Breath holding meditation
I experimented by holding my breath for sometime while I was meditating and the results were very surprisingly good. I will do it more often but this post is about documenting and sharing my experience so that I do not forget.
So, I was meditating as usual but since I had skipped it for a few days, concentrating on my breath was getting difficult. The Vipassana meditation instructor always used to say, try taking a few hard breaths to bring focus to breathing and then slowly make it normal breathing while maintaining focus. I tried and failed, for some reason I was not able to concentrate.
I realized I was breathing on automode, meaning, I was not very mindful of my breathing pattern. I used to breath in and breath out in the same rhythm even though sometimes I felt I didn’t need to breath. It felt as if I was just doing breathing as a boring duty and not listening to the body. So now, I held my breath till my body asked for next breath.
I started observing sensations in my body more keenly, because it was now important to see how much the body really needs the next breath. I could sense some cells in my body contracting. Somewhere near the stomach, I could sense muscles getting a bit tense, probably the diaphragm. Slowly my throat area tensed up and then my face tensed up, I couldn’t hold it longer, the body finally made me go for it and I took the next breath. It was so refreshing to take that breath. I did this over and over again and noticed few unusual things.
After I thought I finished the full exhalation and as I continued holding my breath longer, an interesting thing happened. I could suddenly exhale a bit more. The only explanation I have for this is that maybe my body was using up the traces of oxygen left in my body and as a result releasing that extra bit of CO2.
My cells felt more alive. I could concentrate easily, as it was about my breathing or not breathing now. I could observe body sensations easily as I had to listen to the body closely and make a decision on breathing now or a few milliseconds later.
Also, before I hold the breath, the breath I take is a long deep one to last me for a long time. So, holding the breath is improving my ability to breath in more and also helping me use all the oxygen I breath in. Therefore its improving my upper and lower limits i.e Increasing the range of breathing.
One thing that happens naturally while holding the breath is that all useless thoughts tend to go away. The focus shifts on what is happening inside the body. I begin to see my body as a separate organism which has built in mechanisms to tell me to take the next breath. More awareness to these processes means knowing yourself more, understanding yourself at the most basic level.
I shall keep my practice going and write more insights if any that pop up. Give it a try.
