The past year I�ve been to a number of �Shamanic� or Accelerated Breathing workshops.
They�re hardcore�and amazing. I really get into it. The teacher actually sits new people next to me and says, �Try to match his breathing.�
You wear comfortable clothes and bring a sleeping bag and pillow. You lie on the ground on a matt. With eyes clothes and on your back, you do an INTENSE breathing exercise for extended periods of time. My longest was just under 3 hours. Most are around 40 minutes.
The teacher explains that using breath as a tool has been done for many years and many cultures. The idea is to change your body chemistry temporarily by hyper-oxygenating the blood.
People react differently. Many people experience pain. Some have orgasms. I rarely hear the yells from other people�I�m too focused inward. My body usually has intense cramping. My hands and forearms contact and ache. Often my stomach cramps up, too.
But if I breathe long enough, I can work through that. The teacher of the class says that�s the bad stuff in me holding on. It wants me to quit before I purge it.
Sometimes, I find myself mouthing the words, �GET OUT, BITCH!� at this entity or energy that makes my muscles feel like they are on fire.
Usually I �check out� for a portion, too.
Like a lucid dream.
Then, after what always seems like an unfairly long length of time, the teacher and helpers, come by and advise in soothing tones:
�Now exhale�and don�t inhale until you think you need to.�
�Roll on your side in the fetal position�
Then they pull your sleeping bag over your head.
In the background, the tribal drumming music has been replaced by the sound of a beating art and strange swirling sounds. I was told it is the pumping of blood. �This is what it sounds like to be in the uterus.�
And that is what it feels like. Your blood hyper-oxygenated, you have no need to breath. Like a baby connected via umbilical cord. You just lie, in fetal position, in darkness and warmth, with no need to breathe.
And it feels magical. My mind races with visuals and mini dreams. Sometimes I see spirit animals. It�s a unique space that allows me to be more open to inner messages.
My last breathing exercise, I began to shake and convulse in the same euphoric way that I have been doing recently after sex.
I had the awareness that the healing process of this accelerated breathing was somehow related to the rise in intensity of my recent orgasms.
In both processes, I imagine the body as a straw.
Energy flows through the straw.
And if the straw has any blockage (like a clogged artery) then the energy flow is impeded.
But as you learn and grow towards clearing your vessel�s straw, the energy flow (of breathing or orgasm, or whatever) is more intense.
Is this the pipeline to the divine? I don�t know.
The point is that by clearing out sexual hang-ups or emotional crap, the flow of spiritual energy through you increased. Even the stuff below the conscious surface can affect the flow of our �straw.� I�m learning that working on your personal growth (with a teacher or by yourself) and sexual growth (with a partner or by yourself) are both integral parts of the path to inner peace.
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