I feel Terrific!

[kenvj]

Well I finally made it back with Gupta. For the past 5 weeks I have had vastly more energy, the brain fog has gone and so has the daytime drowsiness, I feel extremely happy.
When I first started Gupta over a year ago I had great results but after about 3 months everything collapsed and I went into a massive relapse and bounced up and down for some time.
I eventually figured out that I had a problem with my breathing - I was breathing slowly as Ashok advised but I was shallow breathing into my chest and not using the diaphragm, this led to overbreathing. I went through a very bad time with severe tension and fatigue. I had some sessions with Buteyko which helped a little and brought my overbreathing down but finally I got onto Yoga Deep Breathing, belly breathing using the diaphragm. Since then I haven't looked back - a steady improvement which is still continuing.
For the past 3 weeks I have felt as if I don't have CFS any more, my body is weak, I'm over 75 and have done almost no exercise in the last 6 years, but I'm on the improve. There is only one thing I would change about the Gupta Program and that is more emphasis on Ashok's advice about using the diaphram and more emphasis on the breathing as a whole.
I would like to publicly thank Ashok because without his program I would never have gotten onto the right track. At the moment life is great.
Ken

[dmbaken]

That is great news!

[Emergo]

Kenvj; fantastic. These postings keep us going. I agree on the importance of breathing, however, I think Ashok DOES emphasize the importance of good breathing and even strongly suggests to do the Art of Living course which is all about good breathing.

[Chronicfatiguetreatments]

congrats ken, hope you keep feeling good!

[noeshe]

That's wonderful
As emergo syas: it posts like this that keep us going. I hope that I can say the same thing in the near future!

A bit off topic, but emergo...I read somewhere you're in the netherlands too? Where did you do the Art of Living course?

[niaholt]

When Ken started to talk about over breathing and hyperventilation, I did not think he was talking about me. How could I know I was over breathing? I was doing all the Gupta meditations.

Until I had a conversation with Ken I did not realise I may be doing it. I found a site on line where a woman cured her CFS by fixing her breathing as the wrong breathing was making the "fight flight" experience so much more extreme. She suggested we should breathe about 10-11 breaths a minute and I was breathing nearly 20 or more!!!!! Ken suggested I look at the Buteyko method and I have purchased the home kit.

On talking to the person there they suggested I stop all deep breathing as I had already too much carbon dioxide from breathing too much and that would be causing a cascade of problems.

Now I dont know where I am as regards doing the AOL. It has lots of panting type exercises and I dont know whether it will make my breathing worse. I wish Ashok could explain this.

I absolutely agree with Ken that I wish he had pointed out more stringently about this problem so I could have measured my beathing.

The program has not worked as fast for me as I might have liked. Now if I can correct this breathing I might not feel so hyper vigilent and stop the adrenaline from running and lower my BP. Now I understand why I get excited about everything and everyone

I am Ok as long as I am laying down. However if I get up to go to do a chore, immediately my breathing changes and I pull my gut in in a kind of emergency response to ACTION and I shallow breathe. This then sets up the adrenaline loop.

The Buteyko person told me to concentrate on breathing with my belly out, and forget what our mothers said about pulling your stomach in.
So I am doing the meditations and not deep breathing. It is all bit confusing for me at the moment.

I am having a dip at the moment so I have a few irons in the fire trying to correct stuff.

[spring]

Great news Kenvj.

I have also found breathing very important.

A couple of months prior to starting Gupta I realised that I was breathing very quickly, into my chest and through my mouth instead of the preferable method of abdominal breathing through the nose.

Using a great book by Dinah Bradley called Hyperventilation Syndrome : Breathing Pattern Disorders I managed to retrain my breathing and had instant positive results. (Nothing like the degree of results I have had from the Gupta programme though. I measured good improvement then by being able to sit up 30 minutes a day more than I did last month and my heart racing less ).

I retrained by doing her exercise for a few minutes every hour which I remembered by setting my alarm to go off every hour. It took about three weeks for this to become my natural way of breathing for the majority of the time.

When I started the Gupta Programme my 'new' breathing got disturbed and I ran into problems however after reading posts on this forum from people having the same problems I bought my 'Bradley' breathing methods into the Gupta exercises and everything settled down and I made great progress.

I found this Bradley book very accessible and her methods a great way to retrain my breathing. It explains how disordered breathing leads to low carbon dioxide levels in our system which leads to all sorts of negative effects.

Spring

[Alienor]

I’m so happy for you, Ken. Congrats!

I’m thankful to you because through your posts I realized that I also have a problem with breathing. While I first thought I was hyperventilating I found out that my problem is that I stop (my shallow) breathing whenever I have to concentrate and think – so it’s practically all the time.

I cannot do the meditation and the S&F because that makes my breathing worse and I get panicky.
I ordered the Buteyko program, too and I read the booklet but when it came to practising the technique I panicked again.

I now found an easy technique for people who are hyperventilating: breath in for 3 seconds, immediately breath out for 1 second. Then don't breath for 3 seconds and then immediately start breathing again for 3 secs…. (always belly breathing using the diaphragm). This I can do and I practice it several times a day since the weekend. The last 3 days my brain fog was far better.

It’s a pity that I cannot do the S&F with this technique but there is no way to say “Soften and Flow” slowly and relaxed in 1 second… But I think I should try the meditation with it – that could work.

I hope you continue to do better and better!

Alienor

[spring]

[quote="Alienor"]
I now found an easy technique for people who are hyperventilating: breath in for 3 seconds, immediately breath out for 1 second. Then don't breath for 3 seconds and then immediately start breathing again for 3 secs…. (always belly breathing using the diaphragm). This I can do and I practice it several times a day since the weekend. The last 3 days my brain fog was far better.

It’s a pity that I cannot do the S&F with this technique but there is no way to say “Soften and Flow” slowly and relaxed in 1 second… But I think I should try the meditation with it – that could work.[/quote]

The breathing technique I use is similar to yours Alienor. I use Soften and Flow with it by doing 'soften' on the in-breath and 'flow' on the out-breath. It's not as easy or as flowing as the way Gupta's uses it with deep breathing but I find I can still get a lot of value out of Soften and Flow while not mucking up my whole system with deep breathing.

[*Emerald*]

Ken

Its so good to hear how well your feeling..
Long may it last

[Chronicfatiguetreatments]

hey ken,
are you doing only the butekyo breathing now, or gupta + the breathing techniques?

[niaholt]

I have been about 5 weeks now doing Buteyko and my breathing has corrected, I am now belly breathing finally. My anxiety levels are down somewhat. Yesterday though I noticed when I was attempting some tasks, I was belly breathing in and out in 2 steps despite having notes all over the kitchen to remind myself to breathe corrrectly. From the book by Dinah ? she mentioned saying the words on the IN breath "Bombay OUT breath Sapphiiiire PAUSE Gin. I find this very helpful.

However if I engage in conversation outside the house or even with my son and his wife if they "suddenly "drop by I seem to go into an anxiety state still but at a lower level. I can immediately correct it sometimes but other times it is like my tummy "quivers" and is in a kind cycle.

I think getting this breathing right is one of the most important things we can do. If this oxygen carbon dioxide balance is not right, we excrete magnesium big time and build up lactic acid and that causes pain.

After so long breathing wrongly I have read it akes the brains respiratory system to get the message as it has been told it was Ok to shallow breathe. It seems quite a few systems will have to alter to correct the body and I think they have a ripple effect..

[niaholt]

I am feeling so much calmer due to a real concentration on breathing......hours of practice a day. When I was doing Soften and Flow I realize I was not taking in enough breaths, perhaps only one or 2. Now I take in 4....out for about 5 or more. This I have learned on another site on " how to lower your Bp naturally" I kept playing the demo on the computer whilst I was working around the house and it has got into the breathing part of the brain that has to be retrained by making loud breathing sounds. (warning it used up a lot of gigabytes). Buteyko says you have to train the brain to accept the new breathing.

Also I learned my breathing pattern on the Stress Eraser. I dont use it anymore...too stressful. Now when I wake at 4 am I do the breathing for about an hour naturally and when I get up and go on the couch at 5 am, my body just wants to continue breathing like this. I find sometimes it just takes over and does it without any input from me. All thru the day it happens like that now. I have put extensive time into trying everything to do with breathing and I think I have finally got there......pushing my belly out and stop holding my breath especially while on the computer. I am feeling so much better in myself.

[neil25]

Hi Niaholt that is great, im glad your feeling better. I started off having positive effects with the gupta programme then it stopped working me. I do it every now and again but i don't know if it helps because my health is so up and down so its hard to tell. I was wondering do you do the full version of the gupta programme by that i mean the 'stops'. Ive only been doing the meditations so i don't know if these are very effective.

[niaholt]

Not doing a lot of STOPS, felt they did not help as much as meditation and breathing exercises just concentrating on staying calm.