Ayahuasca often causes my breathing to become 'disrupted': It seems as if the muscle-relaxant effect of harmala's is somehow a bit too strong sometimes. I find that this often holds me back, it prevents me from completely letting go. Too often when i go with the flow, my body pulls me back because i start breathing heavily.

I wonder if other people are familiar with this problem two, and if maybe they would know something that could counteract this side-effect. Cocoa as an admixture maybe? or cannabis?

could it be the tryptamines because i can feel a change in my breathing on mushrooms but ive never noticed it with ayahuasca?
what are you feeling? hard to breathe/restrictiveness or just out of breath?

I find that there can be lots of these physical effects with ayahuasca that can hold oyu from going deeper at times..each session varries as well..I have been drinking 2 times a week for a few solid weeks now, that last being thursday night, which got very difficult towards the end. I was shaking and felt so sketchy and uncomfortable..but afterwords and all day yesterday I felt better than I have felt in a lonnng time..it was amazing..I felt like I had the energy of a god at work yesterday after only 4 hours of sleep..The breathing thing I do understand because I have had both shallow and deep breathing with ayahuasca..I dunno what to tell you though..im drinking around 50g vine with a gram or so of mimosa..and smoked DMT lately..I really believe that alot of the effects I think hold me back and feel uncomfortable are just sort of subjective side effects of some sort of meta-programming or re-structuring goin on inside of me..since I feel sooooooo good after, reguardless of how bad it seems at the time.

Are you using chaliponga polytrip?

I know what you are talking about. But let's remember that breathing will regulate itself, in case you are no longer able to.

E.g. if you fall asleep, breathing will switch to "automatic mode". And when you will ever get unconscious, because you stopped breathing on purpose, breathing will start again by itself.

What I want to say: Try to put some universal trust in your system, even while under the influence of the medicine. It is not an evil thing, it heals.

It seems to me that especially using harmaline causes some weird sort of breathing. It's like breathing in in a very long gasp, then exhaling likewise. This can feel strange and uncomfortable sometimes. This is not so much present when using ayahuasca. Anyhow, the more you try to relax, the more this will get back to normal.

I have heard that if you put your hand on your lower part of your stomach it really helps to know you are breathing still. I have done this and it works for me. Your breathing all the time but just cant feel it anymore. I think its takes two systems to realize your breathing. Since you cant feel your lungs you feel the sense of air coming in and out of your mouth, as well as pressure in your throat. You also feel your abdomen flex. It seems that this system becomes confused and you no longer thinking your breathing. Its just a theory though.

I've found a sollution to the shallow breathing problem that sometimes happens with ayahuasca.

First of all i upped the dosage of psychedelic tryptamines with the addition of some copelandia's, so physical discomfort if it would occur was less likely to pull me back.
Secondly i upped the dosage of harmala's, to make me feel more relaxed and comfortable, so i took all in all a stronger brew.

But then, and this certainly must have helped a lot as well, i took a mixture of theobromine, gingko biloba, green tea and ginger and i ate some berries shortly after taking the brew.

Theobromine has some unpleasant side-effects when taken in large amounts that are simmilar to a large amount of caffeine. However, just a pinch of it causes bronchodilation wich makes it easier to breathe. Ginger also helps with that and it eases the stomach as well. Gingko biloba acts as a vasodilator wich would help spreading the oxygen you breathe in through your body so the slight feeling of choking that i sometimes have with ayahuasca is effectively diminished.

The berries i ate to prevent a slight glucose shortage. Fresh fruit always makes me feel good anyway.

And it worked!! I had one of the most pleasant ayahuasca experiences ever!!

I've had experiences where it feels like breathing is a DEAR STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. Every breath is a battle fought with every fiber of my being.

I had someone sit for me while this was the focus of a many-hours experience once. I asked my sitter if I was heaving/sounded like I was dying/etc., having just returned from the most incredible cosmic journey. Sitter reported no change in breathing: she said it sounded like I had fallen asleep.

It was only my awareness that had shifted.

I've had only one intense aya experience, but one of the most important lessons I learned was about breathing evenly though my body. I realized I had an imbalance in my breathing and it forced me to breath very deliberately into certain parts of my body to break blockages for what seemed like hours. I think it is very common for people to have problems breathing because of their posture affecting how efficiently their diaphragm functions, which may become much more apparent with vine in mind. at any rate, I think if you have serious physical problems backing the dose off for a while is probably in order. The phenomenon reminds me of how yogis require perfect posture before enlightened states can be achieved through meditation. Personally, breathing through that difficult experience was very involved and productive and ultimately pleasant for me. I think breathing through the whole body is a healthy thing to be aware of, especially in the morning time and... basically all the time.

Breathing has taken a central role in several of my aya journeys thus far. It seems that most of the work that I have been directed towards has been deep breathing and healing through energy work. These effects were certainly not what I had expected, I had envisioned a more intense psychedlic experience more akin to my pharma journeys. Instead these sesseions with 50-60g Cielo and 10-20g Chacruna have been very physical in nature and my attention is always drawn to a deeper awareness of my bodily sensations, and teachings of how to correct certain blockages.
I haven't noticed any breathing problems, but it has certainly made me aware of my breath and how I use it.