Breathing Effects

[Psychonaut]

So, last night I was making an attempt at having an out-of-body-experience and thought of a question. During exercises like this (including yours SuuT), I'll often experience a strange sensation while inhaling. It's a very pleasant, almost tickle-like sensation that washes over ever inch of my skin. It'll usually happen for a few breathing cycles during the middle part of whatever exercise I'm doing. The only author I've seen who mentions this is Crowley, when he's discussing prāṇāyāma, but he merely states that it happens and says nothing about what it is. Any of you guys/gals experience this? Any ideas what is going on?

[Óttar]

My spine is not as straight as it could be, and my eyes flutter, tear, and burn from the salt, so I have not had success with meditation ironically.

I have had some positive tingling, I assume opiate flooding induced experiences during moderately long periods of prayer and chanting.

Breathing exercises are utilised by many different groups (Buddhists, Hindus, Sufis, I assume other monastic communities.) Sufis also use rocking and swaying to induce a trance-like state.

[Psychonaut]

I have had some positive tingling, I assume opiate flooding induced experiences during moderately long periods of prayer and chanting.

Yeah, I'm wondering if this is some kind of endorphin dump that's being triggered by the breathing.

[SuuT]

Excellent!

It's a natural bodily response to removing the 'involuntary' nature of breathing and blood pressure: over time, the controled breathing becomes second nature and is an effective tool as a valve to shut off and open different areas of mind/awareness. The 'switch' is very lumbering, clumsy and elusive at first; and hyper/hypo-ventilating should be expected - especially if the meditation involves bodily exertion. But, again, this recedes with time, and one can begin to map the routes of awareness in a non-theoretical, bodily way. In fact, it's an indispensible tool that can be used to verify or falsify what we think we know.

[Psychonaut]

Excellent!

It's a natural bodily response to removing the 'involuntary' nature of breathing and blood pressure: over time, the controled breathing becomes second nature and is an effective tool as a valve to shut off and open different areas of mind/awareness. The 'switch' is very lumbering, clumsy and elusive at first; and hyper/hypo-ventilating should be expected - especially if the meditation involves bodily exertion. But, again, this recedes with time, and one can begin to map the routes of awareness in a non-theoretical, bodily way. In fact, it's an indispensible tool that can be used to verify or falsify what we think we know.

Do you think this would hold true for some of the other breathing-related phenomena as well? I'm a bit out of practice at the moment, but looking back at my journals I recall instances where I felt like I'd been struck by a bolt of lightening and another odd instance where my arms involuntarily raised above my head while I was sitting in this posture:

http://www.dharma-rain.org/zazen/zazen-photos/Seiza-side-2-l.jpg

The explanation I was given by some of my Yoga practicing friends at the time was that these shakes were caused by uneven releasing of prāṇā, kind of like soap bubbles popping, and that once the flow was directed the same phenomena would manifest itself as levitation (which I'm very skeptical about ;)).

[SuuT]

Although I think that there are any number of ways to describe the phenomenon, the commonality to any controlled breathing is ipso facto breathing. Of course, that is not to negate the complexities that can arise from such a simplistic foundation.