I entered the studio nervous, not feeling very prepared. You see my breath is not as open as it could be. Over the past 12 years i've practiced yoga and tai chi on a daily basis. These exercises have more benefits than I can keep track of. During the last year, my discipline has basically disappeared. Lucky for me, the 11 years of breath work has not completely been erased by my slacking off.
Brad was in the studio when I arrived and he enthusiastically explained the various capabilities and shortcomings of the array of studio microphones. I kept my self busy arranging various animal figurines, crystals and other trinkets which helped turn the studio into an altar.
My first attempt lasted 11 minutes and I suddenly felt the difficulty of the task at hand as quite a challenge.
"Alright, lets shoot for an hour." I said this with a chucle hiding my growing fear of not being able to succeed in my goal of one breath one didj one hour. I began again and I have to say it was tough. At times I felt like I was clawing up the sheer wall of my breath like a jaguar digging its claws into a sheer granite wall. At one point, I felt like giving up. I could hear and see myself stopping and saying to Brad: "Hey, just can't do it. I need to be better prepared, lets do it another time."
I never had to say it. When the breathing got tough, I just went for it, sucking enough air thru my nose that my nostrils flared like a wild bull. After 30 or 40 minutes of circular breathing, it all started to open up and get easier. The chanting got easier and the voices became polyphonic. At times I kind of drifted away only to find myself back not knowing how long I'd been in the timeless no thought state.
78 minutes later, my outbreath stopped and the silence felt like a warm blanket which I could bask in like a lion stretching in the sun after feasitng on a gazelle.
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