S-H
you may consider this from someone who has taught many people and practiced it myself for many years after learning it from some phenomenal people.

offered as something to help foster more positive feeling and attitude to strengthen you in overcoming the effects you are feeling - (this is coming from some phenomenal martial arts and yoga masters of the past century in Japan), I have seen the practice used to great benefit in various stressful situations and cases of illness :

In the interest of clarity, I have dropped any jargon/japanese terms. The term Breathing here is understood to mean the very specific and powerful method of breathing described below.

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The Breathing may be done in any position; the best position is when sitting seiza (kneeling position sitting on feet that keeps the diaphragm unobstructed -- alternatively sitting on the edge of a wood chair or lying down can be used instead or standing for short periods). The Breathing is optimally done for 20 minutes at a time at first. Eventually, you should be able to continue Breathing for 30 minutes without effort. Breathing should be natural, not forced. This Breathing will allow you to consume more oxygen and expel more carbon dioxide than most breathing methods. Breathing will energize and relax you at the same time. Breathing will enhance your ability to coordinate mind and body. Breathing will allow you to become more centered and positive. Perception of pain is reduced and energy increased.

Correct Breathing is difficult to master because just being able to sit still for 20 minutes at a time is a task in itself; so do not force it. Breathe as long as you can until you feel the urge to stop; when this happens, it is time to stop. For some, at first this is only a few minutes and that is fine. You start where you are. At first, breathing should be done at the same time every day. The next day, breathe at least as long as you did the day before. Continue this process until you can reach the 20-30 minute goal. Remember that slow and consistent practice will allow you to benefit the most from this Breathing exercise.

I find that Breathing, just before bedtime, will enable me to sleep more soundly and wake up faster, feeling totally rested. Breathing is also helpful in finding solutions to problems. Concentrate on the problem at hand before you start to breathe. Start breathing but do not think about the problem; when you finish Breathing, you may have a better idea of how to solve your problem. If you get nervous, before a presentation or any stressful activity, Breathing will allow you to relax and complete the task at hand with confidence and relaxed control.

The following is a description of the Breathing Method:

* Position yourself in the correct seiza posture; sitting kneeling...lower back in... leaning slightly forward over your center. This will be referred to as the neutral postion.

* Concentrate correctly; imagine your mind at your center (3 inches below your navel)... let your muscles naturally relax but do not collapse... focus your (attention/energy) away from your body and your center.

* Exhale first: open your mouth and begin to let your breath flow naturally out. As you exhale, create the sound "HAAAA" as softly as possible. Use your throat muscles to control the flow of your breath. If you do not control your breath, the exhalation will be done much too quickly. When you cannot exhale any longer, bend slightly forward from your center. This will compress the diaphragm and allow you to exhale a bit more. After shifting forward and exhaling completely, return to the neutral position and concentrate on your center, still imagining that you are exhaling. Remain in the neutral position for 5 seconds. The exhalation cycle should take 35 seconds in total... exhale for 30 seconds and hold for 5 seconds. (However, work you way up to these durations, don't force it or hold your breath)

* Inhale next: close your mouth and begin to let the air flow naturally through your nose. Use your throat muscles to control the flow of your breath. If you do not control your breath, the inhalation will be done much too quickly. When you cannot inhale any longer, bend slightly backward from your center. This will expand the diaphragm and allow you to inhale a bit more. After shifting backward and inhaling completely, return to the neutral position and concentrate on your center, still imagining that you are inhaling. Remain in the neutral position for 5 seconds. The inhalation cycle should take 25 seconds in total...inhale for 20 seconds and hold for 5 seconds.

Remember, do not force this exercise; if a 30 second exhalation is too much for you to do, then reduce the exhalation to 20 seconds or whatever feels right. But remember to also reduce the inhalation time to 2/3 of the exhalation time. Always hold the neutral position for 5 seconds, no matter how much the inhalation or exhalation times change.

When inhaling and exhaling, imagine that your energy/intent is flowing along with your breath. This will allow you to maximaize the effect of the Breathing method to your overall well-being. .........Hal Singer 7/28/88.

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I add that when you have got it right, a person should be able to place their hand on your upper chest and feel no obvious movement as you breathe in and out deeply. Most adults raise their chest unconsciously when breathing and this promotes tension and shallow breathing. The above practice will allow you over time to breath deeper with raising your chest and bunching tension in the shoulder area. (A factor good martial artists or top athletes understand because it makes one easier to unbalance.)

in the spirit of a positive contribution to your recovery.

keyboard samurai - I know this breathing method is for S-H, but just to let you know, I am going to steal it. I have seen some of these methods that require slaughtering chickens when inhaling, etc., but this process looks doable, and I can certainly use anything that helps me to relax and energize myself. I'll let you know how it goes (who knew I would have to practice breathing????)

i'm so sorry to hear of your troubles.. as a fellow athlete and pianist i know it must be horribly frustating.

here's to your health.

Mr S.H. Hope you get back to your usual energy level soon. Take care

Great!

actually the things we think we already know how are the hardest things to practice correctly. That's why you can do it only for a few minutes initially.

how you breathe is affected by what you are feeling and vice versa - if you change how you breathe it can change how you are feeling. definite feedback loop there.

Mr. S-H,

Thanks for your note...your absence has been very obvious, even for a non-regular like me. Wishing you well.

Lynn

Just adding to all these encouraging posts - I hope they'll make those bacteria shake with fear. Keep up your attitude, you'll make it!

Patty

Keyboard Samurai:

At first, I have to admit that I "assumed" that your reply was some wacky-homebrew recovery method that you learned about on an infomercial!.

I was in fact very wrong!; and you are definately on to something, here's why:

Currently, there is no known cure for Lymes, as well as many auto-immune diseases such as Lupas, fybromyalgia, bells palsy, etc. This is because a foriegn bacteria has entered ones body and the human auto immune systen simply does not know what the heck to do with the bacteria.

In my case,(chronic), I most likely got bitten by an infected bug (most likely a tick) when I was a little boy growing up in (you guessed it,) Connecticut. (Lymes disease is names after Lyme Connecticut!); probably just playing in a leaf pile or something as most young kids do.

As you age, your bodies auto immune system naturally weakens, which is why I am only rescently experiencing problems which I had not at an earlier age.

One of the more "natural" ways (sort-of) to help make the bacteria's life a little more miserable is to get hyperbaric chamber therapy. It appears that the bacteria don't like the increased oxygen levels in the blood which the hyperbaric chamber can provide.

I am now starting to see that doing deep breathing exersizes on a regular basis may provide similar results on increasing blood oxygen levels and I am willing to give it a try.

The only "treatment" that is currently used to treat these horrible diseases is the use of VERY heavy doses of antibiotics for VERY long periods of time.

I have been on the "mega"-dose antibiotics for 8-months now and have seen absolutely zero results!!. Many patients are on them for many many years! (still with no results!!).

This can be very frustrating as somedays I can run many miles, hike, weightlift, swim etc, and others, I need to use my wheelchair because my joints are so inflamed that I simply cannot function!

I cannot ever begin to tell you how much emotional effect this can have on me!


Anyway, I thank you for the great advise and I will certainly give it a try. Heck, I'll try anything at this point!!.

Regards:
S-H

S-H,

What I explained ultimately came from this man, Tempu Nakamura, who died in 1968, long before the age of infomercials.
Even though he contracted TB in his 20's at the beginning of the 20th century during the Russo-Japan War, he still went on to live a full long life which is chronicled briefly here...
http://www.michionline.org/spring00/page12.html

I provide this both because I think he was a very interesting but not generally known person and because it indicates the roots of what I described.

As a scientist I make no claims. As a martial arts teacher whose martial arts training includes training in healing, all I can say is it has made things interesting at times.
(my short bio http://houstonkiaikido.org/hocker.htm
if that helps you believe I not talking something kooky here but on the other hand given some of the silly ideas out there and some of the silly people teaching out there, it just may prove it that it's too kooky for you! I hope not, because I think it could help.)

Certainly there is no downside to giving it a shot, but this very much operates on the principle of the slight edge: small, daily discipline that seemingly makes no difference from one day to the next compounding over time until it becomes a big postive. like piano practice!

It's so much easier to make sure someone gets the right idea in person and correct any errors. I welcome any questions you have, private mail or otherwise.

to your health!

Dang S-H, sorry to hear that... we're definitely routing for you to get through all of this stronger than before!

Just comfort, B.

keyboard samurai-

I will second your recommendation for the breathing therapy. While I do not do martial arts, as I said in an earlier post, I do battle chronic fatige which is also an auto-immune deficiency thing. I use meditation (which involves a lot of breathing discipline) and visualization therapy. It does, indeed, help. And you are right- you don't see a huge, immediate benefit, but over time and with patience and practice, there is a lot to be gained.