Showing posts with label Meditation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meditation. Show all posts

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Human Energy Body


During the 1990s three independent scientific studies brought to light the importance of DNA and emotions in creating quantum reality. The first major study performed by Vladimir Poponin and Peter Gariaev at the Russian Academy of Science was deemed the “Phantom DNA Experiment” and yielded some fascinating results. First they created a vacuum in a specially designed test tube, and then measured the location of light photons inside to see if they were clumped at the bottom, clung to the sides, or dispersed all throughout.  As expected, the photons were scattered randomly throughout the tube.  When a strand of DNA was placed in the tube, however, the particles acted as if drawn by an invisible force and spontaneously arranged themselves around the DNA strand!  Even stranger, when the DNA was removed from the tube, the particles stayed in exactly the same shape.  This is notable because nothing in conventional physics allows for such an effect, yet now we have observable documented proof that DNA, the substance that composes us, can have a direct and powerful effect on the quantum world around us.

This experiment is important for a number of reasons.  Perhaps the most obvious is that it clearly shows us a direct relationship between DNA and the energy that our world is made of.  Of the many conclusions that we may draw from this powerful demonstration, two are certain:  1. A type of energy exists that has previously gone unrecognized.  2. Cells/DNA influence matter through this form of energy.  Produced under the rigid control of laboratory conditions, evidence arose of the powerful relationship that ancient traditions have held sacred for centuries.  The DNA changed the behavior of the light particles – the essence of our world.  Just as our most cherished traditions and spiritual texts have informed us for so long, the experiment validated that we have a direct effect on the world around us.  Beyond wishful thinking and New Age isms, this impact is real.  The DNA phantom effect shows us that under the right conditions and with proper equipment, this relationship can be documented.”  -Gregg Braden, “The Divine Matrix” (45-6)

Around the same time Poponin and Gariaev recorded their Phantom DNA findings, similar experiments were being conducted by the U.S. Army testing the power of emotion on DNA and living cells.  They hooked volunteers up to specially designed electrometers then played series’ of graphic video images (from comedy to torture to erotica) designed to create genuine states of feeling in order to collect a broad spectrum of emotional fluctuation.  Just as expected, peaks and dips in volunteers’ electrical responses coincided perfectly with changes in emotional stimuli. The big surprise came during the next phase in which they took tissue/DNA swabs from the volunteers, placed them in a vault several hundred feet away, and repeated the experiment.  Strangely enough, the tissue/DNA samples locked hundreds of feet away still registered the same electrical peaks and dips coincident with the donor’s response to emotional video clips. 

For the DNA and the donor to have any connection whatsoever, there must be something that links them together.  The experiment suggests four things: A previously unrecognized form of energy exists between living tissues; Cells and DNA communicate through this field of energy; Human emotion has a direct influence on living DNA; Distance appears to be of no consequence with regard to the effect.”  -Gregg Braden, “The Divine Matrix” (49-50)

Dr. Cleve Backster more recently performed this experiment with a distance of 350 miles between the donor and his cells.  Even at this extreme distance, in experiments gauged by an atomic clock, the donor and his cells still responded absolutely identically, simultaneously!  The fact that a donor and his DNA 350 miles away have such coincident responses suggests that the energy of the donor’s emotions doesn’t “travel” anywhere but is already everywhere, as demonstrated by Bohm’s holographic universe metaphor.  This experiment also grants credence to such practices as prayer and energy healing, showing that emotion and intention can produce measurable physiological results at any distance.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that the state of the DNA in our body is a given.  Contemporary thinking suggests that it’s a fixed quantity – we ‘get what we get’ when we’re born – and with the exception of drugs, chemicals, and electrical fields, our DNA doesn’t change in response to anything that we can do in our lives.  But this experiment shows us that nothing could be further from the truth … There’s absolutely nothing in conventional wisdom that allows for the material of life in our bodies to have any effect whatsoever on our outer world.  And there’s also nothing to suggest that human emotion can in any way affect DNA when it’s inside the body of its owner, let alone when it’s hundreds of miles away.  Yet this is precisely what the results are showing us.”  -Gregg Braden, “The Divine Matrix” (52)

The third relevant study conducted around this time was performed at the Institute of HeartMath in Northern California.  Scientists began by isolating human DNA in glass beakers then exposed them to “coherent emotion” which is an intentionally created physiological state achieved by practicing specially designed mental/emotional self-management techniques such as meditation and deep breathing.  Volunteers trained in applying coherent emotion directed it towards the glass beakers and actually succeeded in changing both the physical and chemical structures of the DNA!  Different directed intentions produced varying effects on the DNA molecules causing them to wind or unwind, change shape or even separate atomic/chemical components.

In the first experiment, Poponin showed us that human DNA has a direct effect on the vibration of light.  In the second – the military experiment – we learned that whether we’re in the same room with our DNA or separated by distances of hundreds of miles, we’re still connected to its molecules, and the effect is the same.  In the third experiment, the HeartMath researchers showed us that human emotion has a direct effect on DNA, which in turn directly impacts the stuff our world is made of.  This is the beginning of a technology – an inner technology – that does more than simply tell us we can have an effect on our bodies and our world … it shows us that this effect exists and how it works!”  -Gregg Braden, “The Divine Matrix” (53)

In further studies The HeartMath Institute found that our hearts actually have the strongest magnetic field in the body and that field has an effect well beyond our own bodies.  When we feel love or joy the heart’s magnetic field relaxes and unwinds DNA, but when we feel anger or frustration it tightens and winds up.  Furthermore, when tested for immune response, researchers found the relaxed DNA performed far more proficiently than the control group while the tightened DNA performed far worse.  This proves scientifically that positive/negative emotions alter both our DNA and our immune systems, which means our emotional states are significant contributing factors in our physical health and wellness.

If you are someone who thinks sad, angry or negative thoughts most of the day, you are weakening your immune system. The chemicals in your body which fight off infection can be clinically shown to decrease.”  -Cathy Chapman, Ph.D. “Strengthening the Immune System”

All these experiments suggest two similar conclusions, which are the crux of this book: 1) There is something ‘out there’: the matrix of an energy that connects any one thing with everything else in the universe.  This connective field accounts for the unexpected results of the experiments.  2) The DNA in our bodies gives us access to the energy that connects our universe, and emotion is the key to tapping in to the field.”  -Gregg Braden, “The Divine Matrix” (53)

When quantum physics was first becoming accepted as the mechanisms by which the universe operates, the physicists had trouble with this themselves. They could say, ‘Well, I can see these ideas working at the level of atoms and molecules but I can’t bring that kind of weirdness into my life.’ So there was an arbitrary decision back in the 1920s to say, ‘Let’s restrict quantum mechanics to the world of atoms and molecules and use Newtonian physics to describe the rest of the world.’ That is why biology went on its merry way using Newtonian physics. Yet we are today beginning to see work by very reputable scientists that says the universe is created by our observations; we create the field and the field shapes the particle. The big lesson is that what you think or ask for is what you are going to get. It is not a coincidence; we are actively involved in physically shaping the world that we experience.  -Dr. Bruce Lipton, “How Your Beliefs Control Your Biology”


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Monday, March 11, 2013

Deep Breathing For Maximum Health

As explained in my recent article, The Most Important Thing in Your Life, there is literally nothing whatsoever more crucial to your health, vitality, longevity and well-being than your breath.  You may survive several months without food, a couple of weeks without water, but you won't survive more than a few minutes without air.  More specifically, it is the oxygen in the air that your body so desperately and consistently needs.  Just a few minutes without re-oxygenating the bloodstream through regular respiration results in immediate and certain death. 

Did you know 90% of our energy comes from oxygen and only 10% from food and water!?  Less than 200 years ago the Earth's atmosphere was comprised of 40% oxygen.  Nowadays due to pollution, de-forestation and other environmental issues we're breathing in only about 19-21% oxygen.  Not only this, but research has shown that each decade of regular aging humans lose approximately 5% of their lung capacity and elasticity which directly translates to less oxygen.  Considering how vitally important breathing and oxygen are to our lives and well-being wouldn't it be a good idea to learn and commit to a daily practice of proper and effective deep breathing? 

Proper oxygenation through Pranayama / Qigong breathing heightens concentration alertness and memory, calms the mind and stabilizes the nervous system, improves digestion, absorption and elimination, strengthens the heart, lungs, and abs, aids in recovery, immunity, longevity and weight control, cures headaches, hangovers, and asthma, moves the lymphatic system, relieves general body aches, pains, stress, depression and anxiety, increases stamina, lung capacity, and mindfulness, internally exercises and massages your organs, improves sleep, posture, poise and patience, boosts energy levels, releases happiness endorphins and elicits the relaxation response in every cell of the body. 

For the past several years I have been diligently learning, practicing, and teaching Pranayama / Qigong and I can say from daily personal experience that this kind of internal exercise is by far the most important, over-looked and under-appreciated, energizing, invigorating, strengthening, purifying, balancing, meditative, relaxing, revitalizing activity possible.  Below are several videos I've made to help people get started with a regular deep breathing routine.  Please try these techniques for yourselves, share them with everyone you can, and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more future tutorials.



The Yogi Complete Breath or 3-Part Circular Breathing is one of the best Pranayamas to include into your daily routine as it trains the lungs to completely expand, completely contract, and utilizes the entire respiratory system properly and effectively.  It improves concentration, alertness and sleep, digestion, absorption and elimination, reduces anxiety, stress, and anger, builds stamina, expands lung capacity, and fully oxygenates the bloodstream.  Begin by exhaling every bit of air from your body then inhale through your nose completely filling up your lungs in 3 steps.  1)  Fill up your lower lungs by inhaling slowly and deeply pushing your tummy outwards like you just finished a big meal.  Imagine a string attached to your belly button slowly pulling out as you fill up the lower lungs.  2)  Once the lower lungs are filled, the mid-lungs will begin to fill up which will expand your chest outwards while pulling the tummy back in.  Imagine a 2nd string pulling on your sternum, expanding the rib cage, while the 1st string on your belly button has been released.  3)  Once the mid-lungs are filled, the upper-lungs will quickly fill up like the top tapered part of a water bottle.  Just lift your shoulders a little to get the last bit of air that you can, hold for a second (or several seconds if you can) then exhale through the mouth squeezing the abdominals to push out every last bit of carbon.  Do this for at least 10 minutes a day every day and you will notice many substantial positive powerful effects!



Reverse Circular Breathing or "The Chi Cultivator" is especially good for strengthening core abdominal muscles and cultivating life force energy (prana/chi/ki/qi) in your lower dantian.  First exhale all the air from your lungs and really squeeze your abdominal muscles forcing out every last bit.  Begin slowly inhaling through your nose bringing the air as deep into the lower lungs as possible filling them from bottom, middle, to top.  Now instead of letting your belly bubble up full of air as in traditional low-breathing, actually pull your belly inwards towards your spine as you inhale.  There is a vacuum vortex point behind your belly button called the dantian in Chinese medicine, and that is the point that will be sucking in, the destination point for the air being inhaled, and the main storage point for life force energy in the body.  Once the inhalation is complete relax your abdominals letting your belly bubble out full of air then exhale slowly out your mouth.  As you relax, practice and lengthen the breath there will come a sound from your throat like a cat purring or Darth Vader's mask.  This is the sound of pranic/qigong ocean breathing which I've exaggerated a bit in the video to make it more audible.



Ujjayi Pranayama or Ocean Breathing is a very important deep breathing technique to master because it is so often used in conjunction with other breaths like the Yogi Complete Breath or Reverse Circular Breathing.  Ujjayi Ocean Breathing warms and slows down the air being inhaled allowing for safe, full lung expansion and optimum oxygenation.  The heat created helps release toxins and builds internal fire, enhances the digestive and nervous systems, elicits the relaxation response, and eliminates phlegm in the throat.  The "ocean" sound comes from the glottis rapidly flapping against the vocal cords and acts as a regulator so you can drastically slow down and deepen your inhalations.



The Nadi Purification Breath or Alternate Nostril Breathing is one of the best ways to clear your sinuses if you have allergies, cold, stuffy/runny nose, snoring, asthma or other breathing problems.  Inhale slowly and deeply into the abdomen through the left nostril while plugging the right.  Then plug the left nostril and fairly forcefully exhale the entire breath out your right nostril.  Squeeze your core muscles to expel every last bit of air, keep the left nostril plugged, inhale through the right then exhale through the left, and continue alternating back and forth like this.  Alternate Nostril Breathing reduces stress, boosts energy, clears the sinuses, cleanses the lungs, increases oxygenation of blood, improves sleep, calms the mind/emotions, and has been scientifically proven to improve brain function. When used in conjunction with a Neti Pot cleansing it's like a complete enema for your head/sinuses!  






The Yogi Cleansing Breath is the perfect detoxification breath for cigarette smokers and anyone with chronic respiratory issues or halitosis.  I personally smoked cigarettes from approximately age 18-26 and beginning daily pranayama practice is what helped easily and effortlessly ween me off cigarettes forever.  All addiction experts will agree that you need a new positive hobby/activity to replace your old destructive habit, and with smoking addiction (an unhealthy respiratory activity) what could be more relevant and advantageous than a new healthy respiratory activity like deep breathing!?  Within weeks of starting my daily practice I became sensitive enough to feel the negative effects of smoking even just 1 cigarette per day.  I slowly ramped up my pranayama and cut down my smoking, consciously improving my health, expanding and detoxifying my lungs, until the act of smoking became so counter-productive that I truly haven't wanted to smoke another one.  To perform the Yogi Cleansing Breath first sit, stand or lay with your spine straight and inhale slowly and deeply through the nose until your lungs are filled.  Make an "O" shape with your mouth and force the exhale out in 3 or 4 quick bursts pushing every last bit by clenching your abdominals.




The Pranayama Breath of Fire detoxifies and purifies the entire bloodstream which in turn feeds every cell in our body.  It improves digestion, helps regulate the pituitary, glandular, and nervous systems, increases vital energy and lung capacity, expels carbon dioxide and other stagnant toxins, and is an excellent abdominal workout for increasing core strength.  To perform Breath of Fire, first sit, stand or lay with spine straight, and exhale all the air from your lungs.  Then in forceful 1 second bursts tightly squeeze your abdominal muscles and exhale out your nose.  A slight vacuum effect will automatically and involuntarily inhale a tiny bit after each exhale allowing you to continue breathing like this for several minutes with practice.  Start by doing 1 second exhales for about a minute and work your way up to faster breaths and longer sessions.  If you feel nauseous, dizzy or light-headed stop momentarily and take several deep breaths.



Shitali Pranayama or The Cooling Breath, like all mouth-inhalation techniques, is only to be used sparingly in situations where the body feels over-heated.  By rolling your tongue and inhaling through the mouth as shown in the video you will feel the air being cooled as it passes.  Breathing like this for several minutes will cure heat exhaustion and cool the body down from the inside out.  It is very important to note that mouth-breathing is something to be completely avoided except in extreme circumstances where the nasal passages are blocked or you're gasping from lack of oxygen.  Mouth breathing is directly responsible for the contraction of many contagious diseases like colds and catarrhal infections.  Experiments have been performed on hundreds of soldiers and sailors showing that those who slept with their mouths open were much more likely to fall ill and contract contagious diseases than those who breathed properly through their nostrils.  During one of the Navy experiments a smallpox epidemic broke out resulting in many deaths among the mouth-breathers, yet not a single nose-breather suffered.

"The organs of respiration have their only protective apparatus, filter, or dust-catcher, in the nostrils.  When the breath is taken through the mouth, there is nothing from mouth to lungs to strain the air, or to catch the dust and other foreign matter in the air.  Moreover, such incorrect breathing admits cold air to the organs, thereby injuring them.  Inflammation of the respiratory organs often results from the inhalation of cold air through the mouth.  The man who breathes through the mouth at night, always awakens with a parched feeling in the mouth and a dryness in the throat.  He is violating one of nature's laws, and is sowing the seeds of disease.  On the other hand, the nostrils and nasal passages show evidence of the careful design of nature in this respect.  The nostrils are two narrow, tortuous channels, containing numerous bristly hairs which serve the purpose of a filter or sieve to strain the air of its impurities, etc., which are expelled when the breath is exhaled.  Not only do the nostrils serve this important purpose, but they also perform an important function in warming the air inhaled.  The long narrow winding nostrils are filled with warm mucous membrane, which coming in contact with the inhaled air warms it so that it can do no damage to the delicate organs of the throat, or to the lungs."  -Yogi Ramacharaka, "The Science of Breath"

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Pranayama Yoga and Qigong Deep Breathing

What is the #1 most important key factor to achieving and maintaining optimum health, energy, longevity, vitality, and wellness?  Is it genetics, diet, exercise, hydration, sleep, mindset, environment?  Certainly all of these factors are very important, but in fact they are all secondary to something most doctors and lay-people alike completely overlook.  Think about this:  what is the most important thing in your life?  It’s so important that you do it all day every day and all night every night.  You are even doing it unconsciously right now while reading this.  It’s something so crucial to your health, longevity and wellness that ceasing for even a few minutes results in certain death!  The one and only undeniable answer is Breathing.  To breathe is to live and without breath there can be no life.  All life, plant and animal, from birth to death, completely depends upon the air for health, well-being and continued existence.  From microscopic mitochondria to macroscopic lungs, every living cell breathes and depends on the air’s life-giving properties for sustenance.

Breathing may be considered the most important of all of the functions of the body, for, indeed, all the other functions depend upon it.  Man may exist some time without eating; a shorter time without drinking; but without breathing his existence may be measured by a few minutes.  And not only is Man dependent upon Breath for life, but he is largely dependent upon correct habits of breathing for continued vitality and freedom from disease.  An intelligent control of our breathing power will lengthen our days upon the earth by giving us increased vitality and powers of resistance, and, on the other hand, unintelligent and careless breathing will tend to shorten our days, by decreasing our vitality and laying us open to disease.”  -Yogi Ramacharaka, “The Science of Breath” (6)

Pranayama is the ancient vedic science of breathing practiced and perfected over several thousand years by Indian yogis.  Shaolin martial monks and Taoists evolved and perform a similar discipline known as Qigong (Chi Kung).  For the past several years I have been diligently learning, practicing, and teaching Pranayama / Qigong and I can say from daily personal experience that this kind of internal exercise is by far the most important, over-looked and under-appreciated, energizing, invigorating, strengthening, purifying, balancing, meditative, relaxing, revitalizing, immunity-boosting and longevity-promoting activity possible. 

Breathing and related exercises are one hundred times more effective as medical therapy than any drug.  This knowledge is indispensable to man, and every physician should study it thoroughly.”  -Taoist Shen Chia-shu

Everyone instinctively knows that breathing is absolutely unarguably the most important thing in their life, but how many treat it as such?  How much attention do you give to your breathing?  Have you ever learned or practiced methods of proper and effective breathing?  Most people walk around on half-power their whole lives, chronically starved for oxygen, wide open to disease, shallow staccato chest-breathing their way to early graves.

Man has contracted improper methods and attitudes of walking, standing and sitting, which have robbed him of his birthright of natural and correct breathing.  He has paid a high price for civilization.  The savage, today, breathes naturally, unless he has been contaminated by the habits of civilized man.  The percentage of civilized men who breathe correctly is quite small, and the result is shown in contracted chests, stooping shoulders, and the terrible increase in diseases of the respiratory organs.  Eminent authorities have stated that one generation of correct breathers would regenerate the race, and disease would be so rare as to be looked upon as a curiosity.  Whether looked at from the standpoint of the Oriental or Occidental, the connection between correct breathing and health is readily seen and explained.  The Occidental teachings show that the physical health depends very materially upon correct breathing.  The Oriental teachers not only admit that their Occidental brothers are right, but say that in addition to the physical benefit derived from correct habits of breathing, Man’s mental power, happiness, self-control, clear-sightedness, morals, and even his spiritual growth may be increased.”  -Yogi Ramacharaka, “The Science of Breath” (7)

Regular deep breathing practice is absolutely the best holistic exercise and the ultimate preventative medicine.  It detoxifies, oxygenates, cleans and purifies the entire bloodstream through the lungs, moves the lymphatic system, relieves general body aches, pains, stress, anxiety, and depression, increases stamina, lung capacity, abdominal muscle, core strength, mindfulness, mental clarity and focus, internally exercises and massages your organs, improves posture, poise and patience, promotes longevity and cellular regeneration, boosts energy levels, elevates moods, releases happiness endorphins, assists in weight control, improves digestion, assimilation, and elimination, strengthens the heart, lungs, abdominals and immune system, aids in deeper sleep and elicits the relaxation response in every cell of the body.

The benefits of working with the breath are profound.  The way you breathe directly influences the quality of your life.  In fact, the way you breathe might be the most important factor in how you feel.  Think about how people breathe when they are sad and crying.  They inhale with short, shallow gasps and exhale with either long wails or choppy sobs.  If someone is angry, in-breaths are usually constricted and out-breaths are long and forceful.  During stress, the breath can actually become so shallow that it is almost nonexistent.  On the other hand, when someone is feeling good, the breath is calm, deep, and even.  The amazing thing about breathing exercises is that the relationship also works in the reverse; by changing the way you breathe, you can also change the way you feel.  If you breathe deeply, down into the abdomen, this sends a message to the body to transform negative emotions into positive ones.  Deep breathing moves chi and clears stagnant energy.  It is almost impossible to breathe deeply and feel negative emotions at the same time.”  -Mantak Chia, “Simple Chi Kung” (56-57)

Breathing is the mechanism through which lungs purify and detoxify the bloodstream, and blood is the substance which nourishes and sustains every cell in your body.  Thus proper and effective breathing is of paramount importance in maintaining the health and integrity of every cell in your body. 

Blood begins its journey in the heart, bright red, oxygen-rich and full of life-giving properties, then later returns from its journey dull blue, oxygen-starved, and devoid of life energy.  Blood is pumped from the left auricle into the left ventricle then out of the heart through the arteries and into the capillaries where it reaches and feeds every cell in the body.  On its return journey the blood is pulled from the capillaries through the veins and back into the right auricle of the heart.  When filled the auricle contracts forcing blood through the right ventricle down into the lungs where it branches out and disperses into millions of hair-like blood vessels and air cells thick enough to hold the blood but thin enough to allow oxygen to penetrate.  Upon inhalation oxygen comes into contact with the impure blood and a chemical combustion takes place oxidizing the bloodstream and releasing carbonic acid gas generated from the waste products and toxins gathered up during its arterial journey through the body.  Upon exhalation carbon dioxide and other toxins are dispelled from the system and the newly re-purified blood, bright red and oxygen-rich is pumped back out to every cell in the body.

Unless fresh air in sufficient quantities reaches the lungs, the foul stream of venous blood cannot be purified, and consequently not only is the body thus robbed of nourishment, but the waste products which should have been destroyed are returned to the circulation and poison the system, and death ensues.  Impure air acts in the same way, only in a lessened degree.  It will also be seen that if one does not breathe in a sufficient quantity of air, the work of the blood cannot go on properly, and the result is that the body is insufficiently nourished and disease ensues, or a state of imperfect health is experienced … A little reflection will show the vital importance of correct breathing.  If the blood is not fully purified by the regenerative process of the lungs, it returns to the arteries in an abnormal state, insufficiently purified and imperfectly cleansed of the impurities which it took up on its return journey.  These impurities if returned to the system will certainly manifest in some form of disease, either in a form of blood disease or some disease resulting from impaired functioning of some insufficiently nourished organ or tissue.”  -Yogi Ramacharaka, “The Science of Breath” (11)

Put simply, blood is what feeds our trillions of cells and sustains our lives; from the tips of our heads to the bottoms of our feet, blood constantly circulates giving life energy to every cell.  After just one cycle from heart to artery to vein and back to heart again, the blood collects various impurities which are taken to the lung capillaries for regeneration through respiration.  Proper breathing fully re-oxidizes and replenishes the vitality of our blood so that the cycle of life may continue without slow deterioration.  In fact as pranic breathing practice develops and lung capacity grows your ability to take in oxygen and expel carbon more efficiently results in a cumulatively building state of daily wellness.

It is therefore necessary that a proper supply of oxygen be taken through the lungs.  This accounts for the fact that weak lungs and poor digestion are so often found together.  To grasp the full significance of this statement, one must remember that the entire body receives nourishment from the food assimilated, and that imperfect assimilation always means an imperfectly nourished body.  Even the lungs themselves depend upon the same source for nourishment, and if through imperfect breathing the assimilation becomes imperfect, and the lungs in turn become weakened, they are rendered still less able to perform their work properly, and so in turn the body becomes further weakened.  Every particle of food and drink must be oxygenated before it can yield us the proper nourishment, and before the waste products of the system can be reduced to the proper condition to be eliminated.  And when assimilation is not normal, the system receives less and less nourishment, the appetite fails, bodily vigor decreases, and energy diminishes, and the man withers and declines.  All from the lack of proper breathing.  Lack of sufficient oxygen means imperfect nutrition, imperfect elimination and imperfect health.  -Yogi Ramacharaka, “The Science of Breath” (12-33)


Our lungs are situated in the pleural chamber of the thoracic cavity separated from each other by the heart, blood vessels and air tubes.  Each lung is free and unattached in all directions except at the root where it is connected via bronchi, arteries and veins to the trachea and heart.  When we breathe, air comes in through the nasal cavity where it is warmed and filtered through hairs and mucous membrane.  The air passes through the pharynx, larynx, and trachea then into the bronchial tubes where it is subdivided and dispersed into the millions of tiny air cells in the lungs.  Air is drawn into the lungs by the diaphragm, a long, strong, flat muscle stretched across the chest.  When the diaphragm contracts, the size of the chest and lungs expand and air rushes in like a vacuum.  When it relaxes, the chest and lungs shrink and air is blown out like a bellows.  The diaphragm’s actions and contractions are involuntary like the heart's, but through practice and the will yogis can transform them into a semi-voluntary muscle.

The internal organs also need exercise, and Nature’s plan for the exercise is proper breathing.  The diaphragm is Nature’s principal instrument for this internal exercise.  Its motion vibrates the important organs of nutrition and elimination, and massages and kneads them at each inhalation and exhalation, forcing blood into them, and then squeezing it out, and imparting a general tone to the organs.  Any organ or part of the body which is not exercised gradually atrophies and refuses to function properly, and lack of the internal exercise afforded by the diaphragmatic action leads to diseased organs.”  -Yogi Ramacharaka, “The Science of Breath” (34)



In this clip I show a deep breathing technique and how it has moved my physical heartbeat to the center of my torso under my sternum.  From 0:40-1:07 the noise that sounds like a distant engine or a cat purring is actually me inhaling using a pranayama / qigong deep breathing technique.  From 1:07-1:37 you can see my heartbeat at my solar plexus but nowhere else in the upper left quadrant of the chest showing how daily deep breathing practice will bring about both literal and figurative heart centeredness!  :)  If you are interested in learning Pranayama, Yoga, and/or Wing Chun be sure to visit my site BangkokWingChun.com and email me to schedule a session.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Spiritual Science Reviews






Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me share Spiritual Science on their emails, twitters and facebooks!  Also a special thanks to the 22 of you who have already purchased a copy.  I really want to share this empowering and enlightening book on a mass scale.  If it were to become a best-seller I truly believe Spiritual Science would spark a flame of metaphysical consciousness that would absolutely change the world for the better.  (Note: It's possible that I have a slight bias on this matter, but that does not dissuade my conclusions :) The positive comments, feedback and reviews you've all given are really encouraging and appreciated.


"I have the pleasure of knowing Eric personally. He has been teaching me Wing Chun and Yoga for about nine months now. He has shared with me some very empowering knowledge not least in regard to diet and exercise. I have been lucky enough to get a copy of his latest book 'Spiritual Science'. It is a fantastic distillation of wisdom; a complex interweaving of knowledge pertaining to what it really means to be human in this inhumane age. I thank him for sharing his work and recommend both the book and a juicer(!) to those of us determined to become beyond the veil. Make that energy exchange and order the book! It is wide-ranging and erudite, not to mention as exciting, as the 'Golden Bough' was in its day. Thanks Eric!"  ~Shane


"I am on Morphogenic Fields in your book 'Spiritual Science'. Have to say it is the best book I have ever read. It compiles everything worth knowing about life and the universe. You did a tremendous job and I can't wait to read the second half of the book! I'm going to become a millionaire one day and I am definitely going to pay you back for all the wisdom you have bestowed upon me."  ~Joe


"Good luck with the book I think you've done a very good job in all chapters. I enjoyed reading it all and will definitely revisit it. I'm keen to follow up several of the topics in my own research now. I had already come across the curious ability of consciousness affecting otherwise random events and the effects also in quantum theory, this is an ever interesting area. The book had a nice personal feel with the references and personal stories from you and the Mrs. which was very nice. I was also flattered to see my own ramblings in there, thanks for seeing them as valuable to the project. I took one major lesson from the book too, apart from good enlightening words on the holographic mind/universe to mull over and research more I have also decided to open up more of my time to traveling out of my body. Oh and another thing, I've done this since I was young but your book made me try again but more scientifically. I hit people with stares from behind and keep tally on my fingers (left fingers for fail, right for success) as to whether they react. I've found a short direct hit is more powerful than a long stare. Anyway, well done on the book and good luck!" ~Tao Wow

"Eric, I only have great admiration of you as a "human -actively - being " !!! I have read all your works and books and I admire you for all your hard work exposing the 'lie.' I place and rate you at the very top of the list of truth-searchers in the world. I have learned a great deal from you and I know this book will be even greater than your other bestsellers or eye-openers !!!  Wisdom & truth are rarely found together, Eric you succeed in achieving this! Thanx for exposing most of the religious lies, the real evil rulers of this world and for staying strong .. May your efforts not only gain strength but gain even more momentum and the worldwide recognition that it deserves !!! Thanx for adding this new "revelation" to your superb library or I should say to your works of pride, and may this new book proudly take its place next to "The Atlantean Conspiracy" and "Asbestos Head" ... Together they cause other books to become "pale" when compared !!  Much peace to you and your life partner friend and love may you guys be eternally happy."  ~Robbie





Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Spiritual Science

My new book, Spiritual Science, almost three years in the making, is finally finished and for sale on Lulu and Amazon.  Spiritual Science is 284 pages of paradigm-shattering science and mind-expanding spirituality that dares to ask and answer some of the biggest questions facing humanity:  Who are we?  What are we doing here?  What is the purpose and meaning of life?  What happens when we die?  Do we have souls?  Do we reincarnate?  Does God exist?  Is consciousness primary?  Is the material world an illusion?  Are we all One?  And what would that mean?  Spiritual Science explores and answers these and many more questions covering a wide-range of topics including quantum physics, consciousness, synchronicity, the holographic universe, morphic fields, the human energy body, psychoneuroimmunology, life force energy, the chakra and meridian systems, acupuncture, qigong, pranayama, the power of prayer, auras, psi science, telepathy, psychokinesis, clairvoyance, remote viewing, precognition, out of body experiences, near death experiences, entheogens, death, ghosts, reincarnation, God, Oneness and much more. I personally read over 150 books and spent hundreds of hours researching and writing to complete this one-of-a-kind metaphysical treatise. I'm really excited about and proud of this book and confident that you will feel the same.     

Ever since I could hold a pencil I've had a passion for writing.  At 5 years old I was already writing a journal and short stories, telling everyone that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.  Throughout my teens I was constantly writing short stories and poetry, then in college completed a double Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and English with a creative writing focus.  After college I moved to Thailand, began teaching English and wrote my first two full-length books.  In 2007 upon completing The Atlantean Conspiracy and Asbestos Head I spent many months and hundreds of dollars sending samples to over 200 publishing companies and literary agents attempting to get my work published and mass distributed through the usual corporate channels.  Can you guess how many of the 200+ sent back a positive response?  Most didn't even bother to write back, and the few who did, while expressing platitudes of interest and sympathy, ultimately refused.  In the end, not a single publishing house, nor a single literary agent was willing to take on either book!  Considering the subject matter, I can't say I was surprised.

Due to my passion for writing and my zeal for exposing and disseminating this important empowering information, in 2008 I created Atlantean Conspiracy.com and decided to give away The Atlantean Conspiracy and Asbestos Head for free.  The Atlantean Conspiracy became an instant hit online and has to date been downloaded over 500,000 times!  Asbestos Head hasn't been as successful with about 30,000 downloads, but still not shabby for a relatively unknown, self-published author.  For quite a while I naively thought that with so many downloads hopefully a significant number of people would support me by buying a paperback copy.  After 530,000+ free downloads can you guess how many copies have been purchased?  To date I have sold exactly 260.  Now I'm not saying this to complain, but rather to explain why I will not be offering my new book for free like the others... yet.  Instead I've decided to set a target goal first.  My modest intention is to sell 10,000 copies of Spiritual Science and if you all help me to meet this goal then I promise to make it available to all for free thenceforth.  Compared to the number of downloads my other books have received, this 10,000 target seems very low, but compared to my actual sales history, it could prove to be a lofty goal.

My girlfriend First on Fire and I recently got engaged and will be getting married next year when my parents come to visit Thailand.  At the moment we are saving up for the wedding and to buy a small piece of land up-country where we can build our dream yurt and garden our own fruits and vegetables.  At the moment (for years), however, we have been stuck in busy bleak Bangkok living in a tiny 8m x 4m studio apartment working paycheck-to-paycheck wage-slave jobs scrimping and saving for our envisioned great escape back to nature.  With your help, my target of 10,000 books sold would completely pay for our wedding, facilitate our move out of the city, and allow us to finally quit our jobs!  I'd like to quit teaching English and focus totally on my writing and Wing Chun training.  First would like to quit her job and also focus on her writing and starting up an organic cosmetics business.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us thus far.  We have set high intentions and we're working hard to manifest better lifestyles and a better world to live in.  I have overcome many obstacles and threats, put countless thousands of hours into my activism and vowed never to stop.  Atlantean Conspiracy receives several thousand hits every day and is one of very few websites on the forefront of the conscious awakening dedicated to exposing the global conspiracy.  In fact AC was recently ranked 7 on a Ranker.com Top 50 Conspiracy Blogs survey.  With your continued support I promise to keep expanding my enterprise bringing little-known information to light and helping empower people with wisdom.  Thanks again and in advance for your support, and as always if I can be of service in any way email me at: [email protected]





Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Interview with Reiki Master





This is a great interview with one of my best friends here in Thailand, a writer, Reiki Master, and all around awesome guy, Tom Radzienda.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Eckhart Tolle - What is Meditation?



This is an excellent explanation of the question "what is meditation?" In the process of explaining this, Eckhart Tolle also answers the deeper question, "who am I really?"

Sunday, May 9, 2010

A Dangerous Book

Thanks to Ant for recommending this excellent work by Roger Stephens, "A Dangerous Book," which covers almost every subject I delve into on this website:

Read or Download "A Dangerous Book" Here Free

Ego

Since we take our own egos so seriously, we take everyone else's seriously as well. We have become convinced that these egos are real and are who and what we really are. We learn to take things personally: we get angry whenever our egos are questioned or misunderstood, and we get disappointed when other egos turn out to be something other than what our egos thought they were. Based on a false understanding of the players, the dynamics of human interaction quickly become bewildering and frustrating, giving rise to whole generations of psychologists, counselors, and advisors to provide our egos with excuses for why things are not right in our lives. (12)


Consciousness


With my index finger, I can touch lots of things--the keys on my computer, my nose, and so on. I can do this only because these things are not the tip of my finger. The one thing I cannot touch with the tip of my finger is the tip of my finger. In the same way, I can touch, look at, or perceive many things with my consciousness: I can objectify my surroundings, my fingertip, my thoughts, even who I think I am (my ego). I can do all this because these things are not my consciousness. I cannot, however, objectify that same consciousness which is aware of these things. It is, as Alan Watts once remarked, like trying to bite your own teeth or sniff your own nose. We can't be aware of consciousness in the same way we are aware of the objects of consciousness, just like we can't be aware of our fingertips in the same way as we are aware of the things we touch with our fingertips. Consciousness can never be made the object of its own inquiry because it is beyond the polarity of objectivity and subjectivity. (20)


Spirituality


Here's a parable, an analogy, which comes from India, from the Upanishads, and is thousands of years old. It presents a parabolic answer to the root question of all religion and philosophy (Who am I and what is this?), and does so in a way which everyone can relate to. In the beginning of the world (and though it probably had no ultimate "beginning" as we think of them, you have to start somewhere), there was only Brahma. Being all there was, and therefore totally known to himself, Brahma soon realized that this totality of awareness would eventually become extremely boring . . . after all, when you know everything there is to know, then there's no surprise, nothing to keep you interested. It's like reading the same book for the seventy-eight millionth time. Anyway, since he was omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (all-everywhere), Brahma decided to create a diversion for himself, a way of introducing the elements of surprise, intrigue and drama into his experience. He thought, "What would it be like to forget who I really am?" So, he invented the game of cosmic hide-and-seek. According to the rules of this game, Brahma would pretend to break pieces of himself off from the whole so that to all appearances they would seem separate. That's the "hide" part. Then, as the apparently separate consciousness at the center of each of those apparently separate pieces, and through their apparently separate and unique perspectives, he would "seek" to rediscover who he really was, which was, of course, everything. Imagine seeing yourself from an infinite number of different perspectives, each one initially ignorant of its relationship to all the rest. Imagine going to sleep and dreaming a different lifetime each night, each lasting for more or less years, each complete with the full range and variety of emotional life and death details. Imagine having the same dream but playing a different role in it each night, seeing it through different eyes each time. Well, guess who those apparently separate pieces are? Since there is only one I Am in the universe, one consciousness, it's all a game of hide-and-seek, and each one of us is in the same state: I'm IT AND You're IT! (22-23)


After I shook the dust of organized religion from my sandals, I learned that the link between big 'ol God and little 'ol me was no more and no less than consciousness. And each of us, at and as the very center of us, have this same feeling of I Am, for the not-so-obvious reason that each one of us is really God (Brahma) pretending to be each one of us. There is only one I Am, there is only one God, one Brahma, one Tao, one beingness ... we both see the same world, because we both are the same world. But we have so cleverly and convincingly hidden ourselves from ourselves that we really believe that we are separate entities. That's the hide part of hide-and-seek. Humanity has become hide-bound. (56)



Happiness


The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

-Henry David Thoreau


Most adults suffer a dull, indistinct unhappiness which is so habitual that it has become inseparable from their daily lives, however they may smile to mask it. They have been talked out of themselves. From the earliest age they have been brainwashed into the belief that as they were born, and as who they were born, they aren't good enough, that they must continually prove their worth, that their bodies are fallible and liable to disease, that their passions are unnaturally sinful and must be harnessed and suppressed, that their duty is to serve the aims of the majority. Down deep, they are convinced that they aren't good enough. Their consciousness started out cosmic, attuned to the oneness of all existence, but has since been pared down to a strictly utilitarian fraction of its totality. That naturally universal attunement has been filtered and reduced to a trickle, which is then called normal or ordinary consciousness. After decades of propaganda and worldly and/or other worldly teachings, the vast majority of adults have resigned themselves to trying endlessly to be what they are not, and the frustration they quite naturally feel is expressed as fear, hatred, intolerance, greed, and all of the other social maladies we see around us. Look at almost anyone when they don't know they are being watched, when they are not performing . . . what sort of a face are they wearing, what does their expression convey about their prevailing thoughts? Their faces cannot help but mirror how they feel about themselves. Even professional actors cannot maintain a false persona indefinitely, and habitual worry lines are telling. (32)


We all want to be happy. We all want to recreate the state we existed in when we first arrived here, we all remember the feel of it, even though we may not be able to recall the details. Having been kicked out of the garden, we spend the rest of our lives trying to get back in, and having been talked out of our true purposes in life, we have little alternative but to try our best to recreate that happiness from the paltry tools available through religion, or power, or worldly possessions. But happiness is not a commodity, it is not a noun. Neither is real happiness a state of mind, because happiness is, eternally, while the mind can deal only with things temporal. The words "happy" and "happen" both come from the same root, and for a good reason: happiness happens when we have gotten out from behind the yearnings and frustrations of the mind, which keeps it hidden from us. Happiness is not conditional on circumstance, because happiness eternally is, while circumstances come and go. When you base your happiness on the right job, or the right mate, or having lots of money, then you are as much as saying that your happiness depends on things you once didn't have and which you one day will again not have. That may be called pleasure, but it is not happiness. Nothing that can be taken away from you is yours, including your possessions, your reputation, your body, even your mind. None of these is the source of true happiness. (82)


Meditation


Meditation, as both a practice and a way of life, has emerged in recent times to offer a workable, if not vital alternative to people who are fed up with living frantic, anxious lives, and who have found no solace in the worn out mantras of organized religion. Meditation is a way to get reconnected with who you really are and what you are really here to do and be. Meditation is like catching a glimpse of the backstage props to remind you that the play is really a play, that the so-called worldly realities are also part of the play, and that you are really the actor, not the role. For only then will you be able to play your role, to dance it instead of working it to death. (57)


Therefore, meditation, as a practice, presents us with a very curious problem. It is not an end in itself, but more of a means, a reconditioning which allows us to really live, sort of a process of retuning ourselves. An orchestra in which all the players are out of tune is a cacophony, not a symphony; being in tune is essential to harmony. But neither would we think much of an orchestra in which the players spent all their time just tuning up; they are tuning up so that they can play in tune. If you practice meditation for its own sake, as an end in itself, and unless your meditation serves merely to clear the screens, then you never end up playing anything. You become a meditation junkie. Meditation doesn't get you anywhere; it shows you where you are. And in this sense, meditation is medicinal, not dietary. Its only purpose is to get you back in tune when you are out of tune. When you are stressed out, and can remember that being stressed out is not what you are here to experience, then meditation is very helpful in getting you back to your center, back to the point where you realize that you are not your thoughts, you are not your ego; you are that which is conscious of these things. (60)


Entheogens


Although you won't hear it in public very often, and certainly not from organized religions, recreational medicines make available certain perspectives and descriptions of life behind the veil which are uncannily similar to those recorded by mystics and prophets from all cultures, from the Tibetans and the Taoists to the early Christian mystics and nearly all indigenous cultures, descriptions which are far too similar to be dismissed out of hand. The mystical state is the direct experience of reality without the filtering and objectifying processes of the socialized mind getting in the way. While this state seems to be available to the devotees only after years of meditation and/or other rigorous ascetic practices, it is becoming clear that there are other paths up that particular mountain. How do we get beyond the curtain of maya ? What might we find if ever we should momentarily slip into an altered state of awareness. (104)


Read or Download "A Dangerous Book" Here Free