Random thoughts 11.19.09 Panic and Depresssion as related to being born and death and dying.
11.19.09 Mindfulness based breathing to help panic and depression, theoretical discussion.
Are the mental processes of the being born new born and those of the being dying newly dead or dying that different or are they the reverse engineering of each other?
Coming, being, and going, the basis of being “born” and “dying” are they that different?
Let it come, let it be, and let it go, mindfully experiencing the wave like nature of reality.
The relationship of these processes to severe panic and recurrent depression have therapeutic applications as related to the psychology of mindfulness.
The doom and gloom of the pits of depressive despair and hopeless , the fight-flight reactions of panic become invitations to the door of death and dying, through suicide and feelings and sensations of panic and depression that makes one feel as if they are dying or are in the process of dying.
The helplessness and hopelessness of both processes simulate deeply seated memories of the birthing and the same, plus anticipation anxieties mostly based on conditioned fantasy of what it is like to die.
Do we go though this is a small way daily, with every day comings and goings? But because of the shortness of these experiences and the lack of , or the minimal emotional charge are not perceived or dealt with as episodes of being born and dying.
Would the experience of these little comings and goings help us with the bigger ones, thus have therapeutic uses for these disorders and to deal with the existential anxiety about death and dying? How could one experience these? The daily and regular practice of mindfulness based breathing meditation could help, in a general way, and its specific focus on the feelings-sensations associated with depression and panic would likely be more helpful.
The breathing process itself is a miniature universe of coming and going, of being born and dying with the resultant associated feelings and body sensations, with the expected resisting motivations, intentions and thoughts.
Philosophical questions? Is the most basic basis of mind, the flow of matter and consciousness that cannot be separated from each other, really motivation and intention. Is motivation and intention the basis of soul that is passed on in the generic soul to the specific conditioned created soul?
To experience breathing as it is over and over is to live and re live, to be born and die over and over. This will help with less dramatic and final comings and goings, that are often at the source of daily fears, depressions, and avoidance, as seen in trouble with sleep just , to use one example.
How much of sleep difficulties both in everyday life and in psychopathological states due to conflict over coming, being, and going, or, being born, living and dying?
Gradual or rapid dissolving of the higher thinking processes at the time of dying depending on the cause and environment forces one to deal with pre verbal and pre cognitive feelings and sensations in a new and anxiety provoking way, perhaps in the reverse of how the infant coming “into the world” at the time of birth and the” there after” in its earliest development. The “there after” of the dying process has to be faced with these dissolving mental functions, would be better prepared with daily work of dealing with coming and going, being born and dying on a daily bases, perhaps through study, contemplation, meditation , and doing and experiencing the comings and goings in everyday activities.
The breath comes, it is born, it pauses, and then it goes away, in a sense dies, and pauses again. The in breath mixes with the out breath, the good air , with the bad air, connecting with the inner world of the body and mind, and the outer world of the environment and most importantly all others.
The pleasure of breathing in, and the it ends, a pause, the tension, of potential loss, and then the relief of letting go, yet resulting sadness over its loss, and then the air hunger, potential panic, a pause, and the relief at the anticipation and the beginning of the in breath, this happening over and over, again and again.
Each breathing cycle repeats the possibility of experiencing feelings of depression and panic, of life and death, of being born and dying, of coming and going, of anticipation , gain and loss, pain and pleasure, tension and relief, and seemingly endless cycle, that had a beginning in utero with no breathing, and has its end at the time of the dying process with no breathing, yet the energy that starts it, maintains it, and ends it, continues on and on.
one can re live, and be re born and re die and thus experience by using this as the object and basis of mindfulness based breathing meditation. Let it come, let it be, let it go, be born, live, and die, over and over. Feel the feelings and the bodily sensations, contemplate the associated thoughts.