Unite with the Light

The “STROBOSCOPE” Exercise

Beautiful being, beautiful soul, would you like to illuminate your consciousness? Come, just lie here on the sofa. Are you comfortable? Do you feel good? Hey, what did you do this morning? You say you woke up? I did the same thing! Wow, parallel universe. You say you have stress, tension, all that mental shit? Whatever you are thinking, I don’t care. Let it go. Let it go. Now all there is for you to do is relax and breathe. Just drop everything and get into this breathing. We are all lightworkers. Work with the light and get free.

1  Sit in a relaxed, comfortable position. 

2  Close your eyes, follow your breath, witness yourself calming down. 

3  Just look at what you see with your eyes closed. Don’t try to see anything in particular. Be patient. In this way, your energy is able to disconnect from the external perception of the visual cortex and go into the deeper realms of the brain. 

4  Keep following your breath, and turn your inner focus to the center of your forehead, the “third eye.” You may see a luminous halo that pulses with your breath — in, out, in, out, like the flashing light from a stroboscope. You might feel you want to look more directly at it, but then you will take away the intensity. Learn to let it be. This is a phenomenal way to subtly observe the neural activity of your brain. 

Once you have some experience with this meditation, try adding the focus on the center of your forehead to the Basic Breathing Exercise. You may start to have spontaneous experiences of your inner light.

Breathing for Stress Control

Stress is the killer in modern society — all that thinking, going into overdrive, making deadlines. They really are dead lines! Stress deregulates our system. You can tell if you are stressed by counting how many times you breathe in a minute. Try it now with a timer. If you’re breathing between fifteen to twenty times a minute, you are stressed. 

What I do for stress is one minute of humming and breathing. This always works for me. It taps into your parasympathetic nervous system — where the peace is inside — and calms down your hectic sympathetic nervous system. And it’s like a massage for your spine from within — all the way up to your brain stem and to the center of your head. It brings you directly inside your body. 

1  Set a timer for one minute. 

2  Settle yourself somewhere comfortable. 

3  Breathe in deeply. 

4  Breathe out with a sound like “Hum,” “Ah,” or “Om.” Make whatever sounds make you happy. 

5  When you run out of air, breathe in deeply and let it out with another “Hum.” 

6  Continue until the timer stops. 

How many times did you breathe in a minute of humming? Maybe four, five, six times? Nice.

Interoception of the Heartbeat

In this exercise we are going to forge a conscious connection with the heart and circulatory system. Because the heartbeat is involuntary, few of us pay much attention to it or to the circulatory system it serves. But if we channel our interoceptive focus to it, we can decrease our heart rate during times of stress, which not only serves to relieve that stress but also to improve the absorption of oxygen and nutrients within our cells. Here’s how: 

1  Sit or lie down in a safe, comfortable space. 

2  Relax. 

3  Feel and visualize your heartbeat. 

4  Connect with your heartbeat and try to synchronize your breath with it so that you can feel it everywhere. 

5  Now visualize your circulatory system. Visualize that with every inhalation, oxygen-rich blood is flowing from your lungs to your heart, to every part in your body, through a network of blood vessels that could wrap around the earth two and a half times. Imagine how your blood provides oxygen and nutrients to organs and muscles, and transports waste products (like carbon dioxide) to your liver, kidneys, and lungs. 

6  Reconnect with your heartbeat and try to synchronize your breath with it again. 

7  Make a journey through your body and try to feel the heartbeat in different parts of it. If you focus on your hand, feel the heartbeat there, and if you focus on your feet, feel the blood flow from your ankles to your toes. 

This is connecting your mind and your body. This is interoceptive focus. A couple of minutes per day is enough to help you deepen this connection and reap the benefits of it.

Interoception with the Breath

How would you like to train your sense of interoception and sharpen your interoceptive focus? If you are already practicing the Basic Breathing Exercise, you are on your way. This visualisation practice will take you to the next level. 

1  Sit or lie down in a safe, comfortable space and close your eyes. 

2  Breathe normally, but focus on your breathing. Fully in and letting go. 

3  Now consciously take a deep breath in through the nose, and exhale through the mouth. Do not force it. 

4  Visualise your lungs, and consciously feel the oxygen entering your lungs. Interoception is now beginning. 

5  Take some more deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Nice and easy. 

6  After a few more breaths, visualize the exchange of gases in your body. Visualise the oxygen going from the lungs, through the capillaries and into the blood, and visualise the excretion of carbon dioxide upon exhalation. 

7  If you notice that your mind has started to wander, simply reset your focus to your breath. Over time, you will learn to become more mindful and gain more control over your mind and be less consumed by your thoughts. 

8  Practice this exercise for several minutes.

Breathing for Mood Regulation

This exercise uses and trains neurostimulative brain control to help alleviate moodiness or depression. Supplying oxygen to the brain improves a person’s well-being. We have seen in fMRIs that the whole brain dances when subjects do the breathing exercises. You can do this exercise whenever you feel like it, but it can be an especially powerful exercise to try if you are feeling melancholy, moody, or depressed. Do not force it — feel it! 

1  Sit or lie down in a safe, comfortable place. 

2  Feel and try to relax every part of your body. Observe and be aware of what you are feeling, seeing, and hearing, without judgment. Just be present. 

3  Take twenty deep breaths. Fully in and letting go. 

4  On the last breath, breathe in deeply, hold it, press your chin toward your chest, tense your pelvic floor, and direct that tension up your core toward your head. 

5  If you are experiencing any physical discomfort, focus your attention there and observe. Tense the muscles in that area. Hold the breath for a maximum of ten seconds.

6  Release the breath and all tension. 

7  Repeat two or three times or until you feel better.

WHM Protocol: Ice Baths and Cold Plunges

Getting into the cold in nature—there is nothing like it. And taking an ice bath is an amazing way to show yourself what you are capable of. To befriend the cold at home or in the wild, follow these steps: 

1  First, find someone to share this experience with you. Ice baths and cold plunges are safer and more fun with friends. 

2  Prepare yourself by doing one or two rounds of the basic breathing exercise as you visualize the cold water. How will it make you feel? Imagine how you will enter the water, be it a bathtub or a lake, and how you will feel when you do it. Assume a can-do mindset. 

3  Confidently enter the water while taking deep, calm breaths. Focus on your breath. Embrace the cold; let it take you to the depths of yourself. Do NOT perform the WHM basic breathing technique. Instead, do long, conscious, exhalations to bring your breath into a controlled, steady rhythm. Take deep breaths through the nose and try to relax. Try letting out a long “Hummmmm” on the exhale. 

4  Keep your focus on your breath and your being as you exit the water. Warm up by doing the horse stance exercise while maintaining your inner attention. 

The cold is our warm friend, our mirror, and our teacher. It can also be dangerous. When you extend exposure to the cold by going into an ice bath or open body of water, it is an intense experience. If you want to try an ice bath or a cold plunge, make sure you are being safe and smart about it. 

Breathing for Pain Regulation

When practicing the WHM for pain regulation, you’re consciously manipulating your body and the pain you feel through the use of the breathing techniques. 

1  Begin by sitting or lying down in a comfortable position. Once you are relaxed, direct your attention to the spot where you feel the pain. Then take five calm, deep breaths. 

2  Now take twenty more deep breaths. Fully in, and letting go. Do not force your breath. 

3  Exhale the last breath fully out, then inhale fully in once more, and hold it for ten seconds. 

4  While holding the breath, focus your attention on the point of pain, and press your held breath toward it. Tense the muscles around the pain area as well. 

5  Release your breath and all tension. 

Think of the painful sensation as a signal. Motivate yourself to listen to this signal and become attuned to it. This signal tells you that the chemistry in this area needs to change, or is changing. A positive train of thought or mindset influences the perception of pain. The purpose is not to suppress the pain signal, but to change the internal chemistry that causes the pain in the first place.

WHM AT-A-GLANCE

Three Pillars of Daily Practice

BREATH 

1  While seated or lying down, take 30 to 40 full conscious breaths: Breathe fully in to the belly and the chest, then letting go, without force. 

2  On your final exhale, let the air out and hold it out for as long as you can without discomfort. Listen to your body and don’t force it! 

3  When you feel the urge to breathe again, take a deep breath in, hold for 10 to 15 seconds. Then release and relax. 

4  Repeat the steps above two or three more times, paying attention to how you feel and adjusting your breath as needed. 

5  Rest in this elevated state until you are ready to move on with your day. Alternatively, use the energy you just generated for your morning workout or yoga practice. Experiment with what feels right for you. 

Congratulations! You just influenced key drivers of your health, increased your vitality and focus, busted your stress, reduced inflammation factors, and optimized your immune system.

MIND 

Your post-breathing practice state is the perfect time to program your mindset. Try this: 

1  Before you get up from your breathing practice, bring up a thought in your mind like “Today I’m going to stay in the cold shower for 15 more seconds than yesterday,” or “I feel happy, healthy, and strong.” 

2  Reflect on this thought and notice how your body feels. 

3  If you identify any inner resistance to your intention, just keep breathing steadily until you feel an alignment between your body and mind. 

With practice, your sense of your inner experience, or interoception, will sharpen, allowing you to more consciously observe and control your body and mind.

COLD 

1  At the end of your warm shower, turn the water to cold. 

2  If you like you can start by first putting your feet and legs, than your arms, then your full torso under the water. 

3  Do NOT do the WHM Basic Breathing Exercise while standing in the shower. 

4  Gradually extend your exposure every day until you can handle two minutes in the cold. 

5  If you are shivering when you get out, try the horse stance exercise.

Success! You just improved your metabolic efficiency, regulated your hormones, further reduced inflammation, and are enjoying the endorphins and endocannabinoids released in response to the cold.

WHM Meditation

When you do the conscious breathing protocol, you are already doing a form of meditation, training your mind and connecting with your innermost depths. The principle of meditation is to follow something that does not excite the thinking brain. 

We take something very simple and follow it until deep peace comes over us. 

Here is one way to get acquainted with this peace. 

1.  Sit down in a safe, comfortable place and clear your mind. 

2.  Start connecting to your breath. Let yourself breathe naturally. 

3.  Start counting your breaths. Each inhale and exhale is one count. Count your breaths up to seven, and then from seven back to one. 

If you find yourself suddenly thinking about your daily life and your to-do list, return to counting the breaths. You will eventually find yourself able to just count the breaths, up to seven and back down again. The blood flow will go into the deeper areas of your brain, awakening feeling, not thoughts. Let the feeling become stronger. Follow the feeling and go as deep as you want. As you go along, the counting will fade away, like a song fading out. Follow the feeling and go deep into yourself, deep into peace.

WHM Protocol: Basic Mindset Exercise

The greatest accomplishment you can achieve is stillness of the mind. It is only when your mind is still that you can go from external to internal programming. In the absence of thoughts, this stillness brings your feelings into alignment with your innermost being, reflecting the true self in a direct mirror. This is how I was able to set all of my records, and you can do it too. 

First, take a step away and find a comfortable place to sit down. Then begin to follow the breath. 

Deeply in, letting go. 

Deeply in, letting go. 

Peacefully following the breath. 

Deeply in, letting go. 

Deeply in, letting go. 

A sense of calm will begin to settle over you, and it is in this moment that you can set your mind. Begin to scan your body while visualizing what it is you are going to do. Perhaps you want to stay longer in the cold shower or achieve a new personal record for push-ups. Maybe you want to hold a particularly challenging yoga pose or take a longer bike ride than you ever have before. Now is the time to scan your body and set your intention. Take your time with it. Tell your body what you expect it to do. Scan yourself for how you feel. You will be able to detect any misalignment of your intention and your body’s feeling. Just remain calm, keep breathing, and wait for the moment in which there is a sense of trust, of centered energy, of alignment. 

Give power to that feeling with your breath and then go and do what you intend to do. Success.

WHM Protocol: Basic Breathing Exercise

Before engaging with this breathing technique, remember to be mindful. Listen to your body and learn from the signals your body and mind send you while you are doing the exercises. Use those signals as personal feedback about the effect of the exercises on your body and mind, and adjust them as needed to find what works best for you.

STEP 1: Sit in a meditation posture, lying down, or whichever way is most comfortable for you, in a quiet and safe environment. Make sure you can expand your lungs freely without feeling any constriction. 

STEP 2: Close your eyes and try to clear your mind. Be conscious about your breath and try to fully connect with it. Take thirty to forty deep breaths in through the nose or mouth. Fill up your belly, your chest, all the way up to your head. Don’t force the exhale. Just relax and let the air out. Fully in, letting go. 

STEP 3: At the end of the last breath, draw the breath in once more and fill the lungs to maximum capacity without using any force. Then relax to let the air out. Hold the breath until you feel the urge to breathe again. This is called the (external) retention phase. 

STEP 4: When you feel the urge to breathe, take one deep breath in and hold it for ten to fifteen seconds. This is called the recovery breath. 

STEP 5: Let your breath go and start with a new round. Fully in, letting go. Repeat the full cycle three to four times. After having completed this breathing exercise, take your time to enjoy the feeling. 

With repeated practice, this protocol becomes more and more like a meditation. 

Once you have a little experience with the basic breathing exercise, try this additional technique: 

In round 2, step 4, try “squeezing” the breath to your head when you take your recovery breath. You do this by tensing your pelvic floor and directing that sense of tension to the core of your body and up to your head, while keeping the rest of your body relaxed. You should feel a sense of pressure in your head. Then relax everything when you exhale