How to sit
- Choose Breath or Focus, then a protocol on the desk.
- Press Start. Set Open / 5 / 10 / 20 minutes. Bell is optional. Press Begin.
- The desk withdraws. Follow the phase and count on the wall.
- Space or tap the wall to pause. End returns to the desk.
- Soft orb = lung volume. Brush ring = the breath cycle. Dots below = finished breaths.
Study (?) is only available from the desk — never during a sitting.
Why it works
Prāṇāyāma is not “breath control.” It is extension of the breath — longer, finer — until forcing stops being the job.
On the exhale, vagal outflow rises and heart rate falls. Extend the exhale and you extend the brake. Every calming protocol here is a variation on that lever.
Around six breaths per minute, breathing can lock with the baroreflex loop (~5 s delay). That is resonance — the daily primary for people who stay switched on. Find your rate between 4.5 and 6.5; 5.5 is only an average.
Most people who stay switched on over-breathe. Low CO₂ constricts cerebral vessels and blocks oxygen offload. Empty-hold work raises tolerance so slow breathing becomes relief instead of a fight.
Acute state change is real and checkable in your own body. Baseline shift is plausible with weeks of practice. The claim stops there.
Care
Breath retention and forced fast breathing: uncontrolled hypertension, cardiac or cerebrovascular disease, glaucoma, epilepsy or seizure history, pregnancy — clear with a clinician first. Never any breath-hold in or near water.
This paces; it does not supervise. Retention was always taught in person — treat empty holds with that weight.
Not medical advice. If something feels wrong, stop and breathe normally through the nose.
Dṛṣṭi — the gaze
The eyes are the most restless thing in the body. Until they stop, little downstream will. Classical names include nāsāgra, bhrūmadhya, and trāṭaka. Three drills are available:
Fusion — two become three. Two rings (up / down triangles). Eyes go long; a third ring appears between them with both triangles. Tap Fused when it locks; Space when it splits. Separation slider ≈ interpupillary distance. If one color vanishes, that eye is suppressing.
Field — peripheral receiving. Soft center fixation. Faint marks arrive in the periphery. Notice without looking. Caught / shown / false. Ninety seconds. The signal is whether selection reasserted itself.
Trāṭaka — steady gazing. Still ensō. Gaze; do not stare. Stop when the eyes water; close them and hold the afterimage. A cleansing practice, not a staring contest.
Skip fusion if you have double vision, strabismus under care, or recent eye surgery, unless cleared. Do not force gazing with glaucoma, cataracts, epilepsy, or migraine.
