Day 7

Well... I tried the "Breathing the Mile" thing.

So first, I did my preparatory routine (sitting meditation, tree pose) and did my 400 deep breaths. For the first 25 deep breaths, I was like "hoh, crap, this is gonna suck." I was only breathing through one nostril and I got really thirsty. But I worked through it and did what I had to do. I wanted to stop several times during the experiment but there's a point to where you just have to go for it. But after the 200th deep breath, I stopped, closed out the technique, took a few sips of water, and got back into it. Eventually, I did finish the 400th slow, deep breath. If I recall, the total time was roughly 35 minutes.

Afterwards, I did my usual microcosmic orbit to tai chi to quiet sitting. Total meditation/Qigong time was 1 hour, 17 minutes.

More on the "Breathing the Mile" thing... immediately after the first set of 200 breaths, I felt energized. I walked around and I really felt like I've been running, only my legs and body were not sore. But I felt really good.

During the 2nd set of 200, that's when things started getting a little hairy. I'm not sure that I rooted myself correctly before I resumed, because in the middle of the 2nd set, I started having visions. The vision was of me walking through space or a dark corridor and spirits and demons were staring at me as I passed. One demon, seemed like he was trying to pounce at me or trying to scare me. This has happened to me before, and being an entry-level monk that I am, I freaked out and stopped on the spot. My friend advised me to work on my rooting, so I did. So this time, when I saw those visions again, instead of freaking out, I rooted myself even deeper and continued on my merry way. It worked.

When I got done, I felt energized, however the lateral aspect of my left leg (from my hip to my knee) were really fatigued, and kinda numb. But that's basically from standing in my Qigong stance for 35 minutes (besides the 2 minute break for water).

One thing I noticed was that I had goosebumps and chills, but it may have been from the visions I received during the routine. I may have been creeped out a little bit, but not as badly as I was the first time I saw it. I did my best to re-root myself and to "Kill the Buddha" (to basically not dwell upon any of the visions you see, especially the bad ones).

So in conclusion... yes, my body felt like it received the same amount of oxygen as if I ran a mile, yet without the feeling of fatigue, lactic acid buildup, shin splints and sore joints (I have flat feet). I felt energized and ready to take on the world.