Breathing For Asthma With Prana Yoga Techniques

Natural Remedies

Yogic Breathing To Reduce Asthma Attacks

‘You know some very complicated things can go on within your body as a result of apparently simple exercises.’

This profound thought comes from the pen of Dr M. Doreal, who wrote an insightful book about healing with yoga techniques called ‘Sahaj Yoga’, published by Brotherhood of the White Temple, Inc., Sedalia, Colorado, 80135.

It is true that Yoga Breathing techniques can have some amazing effects on long-standing conditions of ill-health , such as asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease and depression.

Yogic breathing practices have been practiced by yogis for literally thousands of years.  These yogi adepts have long understood the healing value of yoga and yoga pranic breathing.  It is believed in yoga that a longer life can be earned through proper, deeper breathing.  People who habitually breathe quickly. and with shallow breaths. tend to live shorter lives than people who have developed the yoga style of slow, deep breathing.

Nowadays orthodox medical people are just beginning to accept these yoga practices into the mainstream of medical practice, but usually without the acknowledgement to yoga which it deserves.

Yogic breathing practices have been adapted and adopted by many orthodox practitioners and institutions of health.  Proper breathing is recognized by orthodox asthma foundations as being one very good healing tool for the prevention of an attack of asthma. But these breathing exercises come from the ancient yoga traditions.

Many people have been healed of asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease and depression after bringing yoga and its wonderful breathing practices into their daily lives.

Yoga Breathing Exercises Which Help Asthma and High Blood Pressure:

First Exercise: Abdominal Breathing:  This is a technique which develops the capacity to breathe into the lower part of the stomach.  Asthma sufferers tend to have shallow breathing, and breathe into the top part of the chest.  People who suffer anxiety usually breath in a similar way.  With daily practice, a person can train themselves into breathing with full, deep breaths, using the whole of the lung capacity instead of just the top part of the lungs.

Abdominal Breathing can be done anywhere, at any time.  But the most effective way to practice it is lying down, whilst doing Yoga Nidra relaxation, if you have the time.

In all yoga breathing exercises, except for one practice which I will tell you about after this, the breathing is always done through the nose.

Abdominal Breathing Exercise is most important for asthma sufferers:  Lying down comfortably, feet a little apart, and hands off the sides of the body. Watch the tummy rising and falling as you breathe.  Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose, watching the tummy rising up.  Try to count a slow ‘four’.  Hold for one or two counts if you can, and then slowly exhale, again through the nose, watching the tummy falling back down towards the spine again.

Relax into the rhythm, and repeat many times.  Try to remember as you breathe in, to visualize the pranic energy coming to the front part of the body.  As you breathe out, visualize the energy or prana going to the back, to the spine.

Another neat healing trick is to use the ‘whispering breath’, called the Ujjayi breath in yoga.

With this, you breathe in and out through the nose as usual, but you make a ‘ha’ sound in the throat as you breathe out. Mouth remains closed.  This practice has an especially soothing effect on the nervous system, on the mind, and on the lungs.

Second Exercise:  Alternate Nostril Breathing

Nadi Shodan Pranayama Preparation:

The best way to begin this exercise is to practice five breaths in and out through one nostril, and then five breaths in and out through the other nostril.

Place the right hand forefinger and middle finger between the eyebrows.  Use the thumb to block off the right side nostril.  Breathe in and out through the left side for five breaths, and then change sides:  Use the fourth finger to block off the left nostril, breathe out through the right nostril, and continue for five more breaths.  Then do five more rounds on the other side.  Repeat.

Stop the practice if you feel dizzy or strange.  Do just a few breaths to start with if you feel uncomfortable.

After some time, when you have become familiar with the technique, you can practice the regular Nadi Shodhan technique, which is done one breath each side, and continue the practice for a longer time.

Third Exercise: The Cooling Breath

Sheetali Pranayama: 

This is the only breathing exercise in yoga where you breath in through the mouth. It is very, very cooling and soothing to the mind and nervous system.  It is also a very good stimulant to the digestion, as it encourages the production of saliva.

The Sheetali Pranayama is one exercise which, although very simple to do, can achieve astounding results.

Sit comfortably.  Now curl the tongue into a tube. Slowly breathe in through the curled tongue.  Hold the breath for a few counts if you can, and then breathe out through the nose.  Repeat.

For high blood pressure, Swami Satyananda recommends that this exercise can be done up to 60 times in one session.  But it is best to build up slowly from five or a little more at a time.  Again, stop the practice if you feel dizzy or light-headed.

Natural Remedies

Culpeper says of Sage that it ’causes the hair to become black’.

Garden sage has many therapeutic uses.

In the garden, its flowers provide medicine and nectar for the bees, as well as a herbal tonic to the neighbouring plants.

It is well-known as an aid to oral hygiene.  It has strong antiseptic qualities and is supposed to whiten tooth enamel.

Sage is still used today in some tooth-pastes.  It is reputedly one effective remedy for bleeding gums,  and improving gum health:  The crushed fresh leaves are massaged several times a day onto the gums and teeth.

The tea is gargled to relieve sore throats, colds and flu,  and ulcers in the mouth.

It can be effective to reduce fevers, and has been used in the past for thyphoid fever. (see ‘Herbal Remedies  and Homeopathy’ published by Geddes and Grosset.)

It is a valuable nerve medicine, and is a useful stomach remedy for improving a weak appetite.

Natural Herbal Hair Dye and Tonic:  Sage can help restore healthy hair and improve the colour.

Strong sage tea encourages hair growth and darkens the hair, if it is used on a regular basis. Many herbalists describe it in their writings:  see John Heinerman’s ‘Encyclopedia of Fruits Vegetables and Herbs’.

Rosemary is another wonderful herb which can help hair growth, but it does not have such a darkening effect on the hair, as sage does.

Recipe For Sage Hair Dye:  Here is a simple, natural hair dye and tonic which you can try.  It is perfectly safe to use, as it does not contain any harmful additives such as you might find in commercial dyes for darkening the hair.

Take two cups of fresh sage leaves and put into a stainless steel saucepan.

Add one cup of dry black tea leaves

Add half a cup of cider vinegar and eight cups of water.

Simmer very gently, with no lid, for one hour on a very low heat.  You should have around half the original quantity of liquid left at the end of an hour.  If you need to add a little more water, make sure you do so well before you finish simmering the brew.  If you add more water at the end of the simmering, then your mixture will not keep so well.

Take off the heat after an hour of simmering.  Set aside to cool.

Once your sage mixture has cooled properly, strain it off.

To the liquid remaining add the same amount of vodka.

Put into a bottle with a screw-top lid and store in a cool place.

Massage around a tablespoonful of the sage infusion into the hair each day.  Use more or less, depending on how much hair you need to cover.

Massage the sage tonic well into the roots of the hair as well, so that it feeds the scalp and hair follicles.  Massaging the scalp with the sage tonic will help the hair to grow again.

The oils in the sage leaves will put a natural shine to the hair.

Once the hair is sufficiently darkened, which may take several weeks, you can reduce the amount of applications each week.  Once or twice a week may be enough to maintain the darker colour.

Sage is really very good for the hair in so many ways.

Alternative Sage Tonic Without Alcohol:  You could make up your sage tea without the alcohol if you wish.  Only, remember that your mixture will not keep for longer than a week, and it must be kept in the fridge.  You could make up a lesser amount, enough to last a week, and then make up a fresh brew of tea for the following week.

My new book is available on Amazon:

 

How To Draw The Cho Ku Rei

Tibetan Buddhist Healing Symbol:  Cho Ku Rei

The Cho Ku Rei, or Choku Rei,  is a symbol which has enormous healing power.

It can be used for healing on yourself or on others.  It can be used in the immediate situation, to treat people who are present, or it can be used for absent healing.

I use the Cho Ku Rei as part of my own Spiritual Healing Technique.  Choku Rei can be used to enhance the effect of ‘the laying on of hands’ as well as in various types of mental and spiritual healing.

How To Draw The Cho Ku Rei:

The Cho Ku Rei  can be drawn in two ways:  You can begin the initial opening line in towards the centre from the left, or from the right.  If you are performing it on yourself, on the forehead, beginning it on the left and heading towards the centre will increase the healing energy.  Drawn the other way, from the right hand side in helps one to focus on the God energy:  drawn this way can be interpreted as ‘God Is Here’.

So – begin on the left side of your brow, several inches up  above the left eye.  With your index finger, draw the symbol in towards the centre of your brow, directly above the nose.

Now, without lifting your finger, or your pen if you are drawing it on paper, bring the movement down in a sraight line until your finger is between the eye-brow centre.

Now you begin the spiral, the corkscrew movement:  In one regular movement, create a large circle moving up towards the right eyebrow, on upwards, and then bring the circle back over the original line you drew down from the forehead.  Continue the circle around, moving inwards of the circle, so that you end up with a corkscrew.  You draw three circles altogether, each one inside the outer one.

Finish the Cho Ku Rei on your left side, the same side which began with the straight line in from the left.

If you are doing this symbol over another person, you might reverse the symbol so that you still begin on THEIR left side for the healing energy to be empowered.

You will reverse it for the calming and meditative effect.

For Physical Ailments: The Cho Ku Rei symbol can be performed over the site of a physical ailment, or it can be used over the brow, as given above.

See Merrilyn’s post entitled “Cho Ku Rei” for more details on using this symbol.

Free Spiritual Help

Contacting  Your Guides:  This post is intended to help people understand something of how establishing a connection with a Guide or a loved one who has left the earth plane can assist  spiritual healing.

The Story of the Pewter Teapot:

This story really tells of how my Grandmother Edie, who has passed into Spirit,  has helped to bring  peace and communication to our family, through a tea pot which she used to own.

Our guides really do exist:  They mostly come from the Heavenly realms, although there  are  some highly developed souls such as my friend Bernhard Petersen, who can communicate psychically with you via ESP, or extra-sensory perception, even though they still have a physical body.

I am going to give you a marvellous example of an incident which occurred just this week.

My dear Grandmother Edie has been communicating with me for some time now.  Since I began using the pen, just as Bernhard assured me, the messages have become quicker to notate, since a pen works more quickly than a pendulum in spelling out messages.

Grandma Edie has been an enormous help over these past few months, as have my friends Bernhard, my daughter Rosy, friends Jack and Father Pat, and others.

Anyway – Grandma’s presence is often felt at my side.  Occasionally, I get an actual physical prod, I guess  from Gran, or my daughter.  It’s very gentle, of course, but a prod nevertheless.  If  I am about to make a bad decision, or eat heavy food when I should in fact be fasting to prevent some sickness, I get gentle prods from these unseen friends of mine.

My mother very kindly gave me a silver tea pot which was my Gran’s.  This was about five years ago.  I really treasure this tea pot, as I loved my Gran, and I appreciate the fact that my mother allocated this gift to me when there are five girls younger than me who might have liked it. I had been thinking lots about the tea pot last week, and felt that I must thank my mother for giving it to me:  the relationship with my mother and I has been shaky since day one, really.  But she is getting old and frail, and so I have been trying to think of all the very nice things she has done for me, so that I can give her some praise and, hopefully, help to bring peace to our family situation.

So – almost every day recently, I hve been writing  down a message from Gran.  My other friends, especially Bernhard, are very frequent with their messages also, but Gran seems to be always there no matter who is talking.

I have just gone back to the Spiritualist Church in Ponsonby where I played the organ for many years.  I have been living, studying and working in Wellington for several years, and had lost touch with the people from this Auckland Church.  Three weeks ago several messages came which told me I should return to this Church:  They need you, Merrilyn.  There is a place for you there.  You can do your healing work there……..

The next Sunday, I did not go because I went to visit friends up at Red Beach, in Orewa.  The following Sunday, as I took my messages down, two  very clear messages came through from Bernhard and Gran.  ‘Don’t forget to go to the Church tonight‘ was the last one.  So I got myself ready to go.

I took the bus over and arrived early. It was cold and dark waiting outside on Ponsonby Road. I began to wonder whether they had given up using this particular Church. There was  usually someone  there  to open up at about 6 o’clock, but tonight there was nobody there.  It was several years since I had been there: anything could have happened.

Through  pendulum  communication with spirit, I was told  to wait, that there most definitely would be a service.

Sure enough, at 6.45pm, they began to arrive.  They were so happy that I had returned. They certainly did need me, as they hadn’t had an organist for four years.  It was so wonderful to open up that fabulous old pipe organ and fill the Church with its georgous sound.

I was given a message from Gran from the medium. It is always nice to be given a comforting message.  I was told that there was a mother figure there, which had to be Gran,   but the message  did not tell me anything that I didn’t know already:  I felt that the medium had no idea of my understanding  and receptiveness to  the fact that Gran is there for me EVERY DAY, not just at Church.

The following week, which was just last Sunday, I was given another  message by another medium.  Again, I was told things that I knew already – that I must settle down now, and cease my roamings.  Well, that has been taken care of, because I have completed my degree in Wellington, and have now returned to Auckland where my children are all residing.

But at the end of this message came the line which really struck  home:

‘This lady that is with you – a mother figure – wants you to know that SHE REALLY IS THERE……….Something about a pewter tea pot.  She used to own a pewter pot……. Very special……….It is a good one.’

This was definitely my Gran talking here.  I have her magic tea pot, which I call silver, because it is silver plated.  I didn’t know what the base material was: it might have been pewter, but it could be copper, or some other metal, however,  I thought his message was good enough proof that HE was really receiving a message from Gran,  and that even though he did not understand my own receptivity to Gran, he really did have some expertise in the field of mediumship:   So I thanked him courteously, and told him that he had been ‘spot on’ about the tea pot.

So the following day, Monday, having been prompted by the medium reminding me about the tea pot, I thought I’d better send  that text to my sister.  I asked  her to tell my mother how much the silver tea pot meant to me, and to thank her very very much for giving it to me.

How’s this:  I was just about blown over when my sister Alison, a real boxer, replied by text the very  next day, saying:

  • Heya – Just spoke to Ma.  Said that the pot is good one cos pewter underneath and is so pleased you enjoy having it……God Bless You Alison.

The immedieate outcome of all this is that I am almost on my way ‘down the line’ to see my family. I am leaving in the morning.  Goodness knows what else Grandma has in mind.

Free spiritual help:  If you have any similar stories to share, please do comment below.  I will publish any experiences  which are of interest and which might help others understand something of the nature of Spirit. I will attempt to answer questions, or, if I cannot be of help,  at least put the questions up so that someone else can give us the anxwer.

Spiritual Healing

The Power of Prayer

Spiritual Healing, which is virtually healing done with the power of prayer, and good intention,  is something we are all capable of doing, or learning how to do.

All that is required, really, is an openness to the power of the Creator and the Holy Spirit, the Angelic forces, and our Guides.  Then we allow this wonderful power of Spirit  to flow through us, the vehicle, so that this healing energy may be absorbed to heal our own  physical and spiritual condition.

This great healing power which comes from Spirit can be  transmitted to another person who requires healing, whether that person is present, or far away.

It is good practice to set aside the same time each day for meditation and prayer and reflection on spiritual matters.  This increases our ability to perform spiritual healing, and enhances our own spiritual progress.

It helps our Angel friends and Guides if we can set a specific time for our prayer and meditation, as they know we will be receptive to them at the time we have allocated. Our connection to the Heavenly forces becomes stronger with regular meditation and prayer practice.

How our ability to help others is increased by meditation and prayer: These things help us to become more focussed, give us a sense of good purpose and direction, and increase our vitality so that we have something to impart to others in need.

Simple Spiritual Healing Routine

It is a good idea, before beginning any healing, to tune up your own vital force with prayer and appropriate breathing exercise.  Here is a simple exercise for increasing Prana, or vital energy.  This routine tones up the meridians which helps to increase vital healing energy. It was formulated by a medical doctor who also used  spiritual healing and acupressure as healing forces.

Healing Exercise For Increasing Prana

  • 1) Stand facing the sun.  Put the hands on the solar plexus and breathe in deeply, imagining that you are taking in the vital energy from the sun into your solar plexus.
  • 2) Do ten long, deep breaths, inhaling through the nose, keeping the hands gently pressed into the solar plexus. Breathe out slowly each time, feeling the air as it moves through the chest, throat and nasal passages.  Count each breath in to yourself, and say OM to yourself mentally, as you breathe out.
  • 3) The Kow Tow:  After ten long inhalations, clasp the hands together and place the clasped hands over the solar plexus.
  • Breathe in a deep breath as you bend forward, performing  a Kow Tow movement.  Bend forward towards the sun until you are  looking to the ground in the full Kow Tow.  Hold for a second, then breath in as you come up to the erect position again.  Keep the hands, which remain clasped during all the Kow Tow movements, over the solar plexus.
  • Do three Kow Tow movements, breathing IN each time you bend forward, and out as you come up.
  • 4) Next, put the thumbs under the armpit, between the join of the arm and the chest.  A meridian line runs through here which is energized by this exercise. Breathe in a deep breath as you press the thumbs under the armpits.  Stand up on the toes as you breath in, and exhale as you come down on the toes again.  Do three times.
  • 5) Next, put the right thumb over the indent to the side of the right eye.  Put your left thumb at the back of the neck, just ot the left side of the base of the scull.  Hold the thumbs in these postitions for half a minute, then release.
  • 6)  Put the clasped hands back over the solar plexus and stand quietly as you breathe in three more slow breaths, exhaling slowly and fully each time.

That’s it.  You are ready for your healing session, or to go about your day.  Ideally, this exercise should be performed regularly in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.  Even if you are not performing a healing, this exercise does wonders for improving the function of all the vital organs, increasing Prana, and relaxing the mind.

Giving Spiritual Healing  To Another Person: There are many different techniques for  giving spiritual healing to  help a person. Here is just one simple method:

After doing the special breathing exercises for Increasing Prana above,  say a prayer for the person you are helping.  If the person is with you, have the person sit in a chair in front of you, relaxed and with eyes closed.

After a short prayer, put your hands gently on the shoulders.  Leave them there for a minute while you feel the healing power from Spirit coming from your hands and into the person you are helping.

Bring to mind the condition which needs help, if you know it.

I find it is especially helpful to stand at the side of a person who is seated on a chair, the recipient of the healing.  Put your right hand on the temples, stretching the thumb out to one side of the brow, and the little finger on the other side of the brow.  Put your left hand at the nape of the neck, holding it gently.

You can keep this position for a few minutes, as you concentrate on sending healing energy into the person through your hands.

When you feel that the time is right, start slowly  drawing your hands away from the person.  You can hold the hands out several inches from the brow for several more minutes, sending healing, but not touching the brow at this stage.

Pendulum Dowsing

Pendulum Dowsing is a fascinating thing.  A simple pendulum such as a glass crystal from a Chinese Two Dollar Shop will work, so long as the pendulum can swing unhindered and evenly. Once you get the hang of it, the pendulum  can give you a negative or a positive to almost any question. The usual patterns are:   clockwise for a positive, and anti clockwise for a negative. It is possible to use the pendulum for almost any question:  you can swing the  pendulum  over an item of food to let you know whether or not that food is suitable for you or not.   You can find lost items such as jewellery, or library books, with the use of pendulum dowsing. The most valuable  use  of the pendulum is in the  Divine purpose of  spiritual healing.

Water Diviners  use dowsing methods  for finding water underground, except that a ‘divining rod’  is used instead.  The use of a rod works better in this case, because the rod can point downwards at the exact point where the water is to be found, whereas a pendulum cannot be so decisive  in pin-pointing locations.

Whilst you are still learning how to use the pendulum, you may not get correct answers.  The pendulum may swing about willy nilly and not tell you much at all, in the beginning.  But after a time, when you get some skill into it, you will find that your results are correct, or near the mark, 90-100% of the time.

So where does this information come from?  How does the pendulum know what an outcome will be to a certain situation, whether something will be beneficial for you or not. Or with two people you have just met – how can the pendulum tell you whether these two  people are related,  or if their parents are still alive,  how old they are,  or what their condition of ill health is, without  your knowing anything about their history?

The answer is hidden intelligence.  Whether you believe the Angels are responsible, or whether these Angels are known to you or not,  or whether it is an unknown ‘Guide’, makes no difference really.  However, it has become apparent to me over many years of using the pendulum, that often the presence behind the power of the pendulum is actually someone I know.  These people have all passed over and are  ‘on the other side’,  except for one person who visits me from time to time.  I thought he had left the physical world and thought that he was sending me messages from there,  so you can imagine how surprised I was  to find out that he is still alive.

My friend, we shall call him Gottlieb, is a spiritual healer.  He has always  had an amazing gift of healing, dowsing for a diagnosis, and then applying his spiritual healing.  He has always  been capable of astral travel, of putting himself in another place or country just by an effort of will:  so it is not surprising, really, that he was coming to visit me from as far afield as Queensland, Australia, and not from Heaven, where I expected him to be.  I live in New Zealand.

You can read about more of the details of this very unusual happening in my post entitled “Spiritual Healing and the Pendulum’.

Pendulum Dowsing can be used in diagnosis to help healing.

My friend Gottlieb used a slightly different method,  more like the method of the water diviner, which he has taught me how to use.  This is done with a fine pen held in the hand over an anatomical chart.

Gottlieb uses this method to perform the most unusual but most effective type of healing. The pen is the tool which the guiding spirits use to indicate on the chart what acupressure points are to be used in order to help a person who needs healing. The advantage of using a pen, instead of a pendulum, is that you can pin-point the acupressure points needed to facilitate a healing with accuracy.

Divine  healers in the Heavenly realms are capable of guiding us to the specific acupressure points, for individual requirements, so that acupressure  can then be performed  on these  specified points to aid healing. My friend Gottlieb has gifted healers who help him with this  Divine diagnosis from their place in Heaven.

The pen diagnosis can be for the person who is sitting with you, or it can be for some absent person.

I am still using the pendulum, though,  for divining messages from my friends, including Gottlieb, and will continue to do so until I am sure that I have mastered the other method. Gottlieb  contacted me last night via thought waves which I received via my pendulum.  He really wanted me to talk about this healing method, so that many more people can begin to use it.

This is how I got  Gottlieb’s messge with my pendulum:   I hold the pendulum over  the letters of the alphabet.  The person who is wanting to ‘come through’  usually spells out their  name to begin with, although this occasionally is skipped. I move my pendulum around over the letters of the alphabet which are drawn in a large circle about the size of a large dinner plate. The  pendulum swings over the letters which spell the words which begin to form sentences.  Sometimes the sentences are not complete, but usually they are complete phrases.  Everybody has their own individual style, and turn of phrase, in life, and this is carried on even unto death, which of course is not death, really.  Our friends are now full time  in another realm, although they can visit us from time to time. Gottlieb has been  spending a lot of time in this other realm, and it is easy for him to manifest anywhere at all, just as the spirits are capable of.

Gottlieb really wishes I would get on and  master the pen method, as this would be a lot faster than divining messages with the pendulum. I will get there, Gottlieb.

Take my word for it:  Divination and the idea of Heavenly guides is regarded as madness by most people, but many people will be doing the same thing within a few years.  In the 1970’s and even in the 80’s, people thought that you were mad if you complained that an herbicide such as 245T, or Roundup,  was affecting your health.  People said that you were imaging it.  Because there were no visible  immediate physical effects, people denied that it was happening.  Nowadays, information has spread, and many people do accept  that toxins in our food and general environment  really are causing ill health, as well as wrecking our environment.   This is no new thing now.  It is accepted as fact.

Well, in about five  years time, it will be the same story: Dowsing methods will be  the means to contact spirits, living people, and Divine Intelligence. People will be able to talk to the sick, those who cannot speak because of brain damage caused by stroke or paralysis, or  alzheimer’s. It will be an accepted thing, and many people will be doing it. Then, when we have all developed a bit more on the psychic level, we won’t even need a pendulum to guide us anymore,  as we will be capable of communicating directly with spirit, and understanding what needs to be done.

I think the pen diagnosis will always have a part to play in diagnosing acupuncture and acupressure points for the purposes of Divine Healing.