Have been breathing now with The Healing Art of Conscious Breathing CD three to four times weekly, for five months or so. In the last week have had a couple of breath/energy encounters. In these my body starts tingling usually around the left thigh and this sensation (usually after an
hour breathing level two and with top-ups of three) suddenly suffuses my whole being...a very powerful and exhilarating sensation. In this my senses are sharply focussed, the body vibrating .
Following the last one, just before I turned on my side, breathing as
Leonard Orr advises-.four shorts and one long.-and I was thrilled to be
able to continue the sensation with the same intensity for several more minutes. This I feel demonstrates that the object of the exercise would be to learn to ultimately access this state naturally, a very exciting and powerful proposition.
When I did relax on my side the words of the song...`Islands in the Stream' popped into consciousness. This brought the idea that the breath is like a cosmic stream; flowing by without us ever noticing it, that is, for those of us who never meditate. When I fell asleep I dreamt of being in bed with a Black woman with a vibrator, from which came the image of the vibration of breath rubbing against the body's electrical field, of head and body (spirit and soul) being `re-fused' together.
In my view the CD opens up the meditative process in a way which is eminently pragmatic. In conjunction with it I am reading and listening to Thic Nhat Hahn, and his wonderfully creative approach to emotional intelligence. As a shrink I encourage clients interested in the CD to do likewise, since his 'Art of Mindful Living' would be the goal of why work with the CD in the first place.