Gents,
First up, I’ll be trying to compress most releases in a weekly e-mail to save e-mail bombing you. So other than maybe podcast releases or notes updates, I’ll try to be more disciplined and save your inbox the trouble.
Happy to announce the BioIndiv YouTube channel's first shorts production. Splurging for the next 21 days, we will compress some valuable and exciting topics into YouTube consoomer ‘mong-sized portions’. I jest. Link is here as they don’t seem to embed on substack:
Co-host Kevin and I will be splitting the releases up, and hopefully, this can push up the woeful subscriber count. Which is my fault for being mean to people in the past. Not Kevin's fault. In all honesty didn't realise how sensitive large accounts online are when I first started.
I'm proud of this short truth be told - mostly because I made it to the top of the featured mountain without dying. The cinematography also turned out nicely, even though much is lost in the compression. I plan to release more footage from that day for the intros to upcoming podcasts, perhaps in a more extended form. It was a beautiful day with an spectacular view, and the conditions were excellent.
The stuff posted on shorts is primarily rubbish thought, isn't it? They seem to promote primarily rage-inducing argument-type material. I gather it sells. Fat girls arguing on a redpill panel they deserve a billionaire husband or infomercial-style shorts for plastic shit and dumb products. It's a shame useful tools are routinely degraded by this species in such ways. This, incidentally, is why Marc Andreessen is wrong in his techno-optimistic outlooks. Admirable and refreshing as they may be.
There's nothing per se that says something short media can't be interesting or well done.
So look out for more coming up. We’ll try to do one a day or so. Appreciate as always, if you could help us spread the word with retweets or shares or whatever. Comments help also.
Actually, I just now managed to upload the low res video here. For your convenience:
(NB: The members-only release of meditation and ‘training reactivity’ is the last section - for those looking)
TRAINING TO BREATHE SLOWLY AND SITTING - THEY MUST BE RECONCILED & NO SINPLE SOLUTIONS
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:9
I am constantly flabbergasted at how mystics, thousands of years ago, could intuit down to the heartbeat how we're meant to breathe. We know they were right because, in the green field of breath science, we suddenly find ourselves trying to replicate Zen monks and various other mystics of yesteryear. Weirdly, we arrogantly try to reinvent what they already figured out.
We will find that the ideal number of breaths per minute - 5 or so depending on you - was explicitly stated in many ancient texts. As mentioned in a previous podcast, one such text even advises breath/heartbeat ratios.
Many scientists don't acknowledge they're millennia behind the 8-ball, however.
They can't even acknowledge the historical resurgence of the superior Japanese understanding. An understanding that flowered over a century ago, driven by many of their famous physiologists seeking answers to the so-called Western malaise.
In the slow-breathing studies that do exist, some benefit to slowing down the breath is often highlighted, but rarely does the data indicate panacea like many on Twitter and elsewhere claim.
For sure, the studies I’ve analysed are always frustratingly left of the mark. There’s always a few critical things they’ve not measured, or not implemented. And this is where I come in because I am free in all the ways they are not. And I’ve acted like a guinea pig for myself daily, collecting all sorts of data on myself and taking notes.
So where do we look if the molecule obsessed Western scientific fraternity refuse to acknowledge the supremacy of structure?
We look to the genius of the ancients, of course.
There's talk about nose breathing around these days, and there's a bit of discussion regarding breath pace training. You can get apps for this that are useful. I have provided some mp3s to some subscribers as a test. Several reportedly reportedly reaped amazing effects from using them.
And yet in the scheme of what I have planned, this will make up a minute portion of the total course when it's released later this year.
That's because, in many ways, it's the least important thing. Hear me out...
Both these devices, timing and nose, are helpful. The studies show some benefit for some conditions, including general stress and fibromyalgia (whatever that is), for example. We also now know that hypertension is probably directly related to a lifetime of fast-paced breathing and shitty vascular regulation. Recently, Alzheimer's was re-framed as a vascular problem. So you can see how bad habits denigrate the organism slowly.
The problem is, as is the way with Westerners, we're always looking for 'the one thing'. We have that whole left-brained autism thing. We’d do better to focus on the bigger picture of integrating the entire body as a system. (one of the reasons I'm penning, unfairly, an article against Ray Peaters and their wrongful focus on the molecular - out soon)
My point of view:
From a Zen perspective, controlling the breath consciously is typically considered counter-productive, if not integrated into unconscious habit.
These approaches are complementary, and we shouldn't be too either/or about it. But the danger is not thinking about the system in its totality. And, as usual, the usual suspects oversimplify things. The devil is always in the details.
A Zen monk would consider the 'lying down slowing breath' training approach 'back-to-front'. And there are good reasons why.
Generally, breath training is given to people lying down. This is because people are so uptight they cannot support a structure strong enough to maximise thoracic pressures whilst remaining relaxed, upright. Because of this, no matter how much you breathe, your autonomic system will still be up-regulated. They won't tell you, for example, that the spine is a fundamental structure involved in autonomic regulation. They won’t tell you that the method of relaxation, how deep it goes and how aware you are of the body is important.
So it's okay to do slow breathing, but you're also not getting the full monty as you were promised. I view this type of work as a pain-killer, it masks the issue but no lasting change is made. Not really.
The opposite is the case with Zen training. I repeat here - training:
According to my bio-metric readings, the full benefit of breath re-wiring practice is only realised when the posture is integrated, and the body relaxed and still. So in my practice, I increasingly take a 4-dimensional view of clients. Success with the normal methods is harder to come by. We work on certain things in their bodies more than we do the lying down training very often - the training is, in many ways, only a small ancillary practice. A stepping stone to something much more significant.
Here in lies the difficulty with 'fixing ordinary people'. And this is why many individuals promoting slow breathing whilst lying down only provide a small part of the solution. It is suitable for training and has some utility, but one way or another, clients will have to face sitting upright and figuring out which muscles do what where - there's no way out of this.
Training the muscles involved in the breath reflex to express themselves fully while in this position can be challenging. Furthermore, relaxation is not as straightforward as people would have you believe. It is critical in expressing this work to its fullest extent however. While slowing breathing down can induce some relaxation, it is generally not deep or consistent enough over time. Unless someone is genuinely aware of their body prior to taking it up. No one is, of course.
In summary, the issues with the slow-down / lie-down approach:
The ability to breathe real good lying down does not translate to being upright.
The relaxation process while lying down does not directly translate to being upright and relaxing.
Posture is not in consideration when lying down, or not as much anyway.
The training is habituating someone, therefore, for the horizontal plain only - down to the last capillary. Upright is another plain, one of gravity, with different pressures and requirements.
We do, after all, spend most of our waking time upright. As a result gravity is essential for our vascular system to function correctly, and we need a certain dose of it.
For all the cardio-vascular features to operate with resonance, the body's structure is vital. And there is no quick fix for this, as many people involved in these vocations would have you believe.
This requires a whole other level of expertise and insight. And this is what my course will be primarily aimed at doing. Ultimately, you're the only one who can fix yourself. No one can do this for you. You must diagnose what's wrong and use the right tools to fix yourself.
You can not achieve full resonance, or find it, lying down. You're also making it far more difficult in a slouched or ‘lazy-boy’ position. As some known to me promote.
In short - slow nose breathing people are, generally speaking - promoting laziness.
And we are, for better or worse, a lazy culture. I can see why they do it; we want king dollar at the end of the day, and people don't consume challenging, interactive solutions. They DO consoom dumb meme accounts. The numbers prove it. They consume half-measures, pills, Ray Peat molecules, and '30 day money-back guarantees', as Dr Hyatt once said.
I want a better class of client. And well…yoga mums are it.
Cue my sitting course, which was released last week. This is why learning to sit is a foundational discipline. This is kind of the first step. I slipped it in without anyone noticing. Not the yoga mums, the course. Those who watched the presentation will now start to understand how sitting discipline fits into the general formula of physiological renewal.
Coming up next week - is a special about Zen-style breathing for my subscribers, with some exercises they can try. After you watch this, you will be starting to put together a complete framework of what it means to have the foundation of your physiology under control. And the slight element of nose breathing will begin to make sense in a grander scheme.
Correcting physiology in this way is a long journey for most of us. For some who are fortunate and had good parents or naturally good physiology - well, good for you, we're all happy that you're perfect.
But I will say this - with all my clients and friends some who are chads, I've never measured anyone who is perfect. And the ones who imply they are are often the worst. That makes sense when you think about it. Dunning-Kruger has an unblemished record.
So aside from the internut people, we must respect that Buddhist monks have known the mechanics of what we’re trying to replicate for thousands of years. This is why they insist on posture, upright positions, and powerful relaxation abilities. They saw the totality of the body and its wisdom because they trusted their right hemispheres and they didn’t have market their findings on twitter.
Over many years, a Zen practitioner can 'forget the body', and their breath may slow down to 3-5 per minute, or even less. Now I'm not suggesting this is appropriate for day-to-day life. Nevertheless, it shows that learning to breathe well and training the body to be upright (whilst using specific muscles in a certain way) go hand in hand. There's no way out of this If you want to regulate your nervous system.
As I always warn - beware of those with anon Twitter accounts selling you easy solutions. They may help a little, but you won't get to the bottom of it like you will with this work.
READER QUESTION & ANSWER
One question I often get asked is from people having difficulty letting go of their breathing once they're training to slow it down, allowing it to become automatic. They can do it slowly lying down but encounter many problems when seated or walking.
This is connected to the above obviously.
The only way to fully integrate your training is to learn to sit and to be able to relax in a structured way when you're sitting. That's it. And that can be painful initially. Often we need to change the structure. And also, as often, we need to learn to sit. This needs to be done regularly to really rub salt in the wound.
All these practices are cumulative.
So we can see why so few people complete the work.
But this is the way to integrate it. The Zen practitioners were very clear on how you do this:
Sit straight
Watch your breathing (only watch it)
Count
If you can sit, one thing you should notice at least most of the time, is your breath will magically slow down on it’s own after a while! So the answer to this question is simple. When you first sit, don't try to breathe slowly or even through your nose if it's stressful. Just let it do what it wants to do. The body does it all for us. It’s quite amazing.
This will get easier with time. Once you manage it, with the work I've provided you, including the upcoming 100-part course some of you will get for a discount, you will be shocked at what your body will do and how it will correct itself over time. If you're diligent.
LATEST BIO-INDIVIDUAL PODCAST
In case you missed it, part 2 of Kevin and my retreat talk is up.
We went into:
My weird experience with my diaphragm shifting and achieving the much sought-after 'abdominal heart' experience.
Thoughts on the Buddhist concept of emptiness
Thoughts on the dhyanas. Or levels of meditation attainment.
I explain this through the frame I like for paying members in video 3 of the sitting series. In my view, that way of looking at it is far more accurate and helpful than the traditional dhyana model. Having said that, I'm no expert at all on Dhyana philosophy.
MEMBER-ONLY VIDEO - THE ART AND PRACTICE OF TRANSMUTING REACTIVITY
Gentleman,
Would like to express my gratitude again. This is a follow-up on mastering reactivity during meditation and in life. It occurred to me it may be logical to talk about slaying reactivity more directly - how to deal with it from the perspective we’ve taken.