Once I began reading Richard Gordon's book, Quantum-Touch®, 
the Power to Heal, I didn't stop until I had devoured the 
whole thing! As soon as I closed the book, I went hunting 
for a nice juicy challenge to test my Q-T on.

A couple of days before, my next-door neighbor had mentioned
having a sprained ankle which simply would not heal – perfect! I 
found her at home, and I huffed and I puffed and I sweated 
for an hour and a half. (I'm afraid I was quite ignorant of 
the concept of allowing at that point!)

Not long into it, I could feel the bones in her foot begin
shifting – Wow! This was great! I redoubled my efforts. I
fell into a rhythm, and a peculiar tingling began in my lower
back. I became lightheaded. Things seemed a little "cottony."
My face started tingling too. When I got up, I was unsteady
and shaky.

Way cool! This must be the sensation of the 
Universal Life Force healing me while I worked with my 
neighbor! 
 
Actually . . . looking back, it is quite obvious that it 
was a case of hyperventilation.

I was not alone in my confusion, though – newcomers
to Q-T come up with this question again and again:
"My hands suddenly cramped up and I couldn't bend them.
My face felt numb. My chest hurt. I started twitching.
I got dizzy. I felt tingling in my hands and my feet.
I was lightheaded. What the heck is going on here?" 
 
But if you think I've set you up for an easy answer to this 
question, think again.

Except for the dizziness – always a warning sign to stop
what you're doing and regroup – each of these symptoms
could also simply be the sign of a lot of 
unaccustomed energy moving through your system. 
 
What exactly is hyperventilation, anyway?

Because it's associated with rapid breathing, people
tend to think that hyperventilation occurs because too
much oxygen is coming in.

But as Scott Kwiatkowski, D.O.,* explains, what 
actually happens is that not enough oxygen is coming in 
relative to the amount of carbon dioxide going out, 
creating an abnormal blood chemistry which can cause 
hyperventilation sensations. One reason this happens is 
that the exhale is more forceful and thorough than the 
inhale.  
 
Also, according to Edward Newton, MD,** the hyperventilator 
"tend[s] to breathe by using the upper [chest] rather than 
the diaphragm, resulting in chronically overinflated 
lungs."

This results "in high residual lung volume. Because 
of the high residual volume, [the lungs] are then unable to 
take [in] a normal . . . volume [of air] with the next 
breath. Proprioceptors in the lung and chest wall signal 
the brain with a 'suffocation alarm' that triggers release 
of excitatory neurotransmitters that are responsible for 
many of the symptoms." 
 
So how do you know whether you should stop because you're 
endangering yourself or to keep going because you're really 
starting to boogie now! 
 
Actually, that part really is pretty easy – if in doubt, 
stop! This goes double if you're feeling dizzy. You don't 
want to faint and hurt yourself or your client. The next 
step is to pay attention to how you were breathing. 
 
The key thing to pay attention to is whether you are 
engaging your abdominal muscles while you do the sweeping 
and breathing.

If you are, you are doing diaphragmatic breathing.
And if you are doing diaphragmatic breathing, 
you are breathing in and breathing out the way your body is 
designed to breathe, and you are maintaining the proper 
ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood.

Was your abdomen moving in and out as you breathed?
If it was not, you were chest-breathing, and without a
doubt, the sensations you felt were most likely a sign of 
hyperventilation.

If your abdomen was moving in and out, 
and you weren't dizzy, you most likely were simply 
experiencing the surge of unaccustomed amounts of energy 
moving through your body.  
 
Even if you ordinarily do diaphragmatic breathing, the fire 
breathing can be a real pitfall.

As you take the initial powerful breath in, feeling the breath
as it moves fully from your abdomen, through your mid-torso,
to your upper chest, you can easily unconsciously STAY in
your upper chest as you continue the fire breathing, setting
yourself up for a bout of chest-breathing and hyperventilation.

I can't say it enough: To make sure your diaphragm is 
involved in your breathing, make sure your abdomen is 
moving in and out while doing any of the breathing rhythms. 
 
Now go hunt down some more of those nice juicy challenges!
 
--------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES: 
 
*In Appendix B, "The Physics of Breathing," 
Transformational Healing, by Judith Krantz 
 
**www.emedicine.com 
--------------------------------------------------------------

The LifeForce Unlimited Newsletter copyright ©2006 Jocelyn
Jacks Kahn, all rights reserved.
 
You are welcome to reprint any articles herein as long as
you include the following attribution: "LifeForce Unlimited
article ©2006 Jocelyn Jacks Kahn, all rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission. Find out more about
energy healing at: http://www.lifeforceunlimited.org

Jocelyn Jacks Kahn