[km2000]

Hey everyone,

I'm on Day 7 of MAP. Everything is going pretty good so far. I have memorized the relaxation exercises, and I'm getting better at breath awareness. As for using NEW, it is going okay. The only time I felt any serious sensations was on my thumb. I could feel lots of tingling, and it was as if I could feel exactly where my energy was and it was really easy to feel it moving as if there was something inside my thumb rolling around. That was pretty cool. Other than that, I haven't really felt anything, which is worrying me, but I'm still going forward.

One problem that keeps coming up is my breathing while I try the NEW exercises. I find that every time, I end up coordinating my breathing with my energy work. For example, when I inhale, I brush one way, when I exhale, back the other way. Whenever this happens, I find that I start to concentrate on my breathing too much, and I get in a struggle where I'm trying to focus entirely on the energy work, but my mind is distracted by my breathing. Then if I try to purposely do the energy work at different times than my breathing, it just doesn't feel right. Well I guess this long explanation can be summed up into:

Is it okay to coordinate my breathing with my energy movements like I said? Or should I try to stop this?

Thanks a lot!

[+++Poguru+++]

Sure. I do this all the time. Especially with bouncing. Just make sure to find other ways to distract yourself so it doesn't become compulsory.

[km2000]

Thanks a lot for the reply! Doing it with bouncing was actually one of my main concerns. Don't you end up breathing really fast? I'm not sure if bouncing stays the same, but all I know about it is moving your awareness very quickly from one place to another. Do you stop after each movement so you don't end up breathing super fast?

[cemDrymnVem]

Coordinating breathing with energy work is quite natural. When you inhale, you are pulling in energy; when you exhale, for whatever reason, it seems easier to direct energy.

A typical energy raising technique involves pulling energy up through your feet and all the way through your body to the top of your head (crown chakra) while you inhale, and then directing it down into your sub-navel storage center while you exhale.

Likewise, in some energy healing systems (like Quantum Touch and RB's healing with the heart), you raise energy up to your crown (Quantum Touch) or heart chakra (RB's method) while you inhale, then focus the energy into your hands while you exhale.

So, coordinating your energy work and your breathing is a perfectly natural and okay thing to do. But I would, for the sake of improving your control over your mind and your energy, recommend spending a little time on moving your energy around without having to rely on breath coordination.

[km2000]

I have another question:

I just finished Day 7 of the MAP program. So the last thing I did was bounce the energy from my feet up through my thighs and back down. I was just wondering if I should be concerned if I can't feel the energy movement sensations? I really can't feel anything, but I can tell my awareness is in the right spot, and it does feel like it's moving from place to place. But I don't feel any tingling or anything. Does this mean it's not working as well as it could? Or is this alright?

[+++Poguru+++]

It's ok. Some days are more intense than others. Try doing it on the floor; when I did the sensations were stronger, for some reason.

[km2000]

Thanks for the quick reply . I think I'm going to just set up a few times to practice before I move on with the MAP program. Once I get some sort of sensation I'll move on. But yeah thanks a lot! I'll try it on the floor like you said. I'm still kinda having the problem this post was about. I always seem to end up breathing kinda loud, and focusing on my breathing just as much as my energy movement. Any ways to get around this or anything? I'm guessing just practicing and trying to concentrate harder, but are there any tricks I should know about?

[uranbigis]

cougarelite,

Trying to bounce energy quicker than my breathing reminded me of the feeling of being a kid and trying to rub my tummy and pat my head at the same time.

Anyways...Say you are brushing or bouncing energy back and forth from toes to heel on the bottom of your foot. Instead of brushing back and forth, try moving the energy in a circle as you will find this will not coincide with your breathing. The two actions will be separate and you can speed the circling of energy or slow it without effecting your breathing. Slowly start to change the circling pattern to more of an elliptical pattern until you can turn it into more brushing/bouncing without it effecting your breathing. This should allow you to learn to move the energy more so than just feel the natural cycle of it while you breath.

Moving energy in a circle takes more focus and so will the bouncing of energy, which might help take your mind of the loud breathing. Some people will use a fan on low for some background noise. Might help drown out the breathing sound.

I hope this helps.