Counting Breaths

Received this testimonial from a medical specialist who attended 5 of my classes.

“Meeting Mr. Suryanarayana was more than a sheer coincidence. I called him hoping for ‘Srimadbhagavadgeeta’  (Geeta in short) (1) sessions, just to realize that he had come up with a very easy, yet pragmatic strategy to control the mind (one of the major aspects of Geeta).

I have benefitted from this technique and continue to hope for ongoing experiences. Focusing on breath using the ‘tip mode’ and ‘counting mode’ has been very beneficial to calm the mind. My sleep quality has improved phenomenally and so has the ability to reduce the impact of the stressors of day to day life.

Both our children have learnt the technique from him and hopefully will continue to reap the benefits. They are realizing their inner strength every day through constant practice.

We are even hoping that Mr. Suryanarayana will teach this technique to my younger sister, who is deaf; and her daughter (both visiting us from India) so that they can improve their quality of life even back home.

I would very strongly recommend this simple and effective technique to anybody and everybody. Thanks to Mr. Suryanarayana for being a catalyst in our evolution!”

Specialist M.D (Name withheld)

(1) An ancient spiritual text from India known World over

Received this feedback from a NY state employee who has a busy and stressful customer service job. He attended a few of my classes in May 2010.

My practices (See link (1) for the different modes)
I practice the ‘Tip mode’ or ‘Segment mode’ to get sleep while in the bed and when I wake up during the night or in the morning and need to fall back asleep.

I practice the ‘Counting mode’ while driving or walking during the day.

I practice the ’911 mode’ when I recognize I am getting stressed, frustrated, worked up or pent up with anger or frustration.

The benefits  I gained
These practices have improved my self control and reduced my anger. They have increased my tolerance for things out of my control. They have improved my health. I can feel the difference. I don’t have anxiety or chest pains or tightening, like I had before or nearly as frequently as before.  They have reduced my road rage. There is improvement in how I react with or accept other drivers. I have improved my tolerance and anger for mistakes and towards the “general public”. They have helped me in my job and career. I think before I react which has helped me deal with “difficult customers”.

I just have to work on making it more of a routine so that I don’t have to think about it. I don’t do it as much as I should or need to!!

I really like your Rope/Snake story (2) that you told me in the class. I just found that on the website.

I can’t thank you enough. You have helped me tremendously.

Related pages
(1) How can I do it?
(2) Is it a snake or a rope?

A patient of my daughter Padma Sripada M.D came to visit her today and said “I work in a jail, giving educational classes to the inmates. Some of my students were having sleep problems. I gave the hand out ‘How to enjoy quality sleep and conquer insomnia by focusing on breathing’ to them. Some of them open to such techniques practiced it and reported it helped them sleep.”

A patient of my daughter Padma Sripada M.D attended my seminar at the East Greenbush Community Library on May 4, 2011. I met her again today when we both participated at a seminar on ‘Mindfulness’. At the end of the seminar, she sought me out and said happily “I want to to share with you my recent experience with ‘focusing on breathing’. Recently I had a long civil service exam of 8 hours, sitting at a school desk. It was very stressful. I frequently practiced the ‘focusing on breathing’ technique during this exam. I used the counting mode and 911 modes a lot. It reduced my stress and helped me focus.”

One patient of my daughter Padma Sripada said today when she came for a visit ” A young woman at my work was having hypertension. I downloaded and printed the ‘Focusing on breathing’ technique from the web site countingbreaths.com and gave to her. She reported after some time, that her hypertension numbers were coming down.”

A patient of my daughter Padma Sripada works for a pharmaceutic company  as an occupational health professional. When she visited the office today, she said “There have been many product changes at our company recently. Many workers were under severe stress due to these changes. I gave copies of the hand outs on ‘Focusing on breathing’ to them. They said the practice is helping them reduce their stress.”

The fourth introductory seminar at the East Greenbush Community library was on May 4, 2011. 26 persons registered and 19 turned up.

Scanned images of the completed feedback forms  PDF

Their feedback is summarized below.

The seminar was …

I will use this technique to relieve my (concern)

Comments/ Suggestions (if any)

Surprising feedback from a practitioner about the practice of “Hot to cold shower”+
“I got DNS (deviated nasel Septum). As soon as I wake up, because of the cooler air I breathe in the morning, I feel a little tickle inside my nose, start to sneeze and finally end up with a running nose. I got introduced to Mr Suryanarayana Chennapragada (CS) by one of my friends and started following the breathing techniques. By his advice I started using “Neti Pot” (1) (pouring warm salt water into one nostril and draining through the other nostril). Some times my nose would be completely blocked. I do some jumping exercises which opens up my nostrils. I was doing this ‘Neti’ two times a day. But when I did this in the evening, as the water is warm, it would open momentarily, but later on, it would become stuffy again. Later as per CS’s advice, I tried something out of the world “Hot to cold shower” (2). I begin with hot shower and towards the end, slowly turn to a cold shower in several steps. When in the shower, I bend and touch my feet several times and sometimes do a little jogging. This generates heat in the body and I do not feel the cold water. Later I realized that my nose was not as stuffy as it used to be. Now I don’t take shower under the shower head. I fill the water in a bucket, so that the water has a uniform temperature and also I have to bend down to scope water in the mug several times. This becomes a sort of exercise and opens my nostrils. I slowly switch to cold shower. Now I don’t have the sneezing problem and the stuffiness of my nose is gradually reducing.”

(1) Neti Practice of nasal flushing

(2) Hot to cold shower