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Breath Awareness Technique

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meditation
3K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  Broken 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I just wanted to stop by and post this meditation technique. I saw someone asking about techniques earlier but cant find the thread.

Breath Awareness meditation can help a lot.

Its simple- place your concious attention on the tip of your nose and just observe the breath coming and going. Dont follow it. if thoughts pull you away, just go back to the tip of the nose.

If you can do this everyday for 20-30 + minutes, you can start to develop the Insight needed to reconnect with your body and being. It can help greatly with DR especially.

Reconnect with the energy centers and Is-ness in your body, develop your mindfullness and insight. Reverse your concious attention inwards.

Also i suffered just like most of you for close to twenty years. I'm an old poster on this site, this is just a new account.
I had DR for 15 + years, non stop. It can go away. Dive into it, completely.
 
#2 ·
Thank you for sharing. Unfortunately meditation caused this issue for some people so it is a bit of a taboo topic here. I am open minded to it helping though, did you have chronic or intermittent DP for 20 years? What caused it? How long did you practice this meditation before it helped? Thanks again!
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thank you for sharing. Unfortunately meditation caused this issue for some people so it is a bit of a taboo topic here. I am open minded to it helping though, did you have chronic or intermittent DP for 20 years? What caused it? How long did you practice this meditation before it helped? Thanks again!
Chronic- debilitating- non stop
and it was caused by smoking a joint when i was 13. I'm 31 now.

I got pretty desperate about 5 or 6 years ago, got off all my meds and literally started meditating/doing yoga like a monk. Multiple hours a day.
Sometimes 4-5 hours +.

It took quite a while to see the DR fade, I had to be persistent daily for a long time.
Once I combined that breathing technique with Yoga I really started to see results.

Imo developing your Insight/(Inner body awareness) is the key.

My awareness was lost in viewing/labeling the outside world through compulsive thoughts. Which was causing the DR type symptoms.

Once I developed the proper Insight, I retrained my awareness to rest in my inner-Being / energy centers and the dreamlike/unreal feelings started to fade.

Its possible to Repersonalize yourself.

I hope this post helps.
 
#5 ·
Wow that has helped dude thank you! It's never good to hear someone had chronic DP as I know how awful it is, but it always gives me hope when there is a recovery story from it, and I pay more attention to those! Yours is the 2nd recovery story I have heard use vipassana/breath meditation to recover from chronic, weed induced DP.

So by insight/inner body awareness, you recommend focusing on the nose? Sorry, just to clarify by 'a long time' for it to take effect, do you mean weeks, months or years?

it is the same as heart rate variability biofeedback, It is thought to be stimulating to a parasympathetic "safe-response" from the vagus nerve.
Interesting that you mention this. How does it though? I am unsure if the vagus nerve goes to the face/nose... I know it goes to the ears and larynx/pharynx.. Have always been unsure of how focusing on the nose stimulates it.
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Wow that has helped dude thank you! It's never good to hear someone had chronic DP as I know how awful it is, but it always gives me hope when there is a recovery story from it, and I pay more attention to those! Yours is the 2nd recovery story I have heard use vipassana/breath meditation to recover from chronic, weed induced DP.

So by insight/inner body awareness, you recommend focusing on the nose? Sorry, just to clarify by 'a long time' for it to take effect, do you mean weeks, months or years?

Interesting that you mention this. How does it though? I am unsure if the vagus nerve goes to the face/nose... I know it goes to the ears and larynx/pharynx.. Have always been unsure of how focusing on the nose stimulates it.
It is awful and ruined the best years of my life. How long have you been suffering?

It was a gradual fading of symptoms over months to years of practice. (i still practice daily) But I was dealing with more then just DR.. I was going through cold turkey Benzo and amphetimine withdrawl aswell. (was on those for 20 years).

focusing on the tip of the nose sharpened my concentration/Mindfulness.

In time, it was like my concious attention became a one pointed-Laser, that could "Penetrate" or "Cut" deeper into reality.
So with that enhanced awareness came enhanced bodily awareness, thought awareness, emotional awareness and healing.

I really feel like when it comes to healing DP/DR.. Its all about becoming mindful that you are exactly Who and Where you are supposed to be. And really embodying that feeling.
Then Diving into/penetrating the painful energy of your symptoms with mindful compassion.
 
#9 ·
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/neuraptitude/201512/the-neuroscience-mindfulness

I just wanted to add this link here for the effects of meditation. This is extremely interesting and relates strongly with the neuroscience of DP. I would say, focus on the COOLNESS of the nose and nothing else, don't complicate this as I have done many times before.

The four brain structures activated by meditating on the breath are have ALL been related to DP. Insula- inner body awareness, somatosensory cortex- again inner body sensations, anterior cingulate cortex- attention(?), dlPFC- this brain area has been proven to be linked to depression and I think one person found relief through magnetic stimulation on this area:

"The TPN consists of another four neurological structures: insula, somatosensory cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) (2).

When you decide instead to focus on your breath, the insula provides the internal sensations of your heartbeat and breathing while the somatosensory cortex furnishes the external sensation of coolness at the tip or your nose. The ACC acts as a prism, focusing the intention of your dlPFC to attend to the aforementioned internal and external sensations."
 
#12 ·
In a weird coincidence, i just started doing this technique again yesterday before you posted. I am going to try my upmost to stick to doing it every day

I am just focusing on the breath. Nowhere in particular just breathing where it is obvious. Then all I have to be conscious of is "am I focusing on my breathing or something else". Its quite shocking when you realise how addicted to thinking you are. Then just bring the focus back to the breath hundreds of times. Will try to stick to this for a month and let you know
 
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