It's been a while, and I have other baking/craft-centric stuff to post, but I just have to get this out there.
Last fall at a de-stress event in the Education Building (just across from the Law Building) I signed on to get emails from this group called "YES+". YES+ stands for Yoga, Empowerment, Service, and... + is undefined. Or it is until you join.
Anyway. This summer I have started working on a project to expand Law Student awareness of and access to mental health/general wellness resources on campus and in the community. So, when an opportunity to partake in a 4 day YES+ workshop presented itself, I jumped at the opportunity. I filled out an application explaining how the workshop would help me in my personal and professional development all in hopes of being selected to attend the workshop for free (the advertised cost was $250). A couple days after applying I was selected as a lucky recipient of the waiver. I'm doubt that anyone actually paid the fee since all but one of the people in attendance were either already in YES+ or students.
The first day (yesterday) started off with a welcoming practice where we went around to every other person in the group and shook their hand or hugged them as we said "I belong to you". That was followed by yoga and some self-reflective icebreakers. It ended with some simple breathing exercises and meditation. Some of the breathing was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad.
Today, we followed the same pattern, but this time we started with the first day's breathing exercises then went into another exercise called Kriya that was led by a voice off a track. I'm not sure how long the breathing lasted, but it involved alternating between deep and extremely rapid breathing through the nose. After a bit of this, my body and especially hands started tingling and I felt extremely uncomfortable. I was wearing a hoodie and had a blanket over my lap because our instructor had said that people can get quite cold while doing this kind of breathing. I did feel cold, then I felt a hot flash and had to take both the hoodie and blanket off as I started sweating. I felt so uncomfortable as I followed the breathing instructions that I was close to leaving the room and regaining my composure. But I soldiered on because our leader asked that we just follow along and embrace whatever feelings we had. Eventually I felt so constricted that I began breathing extremely shallow, to the point that I almost felt that I wasn't breathing at all for a couple minutes. As odd as that was, I felt much more comfortable and for a few minutes almost felt some euphoria.
Eventually we were instructed to lie down and just relax for a while, breathing normally.
Afterward we gathered around in a tight circle and discussed our experiences. A few people had felt it was quite beneficial, but a number of us also mentioned a great deal of discomfort and near panic. I mentioned that it felt a lot like getting nitrous oxide at he dentist. "Yes!", the instructor responded.
Before we left, we exchanged phone numbers with the other members of our "family" whom we were supposed to call if we felt uncertain about returning for the rest of the workshop, especially if we felt like "YES+ is the last place I want to be right now."
So, here I am back in my apartment. Having done some research on my own then confirming it by describing my symptoms to a med-student friend, it sounds like Kriya is directed hyperventilation. Sure, you might have some weird experiences and feel a lot better afterward, but that has more to do with your body;s response to expelling too much CO2.
I have also come across a couple of blogs written by former YES+ (or "Art of Living") students and instructors who have had similar experiences. Basically, there is a lot of deference to the instructors and method and no matter how you feel after doing the exercise "that is how you are supposed to feel." (Shudder)
I don't think I will be going back. I may also send my "family" members an explanation of why that is. Actually, I just sent one of them a message. Sigh... Well, it definitely was an experience.
Last fall at a de-stress event in the Education Building (just across from the Law Building) I signed on to get emails from this group called "YES+". YES+ stands for Yoga, Empowerment, Service, and... + is undefined. Or it is until you join.
Anyway. This summer I have started working on a project to expand Law Student awareness of and access to mental health/general wellness resources on campus and in the community. So, when an opportunity to partake in a 4 day YES+ workshop presented itself, I jumped at the opportunity. I filled out an application explaining how the workshop would help me in my personal and professional development all in hopes of being selected to attend the workshop for free (the advertised cost was $250). A couple days after applying I was selected as a lucky recipient of the waiver. I'm doubt that anyone actually paid the fee since all but one of the people in attendance were either already in YES+ or students.
The first day (yesterday) started off with a welcoming practice where we went around to every other person in the group and shook their hand or hugged them as we said "I belong to you". That was followed by yoga and some self-reflective icebreakers. It ended with some simple breathing exercises and meditation. Some of the breathing was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad.
Today, we followed the same pattern, but this time we started with the first day's breathing exercises then went into another exercise called Kriya that was led by a voice off a track. I'm not sure how long the breathing lasted, but it involved alternating between deep and extremely rapid breathing through the nose. After a bit of this, my body and especially hands started tingling and I felt extremely uncomfortable. I was wearing a hoodie and had a blanket over my lap because our instructor had said that people can get quite cold while doing this kind of breathing. I did feel cold, then I felt a hot flash and had to take both the hoodie and blanket off as I started sweating. I felt so uncomfortable as I followed the breathing instructions that I was close to leaving the room and regaining my composure. But I soldiered on because our leader asked that we just follow along and embrace whatever feelings we had. Eventually I felt so constricted that I began breathing extremely shallow, to the point that I almost felt that I wasn't breathing at all for a couple minutes. As odd as that was, I felt much more comfortable and for a few minutes almost felt some euphoria.
Eventually we were instructed to lie down and just relax for a while, breathing normally.
Afterward we gathered around in a tight circle and discussed our experiences. A few people had felt it was quite beneficial, but a number of us also mentioned a great deal of discomfort and near panic. I mentioned that it felt a lot like getting nitrous oxide at he dentist. "Yes!", the instructor responded.
Before we left, we exchanged phone numbers with the other members of our "family" whom we were supposed to call if we felt uncertain about returning for the rest of the workshop, especially if we felt like "YES+ is the last place I want to be right now."
So, here I am back in my apartment. Having done some research on my own then confirming it by describing my symptoms to a med-student friend, it sounds like Kriya is directed hyperventilation. Sure, you might have some weird experiences and feel a lot better afterward, but that has more to do with your body;s response to expelling too much CO2.
I have also come across a couple of blogs written by former YES+ (or "Art of Living") students and instructors who have had similar experiences. Basically, there is a lot of deference to the instructors and method and no matter how you feel after doing the exercise "that is how you are supposed to feel." (Shudder)
I don't think I will be going back. I may also send my "family" members an explanation of why that is. Actually, I just sent one of them a message. Sigh... Well, it definitely was an experience.
