Sudden Inhalation

[mufad]

Hi Friends,
Frequently during meditation (also sometimes during activity) I experience a forceful automatic short inbreath, like a gasping for air. Like a mild inward sneeze. This is usually after the breath has become very slow. It is not disturbing or problematic - just something that happens. It happens one or two times on average during each sitting session.
Anyone else experience this ? What does it mean ?
Thanks,
Mufad.

[Shanti (Mahasweta)]

Hi Mufad,
Yes, I have the same thing… I have had it since the beginning… but these days it is much less compared to what it was a year and a half back… I find it distracting… it sort of brings me out of meditation. It almost feels like, when I go deep… I forget to breath and my body or mind suddenly decides… hey you need to breath… so it does feel like I am gasping for air.
In Lesson#69, Yogani explains that this is a symptom of kundalini awakening… and if it is not causing you any discomfort… just continue with what you are doing… you will be fine. If it interferes with your practice, you know what you have to do… Self Pace.

Even in the smoothest kundalini awakening there will be some
symptoms. There can be some aching and/or heat around the extremities
of the spinal nerve, just as you described – third eye and root. With
easy spinal breathing and meditation they should not become extreme.
If they do, back off practices somewhat, as recommended, and try some
of the further measures mentioned below. Many other things can
happen: Light burning sensations here and there. Some lurching of the
body or sudden movement of air from the lungs during practices. The
feeling of insects crawling on the limbs, or little pricks like they
are biting occasionally during the day. Strange feelings in the feet
that are both pleasurable and itchy at the same time – this can be
smoothed by walking regularly. It can happen in the hands too. There
can also be a varied assortment of goose bumps, occasional shivers, sexual arousal, inner buzzing and humming sounds, hot pinpricks, slight headaches, and other weird sensations. All of this stuff settles down in time. To the extent any of it remains, it is overshadowed by the experience of pure bliss consciousness and divine ecstasy coming from inside. You will find things like these in a normal kundalini awakening. All of them are symptoms of
obstructions coming out, making way for a new life in unending
ecstasy.

[david_obsidian]

Like a mild inward sneeze. This is usually after the breath has become very slow.
Here’s my interpretation: first you are having ‘descent’ towards samadhi in which the metabolism slows, and with that the breath slows or almost stops (“spontaneous kumbhak”); then you have “stresses”/“karmas” releasing and manifesting which suddenly increases metabolism again, forcing an in-breath.
It’s part of the game. They will smooth away in time. No known way around it – yet.

[Shanti (Mahasweta)]

Thanks David,
first you are having ‘descent’ towards samadhi in which the metabolism slows, and with that the breath slows or almost stops (“spontaneous kumbhak”); then you have “stresses”/“karmas” releasing and manifesting which suddenly increases metabolism again, forcing an in-breath.
What a beautiful explanation… That helps me a lot. I used to mistake it for kundalini jolts… a sudden gasp for air does make you jump and does feel like a jolt… well to me at least…
Its like in a dream… you suddenly feel like you have stepped into a hole… or when you are going down the stairs and are expecting one more step… but hit the floor instead… a sudden loss of breath and the heart skipping a beat…

[snake (Chris)]

Excellent replys,I also wondered on this
thanks

[mufad]

Thanks for the insight,
Good to know I am not alone
Love,
Mufad.

[mufad]

Is it possible that just before samadhi, an inward sneeze occurs ?
I am far from it I guess, but multiply the force of my experience several times and it could be the physical manifestation of the consciousness falling into breathlessness …
It is not outward, but inward, I suspect it is a good thing.
What do you think ?
Mufad.

[david_obsidian]

A good thing? Yes, or more like, it’s a side-effect of a good thing: and the good thing is stress-release/“purification”/“release of karmas”. An obstacle is being removed. When those stresses are eventually gone though, you’ll proceed without the sudden inhalation. Which will be an even better thing.

[yogani]

Hi All:
An automatic sudden breath or full blown rapid breathing in yoga can be the phenomenon of automatic bastrika. It is especially common during samyama, where silence is stimulated to move (covered in the lessons). It can also happen in meditation, usually to a lesser degree.
The guru is in you.

[david_obsidian]

So Yogani, I think you are describing a distinct phenomenon to the one I mentioned? Which do you think is happening in Mufad’s case, or do we have enough information to know?

[yogani]

Hi David:
Could be both. Practice yields purification, and purification yields practice.
However, there can more going on here than metabolism alone, or the lack of it. The breath reflex can also happen when there is no lack of oxygen – a quick and shallow in-breath or out-breath, or a series of both, which is automatic bastrika. In that case, it is an impulse arising from inner silence (samadhi) stimulating it, not necessarily a metabolic adjustment. Bastrika can happen like that, riding on a series of impulses coming from inner silence, and interlacing with whole body ecstatic conductivity.
Whatever the cause, as with any experience, automatic reaction or yogic reflex during practices, we don’t charge off into them. When we realize we are off, we just easily come back to the procedure of the practice we are doing.
So, Mufad, you are doing just right. Yes, it’s a good thing…
The guru is in you.

[trip1 (Brett)]

I’ve experienced this phenomenon as well, coupled with a complete loss of the senses (hearing being the most noticable). This has been observed to happen in both meditation and samyama, but only for a split second that I can tell.
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and explanations.

[Kyman]

I have a really strange feeling somewhere in the chest, feels like its near the lungs. Occasionally energy passes through the small nerve and then suddenly I feel compelled to cough. I’ve had a coughing fit because of it on one or two occasions.
And this may sound strange, but the last time I sneezed I went deeply into it. I felt a tingling surge flood the nerves, and it felt just like a orgasm. Weird, right?
Yogani, do you have any comments about that?

[Katrine (Katrine Kristiansen)]

Hi Kyman
Often (not always) whenever a sneeze is on it’s way, it stops…or dissolves instantly…if i at once become silent inside. Whenever there is silence inside, all the focus/attention is right here where everything happens. In this case: With the sneeze.
The “almost-sneeze” then leaves no trace at all; except increased…clarity. Yes - I think that is a good discription of it…the clarity increases when the energy otherwise captured in the sneeze is …freed.

[david_obsidian]

Yogani said:
However, there can more going on here than metabolism alone, or the lack of it.
I do agree.

[Richard (Richard Oxley)]

@Katrine

Hi Kyman
Often (not always) whenever a sneeze is on it’s way, it stops…or dissolves instantly…if i at once become silent inside. Whenever there is silence inside, all the focus/attention is right here where everything happens. In this case: With the sneeze.
The “almost-sneeze” then leaves no trace at all; except increased…clarity. Yes - I think that is a good discription of it…the clarity increases when the energy otherwise captured in the sneeze is …freed.

I shall try that interesting
Richard

[weaver]

Hi Mufad and All,
Sorry I’m late to this thread, but I have been away for the summer.
I experience single sudden breaths also sometimes during meditation, but in my case they are outgoing, and happen when the breathing gets very faint and the mind is turned inward very much and unaware of the breathing and other physical sensations. It’s interesting why for some people they become outgoing, and for some, like in your case, incoming. But I suppose that can change over time for the same person as purification goes on.

[Victor]

I get something similar but it is more a sigh that feels very enjoyable. sitting for awhile with the breath fairly still and then a deep release of a sigh comes up. Feels delicious

[Shanti (Mahasweta)]

@weaver

I experience single sudden breaths also sometimes during meditation, but in my case they are outgoing, and happen when the breathing gets very faint and the mind is turned inward very much and unaware of the breathing and other physical sensations. It’s interesting why for some people they become outgoing, and for some, like in your case, incoming. But I suppose that can change over time for the same person as purification goes on.

Hi Weaver,
I noticed this morning during shamyama, that my sudden breath has changed to outgoing too… hummmm… strange, if you had not mentioned it, I may not have noticed it.