Spirituality: How Long Can You Hold Your Breath?

Here is an experiment to experience the very desperate subconscious impulse of terror and the urge to do anything to save oneself.

The Experiment

  1. Take a normal breath, pinch your nose & close your mouth and hold it till you feel the need to breathe, then let go and breath naturally.

  2. Take a normal breath as above but upon the urge to breathe, hold your breath as long as you can and keep fighting the urge to breathe, say for another 5 seconds.

  3. Perform 2 above, but this time try to fight the urge to breathe for longer than 5 seconds to say 10 seconds or longer. [Caution, should not be too long since one can passed out].

  4. What is relevant to take note is, when one try to hold one breathe beyond the norm, there is a feeling of a very strong desperation to breathe and the body generate pains in various parts of the body, especially the abdominal areas.

[list]5. This is a good exercise for one to find out which areas of one’s body is suffering from tensions or which parts of one organ may have some sort of problem.

  1. The critical knowledge to be highlighted is the terrible desperation and pains that forces one to breathe at all costs.
    This is beyond one’s conscious control [exception rare] and eventually one will be FORCED to breathe to ensure survival.
    [/list:u]

Try the above experiment till you feel that inherent terrible urges to breathe, the pains of resisting and the eventual subconscious force to give in to breathe.

This is fact from one’s self experiment as real experience is very informative because such an experience is common to all humans DNA wise.

Try it and provide your experience and feedback here.

Sorry, yes… I meant oxygen synthesis, but some issues cannot be cured by simply adopting better breathing techniques.

Is 10 good? :confusion-shrug:

I did attend an 8 session course on pain and fatigue management, which included adopting breathing techniques to breath through certain situations, and they certainly do help but not cure… that will happen over time.

Breathing through a bout of flight or fight is frickin awesome. :smiley:

I will try your breathing test tomorrow, and post my experience/findings here…

If it is a respiratory [breathing] related problem, then it can be improved by breathing techniques, asthma for example.
If there are physical problems then it has to be dealt via surgery or other medical procedures.

10 seconds [if consistently] is not good.
Thus you need specific breathing exercises to increase the Control Pause to at least 30 seconds. Therefrom one can try to improve to more than 30 seconds to 45 sec then to 60 seconds.

There are many types of breathing methods to deal with various situations, but some of these may not address the Control Pause interval.
Try your exercise and check whether those exercise can increase your control pause to higher than 10 seconds, 30 seconds or more.

Btw, my main point of the above exercise is for one to personally feel the terrible and desperation when one is forced [by others or oneself] into not being able to breathe.
My thesis is, the very fundamental of this desperation is an “existential crisis” that drives theism and other psychological behaviors.

The side benefit from the above, is one will be able to understand one’s own self for self-development.

In any case, if one find out one has a low Control Pause of say 10 seconds, increasing the Control Pause longer will bring only positive increments to one’s well being.

Caution is: Avoid extreme efforts or limits when one is doing any of the breathing exercises.

One interesting point;

Normally in a flight or fight situation, especially ‘fight’ [anger] one is often advised to take a big breath and count up to 10. In most cases, this breathing pause does make a lot of difference.

However in the experiment I introduced above, there is no flight or fight,
the scenario is such that there is a only a ‘fight’ option.
Thus it is critical that one understands and experience that fight mode and from there take steps to manage it.

This is why the ‘fight’ trigger in some extremists are so sensitive to the extent they will fight and kill even upon drawings of cartoons and the slightest sensed perceived provocations.

It is/was an energy production problem on a cellular level, which has now markedly improved… I tried to help speed up the cellular process with Korean Ginseng and then with Co Enzyme Q10, but they had an almost instant adverse effect in worsening symptoms, but I might revisit the CoQ10 as it did improve my energy output temporarily.

I can now currently manage roughly 23 seconds, so a marked improvement on my previous long-standing record of 10 lol… thanks for the suggestions, and I think I’m now better-placed to be able to do the breathing exercises… I wasn’t before, hence my revisitation to them and this thread, now.

I’m also revisiting weights, which relies on a specific breathing method, so perhaps it played a part in improving my ability to breathe more better/fully, and so get more oxygen into my system. It’s weird feeling the strength slowly creeping back into your veins, but a welcome weird. :slight_smile:

I don’t know what the Control Pause method is, but will check online… although, getting in too much oxygen will probably have an adverse effect on a still-delicate disposition? a’la tumultuousness…

Noted… I will : )

Well… my anger wasn’t misplaced… never has been, but I’d get stuck in the f or f mode for weeks at a time, due to my depressed system which was unable to get out of it, and which I was informed is a major energy drainer, so it was in my best interest to learn how to get out of it as quickly as possible and to also prevent it from being constantly easily triggered, and in doing so this would reset the response back to its normal reaction times. Fun times…

Avoiding overwhelming people and situations helped, in conjunction with all the health-rehabilitation clinics and programs I was prescribed… still got two more to go, but they are the definitive answer to my dilemma. The future looks much less bleak… the prognosis… back to normality.

Supplements may help but one need to improve the physical mechanisms to take in more oxygen to the blood so one do not pant with the slightest increase in effort.
In addition, the shortness of breath is also linked to weakness of other organs.

It is not getting in more oxygen to the extreme.
It is just getting a bit more than the current normal and gradually improve it further.

Since you are interested,
Try this to increase the time you can hold your breath.

Instead of pinching your nose, use the nails of your index and middle finger to block [softly but efficiently] from outside your the nostrils. This is more comfortable than pinching the nose. Point is to ensure there is no air going in when you hold your breath.

The procedure;

  1. In a normal situation without any exercise, just hold your breath and note the time.
    If you are a beginner, the time is likely to be short, don’t bother about it.

  2. After a while from 1,
    Do 15 deep breathes.
    Use the diaphragmatic breathing technique. [you can google or YouTube for more details]
    In this case, expand your stomach, then chest and then take in air up to your mouth.
    Hold your breath [block with nails of index/middle finger] for a while 1-2-3 or 4 [which ever is comfortable] seconds to allow your lungs to absorb the oxygen.
    Then slowly release the air till your stomach is lowered but do not blow out all the air completely, leave say 5-10%.
    Do this for 15 times.
    At the end of the 15th time, when your stomach is lowered to a comfortable position, block your nose with the nails of your index and middle finger and hold your breath until you feel discomfort and the urge to breathe. (It is critical, one should not try to force oneself to try to get a longer time].
    Stop the time.
    Then immediately take in a deep breath and hold it for 3-5-10 seconds [whichever you can] and then release.

It is likely you will be able to increase from the time you did in 1 above.

  1. Do procedure 2 for 3 Cycles.
    The time you can hold your breath will increase each time, if not, don’t bother especially for a beginner.

Note the above is merely a preliminary exercise.
There are more adjustments to the above.
If you interested to go further, I can give you more procedures and notes.

It is reasonable that when one’s ability to hold one breath longer, and doing the above exercise, the overall constitution will improve thus the functions for all organs in the body to improve.

In any sudden flight or fight mode, that can easily be cooled down with a few breathing methods as above.
The full exercise above will help to modulate the long term f and f responses.

Thanks Prism, I will first get my mind ready for what I intend to put my body through at some point in the very-near future… this is how I currently have to roll… don’t want to shock the ole system with surprise now. 8-[

I may start with one cycle and build up from there, so I can gauge what impact it’s having and how much conscientious breathing and oxygen I can tolerate. It seems very Zen/meditative, so I might go within after, as its been a long time since I last Zazened. :smiley:

MagsJ,

I hope that you are enjoying your new-found freedom from moderating.

D I R E
of a situation or event) extremely serious or urgent.

I am not so sure that dire would be a good word to express your quote above. Perhaps important or of value would work better, at least to me.
Dire might give one an obsessive, fearful sensation, like waiting for the other shoe to fall which would not really contribute to one’s sense of well being. Aside from that…

I am not sure how you yourself are using the word, spirituality, but it does not have to pertain to religion/religiosity. One’s spirituality pertains to things or practices or to a posture which allows or helps one’s self and spirit to be made fully whole or as whole as it can be. I think that it can also be in part one’s way of looking at the world as in seeing the inter-connectiveness of everything and everyone.

Well-being and spirituality go hand in hand. They feed off of or are in harmony with one another. I think that if one is suffering, the other is also suffering ~ just like if the mind is suffering, the body is suffering and vica versa.

Perhaps there is a far better, beneficial connection to well-being and spirituality if one does not hold one’s breath too long but rather learns to let it out more often.

Why the premise of the op seems incoherent to me is formalized in your comments here, Prismatic. You’re conflating the “spirit-breath” metaphor with a literal breathing exercise, which intuitively makes no sense unless you’re able to show some logical connections between the two, as Karpel contends. Metaphor serves as a pointer to some likeness, in this case a likeness (in the Genesis account in the Christian Bible anyway) between the concrete [breath] and ethereal [spirit]. There seems to me a logical breakdown in transmitting the symbolic to a literal exercise, which some Christians also tend to do.

Breathing tachniques or breath retaintion period has nothing to do with sprituality. Breathing is a physical excecise while spirituality is done by mind. The only thing where breathing helps is that it provides a rythmatic and perpatual thing for mind to focus upon. nothing else whatsoever.

with love,
sanjay

I agree ‘well-being’ would be less ambiguous than ‘spirituality’.

Yes, that too long to the extreme but sufficient to reflect the normal well-being.

I believe there is a correlation between breathe and spirit in the well-being sense, not like ghosts or an independent soul.

Exactly. Which is fine. It might help you deal with physical pain or other similar challenges to learn how to hold your breath a long time. It might very well be good for something. It could be connected to a philosophy. But spirituality has to do with what are considered, by materialists, to be non-material entities. I have never understood why some people must use spirituality when the word philosophy covers the same ground and can be secular. It’s very cake and eat it too.

Or actually its very there is no cake
and I am eating it anyway.

The Hindu traditions especially do work with breathing in spiritual contexts. Pranayama and more. But there is no reason for a secular person to use the word spirituality. They can call it a life philosophy or training is meeting adversity, in this case, or whatever. Yes, the word spirituality does come etymologically from words having to do with the breath.

All our words trail back in time to metaphors having to do with things near to us. But the word use has moved on in the last couple of thousand years. It is completely misleading for an atheist to use the term in the way he does.

Then he still bears a burden to show that holding breath leads to personal qualities that are broadly beneficial. IOW that it leads to one having positive attitudes about life in general, meeting adversity and so on. It’s an interesting idea. It is, in fact, one that can be tested empirically.

But of course he writes as if we already have all the empirical evidence in already. It is simply the case because his deduction says it is so.

He is a supporter of science, in theory, but in practice he is a Rationalist - in the strict philosophical sense meaning that he can,without empirical study, reason his way to truths. Now this latter would be fine, but it ain’t remotely science and he is utterly on the side of empiricists, in his own idiosyncratic way, whenever anyone else thinks they know something he doesn’t like.

I written elsewhere and above, spirituality is a very loose term, ranging from ghostly spirits, the spirit as an independent soul [atman], team spirit, spiritual as in religions, etc.

In my case, I relate ‘spirituality’ more to holistic well-being of the person rather than any spiritual being of the person.

Breathing is most fundamental to the well-being of a person.
Thus the manner a person breathe is critical to bring oxygen to the body to maintain the most optimal well being for the person.
First there is big difference between the natural diaphragmatic breathing and other chest and throat breathing.
A person who is not healthy will often run out of breath easily.

There are many meditative techniques that use the counting and attention to breathing but this is very basic. Even then this will help to improve on one’s well being or spirituality in that sense.

The Art of Breathing is a critical subject in the higher practices of all spirituality [well-being].

Note Pranayama within Hinduism and the similar topic exists in Buddhism and other spiritual practices.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama
In Pranayama, there is the kindergarten level to the PhD level with different sophistication in the breathing techniques that bring higher optimality of well-being [spiritual].

Since Pranayama is a old age tradition and practices of Hinduism, I am quite certain there are sophisticated breathing techniques with Santmat which are practiced by the more serious practitioners.

The Radha Soami, Sant Mat Masters of this age have given this area in the … Pranayam is the exercise of breath control or breathing exercises in practical yoga.
Link:

The pyschological view;

The Subtle Yet Profound Art of Breathing
Breathing intentionally can enhance your health and well-being.
Because breathing occurs automatically most people rarely think about it or consider it a skill that can be developed to enhance their cognitive, emotional, physical, and spiritual equilibrium.
If you know the art of breathing you have the strength, wisdom, and courage of ten tigers. ~ Chinese proverb
psychologytoday.com/us/blog … -breathing

I feel that this issue desrves more clarity.

As fas i understand about western mindset about Hinduism, the term Yoga creates all the confusion. In Hindi or Sanskrit, Yoga means Total as a noun and Adding as a verb. So basically it was reffered to that state when one meets the ultimate reality and becomes one with it. That is Yog or Total. Later the effort or process of doing this also termed as yoga. Then, people forget the main issue and stared calling merely physical exercises as yoga which is totally wrong. This practice is more popular is the west, not so much in India though spreading roots here too.

Having said that there is nothing wrong in physial yoga. It is certainly very good for heath but nothing to do with meditation or spirituality. These so called youga teachers are nothing more than a gymnastic coach or a physical trainer.

Breathing is merely an object in meditation to be focussed upon. One can use the tickling sound of clock for the same purpose and believe me, the results would be the exactly same. The real thing is focus/concentration not focussed the object.

with love
sanjay

You commanded as if you are a God of etymology.

What is critical whether I have explained the contexts it is used.
Note this thread,
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=194659
I have used the alternative term ‘well-being’ which reflect my sense of ‘spirituality’.

However, even where ‘spirituality’ is related to religions, the art of breath [e.g. pranayama] is a very critical subject. Thus the linkage of breathe to spirituality is still relevant.

Why do you need me to show evidence when in your above point you ‘seem’ to have agree to it.

If you have done sufficient research on the subject, you would have noted the benefits associated with an increased efficiency in breathing.
The above is substantiated by my own personal experiences with an improved techniques of breathing that promote improvement is general well-being, physical activities, sports, sex, etc.

How To Have Better Sex By Using Your Breath
3. Slow Down Your Breathing Before Orgasm
4. Speed Up Your Breath Before Orgasm
5. Breathe In Sync With Your Partner
bustle.com/p/how-to-have-be … th-8157825

The above is general but not refined.
In tantric one will practice a range of sophisticated breathing techniques to enhance sexual experiences and well-being.

Nah, I have never claimed that.
I am a Empirical-Rationalist, i.e. an empirical-realist.

My used of ‘spirituality’ meant ‘spirituality-well_being’ but I had used ‘spirituality’ in the shorter form as a convenience.

With the current internet age, I think many even in the West would have known the etymology of ‘Yoga’. Those who had joined ‘yoga’ classes in the West and anywhere else would also been informed of the etymological origin of the word ‘yoga’ i.e.

The Sanskrit noun योग yoga is derived from the root yuj “to attach, join, harness, yoke”.[23] The word yoga is cognate with English “yoke”.[24]

The spiritual sense of the word yoga first arises in Epic Sanskrit, in the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, and is associated with the philosophical system presented in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, with the chief aim of “uniting” the human spirit with the Divine.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

I am surprised you have given such slim attention to the Art of Breathing, i.e. pranayama.

I recommend you read Yogi Ramachakra’s The Science of Breath where ‘prana’ is critical to the physical, the psychic and the spiritual.
archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.47927

The Yogi practices exercises by which he attains control of his body, and is enabled to send to any organ or part an increased flow of vital force or “prana,” thereby strengthening and invigorating the part or organ.

As I had stated within Hinduism, Buddhism and other, there a wide range of topics and practices of breathing from kindergarten to PhD levels.

In this work we cannot go deeply into the philosophy
of the East regarding spiritual development, because this
subject would require volumes to cover it, and then again
the subject is too abstruse to interest the average reader.
There are also other reasons, well known to occultists, why
this knowledge should not be spread broadcast at this time.
Rest assured, dear student, that when the time comes for
you to take the next step, the way will be opened out before
you.
Page 69

I believe from the Hinduism perspective, in the ultimate union of the self [atman] with Brahman, this need to be supported by the most optimal breathing technique and the alignment of the prana.

I have read all that mentioned and even far far more than that. I am doing this since last 30 years of life, whithout break.

This is precisely the reason i said in the other thread that religions are like sports, and should be played in person. Litratre comes alive only then otherwise it is a dead cat. One can bend it as one wants. I have very serious doubts that anyone can teach or learn anything in these youa centres which is even remotely concerned with real sprituality.

Body cannot be control by breath, the texts are talking about something else.

with love,
sanjay