What is New – October 2010

Please visit my updated web site countingbreaths.com

for comprehensive information and testimonials on

the simple technique of ‘Focusing on breathing’.

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Received this feedback from a person who had a long background of back pain:

I was suffering from back pain and sleep disorder for the last 25 years.  I was diagnosed with herniated disk and arthritis in L4 & L5.  Six years ago, I was hospitalized twice. I have been taking numerous pain relievers, muscle relaxers and narcotics for severe pain and spasms until last year.  I have been getting treated for 10 visits once in 6 months by Chiropractors and Physical Therapists.  Massage would make me feel good for a week. All  these would help for a week and then I would reach a plateau. I spent numerous hours and dollars at the pain clinics. Needless to say how much money was spent thru the Insurance Company.  I tried all kind of things from home remedies to old Grandma remedies to gain some relief without success.

A few months back,  I asked Suryanarayana Chennapragada (CS)  if he could teach me how to practice “SuryaNamaskar” (Sun salutations of  Yoga).  He mentioned about the ‘Focusing on breathing’ technique for relaxation and simple stretching exercises.  I had seen his brochures at the temple and other places.  I read them but never practiced.

I thought that I had nothing to lose, let me give it a try, may be this would work. I was meeting with CS every week, to learn the relaxation by breathing and stretching exercises.  After couple of weeks, I saw improvement in my sleep pattern and back pain.  I have been doing the breathing and stretching exercises for the past 3 months for about 30-45 minutes a day.  In this period, I did not take a single pain medication and had a good night sleep.  After mowing the lawn for about 3 hours, I would feel my back a a little sore but after a shower, breathing & stretching exercises I feel a lot better. After 30-45 minutes I am back to normal with no pain. Currently may pain is 20% of what it had been for so many years.

‘Focusing on breathing’  technique combined with the stretching exercises helped a lot with my back pain and sleep disorder. I  strongly suggest these techniques to everyone to reduce stress, back-pain and gain profound energy.  There is nothing to lose but a lot to gain, that too, without spending any Dollars.

What is New – September 2010

• Received this mail from a participant in my seminar at the Department of Environment Conservation a few years back. “I have been following your counting breaths strategy for sometime and find it very helpful.  I will be leaving DEC at the end of September and would like to continue hearing about your program.  Could you please add my new e-mail address to your contact list.”

 

• I met the young postal clerk at the post office which I visit periodically. I gave the brochure to her about 5  few months back. She was interested in quitting smoking.  She said today that the ‘Focusing on breathing’ practice was working. She was smoking one pack (20) cigarettes before the practice. Now she smokes less than half pack (10). She simply read the brochure, practiced on  her own and achieved her goal partly.

 

• One person about 50 years age saw the brochures related to ‘quitting smoking‘ in my office and wished to do my classes.  He attended 2 sessions and began practicing the technique with high motivation for quitting smoking. Within 2 weeks he reduced his smoking rate from 20 a day to 15 a day. He is continuing the classes.

 

• A breast cancer survivor, patient of my daughter was introduced to the technique of ‘Focusing on breathing’ in a short session of 15 minutes.   I showed her the ‘Segment’ mode and made her do it in my office, completing 2 hands. She experienced the relaxing effect and was convinced. She has been using the technique before sleep, on waking up and many other times of the day. She reported these benefits: Back of her head was very stiff and painful for a  long time and now this has become free. She is able to sleep better and tolerate the harsh series of chemotherapy treatments which resulted in her hair falling off and body aching a lot and still function as a house keeper. She said that recently when she was fatigued and feeling totally powerless, she practiced the technique for one full hour and at the end she felt restored enough to be able to move about in the house. She wanted to display the brochures on the technique in her oncology clinic for the benefit of other patients and received a  bunch of them from me. This is the first case of a cancer survivor practicing and reporting the benefits.    

What is New ? Aug 2010

Received this feedback from a patient (70 years) of my daughter Padma Sripada M.D

“The ‘Focusing on breathing’ technique has helped me tremendously. Seven years ago I lost my daughter and I went into a deep depression and chronic anxiety, in spite of medications. I started to use the breathing technique and I got to say they were very helpful. For the first time in 7 years I feel my depression has lifted. “

What is New July 2010

Please visit my web site countingbreaths.com for more reports.

Here is a heart warming story from a couple:

 

How ‘Focusing on breathing’ reduced our stress, improved our family life and supported my Fertility Treatment (IVF)

Let me first thank Suryanarayana Chennapragada (CS) for giving back my life. Here is my story which I would like to share with the entire world so that people like me can also benefit.

About me: I have been a software engineer for the past 13+ years. Married to a wonderful person for 9 years now.  He is also a software engineer. We had everything in life but we didn’t have any kids. Initially, like everyone, we thought that our time would come. But as the years passed by, we started getting tense, frustrated etc. We consulted at least 6 different doctors and went for several tests. Every test result came normal. But we didn’t know the reason why we could not get a child. We took the advice of every person that we met. Went for vacation, did lot of spiritual things and ate whatever was recommended in Google, thinking that will make me pregnant. Still nothing worked.

Then in June ‘2008 when my PCP suggested to go for fertility treatment, we went to ‘Albany IVF’ clinic. Tried it for 6 months, did 2 IUI procedures but nothing happened. Due to office work, we were not able to continue, so we took a break. Then in 2009 again we started. Tried again 2 IUI but still failed. We were totally heart broken. The social pressure from our parents and relatives for getting a child was adding to our stress. We started fighting with each other because of all this tension.

My fertility doctor then told it was better to do IVF. We were not too sure it would work and also our insurance didn’t cover the cost. So we decided to give it a break again. In the meantime, my husband happened to see the brochure about the ‘Focusing on breathing’ practice (www.countingbreaths.com) at the Albany Hindu Temple. He decided to go for the weekly classes on this technique offered by CS at the temple. Within 3 months of doing these classes I saw a tremendous change in his health as well as behavior. He became very soft, handling things smoothly, even when I fought with him. This really surprised me, specially because I was a totally tensed character all the time. I was having insomnia, becoming thinner and thinner. So my husband suggested to me that I should also attend these classes. I was very skeptical. In the past I attended 3 meditation programs. Nothing worked for me. I used to meditate during the class and after the class I used to skip the practice since I felt that I didn’t have the peaceful time or mind to do that practice. Also I felt that it was really tough.

My husband forced me to attend one session with CS along with him. He told me that if I don’t like it, I didn’t need to go anymore. I thought I will give it a try, specially on seeing my husband change. As soon as I attended the first class, I really liked it. In the first month, I didn’t see any change in myself But as the days progressed, I felt a tremendous change. Before these classes, I had insomnia and used to be awake up to almost 2 AM. After doing the ‘Focusing on breathing’ I was sleeping like a baby!

We again started our fertility treatment in Nov 2009. I went for all the routine tests. To our surprise, my doctor saw a tremendous change in my hormone level. He prepared a chart showing what it was before and how I progressed in 6 months. Another change was that we both became very calm, started taking everything cool. We were slowly becoming like the way we used to be, once upon a time, which was really a wonderful thing.  We realized how stress could change a person. That was the main thing we were trying to focus in these breathing classes. Both our stress levels came down and it changed us completely to a very happy couple once again.

As planned, we did IVF treatment in Mar ‘2010. And I am pregnant now after 9 years. My due date is Thanksgiving 2010. We could not ask anything more than this in life.  We went for these classes for 6 months. Personally CS helped us change ourselves completely. We are so grateful for that. This breathing class was totally unique. It is so simple that even a child can do it.  I do it regularly now.  I gained weight also. We got our life back and we are once again a very happy couple now.

Moral of the story:

Everyone knows that we can’t avoid tension or stress in life. But we all should learn how to handle it. Otherwise it seriously disturbs even our hormones, leading to lot of medical problems. That was what had happened to us. By practicing this technique regularly, we can control our stress level.  We both learned how to deal with the stress.

Thank u so much CS, for teaching us this technique.

A happy wife (see the husband’s feedback below)

 

 

How ‘Focusing on breathing’ techniques reduced my stress, relationships at work and home, and supported our fertility treatment

Due to work stress and being a short-tempered person, I had difficulty in sleeping and also not able to spend time happily with family. I was interested in learning stress management techniques and yoga for better health.

I happened to notice the brochure about “Focusing on Breathing” by using simple techniques that can be practiced anywhere, anytime.  I tried to practice myself, but I wanted to learn from a teacher so that I will learn the technique in the right way.  I met Suryanarayana Chennapragada (CS) who originated this technique at the Albany Hindu temple. While practicing initially, we could not really stick to a planned schedule as there are no ‘rules’ in this technique. But actually this aspect was good thing.  Due to the flexibility given in the practice, it created more curiosity and more opportunities to practice at different times of the day.  As the practice continued, I could feel more relaxation and better sleep. It improved my personal relations both at work and at home.  It also improved my stamina which is helping in my long distance running practice.

Apart for improving health, the whole process helped me and my wife to spend more time together and share the experiences of inner peace and happiness at work and outside.  The more we spent good time together, it helped in more harmonious relationship, which helped a lot when we planned for having baby. Initially, due to work stress and other reasons, we had some medical conditions that delayed the pregnancy. As our practice of the techniques continued, we could see good results in the medical test results, and finally we achieved the goal of getting pregnant!

We are expecting a baby in the next few months, and we are very happy to share the greatness of the breathing exercises taught by CS, and the way they changed our personal lives. We encourage everyone to learn this technique which helps not only in getting good sleep, but also improving the overall personality, leading to a stress free life.  Thanks to CS who made a big difference in our life.

A happy husband

 

 

 

 

Some voluntary feedback received recently

Insomnia Relief:

A doctor of internal medicine happened to meet me and said that she was using the technique herself and found it useful. She told one of her patients  under 5-6 medications and suffering from severe insomnia to practice ‘counting breaths’ in blocks of 1 to 10 at bed time.  She made the patient practice it in her exam room. After 2 days that patient called and said after a long time she was able to sleep happily!

Smoking:

One diabetic woman attended my seminar at the Diabetic fair in May 2010 organized by Albany Medical Center and registered for the ‘Follow Up’ classes at my office. She did the first class in June 2010. When I called her after a week she said she liked the practice. She added voluntarily that she was not smoking as many cigarettes as before.  We did not even discuss about smoking in the class!

97 year old practicing

I work in my daughter’s medical office as a manager. Occasionally I meet with a patient and depending on the receptiveness of that person, I explain the tip or segment mode.  I advise to practice at bed time – lying in bed and needing to sleep. When I happen to meet the same person at a later visit,  I try to find out if the technique was tried and if so, what benefits were felt.

Recently I met a 97 year old woman patient the second time (a few months back I explained the segment mode to her) and inquired how she was doing, without mentioning the technique. After explaining her current set of problems she added on her own, that she was using the breathing technique using the segments and it was helping her in calming her mind.

She said she sent the brochure on this technique to her sister in California.

Drug Representative

Whenever I get a chance, I hand over the brochures related to the technique to the visitors to our office and ask the person to try it at bed time to  get sleep. Recently in my absence, a drug rep came on her periodic visit and happily reported to my daughter (Dr. Sripada) and the office staff that she found the technique very useful in helping her calm herself when she was under great anxiety.

 

 

What Is New? May 2010

Feedback from students of Robert C. Parker School on their Meditation Practice

‘Focusing on Breathing’ was introduced to all the classes Robert C. Parker School in Feb 2009. 

 The investment of time and effort was

- Introduction to all the teachers during a faculty meeting – 15 minutes   

- Introduction to each class – 15 minutes for classes Pre K 4 to Gr 5 and 30 minutes for Gr 6 to 8

- One review visit by me to every class after about 3 months

- Some classes (Pre K4, K/1 and Gr 2/3) used to practice it every day, for a minute or two as part of their daily circle meeting. Gr 4 to 8 had no such daily reinforcement.   

- Cost was NIL to the school.

Meg Taylor Head of Parker says in her Blog Dt Dec 1,09: “One of the ways we help children cope with stress at Parker is by practicing the simple mindful breathing taught us by C.S., the grandfather of Veda in 4-5. It is one of his life’s missions to spread this easy and effective way to reduce anxiety. The breathing technique is practiced regularly by almost all the children in the school.”

 Is there any such technique that can be introduced to children of this age group so cheaply, that will be absorbed so easily and enables them to practice on their own and would elicit such feelings and thoughts?

 Please explore the possibility of introducing this technique in your child’s school. I can help on-line.  

The Feedback from all the classes was collected in a simple form from all the classes in May 10.  It is presented below, first the summary and then class wise.

 _________________________________________________________T PART ONE: Summary (Look at the end of this part for class wise feedback)_________________

Summary of feedback from all the classes on Meditation Practice and Benefits 

Class	Age	On Roll	Number  practicing	%
Pre School	4	15	7	50
KG  &  Gr 1	5 to 7	20	18	90
Gr 2 &  3	7 to 9	18	17	95
Gr 4 & 5	9 to 11	16	16	100
Gr 6 to 8	11 to 14	33	5	17
Total	102	63	60	60

 

When do I practice the Meditation?

Time of practice	Number	%
Bed time/ Sleep	27	43
Morning meeting	21	33
Angry/ Mad	8	13
At school	7	11
In car/ Bus/ Plane	7	11
Morning at home	5	8
In shower	4	7
Others	2 each	Bored, At home after school,  On waking up, When stressed.
Others	1 each	To become calm: Crazy,  Feeling yucky, Trying to hold tears,  Out of control, Upset,  Overwhelmed,  Before Dinner to be patient, Sad To cope: Need to focus, Tired, After exercise  To engage themselves: When I like it,  Grandma’s house,  Every day at home  I Don’t use it:  Not very often, I don’t use it.

 

 How does it help me?  

Helps me in	Number	%
Calms me down	21	33
Sleep	18	28
Relax	18	28
Concentrate	7	11
Keep away sadness	2	3
Survive	2	3
Feel good	2	3
Others -1 Each	For better mental states: Be peaceful,  Feel the silence,  Shuts my mind down,  Makes me feel happy, Feel silent, Have a good day,  Stop crying as much,  Helps me be patient at dinner time,  On the plane it helps me because I am usually scared but I don’t get scared any more Practical uses: After that I am not tired any more,  Keep away bad dreams,  Wake up,  Keep awake at home after school,  Takes away my cough a little,  Stop car sick,  Slow down my heart rate,  Shortens the lessons,  Relieve stress,  Helps me so I can get my books and not lose any of them Unique experiences: It makes me disappear and I do not know where I am any more,  It calms me down and when I feel like running around the room it makes me not do that, Makes me feel real good and I feel like I can be a rock or stone,  Makes me feel like I am bathing in the sun,  “If people do this, all the wars in the World will end” one girl in K/1 told me when I first  introduced the breathing to the class and asked each one of them felt about the experience.

 

___________________________________________________________

PART TWO: Grade wise Feedback__________________________

Pre School  – 4 years (7 out of 15)

Place of practice

• Every day at home
• Right after I go to school
• In the morning and at night
• At bed time deep breathing with mommy

When do I practice and how does it help?

• Sometimes I breathe right after I am mad – It helps me by calming me down  
• When I feel really angry – It is calming  
• At play time when I am mad – Calms me down
• Before dinner – Helps me be patient  
• When I am upset – Stop crying as much
• When I am excited – It helps me by calming down
• Bed time – It helps me go to sleep
• When I am tired  
• When I am overwhelmed 

Others

• It helps me so I can get my books and not lose any of them
• Helps me focus
• It takes away my cough a little

KG and Grade 1 (5/ 6 Years)

(18/20 students, 15 of them practice ‘Going into silence’ and 3 of them mentioned ‘breathing’)

All of them practice at the morning meeting and feel these effects

• It is relaxing
• It feels nice, I feel calm
• It makes me much calmer
• It feels calm and good
• It calms me down when I feel like running around in the class room, it makes me not do that
• It feels good and relaxing
• It makes me feel really relaxed
• I feel the silence
• It makes me feel peaceful
• It makes me feel real good like I can be a rock or a stone
• It makes me feel like I am bathing in the Sun
• It makes me disappear and I don’t know where I am any more

Other practice times and effects

• In the morning at my house – I feel relaxed
• At my house at night time – It helps me to go to my bed and sleep
• At my grandma’s house, sometime in the morning – it makes me feel happy
• Sometimes when I am in the bath I close my eyes – It makes me feel like it is the middle of the night and I am fast asleep
• When I am going on vacation in the car – It stops me from being car sick
• When I am mad
• At night time when I get back home
• In the car
• At home
• On the plane when I try to go to sleep – It helps me because I usually get scared – I don’t feel scared any more
• Before I go to Tae-Kwon-Do – It makes me do good work
• When I have nothing else to do – It feels good
• I fall asleep
• It makes me feel silent

 

Grade 2/3 (7/8 years) (17 out of 18)

When do I practice and how it helps me

• Morning meeting
  • - Focused
  • -  Having a good day
  • - It helps me focus for the rest of the day
  • - It helps me to calm down
  • - It helps me concentrate
  • - It helps relax me
  • At school – To survive
  • At night when it is hard to get sleep – Keeping bad dreams and sadness away
  • Before I go to sleep – It helps me sleep
  • Bed time – It calms me down
  • Before bed – Calm down
  • At home 6.30 am – To survive
  • In the shower – I don’t know
  • In the shower – Relaxed
  • In the shower – To relax
  • When I wake up – It helps me complete my day
  • When I am waking up – it helps me wake up
  • At home after school – Keep awake
  • When I am trying to hold in tears
  • When feeling yucky – Feel relaxed
  • When sad – less sadness and focus

Gr 4/5 (9/10 years)  (16 out of 16)

When do I practice and how it helps me

• When stressed – Helps me relax 
• When angry and need to focus – Helps me concentrate better 
• When I want to sleep – Helps me sleep better 
• Before bed – Go to sleep  
• Before bed – I am sleepy
• At night – It helps me sleep  
• At night – Relaxes me  
• At night – It helps me fall asleep
• When I go to sleep – To fall asleep  
• At night – Get to sleep  
• Gong to bed – To relax   
• At night – It helps me calm down  
• When I go to sleep – It helps me relax and sleep  
• In school – It calms me down
• At school   
• When I am mad – I am calm  
• When I am meditating – I am peaceful  
• When crazy or stressed  
• It does not really help me that much  
• When I am in the car – Calms me down  
• In the car – To concentrate  
• Sometimes in the bus – Stay calm
• On the bus – Relieves stress  
• It shortens lessons 
• When I feel like it – It calms me down  
• When I am out of control – Relax  
• In the morning

 

Middle school Gr 6 to 8 (11 to 13 years) (5 out of 33)

When do I practice and how it helps me

• When I am bored – It helps me go to sleep
• When I have a hard time sleeping – It relaxes me
• When stressed – It calms me down
• When I am angry – Helps me relax
• When I am going to sleep – Helps me shut my mind down
• After exercising – helps slow down my heart rate
• Some times – Relax
• It does not help me

Teachers (5 out of 9)

When do I practice and how it helps me?

• I breathe every morning before getting out of bed when my mind starts racing. I don’t get up until I’m centered and ready for the day.
• At the beginning of morning meeting – Keeps to focus and think about the day ahead of me
• When I have difficulty sleeping – Greatly helps put my mind to rest  
• When I can’t sleep – It still my mind and usually makes sleep come to me
• When I am faced with a particularly challenging moment – Helps me to be calm and focus on the issue at hand
• Morning meeting – Relaxes me as I prepare for a busy day
• Between activities to transition to next task – To be more focused and ready for next learning activity
• After lunch – Helps students stay on task
• Some students do this at morning meeting or on their own before the meeting
• Some students use this technique before a learning activity that is difficult or challenging for them. I have seen students do this on their own to calm themselves or refocus  
• In the evening – Relaxes me
• When I feel stressed – Relaxes me, Calms me and helps me to be more focused 
• When I need to be more focused – Helps me transition to the next activity  
• I truly feel that, what we in the class call “going in your silence” has made a very big difference for the children and Lynn and me. I often watch the children during those times and I can see their whole body relax, their facial expression become calm, and whatever the next activity we have, the children begin it with more focus and calmness.  Closing eyes remains a challenge for some children and we continue to work on this piece.  For me personally, I find the breathing helps me relax, refocus, brings back my humor and ability to see things around me a bit differently and more clearly-truly helpful in the classroom as well as life.

Liliana (teaches K/1) said in separate e-mail after I raised some questions on how she has been teaching the ‘going into silence’ practice.

“I try to teach the children that “going into your silence” is not the same as no noise (lack of noise).  I tell them that it’s about learning to find the silence inside even if there is lots of noise and distraction around them.  We have discussions about what all this means.  We practice sitting quietly and keeping the body as still as possible.  I teach the children the meaning of the word “stillness” and I teach about stillness. As you can see, I don’t really have a method or technique – what I do is part of who I am, how I teach, the values I want to instill in children, and I try to teach them about peace.  I teach about the peace within (in the silence) and how when they are able to find their own peace, they become peace makers. I don’t have a set time – can be a minute to a few minutes – I usually get a feel about how long we should do it.”

What is New? March 2010

Introductory Seminar for Staff of Loudonville Elementary School

Conducted an introductory seminar of one hour for 24 staff of Loudonville Elementary School including the principal. This followed the request of the principal Kerry Flynn who got positive comments from the students, teachers and parents of the sixth graders who were given a 15 minute exposure to ‘Focusing on breathing’ at the Albany Hindu Temple recently.

The seminar participants were practically introduced to three modes of ‘Focusing on breathing’ and asked to lie down on the floor and practice any of the modes for about  20 minutes.  

Feedback from the participants was collected in writing, on the  following issues and the summary of their responses is presented below.

The seminar was

• Excellent – 15 responses
• Very Good – 5
• Good – 4

I will use this technique to relieve my (mention your concern) …..

• Anxiety
• Anxiety-Stress both on the job and personal
• Busy mind at bed time  
• Daily stress
• Job stress – I will use this in my class when my students are doing state testing
• Motion sickness and vertigo
• Migraines
• Stress with my family
• Stress and student anxiety
• Stress
• Stress/Sleepiness
• Stress and Headaches
• Stress/ Hard times in life
• Stress of daughter teething
• Stress/ Obesity
• To relax
• Tension headaches & Hot flashes

Comments and suggestions about the seminar

• It was great
• Great ideas
• Good suggestions for starting focus on breathing as relaxation
• Wonderful opportunity to relax
• Wonderful class!
• Very calming
• Interesting! Logical! helpful!
• Very relaxing
• It was difficult for me to relax but eventually I became relaxed
• I liked the simplicity of the relaxation methods
• Offered very practical techniques for relaxing that I am eager to incorporate into my life
• I loved this class! Instructor was very relaxing. I will use his voice when doing the relaxation techniques.
• Excellent. I want to share  this with my family. Especially with my children. What a gift this is to teach young children how to manage stress early.
• I am excited to share these techniques with my loved ones. Really enjoyed the experience.
• I suggest to play some quiet music during the floor exercises (when lying down on the floor and practicing the relaxation) and use some incense as well.
• I suggest to include more examples of teachers using these techniques

What is New? Jan 2010

1. Effect of practicing ‘Focusing on Breathing’ on the reproductive hormones

One woman who was  under  treatment for infertility was told by her IVF specialist (IVF is for In-Vitro Fertilization) that a particular dose of medicine he had given to her in the past had resulted in the hormone level of 68.  After a few months, the same dose had resulted in raising that level to 1900.  He strongly recommended her to reduce her stress by practicing the ‘counting breaths’ technique.  To his pleasant surprise, she told him that she and her husband were already doing my classes.

On hearing this news from her I checked the low and high hormone levels months with her attendance at my weekly/bi-weekly classes. The low hormone period was just when she started the classes and the very high level was after she attended my classes for about 3 months.  That level was so unusually high that the couple was advised at that time not to conceive even by natural means, for fear of giving birth to record number of babies.

This report shows that stress affects even the reproductive hormones and that this simple method can indirectly help in restoring the reproductive health by reducing stress.  For more scientific information on this aspect, read the following book by a specialist.

‘Healing Mind, Healthy Woman: Using the Mind-Body Connection to Manage Stress and Take Control of Your Life’ by Alice D. Domar Ph.D. Amazon used book price $5.

2. ‘Follow Up’ classes: Started the ‘Follow Up ‘classes for some dance students of Bindiya Prasad along and their mothers at the Cultural Center of the Albany Hindu Temple.

3. Introductory Seminar: Conducted an ‘ Introductory seminar’ for 4 patients of Dr. Padma Sripada (my daughter) and their friends and another person,  in her office where I work as a manager. Two of them came for this as they want to quit smoking. One of them came to know about my classes from the Albany Hindu Temple web site when she was looking for group meditation classes at Albany.

4. Notices on Bulletin Boards: Made out a new notice to be displayed on local bulletin boards with a tear off for my phone # and e-mail. Putting it at accessible boards.

5. Annual Update 2009: Sent out an Annual Update2009  on ‘Focusing on Breathing’ to all the e-mail ID’s in my account.

What is New? Dec 2009

 Robert C. Parker School

‘Focusing on breathing’ was introduced to children of all classes from Pre K 4 to Grade 8 in 15 to 30 minutes sessions in Oct, Nov 09. Now the Director of the school Meg Taylor has given an official stamp of approval with this note in her school blog (see Dec 1, 09 under the title ‘Children and Anxiety’) while on the subject of anxiety and stress in children.

“One of the ways we help children cope with stress at Parker is by practicing the simple mindful breathing taught us by C.S., the grandfather of Veda in 4-5. It is one of his life’s missions to spread this easy and effective way to reduce anxiety. The breathing technique is practiced regularly by almost all the children in the school”.

 ++++

Received this mail from one of the Directors of this school: ” Hi CS……..     I wanted to thank you for teaching the children here at Parker School how to use breathing to relax…..  one of our students had fallen and gotten a big bump on his head…. he was having a difficult time catching his breath, but when I said ” think of CS and the breathing”   he immediately understood, started breathing and then was able to relax…    this is a wonderful life skill you are teaching….” Beth Engster Business Manager. 

++++

Grade 4/5: Visited the grade 4/5 class at Robert C. Parker School on Dec 8, as a follow up to my introduction of ‘Focusing on breathing’ to this class in early Oct 09, nearly 2 months later.

They wrote down their feedback in the supplied form (half a letter size page). It contained 3 parts – what modes did they practice (with multiple choices), when did they practice (open ended) and how did it help them (open ended). They were asked not to write their names, so that they were not under pressure to project wrong pictures.  All their filed up forms were collected, reshuffled and distributed one to each. Each of them read out the paper in their hand which was not their own.

 

The summary of their feedback is below -

Total responses from children – 16

Where, When and Why did they practice?

 * Practicing at home

Bed time to sleep (12 responses)

Fights with siblings, Angry, Mom is angry etc  – 3

Playing DS/ Video games, waiting for computer game to load – 2

Before piano practice – 1

* Practicing at school

In general and in some classes – math, arts, LA, Music and Social – 12 (responses)

* Place unspecified

When frustrated, Stressed, Scared, Tired, Bored - 7 (responses)

To concentrate/ focus – 4

Relax, calm down – 3

When I feel like – 2

In car – 1

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Class for Dance Students

Conducted a free introductory meditation class on ’focusing on breathing’ to 34 students their mothers and a few fathers of the dance school of Mrs. Bindiya Prasad on her request.  She made this class mandatory for her students for getting their course completion certificates.  The feedback from them is summarised below.

Total feedback forms received – 68 (from both children and parents, as the forms were same)

Assessment of the seminar -
Excellent – 34,  Very Good – 28,   Good – 6

Number of respondents who registered for the follow up classes -
Monthly 15
Bi-Weekly 3

How do they wish to use this technique?
To sleep – 42
On Waking up – 14
In my daily life/ activities – 13
Relax – 7
Focus/ Concentrate – 6
Using my time when bored – 2
At School – 2
Calming my mind – 2
Others  – 1 each (gain more energy, breathing, before a test, when mad, for peaceful mind, stressful morning times, Put kids to bed, Studies and dance)

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Patients

* Feedback from a Fibromyalgia patient (the most remarkable one in the last 8 years of my teaching this method)

” I have Fibromyalgia. I was first diagnosed with this condition in March 1990 after an injury that occurred at my place of employment a month before. Almost 19 years now I have had great difficulty sleeping due to extreme pain. After being prescribed many medications over the years, none compare to the breathing techniques demonstrated to me by C.S.  Because of him I can get many hours of consecutive sleep; where i was not able to achieve with prior aid of a physician whose speciality is sleep disorders.

The methods taught to me by C S are simplistic by nature, such as counting my breaths inhaling and exhaling.  Also listening to and feeling my abdomen rise and lower as do tides ebb and flow. This relaxes me to the point where I experience great energy and decrease in my pain during the day.  C.S’s techniques have made me so happy that I have shared them with my elderly neighbors and they have experienced wonderful changes in their daily lives.

I suggest that every one try these breathing techniques to help relieve pain, stress and profound energy.

Some of my  wonderful life’s changes – well this is a big one for me, is that I am able to drive my car finally! Also I am performing chores around the house like vacuuming.  Now I know you may feel “big deal” you can vacuum!”, but for me with the pain I was experiencing, it feels wonderful just to be able to finally go back to doing just that, the household chores!”

++++

* Conducted a Free seminar for some patients of my daughter Dr.

Padma Sripada at her office ‘Columbia Internal Medicine’.  Three of her patients and one spouse attended.    

++++

One follow up class (FUP) was done for a patient. Her major concerns were reduced by 50% in the last 2 months that she has been practicing the method. Before this she attended one FUP class.

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Testimonial From a Scientist

 

“I have experienced some magical effect of the “Count your breath exercise”, which I started only recently, say 3-4 months ago. Though I had heard about such a technique many years ago, I was literally introduced to this by a good friend of mine, Mr. C.S. Rao. Initially, I was skeptical as anyone would be, but then thought, if I don’t gain much from it, I am definitely not going to lose anything. So, I started practicing this technique for a few minutes (10-15 minutes) without a particular goal in mind. I chose morning hours, immediately after coming out of the bed. In the initial couple of weeks, which included few gaps, I felt a very slight change in my attitude. The most important has been a sharp decline in frequency of getting panic on work not being completed according to target dates (set by me), which sometimes can be considered as unrealistic by my colleagues. At this point, I do not know for sure if this positive change in myself is due to “Counting your breath exercise”, but must be it , because I haven’t made any other change in my daily routine recently. I hope to increase the duration of this exercise in the near future.”

Rajendra Agrawal Ph. D Research Scientist, Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health, Albany NY and Associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health of the University at Albany NY.