inSelf Yoga / Holding the Breath

inSelf Yoga / Holding the Breath

Holding the breath is part of some pranayama practices but it is not part of the inSelf Yoga process which I teach. Holding the breath is part of what I term as negative pranayama or reverse breath infusion, where the yogi trains the physical and subtle body to become carbon dioxide tolerant. In inSelf Yoga we achieve the exact opposite which to make the system become carbon dioxide intolerant, meaning that the system cannot tolerate excess carbon dioxide.

For instance, a yogi who makes his body carbon dioxide intolerant would die quickly if he stayed under water for any length of time. In the Mahabharata we read about Duryodhan whose body was so carbon dioxide tolerant that he remained under water for weeks. His system lived on carbon dioxide. However someone who does the process which I teach that person will find that the body cannot tolerate if it is subjected to an environment where it cannot access a free supply of fresh air.

Another example is athletics. If one runs a mile, the legs, feet and thighs will become saturated with carbon dioxide and other negative aspects. That would be undesirable for inSelf Yoga. However a person whose body is carbon dioxide tolerate may not suffer from this. For him this overload of carbon dioxide would be an asset.

Persons who do the breath infusion which I teach should know that we do not hold the breath at any time. There is another practice where the breath is held just to hold the breath, but I do not teach that process.

What we do is this:

·       We first infuse breath into the body.

·       We cease the infusion and apply certain locks.

·       We peer down into the body from within the mind to see where the infused breath is located and how it is distributed.

·       As soon as the distribution ceases or as soon as the infused breath is used up we begin infusing breath again into the system.

·       We do not hold the breath just to hold the breath.

We repeatedly infuse breath into the system, cease the infusion when we feel that the system is saturated with the infused breath, observe the location and distribution, and then begin infusing breath again.

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If someone hold the breaths, then what will happen after a time is that there will be a black out or grey out in consciousness because after the infused breath is used up the system will switch to using carbon dioxide for energy and that will produce a negative state of consciousness or jada samadhi, stupor stunned trance state.

It could happen however that while a student is observing the distribution of the infused breath his consciousness loses focus and he inadvertently loses track of the objective. Then he will keep the breathing suspension period beyond the correct time and then he will unconsciously shift over to using carbon dioxide which will result in a black out or grey out with or without swooning where the head will shake and he may even have other things happen to the body for short period of time.

One must learn the locks and must do the meditations for mind locking and mind observation as described in many of the books like the Meditation Pictorial. One must also check with the teacher frequently until one masters the kundalini maneuvers.