Inhale Hold, Intrusive Thoughts and Dōgen Zenji

Have you ever entered a hot tub or sauna, thought “holy sh*t, this is HOT!” and then gotten used to it just 2 minutes later?

This is because the nerves in your skin don’t necessarily react to temperature, they react to changes in temperature. After a while, they adapt to the new stimuli, reducing their response and effectively 'blending' the sensation into the background.

The same is true for all sensory modalities: the spontaneous, high-pitched screeching from plugging in speakers incorrectly, the blinding light of a room after being in pure darkness, the initial bite of a piece of chocolate cake, the first five seconds of a perfume smell.

The bigger the difference between what your body was experiencing and what it is now experiencing, the more shocking and apparent it seems.

That’s why, in this technique, you’ll do your best to sit with intense sensations for a few extra moments before exhaling. By doing this over and over, eventually the additional life-force you feel coming in will become your new normal.

The Technique:

1. Sit up as tall as you possibly can (tilt your pelvis as though you were poking your bum out).

2. Deeply inhale and try to fit the breath into all corners of your torso.

3. If you feel your lungs are going to pop, you went too far! Exhale a little bit, but maintain your improved posture.

4. Try to sneak the “breath” into your arms, legs and face by imagining that they, too, are inflating.

5. Hold for as long as you possibly can, remaining equanimous with whatever sensations that arise. (If you experience waves of difficult emotions, that’s fine. This is your chance to release them out of your energy body.)

6. Exhale and repeat.