Hacker News Reader

Comment by serverlessmom | Hacker News Reader

This is really interesting, I had never heard of this type of meditation until now and I have been using those techniques since I was a child waiting for the bus in the early morning with what I felt was success at the time.

I similarly remember willfully altering my heart beat at the doctor's office on several occasions as a practical joke. I wonder if the two situations are linked in a significant way?

View on HN

I also have the amazing paranormal ability to "alter my heartbeat", it's called jumping jacks.

It wouldn't have been much of a prank if I was so obvious about it, would it? I did it while the doctor was actively in the process of taking my heart rate by concentrating and taking either shallow or deep breaths as sneakily as I could manage. I was simply wondering about the connection to this type of meditation as meditation is often concentration and breathe based, there's nothing paranormal about it.

Ha, that's interesting. In what way did you alter your heartbeat?

That is to say, I would imagine my heart rate speeding up or slowing down and either take shallow or a deeper breaths at different speeds. I remember that I figured it out once when the doctor commented on how high my heart rate was and I slowed it quickly enough that they actually mentioned it. After that I started doing it as a game, which I eventually got bored of as children do.

I do wonder how effective I actually was, as it isn't really something I have thought about for literal years.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com