Quick meditation question

[kutabare]

could you explain how you came to  breathing 2 or 3 times a minute ...I would like to know how you can do it so I can try it.

[Huwie]

I'd be happy to, Kutabare, although there are a couple of things I'd like to point out first.

I have, perhaps unfortunately, been trained as a scientist, and as such I didn't take any of the topics covered here on AP seriously (including, bafflingly, meditation) until recently.  Consequently I don't know much about any of it yet.

The reason I tell you this is to explain that while meditation comes incredibly easily to me, I'm not sure if it would come as easily to anybody else.  I have never been successful in any kind of 'mind techniques' in the past, although that is probably attributable to my lifelong skepticism.  Therefore I cannot guarantee that meditation will come as easily to you, for example, as it does to me (although I sincerely hope it does []).

As for my technique, it is a variation on a technique I learned from a website.  The technique as orginally taught required sitting in a lotus position or an equivalent, but as I discovered this week, it is not required.  Not for me, anyway.

My technique is deceptively simple.  First I close my eyes and try to clear my mind.  I then begin to take deep breaths, usually in through the nose and out through the mouth, although sometimes I will change that and there doesn't appear to be any difference.  Now, as has been stated elsewhere on this board, actually clearing the mind of all imagery is next to impossible, and I agree with that.  You're still going to get images and thoughts running through your head, but that's absolutely fine.  The trick is to not 'get involved' with them.  Watch them as if you were watching a TV show but not paying much attention to it.  Let the thoughts play themselves out and take as little part in them as you possibly can.

It doesn't take much of this for me to achieve the meditative state.  Maybe other meditators would disagree with my method or even go so far as to state that I'm not even meditating.  I don't care, as I know I am, otherwise I wouldn't feel so incredibly relaxed.  And besides, how else could I breathe so infrequently without ill effect?  Also, my resting heart rate is usually quite high, around the mid-seventies, because I'm not very fit.  Without meditating, I have never been able to lower my heart rate so much in my life.

I hope this helps you, and if you get similar success, please tell me about your experiences in this thread!

[kutabare]

ok this is great .
I'll give it a shot tonight and tell you tomorrow.[]
also you should check out the writers corner i wrote part of my story there

[Huwie]

Heh, I had a look and there wasn't much to go on, man!  Write the next installment, post-haste!

I'm looking forward to hearing about your experimentation with my technique.  I'd love to know if others achieve the same things that I do, particularly the incredibly low breathing rate.  Ya know, the strange thing is that in addition to the fact that I suffered no ill effects, I also didn't even feel like I needed to breathe; the only reason I did take another breath is because I knew I had to.

[Jeff_Mash]

Huwie....

I have been doing this very same technique for a long time, and I also can vouch for the fact that breathing seemed extremely slowed down.  In fact, I often think to myself, while in this meditative state, "Holy crap, if I can take only 4-5 breaths a minute, I could stay underwater for HOURS!"

I find that I take DEEP inhalations, hold for a few seconds, then deep exhalations, and hold for a few seconds.  I am not forcefully holding my breath.  When you get to a certain stage, it all kinda flows together, and you just start breathing slowly, as you described.

[Huwie]

Ah, it's great to have some validation!  Although I must stress that I'm pretty sure that yesterday morning I actually breathed even slower than that.  I'll be off to bed in a few hours, I'll repeat the process and see what happens.

[Nagual]

That's cool.  Personaly, my breathing is horrible.  I feel the need to inhale like every 3-5 seconds.  But my breathing capacity is quite small too (in volume), because my belly is almsot constantly tense/tight... [B)]

The best I can do while holding my breath is like 20 seconds!  Sad...
On the other hand, when I practice with other people, I seem to be far less easily out of breath than they do.

And yes, your practice should helps to AP.  How relaxed is your body when you meditate...?  Do you still feel it?

[Huwie]

Well, when meditating I always used to be sitting up so although my body relaxed, I was always aware of it.  However, now I've taken to doing it whilst lying down it's a whole new ball game.  I'm only dimly aware of it, and after a while my lower body seems to lose feeling.  It gets a kind of tingling though, as if the circulation has been cut off.

Have you tried my technique, Nagual?  Maybe you'll be surprised at what you can achieve.  If you have difficulty at first, try resting a hand on your chest to feel the beating.  Breathe after 5 beats, then after 6, then after 7 and so on.

[Huwie]

I think this is the correct forum to ask my question in.  If not, I apologise.

I was lying in bed this morning, before sleep (I work nights), and I decided to meditate (if it's relevant, the purpose was to attempt AP).  As is usual, I slowed my heartbeat to about 60 bpm and was breathing approximately 3 or 4 times a minute.

What I noticed was that my breathing had become so slow that occasionally I seemed to forget to breathe at all.  Sometimes I just stopped, and it wasn't until the next breath was long 'overdue' (even by meditative standards) that it occurred to me to take my next breath.

The thing that puzzles me is that no matter how overdue my breaths seemed to get, I experienced absolutely no discomfort whatsoever.  Is this because I had slowed my metabolism so much?  Also, does anybody here think that this kind of exercise could be conducive to achieving AP?