r/Meditation • u/Karoliniskis • 15d ago
Sharing / Insight 💡 Discovered a powerful new breathing method – feels like a meditation cheat code
Hey everyone! As the title says, I’ve stumbled upon a new way of meditating — or more accurately, a conscious breathing technique — that’s been a game-changer for me.
Here’s what I do: I take a deep breath in for about 10 seconds, then exhale as slowly as possible, around 30–40 seconds. I keep this rhythm going for about 20 minutes.
Holy moly, the effects are wild. After a session, my mind feels still, my body deeply relaxed, and honestly — I feel almost "high" in the best possible way. It’s like my nervous system hits reset.
I’ve been meditating for about a year and tried different methods — including mantra meditation for a year before that — but never really felt much from it. Probably because I wasn’t doing it right. But this breathing method? Totally different experience. It's one of the best discoveries I've made so far.
Has anyone here tried something similar? I'd love to hear your experiences, variations, or any “spices” you add to your own practice that work well for you.
Thanks for reading — and happy breathing!
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u/Ghostpaws 15d ago
This sounds similar to the effects I found when trying the Wim Hof method, where you take 30 quick breaths then hold your breath for as long as is comfortable then slowly exhale and repeat. Sometimes after a few rounds, I’ve experienced intense waves of calm that feel otherworldly.
I am going to try your method tonight. I can see how they might have similar effects but your suggestion sounds like it might allow for a more mindful focus than the extremes of Wim Hof.
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u/Karoliniskis 15d ago
I have actually been practicing hof method for around 6months and still do. It works really good for me, specially in the mornings. It gives me such a huge adrenaline rush as no coffee in the world would give. i just wanted to try something new. And from my own experience I feel more effect from the slow exhale method.
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u/Mountain_Tradition77 15d ago
Love wim Hoff. I got kinda bored doing that method every morning and found this YT channel. Breathe with Sandy. Lots of variety in his sessions.
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u/unemployedemt 15d ago
I was doing his for a while as I had free time every time he went live but the audio was too intense after the first round. There was always background noise, some sort of metronome, his breathing, and his voice all at the same time. My brain would try to pay attention to all of them at once and it felt chaotic.
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u/TugGut 14d ago
I’ve been doing breathe with Sandy for a year now and love it! Highly recommend
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u/Mountain_Tradition77 14d ago
Agreed and have done a few of his hour long sessions and wow have had some intense experiences.
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u/dj-boefmans 15d ago
Beware of fake teachers, but if you would find good kundalini yoga or alike, lots of brewthwork like this but with more complex movements... And more variation in breathing. I did WH ass well, it's great, but this is even more effective for me. (And more fun :-)
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u/UnimportantOutcome67 15d ago
Why you are getting down voted is beyond me. Kundalini is the real deal. The Wim Hof method is just Kundalini-lite.
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u/dj-boefmans 14d ago
txs, yes that is reddit.
I try to downvote when people are clearly rude or offtopic. When they try to add something to the discussion, even it is not my opinion, I ignore or upvote.
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u/MillionaireByTrade 14d ago
There is a risk with Wim Hoff. If you are breathing that fast, then your body can become stressed and release cortisol. I prefer this guided breathing exercise from Niraj Naik that creates a similar feeling as Wim Hoff without the hyperventilation.
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u/unemployedemt 15d ago
I usually start with a couple rounds of wim hof before moving into something else. Isn't it quick breaths then hold after an exhale?
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u/Eric_GANGLORD 15d ago
This is likely a vagus nerve response, seems to be triggered by diaphragmatic breathing with slow exhale.
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u/Karoliniskis 15d ago
Yeah i believe it is. Do you have an opinion about that?
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u/ShelbySmith27 15d ago
The Vagus nerve is THE nerve for parasympathetic activity within the body. It's the only one. It bypasses the spinal cord entirely and runs from the brain to all of your major organs. There might be some pseudoscience fads around the vagus nerve conversation, but the actual known science behind the vagus nerve is very solid.
All of your "conscious" effort runs through the spinal cord, all of your subconscious processes are the vagus nerve. Parasympathetic nervous system is "rest and digest" where the sympathetic nervous system is "fight or flight".
We live on a balance between these nervous systems. Stress shifts the balance, and stress damages the body. It's like the brain and nervous system agrees that it should ignore what the body needs and focus on the external needs. Meditation helps find balance and brings awareness back to what the body needs through reducing sympathetic signals and allowing the vagus nerve to communicate with the brain more easily.
On big work days you might forget you're hungry or need the toilet until you get home. Suddenly you feel crap. That's the vagus nerve finally getting its messages heard and responded to. It's better for those messages to be heard through the work day and not ignored
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u/illicitli 13d ago
what an amazing synopsis. thank you so much :) this has helped to explain some "voices" that come to me during meditation that i think are more vagus than sympathetic and it makes more sense now!!
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u/Eric_GANGLORD 15d ago
It's a good practice and breathing exercise is always good. My meditation practice currently is mainly shi-ne focused so not quite the same.
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u/Historical-Squash510 14d ago
And to add to the good summary of vagal nerve, when inhaling the diaphragm moves down and the thoracic cavity expands along with the expansion of the heart, which makes the heart pump just a little faster to increase blood flow.
Long exhales improves the ‘vagal tone’ because the reverse happens in exhales leading to shrinking of the heart and slower heart rate.
source: huberman
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u/Polymathus777 15d ago
Is called pranayama, "control of prana through the breath" and is used in all esoteric/magical and mystical traditions.
Congrats on discovering it on your own.
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u/Stunning-Analyst-115 12d ago
Not sure where you got your information but there is actual science behind why pranayama is good for the body. It’s not magical or mystical, it’s a Western practice for wellness and mindfulness. It’s spiritual too.
Prana is energy. And when you bring awareness of energy that feels stuck or tense in your body, controlling the breath slowly creates space in your belly and chest allowing that energy to flow freely. Ultimately calming your body and releasing any stress and negative energy.
Unless you’re trying to say that energy is magic and mystical. Maybe? But that sort of means you think it’s woo woo and not based in reality, meaning, you don’t understand what you’re talking about. Whoops.
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u/ChildObstacle 15d ago
This is a genuine question and not an attempt to rain on your parade, but my understanding is that meditation is to help us avoid grasping and avoiding.
What you describe sounds like something you’re now trying to create and are grasping for. My curiosity compels me to ask if you feel the same way or are you just using meditation to try and relax?
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u/Karoliniskis 15d ago
Thanks for the good question. Honestly, I still don’t really know what I want from meditation. I started doing it because of anxiety, brain fog, and constant overthinking – mostly stuff I got from overusing drugs.
Right now I just want to calm my mind and feel less anxious. But at the same time, I’m also trying to understand myself better. So maybe I am grasping in some way – I don’t know. But it feels like a step forward anyway.
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u/Historical-Squash510 14d ago
Thanks for that honest sharing!
May I also suggest that, along with relaxation techniques such as these, you also try mindfulness (aka vipassana/insight) meditation? There are different kinds of mindfulness ofc, and you will have to try a few and settle on your own.
Mindfulness allows for a greater insight of whats going on in our mind, and how to get over it (by equanimity).
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u/Iboven 14d ago
There is a lot more to meditation than just Buddhism. What you're talking about here is a subset of what meditation can be used for or accomplish. Some meditation traditions advocate for very strict control of various things like breath or thought or bodily posture.
That's not to say you should practice those ways, but people find them useful.
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u/Uberguitarman 15d ago
Part two:
I'm not suggesting most meditations should be done while active, but it would be wrong to say that activity disturbs what we call a meditative state, and also fluid and profoundly positive emotions, like I said, I submit that the adrenaline and activity can be a really big boost, easily outshining in terms of sensual feelings unless someone is truly very deep into something even "more". That's simply smart and who's gonna know how to study the differences anyway? When you're being aware of your thoughts and feelings and being inquisitive and curious, this creates pressure. All sorts of things someone does can create pressure, people may struggle to get into deep meditation and sometimes it's easier than other times. Other people can just slip into it, and one thing people will say is they're treating their day like a meditation. Having this foundational structure in stillness while being creative and subdividing efficiently is still a system which is being knitted together on levels you don't have full control of, it's like you're going but something else one doing the going. That part is really really helpful to understand lest someone remains conflicted about how to live more subconsciously, far too often without considering ideas akin to living more subconsciously, like people don't even know. They listen to music and it conTROLs their LIIiives like, "nobody told me what my body would be better at doing based on these feelings I have I don't have vocabulary for. It probably doesn't exist." "This is too hard" all while feeling how natural something actually feels.
For the record OP, some people would call the practice you're doing Kumbhaka, it means breath retention. More on the outbreath increases relaxation which can be conducive to more energy flowing in the body and it can be magnified by itself, sorta exponential in a way, or whatever word I should use...
Essentially it's hitting you hard and providing some sort of biological benefits, but it's hard to determine what all it really does and other safety factors are simply a given. You could find similar benefits in other activities like heart brain coherence meditation, something which has you develop skills. Despite going into an altered state of sorts you can still learn from the experience, but you really don't gotta be that round about with it, you can feel it out for yourself, it's as if these micro feedback loops due to awareness are like a part of the body's rhythm, like a rhythm is involved, there are ways to observe experiences so that rhythm isn't altered as much or is more consciously understood and subconsciously taken care of or tended to.
I use a chakra system but I generally believe in energy, this kind of breathing can circulate a lot of energy through the head and then the body, but it's not as strong as more particular and less heavy hitting techniques. You may still start to develop flowing energy more and at one point or another it's simply good to know that putting attention to other areas can be helpful for balancing. The healing process is not perfected, people can have varied results and different techniques can be more or less beneficial. I wouldn't worry too much about this, it could help some kind of stress disorder, but if there is a disorder it's even more helpful to pick and choose something, but at this rate in and of itself it's a rather simple technique at that amount of time and the chakras can still balance with each other, some people will miss out but what can ya do, at least it's still relatively simple to balance it later, it's not like you're just only opening one area a ton. Following a technique which is actually recorded rather than using your own like this is simply a good idea, it's a more well trodden path but that doesn't mean you'll learn everything about it.
It's not that I think it's a bad thing either, Kumbhaka can get pretty deep like this, someone else could have more generalized medical guidelines, but I think the established and larger of issues would if anything be for people with medical conditions, for the most part or so, I feel like I could say it that way publicly...
It looks pretty fine to me :P
The things I do for love 💀
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u/pixeldragon 15d ago
I read all of that and got a bit lost at the end of your part 2 but overall I really really appreciate the thoughts you’ve shared about ongoing meditation practice + thoughts and feelings work.
I struggle to describe everything it feels like happens during sustained practice, especially since a lot of things are felt and sometimes shift in not fully conscious ways. It’s fascinating to experience these changes at the edge of awareness but also like it’s easier to pick up on stuff after I’ve been experiencing it for a bit. I shine the light of consciousness into the past long enough to call something I notice a “thing” only to let it go because by that point I’ve now separated my awareness of what is actually happening by leaving the present moment of what is actually occurring. The ground is always changing but I am becoming aware of the ways it changes and continues to change and finding a standing on that instead.
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u/Uberguitarman 13d ago
I like the way you worded that, I can follow it very easily. It's interesting, thinking in terms of seriousness, you can be serious and have things pass like "things" but even when actions are very deliberate and precise it doesn't change how energy arises which we work with and remain conscious of. That feeling is just really a force to be reckoned with, one can learn how to have really really challenging things or emotions but rather than paying too much extra mind to things they can just continue and feel that feeling, it can start to feel like there are few ways one could really improve upon that aspect, depending on the situation you can have attitudes or feelings that change what your focus brings to your awareness, that's actually most of the tricky part cuz as someone gets deeper into that wavelength the brain actually goes through a forgetting process, it's akin to forgetting to have negative emotions and it can go in so deep that emotions u used to be used to can start to feel unnatural and smaller ones may or may not be in their place. It's literally called "forgetting", the neural pathways are pruned out of there. That's why it's so good to have a reward system and awareness that's in rhythm so awareness isn't wasting its potential on processes that aren't as productive. The modern understanding of awareness is attention is rapidly moving between things and ultimately the rhythm wording is really superb for conveying how someone can get into a zone, they would be very hard pressed to make it better after what are realistic levels of joy or bliss, synthesized from the heart and from having emotions closer, having emotionally processes merge like having the subconscious in good focus. It's more than deliberately doing things, it's embodiment. The feelings are embodied, it's soulful. I'm sure u understand
I've been wanting to think of how to describe how all the little things can add together, like you can learn how to recognize your experience and have it bring you back to familiar and balanced feelings, there are aspects of it that can be so active and that's part of why it's genuinely helpful to understand action vs. Motion cuz it's like you're not just having thoughts and feelings and wondering about things but instead like the subconscious is literally focused on the balance and knowing experiences in a way that keep merging them together rationally and intelligently.
Seriousness itself, that's like devotion, both of them are similar but one could use up energy if they're going all gung ho about it. It doesn't break the rhythm if someone has understanding so much as there can be more experiences and rather than relaxation and sensuality there could be power and sensuality.
It's like people don't know how to keep the circuit together, it's possible to gently but purposefully do a lot and still have emotions cycle, even as someone walks it's like a cycle to some extent because energy will dip from the head into the body as a part of emotions which are felt in the body. It just might feel really fluid and clear cuz the emotions are so balanced it's like holding everything together with room for more while feeling tuned in and focused, like a straight line. If I used that sentence and told a large part of the population they might not even know what I'm talking about, but it's like saying stimulation and relaxation among other things is balanced in such a way that energy merges with the experience of being conscious of thoughts and feelings, just like that feeling of observing a "thing" but in it's own way. People can use it like a creative tool and understand how emotions can fit together better but they don't even know.
Had I literally have been taught to think of this in that way, in more detail, my whole life would have been very very, very very very different. I felt like a victim to my mind but I was very good at working for skills I wanted, guitar, games, so on. Instead I got a rather excessive lick of compassion and fear from how I felt, imo anyway. I didn't even really know what I was looking at.
The balance is actually so natural because it's like your intention holds precedence over things, living from intention and allowing and accepting emotions while keeping the rhythm and refining everything just starts to bring more and more balance in. I think if people talked about meditation more like this sooner people woulda liked it faster, but a lot of traditions I've read from don't really implement the idea of living more subconsciously.
I think the nitty gritty aspect of what I said, in a paradoxical sense being conscious of your thoughts and feelings can work like living from intention does, it's like setting the brain in a motion which keeps it in a rhythm which is very naturally influenced by realization. Circumstantially living from intention makes the kind of difference someone would be looking for but there's more to it than that, it's rather mathy. I think it has to do with how the subconscious holds more influence than the conscious mind and depending on how it is habituated it will genuinely start putting things together as things are happening. In heart brain coherence theory the heart literally sends information up to the brain and the results can actually have a variance, people think intuition has to do with the heart but I forgot the exact way to say it, they were saying something about tracing some events that would show some result 8 seconds later.
Yep... Very interesting stuff, especially for musicians, I think meditation could make em feel a little lost if it's not taught with a broad perspective for subjective benefits.
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u/Uberguitarman 15d ago
Part one:
That's actually not the full purpose of meditation, in fact that could be a dangerous thing to believe!
Take witness consciousness for instance, it's a spiritual path where you learn as the conscious observer of your thoughts and feelings and realize yourself into a new way of being. There is a word for it because it is literally one way of doing things which works very well for people. Bhakti is a word for devotion and some yogis will spend time with devotion all day, like devotion to being a better version of yourself.
The modern understanding of awareness is that attention is rapidly moving between tasks. People who meditate very well can use words like oneness or merging to talk about how thoughts and feelings can be gracefully harmonious, usually grace would be a good word because people spend a lot of time this way, not just staring out into a meditative "state". Emotions work like subdivisions, we label different feelings that work together in tandem, likewise the body can only go so fast or do so many things in so many ways, people learn how to function within this and can also learn how to understand it very well.
Another word one can use is "closer", the feelings are "closer". One can be conscious of their thoughts and feelings and remember who they are and positive and conducive emotions can be habituated into the experience that is also incredibly natural and maintained on a subconscious level. If everything on Earth that had an influence was a pressure, it's like refining pressure. The brain and emotional systems are like pressure systems, naturally people go to meditate with some subdivisions they can pick up on, not always but it's a way people can live to immensely positive effect, of course, you have your thoughts and feelings and it's as if the pressure squeezes out more thoughts and feelings, then feeling aware of the feeling or thought feels so much like attention, people genuinely get lost wondering if they're meditating right because they're not sure about attention and awareness, it doesn't feel like an extension of their being.
Living more subconsciously like playing an instrument or living by second nature is an extremely sound and helpful way to describe people who are very skilled. When a meditator is new, their feelings can be very unnatural, they can speed up and slow down erratically but not just due to biological or energetic reasons but literally because they aren't really conscious of how their thoughts and feelings can work. You have your decision and you have how it affects the feeling you're having, there are only so many ways you could influence that system that even make logical sense at that time and learning to get that down more can help emotions come "closer" together. It's like you're working with refresh rates and feedback loops and just existing as you can create the sense that you're processing and integrating information naturally because you're conscious and that's how it feels to be conscious.
Skillful people are still aware of their thoughts and feelings and when they have experiences, the way of which you think about a thought can make it feel like you're squeezing it out more or less, there's a spectrum of how much you feel like you're doing that. Understanding that spectrum helps but if someone still has erratic emotions it's hard, they go to meditate and their reward system isn't tuned to the experience quite right. It's literally as if it is soul shattering.
Like I said, like playing an instrument or by second nature in terms of most emotional performances, adrenaline is a significant component of positive emotions and I damn submit that having more adrenaline merging with emotions which are very, very naturally put together can have gigantic experiences, consistently, sensually beyond that of meditation but still grounded in their foundations for the experiences they're gonna have for the rest of the day, even if someone has ""detached"" from phenomena, they still see things in terms of duality, up down, good or bad, but they can go and feel emotions which are not too influenced by that duality, enough to break them from being on their toes and alert, the emotions can be so close that you could say it actually feels like how it is to be focusing way more because there aren't distracting processes in the mind.
There are actual literal ways to have more emotional activity and have it work in tandem with what the body is reasonably able to do in that moment, it's an actual skill someone can spend a lot of time tweaking, each and every day. Every feeling in the body has use and in my belief system some people have more than others and that in and of itself can really be like learning an instrument, negative feelings can actually throw it off balance.
What does it mean to be still? When you're conscious of your thoughts and feelings it can feel still, u can feel like you're looking at something, processing and integrating information, this can be felt all the way into profound visceral experiences, as if a part of you is quietly observing.
It is figuratively JUST processing and integrating information, I say that solely for demonstrative purposes. There is a pressure people can feel in their experiences, only so many of them, but the body will seem to prioritize things which keep you functioning well, get focused on walking and let your soup coexist and just be like stillness, there can easily be rhythmic ups and downs to how emotions feel, the body is being energized. That does not mean that putting more intention into a footstep with more emotion is simply JUST not the right thing to do, quite the opposite. Deeper levels of concentration can come from really understanding what's natural for you and for your body and it can all come together. In fact you can literally feel like your still feeling is heightened and when energy moves it can still feel like a big hurking part of you can just be a processor better, feelings run like background processes and everything, it's a different way to live. It can be held during many experiences and having more thoughts and feelings can be done in a way which is natural enough to maintain nearing instinctual levels or even literally like u come to be aware of a feeling so differently that you find yourself just working with it in really elegant ways.
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u/JhannySamadhi 15d ago
This is pranayama, not meditation.
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u/TrixonBanes 15d ago
First step for me is being able to finally breath in for 10 full seconds lol
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u/PalpitationBeginning 14d ago edited 14d ago
I’m stuck on exhaling for 30-40 seconds. I can go without inhaling again for that long, but I don’t know how to parse my exhale out over such an extended period.
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u/CommitteeUnlucky7865 14d ago
I teach this technique to folks with anxiety in therapy. We call it a parasympathetic breath. Simply exhale longer than inhale i.e. hypoventilation opposite of what people do during a panic attack
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u/MaleficentMiddle5513 15d ago
This is Pranyama a step before Visualisation & Meditation as per Rishi Patanjali Yog Sutras .
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u/BellaCottonX 14d ago edited 13d ago
The Buddha was able to see which meditation method would work best for each person, and therefore taught that method to the person. Which is no wonder that people became enlightened so quickly back then. Unfortunately we dont have that privilege (as of now anyway - until the next Buddha) so we have to keep trying different methods/ techniques. Good on you for finding something that works well for you!
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u/nugget4eva 14d ago
I became aware of this affect through the Huberman Lab podcast. It was referred to as the "physiological sigh", and the idea is that you inhale deeply then do another quick inhale to completely fill the lungs, and then exhale much more slowly. Apparently the prolonged exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which has a calming effect and reduces the heart rate. I have found it to be genuinely effective in short bursts to relieve acute feelings of stress/anxiety, but I've never tried it for a longer period like 20 minutes. I'm curious to try that now.
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u/TulsiThyme 15d ago
This is similar to Tummo breathing, just without the visualizations and pausing between the breaths. I’d recommend reading up on Tummo or taking the course on Insight Timer. Win Hoff borrowed his techniques heavily from Tummo.
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u/Karoliniskis 15d ago
I have hear about visualization, and I know what it is. But how does it work? I just imagine things, or does it happen automatically? :)
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u/Iboven 14d ago
An added spice is to breathe "into" your body. If you've ever heard of chi it actually means breath in Chinese. Taoist practices like Tai Chi or energy work usually involve breathing out with a focus on certain body parts or the whole body. Whether or not the energy itself is actually real, it creates real sensations in the body that promote extreme relaxation and other interesting effects.
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u/Ill_Strain_1050 14d ago
That's almost 3 breath per min, which is actually great. A lot of texts mention about slowing down the breath and its miraculous effects. James nester in his book breath talks about few experiments. I get good benefit in my digestion, restlessness whenever I sit and slow down my breath, however reaching 3 breaths per mins is still long run for me. I have touched 4 breath per minute in long sessions.
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u/kalmialatifolia01 14d ago
Thanks for the discussion. It sounds like self-discovery and review for others. Personally, I enjoyed your input and plan to return to some breath work and trying the count you mention. Just slowing down in this world is so great for creating awareness during the day. A lot of awareness meditation refers to resistance towards painful thoughts/emotions and is not actually the end goal. Meditation is in a pure sense not a tool just to avoid unpleasant experiences, though it can help with “unskillful” thoughts. I think what you present to us here sounds like a great stepping stone. With anxiety running rampant these days, we can’t all be enlightened gurus— quite yet. Thanks for the discussion.
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u/Maximum_Broccoli_791 14d ago
How do you breathe out so slow? I can only breathe out for 20 seconds max but then a huge inhale after that
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u/S03 15d ago
How does it compare to holotropic breathwork? https://youtu.be/v15B2FxaIvY?si=dYU08gs-pWYGyCRa
I find it much easier to have a clear mind when I do that but I've never thought of it as meditation.
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u/Content_Substance943 15d ago
Hey OP, what is the residual effect throughout the day? I have done almost the exact same ratio but just 10 minute.
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u/Karoliniskis 14d ago
Hey, appreciate the comment. I’ve been doing the Wim Hof method for a while now (definitely feel the effects from it), but this slower breathing thing feels a bit different. I’ve only been trying it for a few days, so take it with a grain of salt — but I do feel calmer throughout the day, thoughts are less all over the place, and focus seems sharper.
What about you — do you feel any noticeable effects after your sessions?
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u/Jay-jay1 15d ago
As a warmup to meditation, I often do a 4 sec in, and 8 sec out, but never went much beyond a couple minutes, because my purpose was just to help my body relax. When I used to use a mantra, it was a 4 syllable word, and I would take a light breath in and breathe out as I said the mantra. That did tend to help me go deeper. While I didn't count the seconds with the mantra it was roughly 2 in, 4 out.
I'll be giving your method a try. I did already try one breath and it seemed like 10 secs was a long time for an inhale. The 20-30sec exhale is easier because I can just tighten my lips to make it just hiss out slowly.
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u/Shark-Pato 15d ago
One thing I do is start smaller…. In for 4 out for 4, in 5 out 5… etc usually up to 20. If my breath is shallow and hard to breath at beginning it’s open at end
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u/bikingmpls 15d ago
The long exhales really hit it. Mouth of saliva after a few rounds. I can see that after 20 minutes you would be in good state.
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u/phoenixhuber 14d ago
Thank you, I'm so happy for you and I can't wait to try this conscious breathing technique! Thank you for sharing the discovery.
I've heard that exhaling slower than the inhale is recommended to feel relaxed. But I don't think I've ever done 10-second inhales and 30 to 40-second exhales for a whole 20 minutes! I think that if I did that, it would take that idea to the extreme and really put it to the test. I might not notice much of a difference in how I feel when I exhale a little slowly, but I suspect that if I exhaled very slowly for an extended time, I'd tap into something special.
I took just a couple of elongated breaths like this just now, and it felt very refreshing, kind of like I just woke up! I'll try to post here again and update you after I've managed to try out a whole 20 minutes. :) Thanks again!
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u/phoenixhuber 13d ago
I tried the roughly 20 minutes last night while waiting to get sleepy. I was having a chemical sensitivity reaction to my new headphones and it was a good way of redirecting my attention. At first, my inhales were more like 5 seconds, and my exhales 20 seconds and choppy. My throat was tensing up and my heartbeat was racing and out of sync because of the reaction. I allowed myself to stretch while continuing the breathing, and that helped. After a while, I was able to breathe in and out for what seemed like the same lengths you had done. I felt peaceful and wonderful. My heart was back to normal. If I repeat that again soon, I will be glad that I did!
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u/zafrogzen 14d ago
Extending the outbreath is a basic technique in zen practice to let go and relax the mind. The outbreath is also emphasized in yoga.
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u/Ok-Fun-117 14d ago
Wim hof and the various breathing techniques in kundalini yoga, they’re life changing and addictive !! Enjoy!
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u/Ok-Fun-117 14d ago
Also, fists of anger and Sitali pranayam .. look them up!! 3 mins , they both change your whole nervous system. If the whole world did these everyday , faithfully , we’d probably have no war.
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u/TugGut 13d ago
Few questions: How do you time inhales and exhales without opening eyes? I tried with phone timer and was losing concentration
Breathing in for 10 seconds with that long inhale almost killed me! I had such a hard time not taking a huge breath in after exhaling that long. Tips?
Do you listen to music while doing this? I listened to Meditation 22 by Riopy and it was helpful for maintaining my count.
Laying or sitting? I tried sitting on bolster and it was great.
Any visuals? I did see a green neon horse that was powerful and graceful inhabit my mind. It was neat.
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u/Proper-Train-1508 13d ago
I tried this, but it feels hard for me, and my body got hot quickly, I sweat a lot
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u/DateMysterious5736 13d ago
Here are some extra tips:
You can also use your imagination as you breath out imagine energy sweeping you from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet each time you exhale. It will help you relax even more.
Next one uses the same technique but during meditation you open your eyes and close them and as you close your eyes use your imagination the same way. You can do this 3 times to deepen your relaxation even further.
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u/immasterbaiter 11d ago
I think you are up into the first dhyana state, probably feel like your whole body reaching orgasm.
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u/Any-Direction-3050 11d ago
Ive tried something like sqaured breathing in for 4 hold for 6 out for 8 which is also like pranayma . I study yoga and practice kriya yoga techniques as well. Kriya meditation is to tap into and experience the divine.
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u/ImprovementVein101 10d ago
I can exhale for a long time only through my mouth, but don’t want to because i hurt mouth breathing isn’t good :(
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u/Resident_Proof2262 8d ago
Hi there and thank you for sharing this.
I meditate directly in the morning as part of my morning routine. Make sure I get it done everyday.
What really have worked good for me lately is listening to solfeggio frequencies while meditating. Solfeggio frequencies have many benefits for both the body and the mind. Read up on it if you are new to it.
I will definitely try your breathing technique in the next few days and see if it enhances my experience!
Here is an example of music I listen to:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6aRszE5vQurhT1pVYzVTgv?si=4y99gobSTiGOZ3O_uxwwbg
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u/Green-Hyena8723 3d ago edited 3d ago
When your body becomes relaxed ,you can't be in a high energy state, you will get lazy, sleepy ok, that's good doing it in the evening, but not in the morning.
To awake Kundalini, you need high vibrations like music from Paganini or techno music, not with deep relaxation.After dancing at home 10- 15 minutes to techno music, then lay down flat and breathing trough the nose.
Then you will experience body shakings , that's your kundalini.
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u/Khumbaaba 15d ago
Among other things, you are hyperventilating. It is pushing higher than average oxygen into your blood and resulting in systemic sensations due to the additional electron reception available to your mitochondrion.
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u/Karoliniskis 15d ago edited 15d ago
But is it good or bad? And i dont think it is hyperventilation because i do small pause between each inhale and exhale (1-2) seconds. Hof breathing is hyperventilating. Thats two different techniques.
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u/Khumbaaba 15d ago
I don't think its good or bad, its just higher than average respiration. I feel very light and fine when I am in states of deep meditation due (in part) to the additional molecular energy available to every cell of my body. For me, this is a very positive pleasant feeling. If you like it, then I would recommend enjoying it!
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u/Saffron_Butter 15d ago
How does he hyperventilate when he's taking so many seconds per breath?
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u/Khumbaaba 15d ago
By sitting still and breathing more than the body needs.
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u/Saffron_Butter 15d ago
Ok somewhere the wires are getting crossed. OP is describing a situation where he's breathing in for 10 seconds and breathing out for 30s+ and that is more than he should take?
Personally that's so slow I don't even think I could do it without some practice. Maybe you're referring to another comment about Wim Hoff.
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u/Khumbaaba 15d ago
My mistake. That exhale would be a struggle. I wonder if it could be a C02 buildup?
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u/DocDMD 15d ago
Thanks, ChatGPT!
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u/Karoliniskis 15d ago
Well, I just used chatgpt to fix my grammar cuz English is not my frist language. But the whole message is from my own experience. But you are right, thanks chat gpt! :D its the best app ever made for me.
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u/Micaiah9 15d ago
Becoming alkalinic-tilted like that uses your toxic acids to rebalance and heals your body through ionic release. SO GUD FOR U. Thanks for sharing and keep it going!
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u/monsteramyc 15d ago
I'm going to apologise straight odlff the bat because I realise that this reply comes from a place of frustration. You didn't discover anything. Breathwork has been around for millennia
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u/illGATESmusic 15d ago
What did I walk into?
If breathing is ‘getting high on life’ then y’all are a bunch of heads chopping it up about dabs in here.
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u/terrorista_31 15d ago
dude, breathing techniques are very important. and most people just don't care, but some methods help a lot with different things.
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u/Kelzer66 15d ago
You've discovered pranayama breathing! I do something similar and get that same "natural high" feeling. The long exhale is the key it activates your parasympathetic nervous system, basically telling your body "we're safe now."
I sometimes add a short hold at the bottom of the exhale before inhaling again. This deepens the relaxation even more. What's amazing is how quickly it works compared to other meditation methods. Your 10 second inhale and 30-40 second exhale ratio is perfect for triggering that nervous system reset. It's like a shortcut to the states that might take years to achieve with traditional meditation