Meditation and Pranayama - Breath-work
Meditation can help us have a calm, peaceful mind and be more coherent, centred and present in the moment.
These days in almost every moment are we exposed to copious amounts information, advertizing and programming.
A lot of people are stressed and anxious all the time. In such a state one is usually reactive, defensive and no fun to be around.
We all know what its like to be close to someone that is loving, relaxed, centred and feels good with themselves, or is in a state of bliss.
It feels good, and if they have a strong energy-field (prana) then its likely that we feel better and more coherent just by being close to them.
We all want that don’t we ?
How can we take ourselves to a state that is unperturbed by the chaos of the world and inner dilemmas?
How can we vibe high and stay there, without getting bobbed around by our emotions when something happens?
Once Meditation was a luxury - but now that the world has gone mad, it is necessity ! Further more when we humans finally rise out of our state of fear and apathy and start focusing an what we want, instead of what we don’t want, amazing things will happen.
Experiments have shown how powerful meditation is when many come together and focus their coherent attention with intention.
For examples of this here are some links:
www.worldpeacegroup.org
( 53 meditation peace studies provide unassailable evidence that the Super Radiance effect creates peace, reduces crime and enhances economic prosperity and the effect starts working immediately.)
lynnemctaggart.com/intention-experiments
( Thus far, the Intention Experiment has shown that collective thoughts can change subtle properties of plants, make seeds grow faster, purify water, lower violence in war-torn areas or ghettos, and even heal a patient with severe PTSD.
But the most powerful effect of group intention, which participants experience as a profound state of oneness, is that it reflects back on the intenders themselves. )
What to really get from this is how important our collective state of being is. Since we seem to be kept in a state of fear mostly, it is affecting everything negatively. We need to wake up now and rise up, vibe high and shine brightly !
These amazing Avatars that we drive, these miraculous bodies that we inhabit, they did not really come with a manual.
And everything that we learned came from our parents, our teachers and the people before us - what did they know really ?
I for one am still Un-learning a lot of stuff that is of no use or holding me back. I found that most of the stuff I have been taught and thought I knew is based in lies.
But then there also is knowledge, often ancient, often hidden or suppressed, that is geared towards helping us master our own energy and emotions and truly empowering. Helping to remember who we are and live up to our full potential.
We must know the basic principles about our life force energy. This is the science of pranayama.
Our mind and emotions are closely linked to our prana or life force.
When our prana or life force fluctuates, our mind also goes up and down through an emotional roller coaster.
When your prana is low, you are likely to feel negative emotions; depression, sadness, anger, feeling low and overall negativity.
When your prana is high, you are bound to experience positive emotions like joy, enthusiasm, happiness and are sustained by a good feeling that comes from within.
Prana is the universal life force and ‘Ayama’ signifies regulation or extending or dimension.
It is one of the most effective ways to prepare your body and mind for deeper meditation.
We can increase our prana with pranayama / breath-work.
The secret lies in our breath! Our breath connects the body and mind. Our emotions are closely linked to the way we breathe.
Feeling afraid and panicky goes together with erratic short breathing. Feeling orgasmic and really good goes together with deep aaaahhh style of breathing :) and everything in-between…
But this works two ways, emotions influence the breath - but with the breath we can influence the emotion, the energy in motion.
With Breathwork we can become fully aware of our breath and start steering our energy the way we want to go.
We regulate our breath, we come closer to a new dimension within us which is powerful peace and joy, centred presence.
With the help of breathing techniques, as the prana rises in the body, one starts to feel a transformation.
One becomes happier, more creative and more in command of their mind and emotions.
Pranayama and Meditation
Pranayama 
prepares you for meditation. Meditation means going inwards and becoming still while being fully aware of what is going on inside.
Many people find this hard to do and get restless. Pranayama makes it easier and more effortless for us to meditate.
When the prana flows smoothly without resistance, you are likely to be more centred, meditate deeper and become more coherent.
Certain techniques are shown to quieten parts of the brain normally associated with the 'ego' causing a profound deepening and stillness one has to experience to fully grasp what this is about.
And especially with Soma Breath techniques, the best of Pranayama combined with our modern day technology, a deep state of meditation can be reached quickly.
Do you need to learn these techniques from an instructor?
Like any form of art, proper guidance will propel you forward in your Breath-work meditation or the art of right breathing like nothing else.
All your questions are best answered by a certified instructor and someone with years of experience. Just reading about the different types of pranayama, meditation, and their purpose may not be enough. Taking action is what its all about, having someone that inspires you and helps you out of your comfort zone is priceless. - Let me be your guide and instructor, I am deeply honoured and excited to be of service.
When talking about 'High Vibrational', its not said that high is always better than low of course.
Its all in a manner of speaking, so to say haha.
And sometimes its more about slow and fast like with our brainwave activity.
One can be in deep meditation and have brainwave activity that is actually very low or slow as in low Alpha, Theta or even Delta, but still be 'vibing high' while relaxing deeply so to speak.
Do you know about the frequencies of brainwaves and their significance ? Here is a chart that shows the human brainwave spectrum.
What are Brainwaves?
At the root of our thought and emotion is the communication between neurons in our brains. Brainwaves are produced by synchronised electrical pulses from neurons communicating with each other.
Brainwaves are divided into bandwidths to describe their functions (below), but are best thought of as a continuous spectrum of consciousness; from slow, loud and functional - to fast, subtle, and complex.
Our brainwaves change according to what we’re doing and feeling. When slower brainwaves are dominant we can feel tired, slow, sluggish, dreamy or meditative. The higher frequencies are dominant when we feel wired, hyper-alert and or in flow.
The descriptions that follow are only broad descriptions - in practice things are far more complex, and brainwaves reflect different aspects when they occur in different locations in the brain.
Brainwave speed is measured (using sensors on the scalp) in Hertz (cycles per second) and they are divided into bands delineating slow, moderate, and fast waves.
Infra-Low (<.5Hz))
Infra-Low brainwaves are thought to be the basic cortical rhythm that underlie our higher brain functions. Very little is known about infra-low brainwaves. Their slow nature make them difficult to detect and accurately measure, so few studies have been done. They appear to take a major role in brain timing and network function.
Delta waves (.5 to 3 Hz)
Delta brainwaves are slow, loud brainwaves (low frequency and deeply penetrating, like a drum beat). They are generated in deepest meditation and dreamless sleep. Delta waves suspend external awareness and are the source of empathy. Healing and regeneration are stimulated in this state, and that is why deep restorative sleep is so essential to the healing process.
Babies are in Delta, they alternate between deep sleep and awareness.
Theta waves (3 to 8 Hz)
Theta brainwaves occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in deep meditation. Theta is our gateway to learning, memory, and intuition. In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on signals originating from within. It is the twilight state we normally only experience fleetingly as we wake or drift off to sleep. In theta we are in a dream; vivid imagery, intuition and information beyond our normal conscious awareness. It’s also where we hold our ‘stuff’, our fears, troubled history, and nightmares. Children from 2 to 6 are in Theta, explaining their dream world of make believe and imagination. They are a sponge at this age and what they learn goes deep into memory.
Alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz)
Alpha brainwaves are dominant during quietly flowing thoughts, and in some meditative states. Alpha is ‘the power of now’, being here, in the present. Alpha is the resting state for the brain. Alpha waves aid overall mental coordination, calmness, alertness, mind/body integration and learning. Children from 6 to 12 are in Alpha mainly.
Beta waves (12 to 38 Hz)
Beta brainwaves dominate adults normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed towards cognitive tasks and the outside world. Beta is a ‘fast’ activity, present when we are alert, attentive, engaged in problem solving, judgment, decision making, or focused mental activity.
Beta brainwaves are further divided into three bands; Lo-Beta (Beta1, 12-15Hz) can be thought of as a 'fast idle', or musing. Beta (Beta2, 15-22Hz) is high engagement or actively figuring something out. Hi-Beta (Beta3, 22-38Hz) is highly complex thought, integrating new experiences, high anxiety, or excitement. Continual high frequency processing is not a very efficient way to run the brain, as it takes a tremendous amount of energy.
Gamma waves (38 to 42 Hz)
Gamma brainwaves are the fastest of brain waves and relate to simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas. Gamma brainwaves pass information rapidly and quietly. The most subtle of the brainwave frequencies, the mind has to be quiet to access gamma.
Gamma was dismissed as 'spare brain noise' until researchers discovered it was highly active when in states of universal love, altruism, and the ‘higher virtues’. Gamma is also above the frequency of neuronal firing, so how it is generated remains a mystery. It is speculated that gamma rhythms modulate perception and consciousness, and that a greater presence of gamma relates to expanded consciousness and spiritual emergence.
Altering your brainwaves
By rule of thumb, any process that changes your perception changes your brainwaves.
Medication or recreational drugs are common methods to alter brain function by chemical intervention. Brainwave training is another way and of course Pranayama /Breath-work and other traditional eastern methods such as meditation and yoga can truly train your brainwaves into balance in the long run. In a study done on Soma Breath and brainwaves, it was found that there was a significant increase in Gamma brainwaves* !
*Click to watch a Youtube on the study by Jeff Tarrant showing SOMA Breath techniques could be as effective as psychedelics in treating anxiety and depression.
MORE SOON ..
