ASTHMA AND PRANAYAM THROGUH KUNDALINI

[Guest guest]

Diyaa:

 

 

 

Asthma in one of my student was caused apparently by holding her breath for

fear of abuse in her childhood.

 

 

 

Whenever she does exercises to release fear, stretch her chest, release her

diaphragm, she can breathe better. She often cries as the release happens.

 

 

 

I hope this helps,

 

Awtar S

 

Rochester NY

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam,

 

That "asthma" as the term is usually used in the West is caused by

doctors is fairly obvious. It is a question of sticking to the

principles of pranayam to heal it.

 

Doctors in the West are taught to believe that the nose is only for

"humidifying, filtering and warming" the air. They may say they are

open-minded about yoga (pranayam), but this seems to be just

opportunistically paying lip service.

 

That the nose is needed to provide resistance to breathe, may be shown

quite simply by a little experiment as in fact-finding in school biology.

 

In an upright position stick your tongue out and open your mouth as wide

as possible. You can then still breathe because the soft palate is near

the tongue to restrict flow. Now tilt your head backward and breathing

becomes impossible, because resistance to flow is minimized. Now place

a hand gently against the upper lip and the tongue and breathing can be

restarted because of the RESISTANCE provided, which is sort of contrary

to commonsense but is proved.

 

So a main principle of Western medicine is disproved. The principles of

pranayam are more scientific. Western medicine as regards breathing

cannot be regarded as being universally true and a common basis for all

writings on breathing, even though many books on yoga do include parts

about "breathing fundamentals" based on Western medicine. That the

chakras cannot be found by dissection does not mean that they do not

exist as useful concepts of great practical value.

 

According ongoing Western research an important feature of asthma is a

failure to take a deep breath. In a so-called provocation test in which

an irritant chemical is inhaled, a healthy person gets a tight chest

like an asthmatic if he is prevented from taking a deep breath.

 

However instead of looking at ways of training to take a deep breath,

Western research keeps its eyes glued to the development of drugs, which

are to overcome tightness of the chest (bronchial constriction) in an

unnatural manner and not by taking a healthy deep breath. Therefore the

asthmatic's breathing gets weaker and weaker with the known consequences

of a life of chronic disease.

 

Once it is understood that nose airway resistance is a crucial factor in

breathing it is all more or less plain sailing. The patient does

alternate nostril or oceanic breathing (nadi sodhanna and, respectively,

ujjayi) to make sure that he is able to take a proper, healthy deep

breath to open up the chest naturally accompanied by an exhilarating

sensation in the lungs. That breathing against a resistance helps

asthmatics is also shown by the use of so-called SIMT gadgets like

"PowerBreathe". It is breathing with unnaturally lowered resistance

that promotes asthma, for example with the mouth open. Blessings,

Richard Friedel

 

 

DIYAA formerly known as DRED wrote:

 

> SAT NAM...

>

> MAY I GET SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO USE PRANAYAM THROUGH KUNDALINI YOGA TO HELP

CHILDREN AND ADULTS WITH ASTHMA?

>

> THANK YOU...

>

> WAHE GURU...

>

>

>

>

> "Your mind is your servant, your body is your vehicle,

your soul is you residence." Yogi Bhajan

>

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[Guest guest]

This is very interesting! Yoga was suggested by a psychologist as I

was gracelessly coping with my father's illness & dying as well as a

few other life changes. I took my first class one month after his

death in mid 2001.

 

I recall my older sister reminding me time and time again during my

teens to stop holding my breath. This habit of breath holding was with

me into my mid 40s, when I began Kundalini yoga, and on occasion, still

creeps up. I have some large gaps in the memory of my childhood.

There are incidents related to me by my siblings that I really should

recall, but don't. I have known for years that the time will come for

this wall of protection to come down so have not actively pursued any

means of recollection. As I become more aware of my breathing, little

bubbles of some relationship between patterns of holding my breath and

the cause of my memory gaps come to the surface. Asthma began two

weeks after my first White Tantric Yoga in April of 2003 Each of the

succeeding White Tantric events, in April of 2004 & 2005 have been

followed by increasingly severe boughts of asthma. I am free of asthma

other times of the year. As my subconscious clears and I release the

pattern of holding my breath, it feels almost as if the asthma stems

from my finally being able to release the trauma that was the root of

my breath holding. I feel that my father played a major role, I do not

know if I witnessed or was a party to some abuse, but am willing to

breath deeply and patiently until the lapses will become clear.

 

Any coincidence that my Pranic Body is my Path?

 

Sat Nam and thank you for another chink in the wall.

 

Guru Gopal Kaur

 

On Saturday, March 25, 2006, at 06:43 PM, kundalini_yoga

wrote:

 

> Diyaa:

>

>

>

> Asthma in one of my student was caused apparently by holding her

> breath for

> fear of abuse in her childhood.

>

>

>

> Whenever she does exercises to release fear, stretch her chest,

> release her

> diaphragm, she can breathe better. She often cries as the release

> happens.

>

>

>

> I hope this helps,

>

> Awtar S

>

> Rochester NY

>

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Awtar,

This is fascinating to me, the correlation between asthma and breath

holding. I still hold my breath during times of emotional stress but

I've been working on this.

What exercises to release fear are you refering to?

I'm curious to try these. Suggestions are welcome from anyone.

Sat Nam,

Sat Sangat

 

-- In Kundaliniyoga, <kundalini_yoga wrote:

> Whenever she does exercises to release fear, stretch her chest,

release her

> diaphragm, she can breathe better. She often cries as the release

happens.

 

> I hope this helps,

>

> Awtar S

>

> Rochester NY

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Sat Sangeet,

 

Sodarshan Chakra Kriya helped me. The first few times I practiced

this, my mind was in a panic retaining the breath. By holding the

breath consciously I learned to relax and release into the meditation.

By holding the breath consciously I also become more aware of the times

I hold onto the breath unconsiously.

 

Sat Nam

Guru Gopal

 

On Tuesday, March 28, 2006, at 03:59 PM, Sat Sangat wrote:

 

> Dear Awtar,

> This is fascinating to me, the correlation between asthma and breath

> holding. I still hold my breath during times of emotional stress but

> I've been working on this.

> What exercises to release fear are you refering to?

> I'm curious to try these. Suggestions are welcome from anyone.

> Sat Nam,

> Sat Sangat

>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Joan,

 

Please accept my apologies as a substantially cured asthmatic for

disagreeing with you.

 

Firstly pranayama differs from western notions of breathing by stressing

the importance of nose airflow resistance, whereas in the west the nose

is only for "warming, filtering and humidifying" the air we breathe.

The consequence of this is that key pranayama exercises like ujjayi are

considered in the west to be like voodoo, although lip service is often

paid to yoga. This is very important since payment by health insurance

tends to be based on "scientific treatments", i. e. those producing

results able to measured by spirometry. The possibility that irrelevant

things may be measured is lost to sight. The basically anatomical

approach to the body, i. e. the result of cutting up corpses, cannot be

any less guesswork than other methods. However it may be seen from

experience that treatment based on sensations in the body like prana and

chakras is more successful, although basically less to the liking of

those in the west.

 

The result of dealing with breathing without taking the prime importance

of nose airflow resistance into account can only give rise to

"mysterious" conditions like asthma, fundamental skepticism about the

intelligence of western doctors in such a context being largely taboo.

 

Most importantly, asthma is stated in ongoing western research to be

typified by a failure to take a deep breath. If a normal test person is

caused to inhale an aggressive chemical, he will react with chest

tightness like and asthmatic if he is prevented from taking a deep

breath (research by Dr. Gwen Skloot). However instead of turning to

pranayama for methods of training inhalation like ujjayi (oceanic

breathig), the cause of asthma is sought in damaged lung tissue, which

if found could be dealt with using drugs yet to be developed.

 

That nose resistance is important for inhaling at all, can be shown by

opening your mouth very wide and protruding the tongue like you're about

to vomit and then tilting your head back. Such tilting halts breathing,

because the soft palate is moved clear of the tongue and does not

modulate airflow and tilting it forward starts breathing again.

 

Most significantly, laying a finger loosely against the upper lip and

the tongue will cause breathing to continue because a "substitute nose

resistance" is provided. All very contrary to common sense for somebody

from the west! The necessity for nose resistance is proved. Try varying

the gap left by the finger and the upper lip. The depth of breathing

varies with the size of the gap.

 

That the condition (but not a real disease) called "asthma" is due to

the ignorance of docs. can also be seen from circumstantial evidence.

The amount of asthma has increased enormously with the use of asthma

drugs which the expand airways. There is no generally accepted

explanation for the increase in the asthma world.

 

It stands to reason that nose airway resistance aids lung inflation. If

inflation fails to take place (asthma) then, basically, interfering with

a natural force (use it or lose it) will weaken the respiratory system.

There is the circumstantial evidence that such weakening drugs result

in life-long asthma or in asthma which appears in middle age or later.

 

So it is really a question of knowing which features of western medicine

and useful and which are inferior to other medical systems like yoga and

should be ignored. Western medicine does not fulfil its claim to be a

universal or basic system of knowledge.

 

To my mind standard medical approaches to breathing in the west are

unscientific and lead to absurd, barbaric treatments. “Asthma” is

purposefully mystified to enable incompetent docs to make a living.

 

That some exercises may cause hyperventilation and then trigger asthma

is obvious. It is a qestion of doing the right ones. I find ujjayi with

plenty of nose and throat resistance safe and healthy. Inhaling through

a resistance (like Powerbreathe) is also good for asthma, but of course

nothing like effective as pranayama. Go figure. Blessings to all,

Richard Friedel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

joan richards wrote:

> This is very interesting! Yoga was suggested by a psychologist as I

> was gracelessly coping with my father's illness & dying as well as a

> few other life changes. I took my first class one month after his

> death in mid 2001.

>

> I recall my older sister reminding me time and time again during my

> teens to stop holding my breath. This habit of breath holding was with

> me into my mid 40s, when I began Kundalini yoga, and on occasion, still

> creeps up. I have some large gaps in the memory of my childhood.

> There are incidents related to me by my siblings that I really should

> recall, but don't. I have known for years that the time will come for

> this wall of protection to come down so have not actively pursued any

> means of recollection. As I become more aware of my breathing, little

> bubbles of some relationship between patterns of holding my breath and

> the cause of my memory gaps come to the surface. Asthma began two

> weeks after my first White Tantric Yoga in April of 2003 Each of the

> succeeding White Tantric events, in April of 2004 & 2005 have been

> followed by increasingly severe boughts of asthma. I am free of asthma

> other times of the year. As my subconscious clears and I release the

> pattern of holding my breath, it feels almost as if the asthma stems

> from my finally being able to release the trauma that was the root of

> my breath holding. I feel that my father played a major role, I do not

> know if I witnessed or was a party to some abuse, but am willing to

> breath deeply and patiently until the lapses will become clear.

>

> Any coincidence that my Pranic Body is my Path?

>

> Sat Nam and thank you for another chink in the wall.

>

> Guru Gopal Kaur

>

> On Saturday, March 25, 2006, at 06:43 PM, kundalini_yoga

> wrote:

>

>

>>Diyaa:

>>

>>

>>

>>Asthma in one of my student was caused apparently by holding her

>>breath for

>>fear of abuse in her childhood.

>>

>>

>>

>>Whenever she does exercises to release fear, stretch her chest,

>>release her

>>diaphragm, she can breathe better. She often cries as the release

>>happens.

>>

>>

>>

>>I hope this helps,

>>

>>Awtar S

>>

>>Rochester NY

>>

>

>

>

Kundalini Yoga - for the best online selection

of Books, Videos and DVDs on Kundalini Yoga, based on ancient technology as

brought to the West by Yogi Bhajan. Also a great range of beautiful Meditation

and Mantra CDs, all with RealAudio sound clips.

> - visit

> Links

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dearest Richard,

it is wonderful that you have managed to cure your asthma through

pranayama. And I can understand your resentment towards western

medicine if you felt that it did not help you, and of course I respect

your quest for the truth. However resentment often blinds us to the

truth and binds us to our opinions that are emotional in nature not

factual. My experiences with pranayama and western medicine have been

different. Which is not to say that your experiences are untrue but

that perhaps there are a larger range of experiences out there and

that all western doctors are not necessarily the same as the ones you

have experienced. I also question your assertion that ocean breath is

about nose resistance. Now, of course I could be wrong about this but

my understanding and experience of ocean breath is that it is a result

of actions of the throat, a constricting of the throat muscles, not a

nasal resistance. (And I'm at a bit of a loss to understand how the

muscles in the nose could offer resistance but that could well be my

own lack of understanding and I'd welcome you explaining how this

nasal resistance is achieved.) Of course I could well misunderstand

the ocean breath and would welcome any input on how the nose functions

to control the breath instead of the throat. I understand that these

are deeply held beliefs that are important to you so I hope I haven't

offended you with this email. I am only seeking understanding not

trying to upset you or deny your personal experience. Awtar's

description of one of his students holding his breath correlates to

experience I've had with people who experience PTSD and have

difficulty breathing but I'm unsure it that's the same as actually

having asthma (though I'm sure it feels the same to the person who

can't breath). Certainly holding our breath can be a way to prevent

ourselves from experiencing our emotions so it's clear that childhood

traumas could create this kind of breathing pattern and the panic

associated with feeling unable to breath. Thank you for this most

interesting topic Joan and Richard

blessings

ovasoul

[Guest guest]

Dear Oversoul,

 

On the technique of Teaching Ujjayi, see

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/1801_1.cfm, in which increasing

breathing resistance is clearly stressed. If I overdo it, the internal

nostrils or valves (nares internae) get sore, not the throat.

 

When you look at facts the western practice of treating asthma looks

like a revival of witch-hunting or blood letting. After all

witch-hunters were trying to do good and save souls by burning people at

the stake. Think also of the Milgram experiment, showing that otherwise

harmless, goodnatured people will turn into torturers if given

"authority". Asthma can be produced experimentally in man and dogs

(Alaska husky races) simply by unnatural breathing. The activities of

the pharma industry corrupt sport (cross country skiing, skating and

cycling) by getting docs. to say that such sport does not cause the

heavy incidence of asthma (f. i. 80% asthma diagnosis in skiing,

whatever that may mean).

 

The remedy would seem to be a patient study of pranayama and forgetting

western respiratory mechanics as based on anatomy, i. e. dissection of

corpses.

 

The chief "deeply held belief" as an obstacle here, is that of the

medical community that any hindrance of nasal airflow beyond that

resulting from "warming, humidifying and filtering" the air is pathological.

 

As for asthma and breath holding, I once managed a mailing list for the

so-called Buteyko method advocating breath holds up up to 2 minutes to

increase carbon dioxide levels (in asthma they are too low due to

hyperventilation) as a sovereign cure for many diseases. However this

seems just to be a further misunderstanding of breathing showing how

hopelessly backward the western world is in this respect.

Blessings and good health, Richard Friedel

 

 

 

 

 

ovasoul wrote:

> Dearest Richard,

> it is wonderful that you have managed to cure your asthma through

> pranayama. And I can understand your resentment towards western

> medicine if you felt that it did not help you, and of course I respect

> your quest for the truth. However resentment often blinds us to the

> truth and binds us to our opinions that are emotional in nature not

> factual. My experiences with pranayama and western medicine have been

> different. Which is not to say that your experiences are untrue but

> that perhaps there are a larger range of experiences out there and

> that all western doctors are not necessarily the same as the ones you

> have experienced. I also question your assertion that ocean breath is

> about nose resistance. Now, of course I could be wrong about this but

> my understanding and experience of ocean breath is that it is a result

> of actions of the throat, a constricting of the throat muscles, not a

> nasal resistance. (And I'm at a bit of a loss to understand how the

> muscles in the nose could offer resistance but that could well be my

> own lack of understanding and I'd welcome you explaining how this

> nasal resistance is achieved.) Of course I could well misunderstand

> the ocean breath and would welcome any input on how the nose functions

> to control the breath instead of the throat. I understand that these

> are deeply held beliefs that are important to you so I hope I haven't

> offended you with this email. I am only seeking understanding not

> trying to upset you or deny your personal experience. Awtar's

> description of one of his students holding his breath correlates to

> experience I've had with people who experience PTSD and have

> difficulty breathing but I'm unsure it that's the same as actually

> having asthma (though I'm sure it feels the same to the person who

> can't breath). Certainly holding our breath can be a way to prevent

> ourselves from experiencing our emotions so it's clear that childhood

> traumas could create this kind of breathing pattern and the panic

> associated with feeling unable to breath. Thank you for this most

> interesting topic Joan and Richard

> blessings

> ovasoul

>

>

>

>

>

Kundalini Yoga - for the best online selection

of Books, Videos and DVDs on Kundalini Yoga, based on ancient technology as

brought to the West by Yogi Bhajan. Also a great range of beautiful Meditation

and Mantra CDs, all with RealAudio sound clips.

> - visit

> Links

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dearest Richard,

thank you for your reply. Unfortunately your link does not work. I

have read up on Ujjayi and it still seems to me that the effort and

control of the breath happens in the throat, the resistance is created

through using the throat muscles not the nose. This is not to say that

the nostrils aren't involved in breathing! My teacher teaches it

partly by getting students to focus on the place in the back of the

throat where you swallow. I would be interested how others on this

list have learned the method and how the teachers on the list teach

it. And how does one create resistance with the nose muscles?

 

I have found myself that if I overdo any vigorous breath that my

sinuses can react. Do you consider your sinuses to be your nose? (I'm

asking just to clarify what you are proposing here and to try to

understand And of course the interior of the nostrils can become

dried out if one is doing a vigorous breath of fire or the nasal

lining is already dried out due to a cold or some such thing.

 

You seem to equate all doctors with big pharma. This is not my

experience at all. I have both worked with and been treated by doctors

who are very open to non-pharamaceutical means of treatment and

prevention and have used pranayama and breathing methods in a clinical

setting to help people with PTSD and chronic pain. The breath and

emotions are integrally linked, I have yet to run into anyone in

western science who refutes this (though no doubt they exist, the

world is a varied place .

 

Of course I am aware that western medical practices have harmed people

through both ignorance and malicious intent at times. The same can be

said of many gurus! That does not mean all teachers/gurus are corrupt

narcissists peddling lies and spiritual glamour. Eastern medicine and

alternative treatments can also be harmful...both as a result of

ignorance and malicious intent. The same idea that a variety of people

make up any profession or calling holds true of eastern medicine as

well as western, and of eastern spirituality and western. And, of

course, capitalistic concerns whether they be in the east or west are

antithetical to practicing good medicine. There are many western

doctors who also believe this to be true. I'm curious, do you live in

the US? The medical system in America does seem to be particularly

corrupted due to the profit motive. Medicine is practiced differently

in Europe and in countries that are socialist democracies, which is

not to say that pharmaceutical companies don't have influence it just

means that there are other public health concerns as well that focus

on other aspects of prevention and treatment.

 

I'm looking forward to learning more about how to create resistance

using the muscles in the nose. Thank you once again for this

interesting subject and for sharing your views.

blessings

ovasoul

 

 

> >

> >

>

[Richard Friedel]

Sat nam Joan and Oversoul,

 

My remarks in the posting of 3.28.2006 about not being able to inhale with the tongue held down and the head held back were of course nonsense and not applicable to someone in good health.

 

The SIMT devices I referred to in the posting of3.25.2006 may well revolutionize chest disease treatment in the West.. Since they are considered to provide and effective treatment for asthma, and medical treatments are based on the peculiar hypothesis of airway inflammation or remodelling not being caused by asthmatic breathing, they must be considered as scientific and not merely "adjunctive" or "complementary".

Personally I see SIMT as a great opportunity to reduce health system costs by outdoing treatment of chest diseases with drugs, which seems to be a medical disaster comparable with lobotomy which once got the Nobel Prize.

Using a finger placed between the lips seems to define a better form of resistance for SIMT. Apart from saving money, the degree of resistance can be varied during an inhale and more especially increased toward the end to get a satisfactory abdominal breathing pattern going. According to the principle of Occam's razor

(using simplest of possible arguments) this might mean the end of asthma. RF