Correlation between meditation and physical body

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Starman

The first thing we do when we enter this world is take a breath, and the last thing we do upon leaving this world is to let go of a breath.

I love it, Starman.
Way back in the olden days..and I was not doing any sort of drug - 1971 ...I was looking at an aquarium in Key West, FL, USA ---
when I got struck by a dawning realization...gasp..." Every thing that is alive breathes...!!" Ah,
the beginning of my Journey to Awakening.
Many more dawning revelations would happen later over the years. :)

[Starman]

On average a human can go a week or more without food,
a few days without water, but only minutes without air.

[LYACMT]

Hi Starman,

Thanks for sharing. I agree with you that a breath is not only a breath. It means much more than that.

The sages in the old days also noticed it, and for years and years, they had developed and established breath-based methodologies to make people be more healthy and further to empower people with capabilities to explore the nature of human being and the universe from which we all are benefited. And it is obvious that the breath-based methodologies are many, Yoga/meditation is absolutely an important methodology with many different techniques. Here in China, there are also many types of breath-based techniques which are different from Yoga but also effective.

An interesting or maybe fool question for further discussion:

Now that breath is so much important to human life that we can not live without breath for even one minute, the question is: no matter what types of technique we are practising (not including the types with body movements), when it gets to deep, the number of breath decreases largely down to 3 or 4 times per minute, or even one time in several minutes and at the same time we feel much more energetic than normal state in which we breath much more times. So, it turns out a little bit obvious that the energy which make us feel energetic may not fully come from breath. What is that type of energy and where it comes from ?

[Starman]

LYACMT, I have a different perspective, and feel there is only one energy with different variations. Most people do not use their entire lungs when they breathe. Most people only use the upper third part of their lungs; this may cause health problems. Deep breathing techniques help us use more of our lung capacity.

The other thing is that our skin breathes. Here in the U.S. when a person goes to see a doctor the nurse or other tech, will take the patients vital signs, which includes temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and a finger oxygenation measurement. They measure the oxygen in your skin that flows from your bloodstream by putting a little clip on your finger.

In meditation our breathing does slow, but that slowing allows us to enter into a natural flow of energy. A lot of people do not breath correctly, and it shows in the way that they speak. Fast talkers take fast shallow breaths, people who are scared usually hold their breath. Some people are mouth breathers, especially when they sleep. We should breath through our nose because the nose has hairs in it to catch small particles that you do not want in your lungs. Some people do not breath quietly and they make noise when they breathe, which is a sign of obstruction.

In my opinion incorrect breathing is part of a fast paced modern society or it may also be from a scattered mind. Mind, thought, and emotions, are connected to our breath. The slowing of breathing when we go deep into meditation allows us to breathe naturally and thus tap into a greater deeper cosmic energy, instead of just doing shallow erratic breathing on the surface; which does not allow us to tap into that fuller, greater, energy.

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by LYACMT

... So, it turns out a little bit obvious that the energy which make us feel energetic may not fully come from breath. What is that type of energy and where it comes from ?

The obvious answer (in terms of Yoga) is prana. I won't go into a detailed description of prana as there is plenty of information online for those interested.

Breathing in certain ways in certain rhythms is one way to generate and increase prana in the physical body (or to be more precise, the energy body surrounding the physical body, the pranamaya kosha). But deep slow breathing into the belly is sufficient to change how we feel - Wim Hof has much to say on this.

(Incidentally, I mention Wim Hof because he advocates certain simple practices which anyone can fit into their daily lives, as opposed to more complicated pranayama techniques which really require a teacher.)

But prana also comes from the food we eat, hence the emphasis on eating certain foods which have plenty of life-force, as opposed to other types of food which have zero life-force. But again, the energy we have does not fully come from food. Which is probably a good thing given the abysmal diets of so many people.

A major source of prana is simply the Sun and nature. While breathing is a natural function of the body, eating food can be bypassed if we get sufficient prana from other sources.

Peace

[Starman]

When we engage in nurturing our core, as is done in quiet meditation, we may enhance our spiritual development, The cosmic energy which we bring to the surface, into a quiet mind and throughout our physical body, organizes our human body into a higher type of organism, much quicker then that which is spontaneously provided by general evolutionary development.

Human beings, largely because of our central nervous system and chakra system, can transform our physical body into a finely tuned spiritual instrument. Cosmic energy can make our physical body more sensitive and responsive, Mental images are as patterns which we pass on to our subconscious. Subconscious is the builder of our physical body and the controller of most of our bodily functions.

If our patterns are clear and definite, and we keep them intact, subconscious will build a body which correspond to them. When our mental images are vivid they provide us with patterns for bodily transformation. But a clarity of mind without images can allow for an enhanced bodily transformation with the assistance of an increased cosmic energy.

Jean-Baptiste Lamark, a French biologist who lived in the 18th century, was an early proponent of the idea that biological evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural cosmic laws. Most transformations in our physical body take place while we sleep, especially in quiet sleep. Many problems have also been solved subconsciously while we sleep.

Our subconscious channels cosmic energy in accordance with our self conscious attention and mental states. What I have shared here is from esoteric and metaphysical teachings, which go back centuries, and it basically says that our physical body is the result of our consciousness. Although studies of Kundalini energy says that kundalini grew our body in our mothers womb, and acts as an intermediary between our self conscious and subconscious to continue building our human body after birth.

[LYACMT]

Hi iamthat,

I'm happy to know that as a Yoga/meditation practitioner, you have more knowledge about the methodologies or techniques derive from ancient China. That is so great to have a broad mind when you practise one thing and at the same time looking at or trying to understand others rather than simply refuse and turn back.

I'd like to make some supplementaries from our perspective to your reply towards the questions:

It is definitely the prana in terms of Yoga, the exact same thing that we've been calling it Qi since ancient China, for better understanding, it is also called life energy/force. No matter what the names are, it is the same thing. Sages from both India and China found and named it and different techniques were created to enhance it and further benefit our body.

In our understanding, the life energy does not move or be transferred into the body from air or food Directly, our body produce life energy for ourselves every second based on our breath of air and intakes of food. When we are sitting, the production of life energy is still going on all the time and we have less consumption of life energy by sitting there still, that is one of the reasons why we feel more energetic when we were sitting with fewer times of breathing. In addition, when we are sitting there still and do some breath-based techniques, more life energy may be produced than normal depend on the technique itself. Of course, there are techniques which may consume more the life energy than normal, so someone may feel exhausted after sitting rather than being more energetic.

As the practise goes further into a very high level and in deep, persons may become able to absorb the life energy from the universe rather than produce it by their own body from breathing of air and intaking of food. When the absorption become stable and steady, we could see that there is someone who is able to put himself into a sealed big can and place the can into deep of waters and few days later when the can was pull up and be opened, the man is still alive. It is for sure and obvious that only very few persons are able to do this type of thing, meaning only very few persons are able to connect and absorb the cosmic energy in a stable or steady way. and we don't encourage people to do the same.

As for pranamaya kosha and further koshas, here in China we have the similar conception that is to enhance the life energy first making the body to be strong enough and to be free from any physical disorders, then, we go further.

(Incidentally, when we breathe, the air intaken via the nose is not able to get to the belly, it only reaches the lungs for sure. A lot of people misunderstand this even in China. The thing that actually gets to the belly is the life energy, and it is a physical feeling as per our experience. The breath will provide moving power to the life energy within the meridian, so that when people breathe, the life energy moves to the belly, making it feels like it is the air gets to the belly, but actually not. )

[LYACMT]

Originally Posted by Starman

... Subconscious is the builder of our physical body and the controller of most of our bodily functions....

Most transformations in our physical body take place while we sleep, especially in quiet sleep. Many problems have also been solved subconsciously while we sleep.

It is true, and that is for normal persons without any practise.

As we understand, breath is the only thing or bridge that connects with conscious and subconscious. When we practise the breath-based technique, the subconscious is strengthened and becomes more powerful, so that problems could be solved while we were awake sitting there and practising with the presence of conscious.

In another words, when we practise the breath-based technique, the subconscious becomes surfacing and obvious than normal state, so that we may be able to know whether there is anything wrong with the subconscious, if yes, we could be able to remedy it so that the body could be remedied as well consequently by the life energy, or we could go on the inverse direction which is to heal the body by the life energy, then, when the body was remedied, the subconscious may also be remedied as well consequently. We prefer the inverse one, cause it is much easier, we have cases.

[Starman]

LYACMT, I embrace what you have shared, and I’m going to add to it. We are always acting directly on cosmic forces, the thing is to be conscious of how we interact with those cosmic forces.

With the union of two tiny cells, one from our father and one from our mother, sub-consciousness took command of the development of our physical body. It is called sub-consciousness because whatever it does occurs below the level of our conscious awareness.

But with continual quieting of our conscious mind in meditation, we can become aware of subconscious activity. Our conscious mind is inductive, meaning we take things in and apply them to our own consciousness, and our subconscious mind is deductive, which means it takes what we have taken in and applied to our conscious mind and extrapolates a plan of development to build it into our being.

Which can become patterns of behavior in our body and mind, or even outward experiences. So it is important to only put in our conscious mind what we want to experience. In this regard we can manage our life. Quiet mediation can allow us to merge with our subconscious, but some people do go crazy, or develop mental illness, when they enter their subconscious and behold all that is there.

Quiet meditation does help us clear undesirable subconscious patterns before we blend with it. Before that clearing we may be unconsciously responding to subconscious patterns which we either put in our sub conscious or was placed there by our acquired DNA at birth. One of the objects of quiet meditation is to become consciously aware and clear.

The process brings to the surface all that we have stuffed down inside of us on a mental and emotional level; this process can give us mental and emotional clarity, as well as a deeper and greater spiritual presence.

Peace

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by LYACMT

I'm happy to know that as a Yoga/meditation practitioner, you have more knowledge about the methodologies or techniques derive from ancient China....

Yes, the ancient traditions of India and China both seem to be saying similar things but obviously using different terminology and perhaps slightly different models. So whether we call it prana or Qi, we are referring to a universal energy which is available to everyone. And certain practices and disciplines will increase this universal energy within ourselves.

And some people are drawn to the Chinese system while others are more drawn to the Indian system. And while I do feel a connection to China (presumably from past lives?), I feel a stronger affinity with India.

You mention people being sealed into a container and placed in water for some days, and they come out alive. There is the equivalent in India of Yogis being buried alive and being dug out perhaps several months later, none the worse for this experience. But as you say, such practices are not to be recommended.

And yes, in deep breathing the air still only goes into the lungs. But my understanding is that expanding the belly allows the lungs to fully inflate. As opposed to shallow breathing into the chest where the lungs cannot fully inflate, and the energy circulation is limited.

Peace