These colors of blue are so great!
Midnight Zero g Dip
What I Do for Fun
This is an exercise of mind over body. The procedures can trigger a very deep response. Most people are not going to be inclined to try this due to a variety of inhibitions, fears, and a preference for not being dislodged from the comfort zone. This activity is a challenge at several levels, and with experience, it is best to face them all at once, but in learning this, it is easiest to add the challenges one at a time. The challenges include the removal of clothing, the immersion in water, the experience of cold, total submersion, breathing underwater, and weightlessness. Initially, people have an assortment of psychological blocks and structured thought -- these are the result of various defense and coping mechanisms that are developed throughout life in an effort to maintain comfort level. People often have deep-seated fears that are blocked out, and anxiety about water immersion could be the result of birth trauma imprinting.
I am barefoot in shorts and a t-shirt and it is midnight on November 1st. The outside air temp is about 55 and the pool water temp is about 65. I load up my CD changer with Vangelis, Enya, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin, and grab the remote and a couple towels (if it is daylight, I may bring my camera to take underwater pics & movies). Sometimes at night I will make a cup of hot chocolate spiked with something.
I step out to the pool which has two underwater speakers on mounts that I custom made. The sound is only audible when submerged, so it is convenient for playing music at night. I set up a remote eye outside by the pool for controlling the CD changer when I am outside.
I sit on a towel over a foam layer at the shallow end and put my feet in the water, which is shockingly cold. I know this is just a sensory illusion, and sit still for a few minutes while adapting to the water temperature. When the air temp is in the 50's it takes a few minutes, but if it is in the 80's or higher it only takes a few seconds.
Once my feet are used to the water, I step out and remove all my clothing and return to sitting with my feet in the pool. This step is optional and is a more advanced method. I step down to a deeper level in the water, and now my knees are underwater, and again it is shockingly cold. This sensation wears off in a few minutes, and I step down another 10 inches or so, and start walking around in 3 feet of water. By now I can feel that it is warmer than the air and the lower half of my body is adapted to the water.
At this time I walk over to the edge of the pool where I have an assortment of weights, a mask, and the air tank with a hose and regulator. The hose is 25 feet long, so nothing needs to be worn except the mask and weights. For weights, I have been using 2 lb ankle weights which is most comfortable, or for more in-depth buoyancy exercises, I use a fanny pack with various weight combinations, usually ranging from 1 to 10 lbs. I don the mask, put the regulator in my mouth and plunge into the water.
Although it does seem cold at first, I adapt to the water temperature in less than a minute and am now floating in zero g with the music suddenly audible once I am submerged. I stay under for 15 or 20 minutes at a time, sometimes longer. The music is carried very well under water and creates a unique omnipresent effect when submerged.
This transition to being submerged is always exciting and feels like stepping through a dimensional portal to another world!
The first set of experiments are to find out the exact buoyancy effects of breathing. Each person has a different lung volume and therefore a different range of buoyancy as the lungs go from near-empty to full. In my case I have a buoyancy of about 1 lb. lift with lungs empty and about 15 lbs. lift at full lung capacity. At first I was using about 10 lbs of ballast and breathing near the top 2/3 of lung capacity to maintain neutral buoyancy; more recently I am using 4 to 6 lbs. and breathing near the bottom of my capacity. This way I can just use ankle weights and not have to wear anything around my waist.
The next step is to practice hovering at a constant depth. Since breathing tends to cause a person to rise and sink as the air is inhaled and exhaled, special breathing methods are used for this.
Once buoyancy control is accomplished this way, the next step is to practice slow depth changes by gradually shifting the breathing to be higher in the lungs (a greater average lung volume), which will cause a rise, and then lowering the average lung volume to cause a gradual descent. Related to this are the pivot exercises, in which one is horizontal on the bottom and breathing just enough to raise the torso off the pool bottom but with the feet still on the bottom; exhaling to return to the horizontal.
Another exercise it to have a chair on the bottom (I use a plastic resin chair with some weights on it) and do pivots the same way but with heels on the chair and tilting up and down from level without touching the bottom.
---to be continued!---
fun in the sun -- this is my setup for practicing buoyancy control:
The yellow hose is about 25' long so I can leave the tank out and go anywhere in the pool using just the reg, mask & weight belt. I found that a fanny pack is the best choice for this work. I use the various weights to measure the buoyancy (in lbs. - how many pounds to make something neutral) of the gear, the tank full & almost empty, and myself with no air in the lungs & with max air (0 to 15 lbs). I found I need 10 lbs (2/3 of the most I can lift with completely full lungs), and I can adjust my depth going up or down by breathing near the top or bottom of my lungs.
Here are a few shots of my hose-diving...you can see the two speakers on the wall of the deeper end, and the chair is weighted down so I can practice buoyancy with it.
The feeling of freedom is indescribable!
tumbling in weightlessness!
I am listening to Kate Bush "Moving" here.
http://harmonicresolution.com/BinauralPhasing.htm
The way one inhales and exhales shows how they take in and put out life by revealing the essence of the entire cycle from beginning thru reversal and back again to the beginning. For all these reasons and more, breath is the biometric of choice for analyzing a person's current physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual state, and for gathering the resources necessary for their change, growth, and eventual transformation...their natural evolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassana
Vipassana (Sanskrit: vipasyana) is the practice of Insight Meditation. While it is often referred to as Buddhist meditation, the practice taught by the Buddha was non-sectarian, and has a universal application. It does not require conversion to Buddhism. While the meditation practices themselves vary from school to school, the underlying principle is the investigation of phenomena (Sanskrit: dharmas) as they manifest in the five aggregates (kandas) namely, matter or form (Rupa), sensation or feelings (Vedana), perception (Samjna), mental formations (Sankara) & consciousness (Vijnana). This process leads to direct experiential perception, Vipassana.
In a broader sense, vipassana has been used as one of two poles for the categorization of types of Buddhist meditation, the other being samatha. Samatha is a focusing, pacifying and calming meditation, common to many traditions in the world, notably Hindu Yoga, from which much of Buddhist terminology derives. It is used as a preparation for vipassana, pacifying the mind and strengthening the concentration in order to allow the work of Insight. This dichotomy is also sometimes discussed as "stopping and seeing." In Buddhist practice, it is said that while Samatha can calm the mind, only Insight can reveal how the mind was disturbed to start with, which leads to prajna (knowledge) and jnana (pure wisdom) and thus can lead to preventing it from being disturbed again.
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Practice of vipassana
Vipassana meditation is a very simple, logical technique which depends on direct experience, observation, rather than belief. It has three parts - adherence to a moral code (abstaining from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and intoxication), which is not an end in itself but a requirement for the second part, controlling the mind, development of concentration. With this concentrated mind, the third, main, part of the technique is detached observation of the reality of the mind and body from moment to moment. This practice both develops a deep, experiential understanding of reality and also brings to the surface and dissolves deep-seated complexes and tensions.
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In Vipassana meditation, the meditation object is one's own consciousness, although it can be further refined to be one's consciousness while observing, say, the breath, as in anapana meditation. In this context, the modes of seeing refers to focusing on those aspects of consciousness which appear to have (or not have) these characteristics.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapana
Anapana Sati, meaning mindfulness of breathing ("sati" means mindfulness, "anapana" refers to breathing) is a basic form of meditation taught by the Buddha. According to the Buddha's teaching in the anapanasati Sutra, practicing mindfulness of breathing meditation as a part of the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the removal of all defilements (klesas) and finally the attainment of Nibbana. Buddha's teaching was based on his own experience in using anapanasati as part of his means of achieving his own enlightenment. However, mindfulness of breath must be practiced along with metta bhavana so one does not withdraw from the world and lose emotional attachment and compassion.
The anapanasati Sutra is specifically about the mindfulness of in-and-out breathing. It recommends the practice of anapanasati meditation as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening: mindfulness, discernment, and persistence, which leads to rapture (piti), then to calm (sukha), which in turn leads to concentration and then to equanimity (?anti). Finally, the Buddha taught that with these factors developed in this progression, that the practice of anapanasati would lead to release or nirvana.
Anapanasati meditation is normally practiced either in conjunction with vipassana meditation, with zazen, or zen meditation in the soto Zen tradition (shikantaza). However, before the meditator can use vipassana, the meditator must first develop enough concentration using anapanasati meditation to be able undertake vipassana meditation.
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http://abel.hive.no/oj/musikk/trompet/exercise/yoga.html
Hatha Yoga breathing
Before we can improve our breathing we must remember that the
process existed long before we did - we have nothing to teach it. What we have
to do is to prepare ourselves to receive its revitalizing strength by removing
any obstacles that might hinder its good effects. Proper breathing depends on
our eliminating tension, correcting bad habits, wrong mental and physical
attitudes; the moment we get rid of these obstacles it will come into its own
and bring us vitality and good health.
The corsets of 1900 are no longer in fashion, but there is still more than one
item of clothing which prevents us from normal breathing - leather belts for
men, girdles and bras for women. These must be as flexible as possible if they
are not to hinder respiration. But the physical obstacles are even more
daunting: the hard tense stomach which encumbers every breath, imprisoning the
personality; the rib-cage as inflexible as a breast-plate; the diaphragm
immobilized by the wind - itself caused by spasms - which has accumulated in
the alimentary canal. The first step is to relax all these muscles, which when
permanently tense are designed more successfully than any corset to prevent
normal breathing; and this is why relaxation is the open door to yoga.
Priority given to exhalation
In the act of respiration, Westerners give precedence to the in-drawing of the
breath. Yoga, on the other hand, maintains that all good respiration begins
with a slow and complete exhalation, and that this perfect exhalation is an
absolute prerequisite of correct and complete inhalation, for the very simple
reason that, until a receptacle is emptied, it cannot be filled. Unless we
first breathe out fully it is impossible to breathe in correctly.
Normal respiration therefore, begins with a slow calm exhalation carried out by
relaxing of the inspiratory muscles. The chest is depressed by its own weight,
expelling the air. This out breath must be as silent as every other action
involved in breathing (you should not hear yourself breathe), and because it is
silent, it will also be slow. At the end of the expiration the abdominal
muscles help the lungs to empty to their fullest extent, by means of a
contraction which expels the last traces of tainted air. The spongy make-up of
the lungs does not allow them to be emptied completely - there is always a
residue of impure air in the lungs. We must attempt to minimize this
"residue" because with the fresh air provided by inhalation it makes
up the actual air we breathe. The more complete the exhalation, therefore, the
greater the quantity of fresh air to enter the lungs, and so the purer the air
in contact with the alveolar surfaces.
The total volume of air which the lungs are able to contain is known as "the vital capacity". A more apt term cannot be imagined, and innumerable techniques have been thought up aimed at increasing this capacity. Before we can contemplate this improvement we must make use of what we already possess by carefully exhaling. Yoga recognizes three separate forms of breathing - diaphragmatic, intercostal, and clavicular. Complete yogic breathing combines all three, and constitutes the ideal technique.
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Complete breathing
Complete yogic respiration incorporates all three methods, integrated into one
single, full and rhythmic movement. The method is best studied while you are
lying on your back, here is a brief description of the various phases:
1) Empty the lungs entirely.
2) Slowly lower the diaphragm allowing air to enter the lungs. When the abdomen
swells filling the bottom of the lungs with air...
3) ...expand the ribs without straining, then...
4) ...allow the lungs to completely fill by raising the collar-bones.
Throughout this procedure, the air should enter in a continuous
flow, without gasping. No noise must be made for it is essential to breathe
silently!
It is of the utmost importance to concentrate the mind entirely upon the action
of breathing!
When the lungs are completely filled, breathe out, in the same sequence as when inhaling. Now breathe in again in the same way. You may continue for as long as you wish. It should not induce any discomfort of fatigue. You can practice it at any time of day, whenever you think of it, at work, walking, any time; breathe consciously and as completely as possible. Gradually you will acquire the habit of complete respiration, and your method of breathing will improve as you go on. It is essential to reserve daily, for a few minutes' practice, a special time convenient to yourself (the morning when you wake up is a good time, and so is the evening before going to sleep).
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http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/anapanasati.pdf
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/resnotes/notes/94-11.htm
How Much Air Do We Breathe?
In this Note we describe the first large systematic study to measure the amount
of air people breathe during their normal activities. The amount of air
breathed and related physiological factors were measured on 160 normally active
males and females ranging from 6 to 77 years of age. Measurements were taken
both during actual work and play conditions and in laboratory settings.
A sea star -- the color was much brighter:
The galley:
These dolphins all started showing up to chase the boat on the way back to Santa Barbara.
They came around to the bow to ride the bow wave -- there must've been a hundred or more, coming to the boat from every direction!
