Let’s set the scene’s ambiance, please play the video,imagine the music playing full blast, while you read this post!

If we were all in a room together and I suggested that we partner up to do some hard and fast breathing, would that be alright?  Do you trust me?  How willing a partner would you be?  This would take at least a couple of hours, so you’d need to clear your schedule.  We would start by dimming the lights.  Music would be essential, maybe some wild tribal sounding drum beat that begins slow and then methodically picks up the pace.  A bed wouldn’t be necessary, the floor would suffice.  We would take turns closing our eyes and setting the cadence of our breaths to the pulsing beats of the drum.  Breathing hard and deep we would slightly hyperventilate, purposely depriving our brain of some oxygen and we do it all in the name of healing.  

We would have entered an altered state of consciousness through an unconventional healing process called holotropic breathwork.  The transformational experience to be gained is intense and I can not stress this point enough, not for the weak of heart or those with weak health!  A psychiatrist Stanislov Grof founded this process after having an acid trip as part of his research to gain a better understanding of how his patients were suffering during episodes.  The doctor continued to do LSD experiments and found that the aftermath affect of “tripping” left the individual with a sense of well being.  Traumatic memories and issues were healed in the mind, allowing the patient to move forward with their life.   Holotropic breathwork was what he discovered when LSD became illegal, it was a drug free way to go on a “trip”.  Breathwork achieved similar healing effects.  Holotropic is Greek for whole and moving inwards or in the direction of something.

By focusing only on heavy and hard breathing the inner consciousness is said to be woken up.  People have reported reliving past experiences as though they were actually occurring.  The physical body relived the experience as well as the mind.  Dr. Grof reported that he experienced being born, the actual process of being delivered as an infant!  Others have reported clairvoyance and out of body experiences.  This is a reconized medical practice for dealing with neurosis and anxiety. 

When you take a good look, many other people and religions do almost exactly the same procedure in order to gain intense spiritually fulfilling experiences.  Kundalini experiences are said to provide similar results and have been practiced by countless other cultures (Egyptians, Tibetans, Chinese and some Native Americans) for thousands of years with the only difference being the name that it’s called.  The elemental bases of the meditation and controlled breathing clears the chakras enabling them to flow with wild abandonment. 

If you try this please be sure to be in good physical shape as once you are successful a large amount of adrenaline is released bringing on grand scale emotions.  Your physical body may respond with jerky rocking motions.  As a safety precaution, it’s a good idea to have a partner to watch over you.  A normal session would be at least 2 hours and it takes discipline to really focus on only the breathing, the rest comes immediately after this step is done correctly.  Your first time will test your patience.  With practice the intense healing or flow of sacred chakra energy will come sooner.  Don’t give up because the benefits are powerful resources that you can use to manifest.  In fact, this practice was often hidden as being sacred due to the power that one can achieve.  Here’s a video explaining the benefits.  Let me know if any of you try it out!  It’s mind blowing!  At the bottom I left the sources as links so that if you want to read more, some information is easily available.

This one’s better but is kundalini through tantra so it’s not as family friendly.

Source http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/PDF/weir-perry.pdf , http://www.stanislavgrof.com/articles.htm, http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/k/kundalini.html, kundalini.pro.br.

It’s so easy to find ourselves consumed by the current social inequalities, controlling systems and corrupt injustices.  We risk becoming so fearful that we rob ourselves of achieving our full potential to just be happy and live in the moment.  The future is unpredictable and what a gift it is when we accept that we’ll deal with it when it happens.  How do we respect the present by not living in fears of the future?  By trusting and surrendering to taking one day at a time we can cultivate a higher awareness that happiness is a choice, a goal within our reach.

The illusory barriers that fear creates is a self imprisonment that hinders us.  When we lose our focus to fearful thoughts we unintentionally attract more fearful situations and people into our lives.  When we doubt our ability to thrive and succeed we forget that we manifest what we expect not what we desire. Fears powerful limits are only as destructive as we allow them to be.

Kick fear to the curb!

When you find yourself wanting to try something new or change a part of your life but fear stops you, ask yourself what is it that you’re scared of?  Failure, poverty, rejection or criticism?  Is it real fear?  Are you in the midst of it or are you dwelling on the unknown?  Is your life in danger?  It’s estimated that up to 90% of our fears are imaginary. When a fear is not real, self affirmations and meditation can do wonders!

Start by envisioning yourself doing what scares you.  Breath deeply and force your body to relax.

Write down what you fear and why.  Often times, the feared outcome of a situation is not as bad as you feared.  Ask yourself honestly if you’re over-reacting and if you are attempt a different perspective.

If your main concern is the future, think back to a time where you’ve been in an actual crisis.  You got through it and chances are that while you were in it, it didn’t seem so awful.  People are more resilient than they know.  Times might get tough but you’ll be tougher!  Refuse to entertain that unhealthy fear.  You’ll cross that bridge when you get there.

Start confronting your fear in small doses. Scientists call this technique “exposure” and for it to be effective we must expose ourselves to what fears us often, over time it’s been proven to be effective.  For me this meant not rushing to tidy the house before my mom came over the other day.  Toys were all over, the hose was in a mess on the front lawn, papers and other items were all over the kitchen and it was OK.  In the past I would’ve ran like a chicken with their head cut off trying to make it all look perfect.  I’ve unconditioned myself from the thought that a clean house equates a worthy me.

When you don’t feel quite ready and the thought of jumping in makes you feel nervous, just do it!  Take a leap of faith and believe in yourself because you are worthy!

Remember and repeat to yourself that no one’s approval of you matters more than yours!  Nothing worth having comes without some sort of fight!  Life is meant to be exciting, think of the “butterflies in your stomach” feeling with your first crush.  What if you could feel that excited every day because you chose to chase your dreams and take those risks that would lead you to attain your true potential and happiness?

This nation was built by men who took risks – pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, business men who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action. ~Brooks Atkinson

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.”  Andre Malraux.

Most fears are learned behaviors that have conditioned our minds, influencing the way in which we live our lives. Once we move past the fear, we gift ourselves and others with living a life of wonderful moments that come from the heart.

Sources, http://www.quotegarden.com/risk.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_therapy