October 26, 2009
9 Bottled Wind Free Practice Log
Kudos to Nigel Thompson for this report on his 9-bottled wind progress and his gift of a scheduling form (see thelink) so that you can keep track of your practice. Normally people can hold their breath for about 40 seconds at the start and then extend from there, watching the second hand of a clock trying to hold it longer each time while reamining as relaxed as possible. Any muscle tightening defeats the entire practice. If the chi channels are being crimped, how can the chi go through them?
Remember, this is just part of an entire set of preparatory practices, or intensified practices to help prepare you to attain samadhi. The real practice is mind practice via vipassana (cessation-watching/witnessing) or surrender/letting go to reach emptines (ie. done in Christianity or Papaji’s method or Buddhism) or inquiry such as “who am I” … (popularized in Zen, Ramana Maharshi’s favorite, Nisargadatta, etc.). Nigel’s report and the link to his great gift:
Nigel (from Hong Kong) here. As always thank you very much for your cogent,
practical, no-nonsense, down-to-earth yet comprehensive and cutting-edge
teaching. The talk this morning (it was morning for me), was, once again,
extremely helpful. I really appreciate your approach.
I’m writing because I have developed a simple practice log for 365 days of
9-Bottled Wind Breathing practice. I thought I would send it to you in case
you know anyone else who might benefit from it.
It’s a simple, compact format that I have been finding useful for recording
and keeping track of my times. I input each of my nine breaths and then do
a strike through on the day and date once the practice is completed.
I’m attaching it to this e-mail. Hope it’s useful to somebody.
One interesting thing about the nine bottled-wind breathing: I can feel the
effects of it going on in my body for hours afterwards.
Today was the first time that I held my breath for 3 minutes. And I can
still feel the effects 12 hours later. Sort of soft squishy feeling around
the center of my chest. Sometimes I feel a joyful, pleasurable endorphin
kind of sensation 1 or 2 hours later. During practice I feel sensations in
my upper legs, head, and lower back. … Usually, by about 1:45
seconds my lungs begin to make an expansion-contraction movement of
attempted breathing. Apart from this I am relatively relaxed, but there is
usually that movement, almost involuntary though sometimes I can relax and
stop it for a while. I can usually push on for another 40 seconds or so
after that movement begins. Is that okay? [Answer: yep -- that's how you expand it and lung capacity by about 30%]
The Daily Schedule Practice Sheet
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Filed under Enlightenment, Meditation, Samadhi - dhyana by admin