Dear all, release is now imminent. By Imminent, I mean in 3 days time. Yes, for real this time. The initial book is as done as it can be for this initial release - I’m now waiting on a few diagrams to be updated by my artist that were required. So, as a bonus to my subscribers, please enjoy chapter 1 of the forthcoming release….Stay tuned.
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INTRODUCTION TO HARA
While I have chosen a Japanese lens for understanding abdominal breathing, it is not the only culture that integrated breathing practices into its cultural milieu. Although, as far as I'm concerned, in recent times, no other culture has presented such an elegant and sophisticated all-encompassing embrace of abdominal breathing. Something they term as hara or tandem breathing.
Breathing integrity, as many are now increasingly aware, has plagued all agricultural civilisations since that first taste of bread. Shrunken skulls, nasal cavities and jaws have led to a thinning of faces and general skeletal, fascial and muscular deformity - resulting in incapacity to breathe as we evolved to do. Recently, it has become popular to focus on breathing through the context of orthodontic posture. Various corrective exercises and mechanisms aimed at malocclusion and nasal capacity have gained popularity. This is a good thing. However, we should ask ourselves, is this only piece of the puzzle?
As a forewarning - I approach what we term the work differently from what is commonly accepted by people in these circles. Primarily, I treat work as tangible work. In reactionary and traditionalist religious circles, there appears to be a return to severely autistic adherence to various textual dogmas. A renewed focus on spiritual and dogmatic adherence to traditional mores, as a reaction to the destruction wrought upon traditions by the forces of progressivism. And more broadly, ideological leftists.
I have nothing against this reactionism. Nevertheless, we mustn't throw the champagne out with the cork. Reversion to a medieval belief system, whilst ignoring what our new tools have to tell us about the world is most of all self-defeating. Many valuable things have been discovered, or at least clarified. More often than not, this allows us to deepen our practice to a degree scarcely comprehensible to other generations. We increasingly know what to focus on and what not to focus on. By no means should this be yet another dogmatic reductionist approach, yet it shouldn't be discarded either. The aim here is to understand the truth about our condition with whatever tools we have at our disposal. Quite simply, it should also improve our quality of life, to make us better at living.
What science tells us about our neurology and physiology is helpful in this respect. Aside from the ideological arrest of science, in essence, it's simply a tool that extends our nervous system outwards. To see things that are not immediately obvious to our sensory apparatus. I've decided to dedicate part of this short book to explaining why breath and refocusing on the body can restructure the brain and nervous system. By extension I try to build a case as to why words are simply not enough for insight or for changing yourself.
For this work, being a "Buddhist" or whatever low-resolution label you choose is not required to apply to yourself. Non-Buddhists should not be scared away. If this work is anything, it is an essential realignment of the organism in space. It will change experience at a fundamental level.
I make the case here that the problems that most people face (or more correctly, don’t face) are primarily physiological. For me, the psychological and psychological labels are obviously inseparable in reality. For me, language and concept exist downstream or what we could generally term psycho-physiological pain. That nagging sense of dissatisfaction never seems to abate, that lends itself to all sorts of self-defeating and often hilarious compulsions.
When I speak with someone now, I rarely listen to the content of what they say; instead, like a zoologist studying a chimp, I tend to look for bodily cues. This tells me more than listening to someone. The manner of speaking. Bodily posture. How the face is contorted. I've found in myself and others how the organism's physiology interacts with the environment betrays so much. If indeed, there is such a barrier - there is, of course, no such thing.
Over the years, I've realised that language, for most people, is really just an enormous coping mechanism. A kind of by-product. Refuse or afterthought. Exhaust even. A way of coping or trying to make sense of what the experiencer perceives as having occurred. Often it’s used as a weapon, something we are nowadays all too familiar with. Very often today, it is effectively used by individuals (for lack of a better term) simply as a way to try to cover up less than stellar personality traits in a thin veneer of virtue, making unpleasantness in oneself easier to cope with. Covering up for all the things the beast wishes not to face.
In short, language is almost always cope.
Of course, it doesn't have to be used in that way. It is a powerful tool when one is conscious of its limitations, and has developed an actual use case for it.
I always say that language is not as powerful as people think, but it is more powerful than they realise.
The direct and harsh approach of Zen, as well as the non-dogmatic body-work of Wilhelm Reich and various other derivative teachers, has primarily shaped my views to the degree that I am an outsider to most things, including Buddhism. I have a harsher outlook. I want tangible results. As a result, I won’t tell you that you’ll need to wait 6000 lifetimes as a dung beetle prior to having any semblance to qualitative realisation. I’m living proof glimpses and life quality can be had and improved relatively quickly. There are levels of course, but this is a discussion for another time.
Thus, this book will avoid most "philosophical investigations" as self-indulgent and unnecessary. this book contends that most philosophies usually just suit the believer and their strengths and weaknesses. To avoid this kind of unpleasantness, this book can be seen more like a technical manual, with a bit of science to help you contextualise what is happening as you do the work. That's right - I refuse to let you sit there and blabber nonsense. If you want results, you will need to act. Talking and blabbering is lazy. It is also extraordinarily abundant, and thus a cheap whorish act.
If you want dollar-store philosophy so you can show off to your friends how much you've read and how expansive your new vocabulary or comprehension of a set of concepts is - you know where to find that. Just hit Amazog. Maybe you’ll get laid with this new, showy set of words when you find a girl who is impressed by your word play? For those who are sick of those games, please read on.
A further word on the work...
In reality, many of the exercises presented here have probably existed since the beginning. One can imagine a Neanderthal managing cold or fear with breath naturally. They are also primordial in the sense that they are natural - When we see a baby breath, they do so with ease. For sure, there have been formalisations and adjustments to emphasis and modality. What is of significant interest is how Hara breathing was formalised into everyday Japanese life. Contributing in no small sense to the totality of cultural and individual psycho-physiological posturing.
Japanese culture experienced marked changes once Western industrial cultural and physiological habits took root. This is well documented in the East and Japan, and I have done videos on this. Examples could be something as simple as adopting Western dress or sitting in a chair. The interaction of tight leather beats with abdominal musculature.
Anyone who has worked with breath and Hara can tell that almost all Westerners possess a ring of severe tension where the belt constricts the abdomen. This becomes obvious when somebody attempts to take a deep or Hara breath for the first time. You may notice this when you first attempt the exercises presented here. I have tried this on several ardently dogmatic Buddhist friends, who were almost entirely incapable of drawing a full relaxed breath from the abdomen through to the upper chest. This muscular constriction tells me more about their psychological state than 5 hours of reciting what they read somewhere or what they think about the intellectual structure of reality. Nay - if you can't breathe, you will not be seeing anything of value. You will not feel good. Thus, you will construct word salads to justify yourself feeling bad about...whatever....in a feeble attempt to use language to correct an issue that is not word-based.
This is just one example of the many ways in which habits of body and mind were altered in Japanese culture during industrialisation.
Whilst perhaps not ideal for those living through these changes, this relentless fast-paced change offers us priceless insight and contrast into the effects of the modern "way of existing in the world". On physiology and, ultimately, mentality. An individual's posture in the world affects culture and vice versa, and how culture interacts with the world. I have explored this specific case in more detail in a video found here for those who are interested:
The Japanese, as everyone knows, were and are great refiners of other cultures. It is told that Hara as a concept ultimately stems from Chinese physiological thought. It is to be found in Chinese alchemical and medicinal texts. It is used by acupuncturists and Daoist healers for various ailments, typically energetic. Yet it becomes clear that the Japanese, as perhaps an introverted culture, refined this into a cultural totality rarely seen.
As with many traditional cultural outlooks, the body was seen as a microcosmic representation of the macrocosm. There is a certain medieval logic to this, as you will see when working through the program below.
Many of the references to Hara in the ancient texts are shaped by mystical language. Intersecting with proto-medical descriptions of illnesses and the curative properties of abdominal breathing in the full context of man as an energetic representation of the cosmos. Chinese literature typically indicated Hara as a curative, often combined with other therapeutic and medicinal interventions. The Japanese introduced Hara on a scale I have not seen anywhere else. It became so ingrained that it was considered the proper way of being - not merely curative.
With all its hangups and ridiculousness, mystical and ancient language is confusing and primarily inaccessible to the modern mind. As I've tried to argue, more confusion is really the last thing anyone needs. We often see this confusion on social media forums where people misconstrue or grab on to the wrong part of something. This can be forgiven since traditional mysticism was typically deliberately obfuscated, particularly in the West.
I contend most people exist in a state of low-level confusion when they're not concentrating on a task, but even then, they can rarely simply focus on something. In essence, with right mindfulness and breath, there is no reason washing the dishes or doing a spreadsheet, can’t be as satisfying as sitting on a tropical beach.
As a rule, we don't really understand language and what it is, and we're susceptible to becoming victims of it. It is forgivable since we are never taught to understand it; for most people, there's no reason to even suspect it may be a problem. That's how powerful symbol abstraction is; even when it cries havoc and let slip the dogs of war within us, we cannot truly see it for what it is. We get lived by it because we don't get it.
The human shortcoming is that we tend to see language as more objectively meaningful and crucial to experience than what it is. Yet, in this attitude, there is a tremendous irony. We at once do not recognise just how powerful it is to completely delude us. It is potent. And very confusing. One of the ways to "de-energise” language centres in the brain is through engagement with the body and breath.
One of the primary directives of this book is to break down the primacy of language-centredness. We don't want there to be any commie gobbledygook or cosmic woo-woo to grab on to here - none of any sort. If I had a Keisaku there and I observed you slightly sliding into that, I'd not hesitate to beat you senseless with it - so keep that in mind as you work through as useful encouragement.
Whilst I have been ragging on Eastern religions, philosophies and practitioners, I'd like to take a few moments to mention that Western philosophers have done a genuinely pathetic job in recognising any of this. Far worse in every respect.
Nietzsche is the exception with his emphasis on the body, yet even his books are still largely inspirational words, and there was very little practical suggestion. So if anyone needs to hear this, it's the autist who walks around, eyes to the ground, with a continental philosophy book under their arm, the other hand rubbing their sparsely haired chin, pedantically muttering, "hmmmm yess, velly interesting, hmmmmmmm yesssssssss" whilst life rushes on by them. Absurd.
As I present it below, this booklet steers away from mystical language. I have no problem with it. Still, texts tend to utilise obscure and technical language endemic to that particular system. Confusing and inaccessible for most people who are not conversant in ancient oriental systems of medicine. Japanese culture is alien and takes some work to sift through obscure references.
Interestingly, there is a significant lack of literature for Westerners on Hara and Tandem. Much of it is available in Eastern languages or very obscure volumes for Eastern medicine practitioners or certain Buddhist schools. This has motivated me to bring what I can to a Western audience. I have combined this with my decades long practice of Reichian bodywork.
Practitioners of yoga will find much of this second nature with perhaps a few adjustments required over time, but nevertheless, a fruitful endeavour that will pay dividends if integrated correctly.
Overall, this booklet is a distillation of functional movements without medieval baggage. Yet, some concepts beyond what we would normally consider physical in our culture still need to be acknowledged to proceed.
It is correct to view these outcomes as more than simply "stress relief", " "helps your blood pressure", or any other modernistic spiritual valium that gets peddled. That is not to say those things might not happen. They may well do.
The aim is to develop Hara to begin your path in understanding your unique physiology and mind. Included are links to guided meditations I have put together to really try to drive the shift in perception home.
This is by no means a kind of jumbled esoteric rw "total body optimisation brah" booklet: the kind of thing I’m well known for finding utterly detestable. I continue to question the IQ and taste, quite frankly, of anyone who embraces such trash.
There will be no telegram group with a sun picture. There is a discord server if you want to work with us, as we mutually benefit from each others insights, proceeding through the work. Work. You can DM me and let me know why you want to access it.
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