WONDERFUL parctical technique to deal with pain, deprecion & strengthen the mind :-)

[HOSADOS]

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This is long for DES folks, I know but understanding it properly is at most important if one want realize all the good results. Hence, I warmly recommend you PRINT all the relevant posts in this thread, if you think this may interest you.
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Here is an amazing technique that develop the mastery of the mind, sharpen the mind, abates pressures, tensions and improve the concentration, the memory and the awareness, and many more benefits.

Past experience has proved that this exercise deliver the results and benefit in a very impressive and compelling way. Furthermore, this simple technique if done properly result with substantial benefits and has significant positive effects in a relatively very short time as it’s totally result oriented.

It is warmly recommended to sit and practice it right away when you wake up in the morning before doing any other activity (there is a solid and rational reason for that), for that purpose you could wake half an hour earlier before your regular wake up time. Similarly, it is warmly recommended to practice this technique before you go to bed. Additionally, this is wonderful to practice and very beneficial in every free moment in any given time. For instant when are waiting to your appointment for a doctor or business meeting, when you are traveling in a bus, a train or on a flight and even when you performing other activities simultaneous. While there is no specific time for practicing this technique, it is highly recommended to devote at least 30 minutes for each session, though there are no rules or limitation and even 10 minutes would be good, though not as effective. While there no specific posture required, you should try to find a comfortable posture which allow you to be alert and vigilant, for instant lotus or a meditation posture, but feel free to sit in a chair as well or any other way that suit you. It is very helpful and beneficial to practice 5-10 minutes before going to sleep, laying down in bed on the back and afterward to continue practicing until you fall asleep- by doing so you will find it very easy to fall asleep for those who has sleeping problems and you will find that your quality of sleep will improve and you will feel more fresh and vital waking up in the morning.

For the first 1-3 times, when giving a trial for this technique, it's highly recommended to practice at least 1 full hour continuously with no breaks, for maximum results and for understand this technique and how this technique wants you to work properly ! (if for some reason this is impossible try at least 45 minutes, or practice as long as you can, take a short break resume your practice to complete 60-90 minutes with breaks. Continuity of practice is the secret of success with this technique)

1 ) Sit in a meditation posture or any other posture as you like in which you could sit comfortably while being alert and vigilant for a long time. Keep your back and neck straight, eyes and mouth closed gently. When ever you find that you are feeling tired or drowsy, make sure that your back and neck are straight and try to be alert, attentive and vigilant. As a general rule try straight your back and neck when ever you can and that you are attentive, alert and vigilant.

2 ) Try to be aware and observe the natural flow of your respiration (breath) objectively, as it comes in naturally, as it goes out naturally, with no craving or aversion at the area of the entrance of the nostrils and amid (inside) the canals of the nostrils. Advanced practicioners or those think there are ready to progress, can also try to feel the touch of the breath and give it more importance (and eventually give all the importance to it-be aware only to the touch of the breath) in the entrance of the nostrils, inside the nostrils and in the area between the upper lips and the entrance of the nostrils. Like a guard watching every breath coming in, going out, with out missing any breath coming in or going out, continuesly. Never judge, define or identify yourself with it. Try to maintain and prolong your awareness of the natural flow of respiration as long as you can, continuesly with no interruptions and try to constantly and continuesly distinguish between inhaling (breathing in) and exhaling (breathing out) with out missing any breath either coming in or going out. Never try to change, regulate or control your breath, just accept it the way it is, not as you want it to be. Whether it is fast / slow / hard / feeble / strong / deep / shallow / passes only in the left nostril / passes only in the right nostril, what ever it is do nothing just accept it and observe it objectively in the way it is, you just aware this is the reality for this moment. Don’t interfere with the natural flow of the breath and don’t try to regulate or control the breath, just observe, observe the reality as it is, not as you want it to be, as it is, pure breath, bear breath, nothing else but breath- bare breath. Work patiently and persistently.

If the breath to is too subtler or if the mind is gross and not sharp enough and you find it hard concentrate your mind in respiration and you can’t feel whether the breath is coning in or going out in that case take a slightly hard breathing, conscious breathing, intentional breath but that should not remain an object of your concentration all the time, just a few second so you could feel it and focus your mind on it and then continue to focus your attention on the natural flow of respiration, normal breathing, pure breath- don’t try to control it or regulate it.

3 ) Naturally after a while your mind will wander away. While you are observing the breath, the mind starts wandering—some memory of the past, some thoughts of the future or your internal voice. You might also notice that the breath has lost its normality: it might be slightly hard, slightly fast. When ever your mind is wandering away or when ever your awareness shift to your body sensations or emotions are rising, do nothing- don’t generate craving or aversion toward it. Never react to it or give it any importance. Just accept it, so what -I'm still here, my respiration is still here. This is the reality of this moment- my mind is wandering away and observe it objectively without losing the balance of the mind. Bear it smilingly and with all the enthusiasm start again-observing the natural flow of respiration. Never judge, define or identify your self with any thought/emotion/sensation or internal voice, otherwise you will loose your objectivity and the balance of the mind. Never feel defeated, disappointed or depressed, on the contrary, work patiently and persistently, be calm, peaceful, relax and tranquil, and divert your awareness back to respiration coming in, going out, smilingly and with all the enthusiasm. You will find that what ever thought/emotion/sensation and whether it is pleasant or unpleasant it will rise and eventually pass away. It might get stronger, but if you don’t react to it after a while it would get weaker and evaporate, and your mind will be calm, and as soon as that impurity has gone away the breath would become normal again.

* Similarly if you experience unpleasant or violent thoughs/feelings/sensation, it is very important to continue with the exercise and follow the instruction. Panic reaction or any other reaction will only amplify and strengthen what you experience. However, only if you really feel that it is impossible or unbearable to continue in the exercise, and only if you tried to follow the instruction to continue practicing, only then allow your self to take a break for a few minutes to calm your mind and then try to practice again.

• It’s very useful and beneficial to apply this technique when ever or a few minutes after stressful, agitate, sad, fearful or any unpleasant incidents in life.

** Note that the aim of this exercise isn’t to calm the mind, though this is a by product of this technique, but to change the habit pattern of the mind to react with negativity. The aim of this technique is to develop the mastery of the mind, sharpen the mind, improve awareness and concentratoin and the result is a more controlled mind.

In order to better understand the theoretical aspect that stand behind this technique please read the following short paragraph: Whenever any defilement arises in the mind, simultaneously two things start happening at the physical level. One is that the breath loses its normal rhythm. We start breathing hard whenever a negativity comes into the mind. This is easy to observe. At subtler level, some kind of biochemical reaction starts within the body--some sensation. Every defilement will generate one sensation or another inside, in one part of the body or another. This is a practical solution. An ordinary person cannot observe abstract defilements of the mind--abstract fear, anger, or passion. But with proper training and practice, it is very easy to observe respiration and bodily sensations--both of which are directly related to the mental defilements.
This mental-physical phenomenon is like a coin with two sides. On the one side are whatever thoughts or emotions are arising in the mind. One the other side are the respiration and sensations in the body. Any thought or emotion, any mental defilement, manifests itself in the breath and the sensation of that moment. Thus, by observing the respiration or the sensation, you are in fact observing the mental defilement. Instead of running away from the problem, you facing reality as it is. Then you shall find that the defilement loses its strength: it can no longer overpower me as it did in the past. If you persist, the defilement eventually disappears altogether, and you remain peaceful and happy.

Naturally in the initial phase or even from time to time this exercise could be difficult: pain in the leg, pain in the back, head ache, this discomfort or that discomfort. One basic reason for that is that your body and your mind, both have become prisoners of their own habit pattern of life, and now when you are doing something to which they are not accustom, they start resenting, they start revolting, the body start revolting “I don’t like it”, the mind start revolting “I don’t like it”, so you feel very uncomfortable, naturally. But that is one reason, a minor reason, the main reason of this discomfort is this technique itself. Because you started working exactly as this technique wants you to work. This difficulties, discomforts, inconveniencies, have started manifesting themselves because you are started observing natural breath, normal breath, bare breath nothing but breath, mere breath.


With kind regards and Metta

[jack_bristow]

I think what is being described in above post is basically EMDR but with breathing instead of eye movement, and done without assistance of a therapist.

I feel that a person who is already in a state of distress will not have the self-control or stability necessary to do this for 60 minutes by themselves. And a person who is not in a state of distress won't feel the need to spend time on it.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hosados, unless you wrote this yourself please identify the source and shorten it to an excerpt with a link if possible. Is there some specific relevance to dry eye that you are trying to share?

Thank you!

[HOSADOS]

I did write it myself. Well, this is working, oh G-D this is working. This would work for anyone in any situation, assuming it done properly of course.

Even 20 minutes or 10 minutes would do. But for the initial phase, in order to understand it and realize the effect it's warmly recommended to start with 45-60 minutes, though 30 minute would be fine as well.

The reason behind it is rather simple. Initially, for an untrained person, it's not easy to concentrate the mind for a long time, but different people posses with different level of concentration ability. For most folks, it take about 20- 30 minutes, just to clear the mind and build the desired concentration, and usually for an untrained person only after 20-30 minute, one get to the level of concentration that allow him to go dipper to realize the effect of this wonderful technique. Others, may find that 40 minutes is required to reach to that stage.

However, even by 20-10 minutes of practice by untrained person, one is bound to get benefit, though not as significant as one could achieve by practicing for longer period. I hope that clarify it.
I know people who started with 2-5 minutes session and found it helpful ! it's all depends on the ability, experience and background of each individual.

[HOSADOS]

I found it extremely helpful in dealing with the pain, depression, anxiety and issues related to my eyes situation (the pain caused by my eyes is affecting my whole body not just the eyes and mind), and I hope you will find it useful as well. It makes sense logically, but only by practicing, giving it a fair trail one could really know. After a few month, this also improved my eyes condition and my tear production (or reduced tears evaporation, lol). I realize that DES treatment require strong discipline and mastery of the mind- this is another area where I found this technique extremely helpful. Finally, when my eye are in great pain, when I'm outside, in a meeting or in car/bus/class, I take advantage of this technique and practice it for 5 -10 minute, and this reduce the pain, and help me stay focus despite my eyes (though the pain is still there -sorry guys no magics...). The beauty about this technique, is that since it's all about doing nothing (trying to reduce the mental/physical reaction, which is much harder than doing something-try practicing it and you would see what I mean), and involved the natural respiration which is always there. So when mastering this technique one could virtually practice it (being aware to the natural flow of respiration while trying to maintain the balance of the mind toward it) while performing other physical activities. Because, my eyes are bothering me all the time and in any situation, I require an effective, practical and result oriented technique that could be used in real time situations, as much as necessary. It also works while laying in bed going to sleep. If I find it hard to fall asleep, I lay down on my back- practicing it, and this relaxes my whole body and eyes, and keep my mind clear and away from negativity. Oh then one could fall into a deep sleep. Therefore, it make sense for people to try it and see if that could be useful for them as one of the tools in their weapon arsenal fighting our war against DES and for keeping sanity. And we all know, that in this war any tool available should be examined be used to improve our situatin and hopeful come out successful in this war.

There is no need for any therapist involved since, we are all breathing naturally every moment. And in this technique one is asked be aware to the normal breath, natural breath, bear breath, with out changing it or trying to control it. The only addition is the concentration and the equanimity.

feel free to add any comments or feedbacks.

[Danny_]

I've tried these breathing techniques before and always failed because when I listen to my breath, I find it damn near impossible not to try to affect my breathing.

[HOSADOS]

Re: Danny_ >"I listen to my breath...imposible not to try to affect it"

I've tried these breathing techniques before and always failed because when I listen to my breath, I find it damn near impossible not to try to affect my breathing.

Good point, I'm glad you brought it up. This technique is very simple and always works, since its concept is based on the human body biochemistry mechanism, so u can't fail and you can't go wrong. However, understanding the essence of this technique properly is the key here.

Understand, your breath would constantly change during this practice, as it does during your normal daily life, this is its nature. Those changes are the result of biochemical reactions taking place in the body. Another reason is that that your habit pattern of the mind is react it by generating negativity, and is exactly what you're trying change. On a deeper level, both the physical structure and the mental structure, are constantly changing, always in a flux, therefore your body sensations which are combination of the two, would also keep on changing. The truth of the matter, is that we all affect our breath rhythm, heart bit rhythm and any other functions in our body, so don't worry about it, as it's natural, you can't change it. Also, in this technique you're not asked to regulate your breath, on the contrary you're asked be aware of it, while trying to reduce your reaction to it as much as possible (this the meaning of observing it objectively, maintaining equanimity). One day, you might be able not to react to it at all, but until this day, see that intentionally, you're not reacting and the aim is to develop your awareness to your breath continuously and try to prolong, and on the same time also to develop your equanimity by making a continuous effort not to react to it physically or mentally. When your mind is wondering away to any object beside your breath, you most likely lost both your equanimity and awareness. Note that developing a pure concentration (concentration to the reality with a balance mind-without craving or aversion, this is equanimity) is also an important factor. The goal of this technique, is to change the pattern habit of the mind, which is constantly reacting to the body sensation with craving and aversion (pleasant/unpleasant), and became a prisoner in its own pattern habit. By practicing this technique, you're actually making an effort to weaken this pattern habit of constant reaction, by strengthening your equanimity and awareness (objective observation). You will noticed all then when you will be practicing this technique. So when practicing, always remind yourself the goal of this technique, and you won't go wrong !

One of the first thing people are noticing while practicing this technique, is that their respiration is associated with there thoughts pattern. You will notice that mental impurities that rise in the mind affect and change your respiration. This is all natural of course, though many times we are just to busy with the external objects outside, that we don't care to notice what is happening in our body, and how our mind affects our body, and how our body affects our mind. So practicing more and more, among other things you would develop insight and better understanding about the constant interaction taking place from moment to moment between your mind and your physical body.

The only thing you should be doing, say your job is just to observe the natural flow of your respiration objectively (as much as possible). Just to be aware, or feel the natural flow of your respiration in the limited area as specified, that all. If it's changing, then observe your breath changing, nothing more, just observe and you done your job. So don't try to over think it, just be aware and accept the reality of this moment- now I'm listening to my breath, that all. Or just accept- the reality of my breath at this moment, is that it's changing. Simultaneously, as soon as you are aware that your mind has wonder away from the reality of the natural flow of your breath, for instant to a thought such as "I'm listening to my breath", just accept this reality and right away divert your attention back the natural flow of respiration. Of course, try not to generate any frustration or disappointment. If naturally, a feeling of frustration/disappointment or whatever, is coming up to the surface, just stay calm and relax as much as possible, trying to maintaining the balance of your mind, and just accept it: now my mind is generating frustration, this is the reality for this moment, and shift your awareness back to the natural flow of respiration. Once again, let me be clear, respiration would change alright, as thoughts are rising in the mind, similarly when you generate any defilement in the mind, your breath would change and loose its normality.

I hope this clarify things. So to summarize: as long as the change of respiration happen unintentionally, you're doing your job, but intentionally, don't try to control, change or regulate your breath- that goes against the fundamental of this technique. It's very very simple but on the same time very deep ! In the following post, I would try to give you another perspective and angel of this technique, that would shed a light on the last point.

[HOSADOS]

further dipper explanation> would be better understood by those who actually practice

Here is another aspect of this technique, further explanation in a more dipper fashion. This would be better and best understood by those who are actually practicing it.

It is pure science. On the deeper level the breath is strongly connected to mind, to mental impurities. While we’re parcticing, and we’re observing the breath, the mind starts wandering—some memory of the past, some thoughts of the future—immediately what we notice is that the breath has lost its normality: it might be slightly hard, slightly fast. And as soon as that impurity is gone away it is normal again. That means the breath is strongly connected to the mind, and not only mind but mental impurities. So take advantage of this fact, to explore what is happening within yourself. At a deeper level, one finds that mind is affecting the body at the sensation level.

This mental-physical phenomenon is like a coin with two sides. On the one side are whatever thoughts or emotions are arising in the mind. One the other side are the respiration and sensations in the body. Any thought or emotion, any mental defilement, manifests itself in the breath and the sensation of that moment. Thus, by observing the respiration or the sensation, you in fact observing the mental defilement. Instead of running away from the problem, you are facing reality as it is. Then you shall find that the defilement loses its strength: it can no longer overpower me as it did in the past. If you persist, the defilement eventually disappears altogether, and you remain peaceful and happy.

This causes another big discovery—that you are not reacting to an outside object. Say I hear a sound and I find that it is some kind of praise for me; or I find someone abusing me,I get angry. You are reacting to the words at the apparent level, yes, true.

When you hear praise or abuse, is the response filtered through the psychological mind to the bodily sensations, or is it simultaneous? It is one after the other, but so quick that you can’t separate them. So quick! At some point automatically you can start realizing, “Look what’s happening! I have generated anger.” And you will immediately say, “Oh, a lot of hate! There is a lot of hate in the body, palpitation is increased…"

What is the purpose of reacting to something when it is changing so quickly? What is the purpose of reacting with craving or clinging? It passes away. Or hatred: it passes away. People who are very angry, or are full of lust, full of fear or full of depression or full of ego—when they keep on observing their respiration and sensations, the whole habit pattern changes.

[dianat]

I can't even read all these words on the screen...bad eyes.

[HOSADOS]

Print it / Anti Radiation Anti Glare display or screen filters or

I know the feeling, lol, then I warmly recommend you print it -if you're interested in reading it of course

Also I found a tremendous relieve by using Anti Radiation and Anti Glare display. Alternatively, there are Anti Radiation Anti Glare screen filters at http://www.bloodshoteyes.org/ or else where.

[dianat]

I have an idea. Why don't you create your own web site with all this stuff.

[HOSADOS]

Re: dianat

Dianat hi, I would like to thank you for your comment. I think you're right, and I would bear that in mind, since indeed any information that could be useful and beneficial to others, should stand by its own merits, in my humble opinion. As for DES patient website, I think Rebecca have been doing a super job, and I don't think I would be able to "compete" with her, lol

If I have offended you in any way, I deeply apologize as this was not my intention. My only intention was to share a useful practical information which I believe might be helpful to other DES patient, nothing more.

Maybe I was mistaken, by writing my previous comment to you about Anti Glare screen/printing, but when I wrote it I honestly thought I'm addressing the issue you have been raised, and once again I tried to share with you and others the solutions I have found that worked for me, when I encounter similar situations, long text reading in a computer.

Based on your last comment, it came to my mind, that you might have been trying to communicate to me between the lines a different message than what I have interpreted. If I have misinterpreted your previous comment, please by all means forgive me for my clumsiness and for being naive.

In case, you feel that what I have written isn't relevant for DES patient (and you have every right to feel this way), I would be more than happy to try and share with you my rational and try to explain why I believe this could help other DES patients, and how this have been helping me and other DES patients I know, as well as so many other people (normal people, people with diseases and other issues, and also very successful people as well).

Have a beautiful week !

[Rebecca Petris]

Hosados,

I appreciate that you're trying your best to be helpful and are being very respectful towards others.

However, I think the point others are hinting at is simply this:

Discussions in this forum are almost entirely focused on matters DIRECTLY concerning dry eye diagnosis, treatment, products, management, and so on.

Dry eye has a major life impact, as we know. So, many users are interested in discussing how to cope emotionally or otherwise and we have some threads on these topics. But when we have such discussions here, the scope is very limited and almost always relates clearly and directly back to dry eyes. General advice on depression, wellness, et cetera is not the subject of this forum and lengthy material on these topics is not appropriate for this forum no matter how well intended.

If individual members want more detailed information on any one particular practice or method, they can question members who have offered to share more information, or they can seek information from the many directly relevant sources on the web.

[dianat]

Quite frankly, HOSADOS, your deliberate and overt politeness is downright creepy. No need to read between the lines.

[HOSADOS]

Re: Rebacca

point taken. I think this is more appropriate to the Depression, emotional health, relationships forum.