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I’ve read of a credible person who says they use breathwork of some kind to help enter a state of flow. Does anyone here know if this sounds right? If so, how w

I’ve read of a credible person who says they use breathwork of some kind to help enter a state of flow. Does anyone here know if this sounds right? If so, how would one learn? Books? Courses? Coaches? Also, knowing nothing about it I’d assumed the breathwork would be like mindfulness or meditative breathing, but is this wrong? It might be something closer to hyperventilating?

mtalantikite 2y ago
The article mentioned Holotropic Breathwork, which is a method Stanislav Grof came up with after no longer being able to use LSD for his research in the 1960s. I haven't taken a course in it, but it does seem similar to Wim Hof's technique, which you can follow along an intro of on his YouTube [1]. All of it is pretty similar to various pranayama techniques that have existed in the yogas for thousands of years though. Iyengar's Light on Pranayama is a good resource for the various practices [2]. While Wim Hof and Holotropic Breathwork are slightly different, the closest to them from the yogas would maybe be bhastrika pranayam (and here's a random guy on YouTube that comes up when googling it -- just skimming it and it looks basically like what I was taught [3]). Edit: I realized I didn't answer your question regarding how pranayama/breathwork compares to meditation. It's different than meditation (dhyana or jhana), but it's complimentary and there are elements that are similar. For instance, during pranayama practice you'll often have breath holds/retentions and during that time you'll be instructed to bring your awareness to something (a point on your body, on the awareness itself, etc). This is generally what you'd do in formal meditation practice too, but in this case it's for a much shorter period of time (the length of the breath hold). So in a way it gets you used to working with your awareness, to bring it internal for short periods of time many times. Many people will practice pranayama before beginning formal seated meditation practice. I personally use nadi shodhana before meditation practice, and more vigorous pranayamas like kapalbhati and bhastrika before/during/after asana practice. They're also good to do in the middle of the day when you need a bit of a reset. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ [2] https://archive.org/details/iyengar-bks-light-on-pranayama-ocr/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/iyengar-bks-light-on-pranayama-o... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I578H4VoZiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I578H4VoZiY
- babycheetahbite 2y ago
  Thank you very much for this.
  - nprateem 2y ago
    The best book bar none that I've ever found on pranayama is Pranayama by Gregor Maehle
- idontwantthis 2y ago
  How were you introduced to all of this? I’d love to learn to practice original yoga/meditation.
  - mtalantikite 2y ago
    Oh wow, how to answer succinctly -- it's been a long, meandering path! I'll try my best. While I'd say I first learned about meditation from my music practice as a child, my first formal introduction to meditation was through Thanissaro Bhikkhu [1] who a few of my friends practiced with in college (and later ordained as monks with). I later came to Mahayana Buddhism through Suzuki [2] and Thich Nhat Hanh [3], and then settled into a Vajrayana practice -- I'd suggest Mingyur Rinpoche's Joy of Living course for an intro to Vajrayana [4]. For yoga practice I happened to one day wander into the closest yoga studio to my house here in Brooklyn, which coincidentally happened to be one of the best yoga schools in the city at the time. The owner [5] was exceptionally challenging, all his teachers were the best around, and he really pushed everyone to expand their limits, it was a great environment to learn in. I was going at least 5x per week for a few years. It can be hard to find a yoga school, as most these days are just gym classes, and very few are going to teach pranayama, kriyas, meditation, etc. If I'm in a new place and am looking for a shala to practice in I'll typically choose the place that has Ashtanga/Mysore on the schedule, as it's likely that the owners/teachers aren't just interested in yoga as exercise. I'd really suggest finding a master teacher/s to practice with in real life, there's nothing like it. You'll know it when you find it. I also read pretty obsessively when I started my yoga practice, some of which I'll leave below [6][7][8][9][10][11]. If you start practicing you'll find the sutras and other texts that speak to you as well, just put in the work and stay curious and open! Happy to answer any questions. [1] https://www.dhammatalks.org/ https://www.dhammatalks.org/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind [3] https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-shore-a-new-translation-of-the-heart-sutra-with-commentaries/ https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-shore-... [4] https://joy.tergar.org/ https://joy.tergar.org/ [5] https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/ https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/ [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga [7] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289 [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga [9] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963 [10] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603 [11] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Through_Spiritual_Materialism https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Through_S...

mtalantikite 2y ago

The article mentioned Holotropic Breathwork, which is a method Stanislav Grof came up with after no longer being able to use LSD for his research in the 1960s. I haven't taken a course in it, but it does seem similar to Wim Hof's technique, which you can follow along an intro of on his YouTube [1]. All of it is pretty similar to various pranayama techniques that have existed in the yogas for thousands of years though. Iyengar's Light on Pranayama is a good resource for the various practices [2]. While Wim Hof and Holotropic Breathwork are slightly different, the closest to them from the yogas would maybe be bhastrika pranayam (and here's a random guy on YouTube that comes up when googling it -- just skimming it and it looks basically like what I was taught [3]). Edit: I realized I didn't answer your question regarding how pranayama/breathwork compares to meditation. It's different than meditation (dhyana or jhana), but it's complimentary and there are elements that are similar. For instance, during pranayama practice you'll often have breath holds/retentions and during that time you'll be instructed to bring your awareness to something (a point on your body, on the awareness itself, etc). This is generally what you'd do in formal meditation practice too, but in this case it's for a much shorter period of time (the length of the breath hold). So in a way it gets you used to working with your awareness, to bring it internal for short periods of time many times. Many people will practice pranayama before beginning formal seated meditation practice. I personally use nadi shodhana before meditation practice, and more vigorous pranayamas like kapalbhati and bhastrika before/during/after asana practice. They're also good to do in the middle of the day when you need a bit of a reset. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ [2] https://archive.org/details/iyengar-bks-light-on-pranayama-ocr/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/iyengar-bks-light-on-pranayama-o... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I578H4VoZiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I578H4VoZiY

babycheetahbite 2y ago
Thank you very much for this.
- nprateem 2y ago
  The best book bar none that I've ever found on pranayama is Pranayama by Gregor Maehle
idontwantthis 2y ago
How were you introduced to all of this? I’d love to learn to practice original yoga/meditation.
- mtalantikite 2y ago
  Oh wow, how to answer succinctly -- it's been a long, meandering path! I'll try my best. While I'd say I first learned about meditation from my music practice as a child, my first formal introduction to meditation was through Thanissaro Bhikkhu [1] who a few of my friends practiced with in college (and later ordained as monks with). I later came to Mahayana Buddhism through Suzuki [2] and Thich Nhat Hanh [3], and then settled into a Vajrayana practice -- I'd suggest Mingyur Rinpoche's Joy of Living course for an intro to Vajrayana [4]. For yoga practice I happened to one day wander into the closest yoga studio to my house here in Brooklyn, which coincidentally happened to be one of the best yoga schools in the city at the time. The owner [5] was exceptionally challenging, all his teachers were the best around, and he really pushed everyone to expand their limits, it was a great environment to learn in. I was going at least 5x per week for a few years. It can be hard to find a yoga school, as most these days are just gym classes, and very few are going to teach pranayama, kriyas, meditation, etc. If I'm in a new place and am looking for a shala to practice in I'll typically choose the place that has Ashtanga/Mysore on the schedule, as it's likely that the owners/teachers aren't just interested in yoga as exercise. I'd really suggest finding a master teacher/s to practice with in real life, there's nothing like it. You'll know it when you find it. I also read pretty obsessively when I started my yoga practice, some of which I'll leave below [6][7][8][9][10][11]. If you start practicing you'll find the sutras and other texts that speak to you as well, just put in the work and stay curious and open! Happy to answer any questions. [1] https://www.dhammatalks.org/ https://www.dhammatalks.org/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind [3] https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-shore-a-new-translation-of-the-heart-sutra-with-commentaries/ https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-shore-... [4] https://joy.tergar.org/ https://joy.tergar.org/ [5] https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/ https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/ [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga [7] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289 [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga [9] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963 [10] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603 [11] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Through_Spiritual_Materialism https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Through_S...