As others in the thread have said, this may not be any
| better for my health than N2O, but it's still interesting
| nonetheless. Probably not something for every day.
| idontwantthis wrote:
| Did you feel like it was "good" for you in any way? I've
| experienced the euphoria and I definitely compare it to nitrous
| oxide, in that it is pleasurable, fleeting and unfulfilling.
| Plus I sometimes ended up with a persistent headache.
|
| It made me feel better temporarily in a time of distress, but
| like any drug, it only numbed me and did nothing to improve my
| outlook.
| 121789 wrote:
| Wim hof feels great, but I always kinda feel like I'm doing
| something mildly unhealthy when I do it
| malloryerik wrote:
| I've read of a credible person who says they use breathwork of
| some kind to help enter a state of flow. Does anyone here know if
| this sounds right? If so, how would one learn? Books? Courses?
| Coaches? Also, knowing nothing about it I'd assumed the
| breathwork would be like mindfulness or meditative breathing, but
| is this wrong? It might be something closer to hyperventilating?
| mtalantikite wrote:
| The article mentioned Holotropic Breathwork, which is a method
| Stanislav Grof came up with after no longer being able to use
| LSD for his research in the 1960s. I haven't taken a course in
| it, but it does seem similar to Wim Hof's technique, which you
| can follow along an intro of on his YouTube [1].
|
| All of it is pretty similar to various pranayama techniques
| that have existed in the yogas for thousands of years though.
| Iyengar's Light on Pranayama is a good resource for the various
| practices [2]. While Wim Hof and Holotropic Breathwork are
| slightly different, the closest to them from the yogas would
| maybe be bhastrika pranayam (and here's a random guy on YouTube
| that comes up when googling it -- just skimming it and it looks
| basically like what I was taught [3]).
|
| Edit: I realized I didn't answer your question regarding how
| pranayama/breathwork compares to meditation. It's different
| than meditation (dhyana or jhana), but it's complimentary and
| there are elements that are similar. For instance, during
| pranayama practice you'll often have breath holds/retentions
| and during that time you'll be instructed to bring your
| awareness to something (a point on your body, on the awareness
| itself, etc). This is generally what you'd do in formal
| meditation practice too, but in this case it's for a much
| shorter period of time (the length of the breath hold). So in a
| way it gets you used to working with your awareness, to bring
| it internal for short periods of time many times. Many people
| will practice pranayama before beginning formal seated
| meditation practice. I personally use nadi shodhana before
| meditation practice, and more vigorous pranayamas like
| kapalbhati and bhastrika before/during/after asana practice.
| They're also good to do in the middle of the day when you need
| a bit of a reset.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ
|
| [2] https://archive.org/details/iyengar-bks-light-on-
| pranayama-o...
|
| [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I578H4VoZiY
| babycheetahbite wrote:
| Thank you very much for this.
| nprateem wrote:
| The best book bar none that I've ever found on pranayama is
| Pranayama by Gregor Maehle
| idontwantthis wrote:
| How were you introduced to all of this? I'd love to learn to
| practice original yoga/meditation.
| mtalantikite wrote:
| Oh wow, how to answer succinctly -- it's been a long,
| meandering path! I'll try my best. While I'd say I first
| learned about meditation from my music practice as a child,
| my first formal introduction to meditation was through
| Thanissaro Bhikkhu [1] who a few of my friends practiced
| with in college (and later ordained as monks with). I later
| came to Mahayana Buddhism through Suzuki [2] and Thich Nhat
| Hanh [3], and then settled into a Vajrayana practice -- I'd
| suggest Mingyur Rinpoche's Joy of Living course for an
| intro to Vajrayana [4].
|
| For yoga practice I happened to one day wander into the
| closest yoga studio to my house here in Brooklyn, which
| coincidentally happened to be one of the best yoga schools
| in the city at the time. The owner [5] was exceptionally
| challenging, all his teachers were the best around, and he
| really pushed everyone to expand their limits, it was a
| great environment to learn in. I was going at least 5x per
| week for a few years. It can be hard to find a yoga school,
| as most these days are just gym classes, and very few are
| going to teach pranayama, kriyas, meditation, etc. If I'm
| in a new place and am looking for a shala to practice in
| I'll typically choose the place that has Ashtanga/Mysore on
| the schedule, as it's likely that the owners/teachers
| aren't just interested in yoga as exercise. I'd really
| suggest finding a master teacher/s to practice with in real
| life, there's nothing like it. You'll know it when you find
| it.
|
| I also read pretty obsessively when I started my yoga
| practice, some of which I'll leave below
| [6][7][8][9][10][11]. If you start practicing you'll find
| the sutras and other texts that speak to you as well, just
| put in the work and stay curious and open! Happy to answer
| any questions.
|
| [1] https://www.dhammatalks.org/
|
| [2]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind
|
| [3] https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-
| shore-...
|
| [4] https://joy.tergar.org/
|
| [5] https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/
|
| [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga
|
| [7] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289
|
| [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga
|
| [9] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963
|
| [10] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603
|
| [11] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Thr
| ough_S...
| free_energy_min wrote:
| amazingly valuable comment, thanks!
| eigenschwarz wrote:
| This sounds great but I just can't get by the oxygen deprivation
| and potential harm to your brain. Not to mention the hypercapnia
| induced tetany is very uncomfortable and seems a _clear_ signal
| from the body that "this isn't good!".
|
| [As part of a psychedelic retreat we did breathwork the day
| before the trip to "open the mind". I faked it because I was
| worried about the above unanswered questions I had. I still had a
| great trip and feel no need for another one or similar (ie. via
| breathwork) to this day. :) ]
| nradov wrote:
| Free divers experience the same hypoxia and hypercapnia
| effects. Doesn't seem to be a problem.
| Enginerrrd wrote:
| I think I recall reading a paper a while back on free divers
| that showed there was damage being done to the brain even
| though it wasn't immediately apparent. Similar to how lots of
| small brain impacts add up in football players.
| mightyham wrote:
| > Doesn't seem to be a problem
|
| I'm almost certain any amount of oxygen deprivation is
| damaging to the brain. If there were studies that showed
| conclusions to the contrary, I'd be very curious to read
| them.
| gonzo41 wrote:
| They die all the time. It's a problem. :P
| jobs_throwaway wrote:
| Oxygen deprivation? As noted in the study, circular breathwork
| has been shown to increase blood oxygenation
| pmichaud wrote:
| I feel the same. I did it once and had a big experience, but I
| just can my talk myself into believing it's safe.
| ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
| One should avoid this. It damages the brain. Better is just pure
| meditation where you can reach bliss states pretty fast once you
| can get access concentration.
| jobs_throwaway wrote:
| citation needed
| labrador wrote:
| Breathwork is a really uncomfortable experience. I lay on a floor
| mat hyperventilating for an hour with a group of people only to
| feel a little expanded. Breathwork was developed as an
| alternative to psychedelics becasue those were illegal, and now
| that psilocybin is readily available in California there's no
| need for it. Thumbs down.
| rqtwteye wrote:
| It takes a while to get used to breathwork. When I started,
| focusing on the breath always gave me anxiety. It took quite a
| while to make it into a comfortable experience.
| labrador wrote:
| It really dries out the lungs besides being uncomfortable
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