Blood and Breath Control in Altering Consciousness
One way to alter your consciousness, change the way you are perceiving the world, is to control the flow of your blood or breath. This can be done through a variety of methods that either increase or decrease the flow.
A few topics need to be researched before embarking on the use of blood or breath control to achieve an altered state of consciousness. The following is a taste of the material available and the topics should be completely familiar to all participants prior to attempting.
Temporary loss of consciousness
A partial or complete loss of consciousness with interruption of awareness of oneself and ones surroundings. When the loss of consciousness is temporary and there is spontaneous recovery, it is referred to as syncope or, in nonmedical quarters, fainting. Syncope accounts for nearly one in every 30 visits to an emergency room. [1]
Syncope is due to a temporary reduction in blood flow and therefore a shortage of oxygen to the brain. This leads to lightheadedness or a "black out" episode, a loss of consciousness. Temporary impairment of the blood supply to the brain can be caused by heart conditions and by conditions that do not directly involve the heart: [1]
Non-cardiac causes: Syncope is most commonly caused by conditions that do not directly involve the heart. These conditions include:
- Postural hypotension: Drop in blood pressure due to changing body position to a more vertical position after lying or sitting; [1]
- Dehydration causing a decrease in blood volume.[1]
- Blood pressure medications leading to low blood pressure. [1]
- Diseases of the nerves to the legs in older people (especially with diabetes or Parkinson's disease) when poor tone of the nerves of the legs draws blood into the legs from the brain. [1]
- Brain stroke or "near-stroke" (transient ischemic attack). [1]
- A migraine attack. [1]
Fainting after blood drawing or after certain situations like urinating, defecating or coughing (situational syncope) due to a reflex of the involuntary nervous system (called the vasovagal reaction) that slows the heart and dilates blood vessels in the legs in such cases people often feel nausea, sweating, or weakness just before losing fainting. [1]
Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Brain
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a potent vasodilator, and an increase of CO2 in the inspired air is known to cause a number of vascular changes in the brain (Kastrup et al, 1999; Rostrup et al, 2000; Sicard and Duong, 2005), including increased cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume, as well as higher CO2 and O2 concentrations in the blood. The potential effect of CO2 inhalation on neural activity is not clear. Existing literature mostly presumes that altering CO2 partial pressure has no effect on brain tissue and the use of CO2 inhalation or the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide can be considered a purely vascular challenge to assess cerebrovascular reserve (de Boorder et al, 2004) or to calibrate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal (Chiarelli et al, 2007; Davis et al, 1998; Kim and Ugurbil, 1997). [2]
Recent findings in brain slices and anesthetized animals provided evidence at the cellular level that higher CO2 partial pressure can have a profound effect on neural tissue including reducing pH, elevating adenosine concentration, and suppressing synaptic potentials. However, these previous studies were largely performed under laboratory conditions, and it is unclear if the results were influenced by certain factors including the anesthetic agent, which by itself will reduce neural activity. In addition to the pronounced vascular effect, high CO2 content also modestly reduces tissue's metabolic rate.[2]
Breath
Diaphragmatic breathing is something one should practice often in the days and nights leading up to any magickal workings. If you perform spell work daily, you should work on your breathing daily. Breathing in deeply for at least ten minutes, two or three times a day, is an excellent preparation for strengthening your body and mind prior to working your craft, just as it is for meditating. Remember that breathing deeply brings our native air deeply into your body. As such it delivers the nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and other crucial elements your body, and brain, needs to not only survive, but to thrive on our planet. [3]Blood
Blood has always had a great power over man. To see it meant that something was wrong, you were hurt or someone was hurt. It’s been the sign of war, of pain, of death. It’s also a sign of birth and the successful hunt. Blood is the symbol for life. There really is very little in the world that can hold as much sway over a person as the sight of blood. The symbols are everywhere and there have been blood rituals since (wo)man walked the earth. [4]Methods of Flow Control
- Yoga’s Baby Pose - This pose has you bent over at the waist while kneeling on the floor with your arms extended above your head. This pose forces you to control your breathing and limits how freely blood flows in the body at the knee and hip joints.
- Sitting in a chair with your head between your knees. This position does some light control of blood flow at the hip joint, but mainly will cause you to control your breathing.
- Use of rope or cords. Rope and cords can be used by tying them in various locations to limit blood flow and breathing.
- Witch’s Cradle. The Witches Cradle was originally used as a means to torcer witches in times past, but was removed from practice due to the witches actually enjoying the Altered State of Consciousness caused by it. A Witches Cradle is essentially tying a person in a bag in a manner the restricts access to air while suspending them and spinning them.
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