Air pollution

[Jhanananda]

Alright, I hope it gets all better for your body. I remember your comment from one of the video, that experienced yogi cann get to great depths really quickly, so once you get to 8th jhana which is believe must be happening fairly quickly how long you stay there? and what actually brings us back? can we decide the amount of time we stay in it?

Thank-you for expressing your concern for the health of this body.  The things that I realized early in my contemplative life after ascending to the 7th stage of samadhi are:
1) We are not the body.  We are spirit encapsulated in a biological form.
2} Biology is inherently cruel, because it requires the weak and the sick, and old to be removed from competition for resources, and reproduction as quickly as possible, which is why predators exist.
3} So, my conclusion then was life is preparation for death. thus, to prepare for death properly, then one must spend one's life developing the contemplative arts, and the fruit there of.

In answer to your question regarding consistent depth in meditation.  I arrived in the 8th stage of samadhi sometime after I deepened my daily meditation practice which was around 2000.  Later that year I let go of all attachments to life and merged into the all pervasive awareness domain of divine consciousness.  That experience persisted with me 24/7 for a number of years.  While I do not have that experience 24/7 these days; nonetheless,  i experience it at times. Mostly I experience the 4th stage of jhana/samadhi and drop into it as soon as I sit in meditation.  When my body enters sleep, and being ill, I take many naps these days, so when I do I leave the body and enter one of the 4 ayatans.

My experience of the 4 ayatanas is they are not linear, like the 4 stages of jhana.  Instead one can enter anyone one of them upon laving the body. The more time one spends in the 4th jhana the more facility one has with the 4 ayatanas.

As I age, and my illness progresses the contemplative arts, and the fruit there of have become my constant companions which I take refuge and comfort in. Meditation has stopped being formal and is more continuous. All along in my meditation practice I meditated until the session came to completion. When I deepened my meditation practice I took more to meditating for longer periods, and beyond the feeling of completion in the session.  I often found that the session would then go to greater depth, if I remained longer.

I have found ultimately what brings us back to the body is the body has its lifespan.  We will simply keep coming back to it until it is dead.

I had something to discuss, about thought and calmness of second jhana, there are 2 layers of mind as  i had observed, one is of conscious thinking, which is like a voice we intentionally generate in our head, second is sub-conscious, in which mind randomly brings up thoughts based on memory (it can be visual image or a less louder conversation going on). what i have observed is for most part in second jhana conscious thought is put to rest and this leads to cutting of randomly generated thoughts from the subconscious mind as well. In my experience, total mental activity only stops when we are very deep in 4th jhana, since breath and mind are related so unless breath stops subtle thoughts keep popping up. But to be honest, your breath cant be stopped for long even in 4th jhana, (that may be possible when we go obe perhaps), so some mental activity always remains through out the session, and we may keeping circling between different jhanas and different level of mental stillness.

On stilling the mind. The second jhana is characterized by the stilling of the mind, so until the mind is still one has not gone deeper than the 1st jhana.  I am not clear on your use of the term "mental activity." I can apply that term to cognition.  Cognition refers to a number of cognitive activities, such as sensing, and interpretation.  When the mind is still in the 2nd jhana, one can still experience sensing and interpretation without labeling. I find the deeper I go the less cognitive functions exist.  For instance a sense of body persists through the 4th jhana; however, it becomes reduced at each stage of depth, but once one goes out of body, then of course the sense of a body is gone.  Nonetheless, as one progresses deeper in the ayatanas the sense of body and cognition becomes reduced until at the 7th stage of samadhi one become simply a point of awareness, and the other entities one interacts with are also just points of awareness.

The breath only appears to stop during the 4th jhana and beyond.  It is doubtful to me that the breath stops at these depths.  We simply lose awareness of the breath and the body.

Do you agree with this observation or do you think that i never ever crossed second jhana cause i dont find total cessation of mind (no subtle images etc popping up) unless breath is very very slow and almost stopping(i.e. 4th jhana as per what i understand).

So, from your questions it seems reasonable to me that you have stilled your mind at times, but it might be less frequent than you believe. So, keep meditating consistently.  Every time you meditate endeavor to meditate to depth. When not in meditation endeavor to remain the present moment, which will encourage your mind to remain still throughout the day. This will help you meditate to depth when you meditate. Live a contemplative life throughout your life.

[Naman]

It is amazing to know the depths of meditation you abide in daily. Thankyou for sharing that.

I remebr the video abput second jhana, where you discuss about " how still the mind is in second jhana?" and when you talk of  "relatively still"
were you talking about the intensity of stillness in terms of " absolutely no thought for a length of time and more the length of time, intense is the stillness or

does it mean that there are "relatively" less thoughts and mind isnt totally silent?

because for me when mind becomes totally silent, Im in the 4th jhana, which i gauge through breath, breath is almost stopping and im very deep. I had experienced once directly effacing into total bliss state which i think is 8th jhana, when i was abiding in 4th jhana sitting up, my consciousness go pulled from the body and i merged into heart area and there was a surge of bliss in that nothingness, just i existed with immense bliss. I did experience it once, where i merged into third eye center that time i was lying down on the bed.


so for me I always thought 2nd jhana is relative stillness in the sense that mind is silent but not fully.

[Jhanananda]

I am very sorry friends for having been off-list for a while.  For my health, I have been working on moving out of Prescott where my health has declined so much.  I am retreating to the mountains near Flag Staff, AZ where the air is cleaner, but I am an hour and half drive from town, so I plan to come to town every week for now to get food, and ice, and water, and I plan to check in here each time.  It is good to see there has been some activity here.

It is amazing to know the depths of meditation you abide in daily. Thankyou for sharing that.

I remebr the video abput second jhana, where you discuss about " how still the mind is in second jhana?" and when you talk of  "relatively still"
were you talking about the intensity of stillness in terms of " absolutely no thought for a length of time and more the length of time, intense is the stillness or

does it mean that there are "relatively" less thoughts and mind isnt totally silent?

so for me I always thought 2nd jhana is relative stillness in the sense that mind is silent but not fully.

We have discussed the 8 stages of samadhi here many times.  For reference, you can go to the GWV web site at this link: Jhana as defined in the Buddha's Discourses.  Essentially when the mind is still then one is at least in the second jhana.

because for me when mind becomes totally silent, Im in the 4th jhana, which i gauge through breath, breath is almost stopping and im very deep. I had experienced once directly effacing into total bliss state which i think is 8th jhana, when i was abiding in 4th jhana sitting up, my consciousness go pulled from the body and i merged into heart area and there was a surge of bliss in that nothingness, just i existed with immense bliss. I did experience it once, where i merged into third eye center that time i was lying down on the bed.

We recognize the 4th jhana by an absence of suffering and discomfort, as well as a loss of the sense of breath.

When one enters the upper four stages of samadhi one has no sense of a physical body, which means it is an out-of-body experience.

[Jhanananda]

Jhanananda I had finally gotten the funds together about 2 weeks ago and bought an air purifier and an additional HEPA charcoal filter. This was purely from your posts here. I have had a significant decrease in a lot of congestive respiratory symptoms. I no longer feel the need to take an allergy medication every day to combat dander, dust, mold, pollution etc. in my room. My lungs dont feel as inflammed as usual and i rarely need to clear my throat or cough throughout the day. I am finally going to be able to see a doctor this week and will probably move forward towards a diagnosis on the autoimmune disorder i have been outright suffering the past few years. Ill update on what I find out and other health changes in the coming weeks. Praying i dont catch anything at the doctors office x_x.


Rougeleader

I thought it best to reply to you, Rougeleader, here.  It is good to know that you have acquired an air purifier and to know that it is helping you.  I am still developing my air-purification methods, and have come to realize that HEPA is great, adding activated charcoal is even better, but they are incomplete.  There are 2 other classes of air-pollution that neither HEPA nor activated charcoal do much to reduce.  They are: NOX, SOX and ozone.

Both NOX and SOX are oxides, which are highly reactive and bond readily with water, this explains why people with autoimmune disorders find results using a humidifier.  And, they find even better results from adding water to an ultrasonic humidifier. 

I tried the ultrasonic humidifier with salt, and did have significant results.  After some experimenting, I found an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) with salt added to it, and draining the water at least every day, worked even better.  So, if you are interested you may find additional relief from using such a device in the manner I described.

Removing ozone requires a catalyst to convert it into O2.  I am still working on that and will report back when I have sufficient results to do so.

[Jhanananda]

Here is more interesting research on the benefit of air purifiers.
Air Filters Used In LA Schools Linked To Higher Test Scores

[Jhanananda]

Here are some more useful resources for studying air quality:

Air quality in the world
AccuWeather Air Quality
3D Animated Air Pollution Map

[Jhanananda]

Having found that air quality has more to do with my health than anything else, then I have taken to closely monitoring the air quality wherever I am, even several times a day, and I often check multiple sources.  Currently I find the dashboards for AccuWeather dashboard, and the Weather Channel most useful.

However, I have noticed a number of problems with the data I acquire on these dashboards.

1] Most air-quality dashboards do not report anything other than the dominant pollutant, such as ozone (03) is almost always the dominant pollutant in Prescott, AZ.  However, I have found from examining the full spectrum of air pollutants I have found my health responds to the full spectrum of air pollution, and different organs respond differently to different air-pollutants.

2] I have also noticed that my health responds fairly dramatically to very low levels of NOX, SOX and CO.  Where even if there is an AQI of only 1 or 2 for these three respiratory irritants; nonetheless, my body responds at these levels and when they get to 4, then I am having a severe health issue, if I am not using my advanced air-purification system. So, I believe the EPA needs to raise the AQI values for these 3 air-pollutants a factor of 10.

3]I have also noticed that I get different values from one dashboard to the other.  I happen to know that there are often more than one air quality monitoring station in any given area, so I assumed the dashboards were getting their data from different stations.  This difference is explained in this paper, and it turns out I was only partially correct.

Understanding PurpleAir vs. AirNow.gov Measurements of Smoke Pollution

[Jhanananda]

Here is more research supporting my hypothesis that air pollution might just be the primary cause of disease.

Even 'Safe' Levels of Air Pollution Tied to Brain Shrinkage Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW November 23, 2020

Areas where there are high levels of fine-particle air pollution may increase Alzheimer's-like brain shrinkage, new research suggests.

Results of a large longitudinal study show that women who lived in areas in which there were microscopic particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters <2.5 μg (PM2.5) per cubic meter of air had a significantly increased risk for brain shrinkage on imaging.

Researchers studied more than 700 women (mean age, 78 years) who were free of dementia at baseline. Participants underwent MRI at baseline and again 5 years later.

Each 3-μm increase in air pollution exposure was associated with an increase of .03 points in brain shrinkage scores at the end of the 5-year period. These scores were in turn associated with a 24% increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

"Our findings add to the literature showing that air pollution may increase risk of Alzheimer's disease,"
"However, air pollution is a modifiable risk factor, and even those living in areas with high air pollution can make concerted efforts to reduce their exposure to these pollutants, for example, monitor air quality daily...
"Compelling evidence has demonstrated that ambient pollution" — especially particulate matter of PM2.5 — "is an environmental risk factor for brain aging" and is associated with an increased risk for dementia and AD, but the underlying mechanism of this association is not clear, the authors write.

They don't mention you can buy an air purifier for home, car and office; and they don't get that pm2.5 is only one of many aspects of air pollution, which is possibly why they didn't understand the underlying mechanism of air pollution and its effect on the body.

[Alexander]

Jeff if I recall correctly, Gurdjieff had an interest in this topic as well towards the end of his life. It's been 10 years since I read it so I can't remember precisely. But I believe he was researching higher qualities of air and the effects they had. Might be something out there on it.

[Jhanananda]

Thanks, Alexander, I will have to dig into it to find more info. I found another article that so far provides the most compelling evidence of a link between air pollution, health and this pandemic.

The United States May Have Set Itself Up for the Spread of a Pandemic Without Even Knowing It by Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Payton Beeler, Pai Liu, Spondita Goswami, Richard D. Harvey, Shamsh Pervez, Aaronvan Donkelaar and Randall V. Martin, 9 November 2020, Science of The Total Environment.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143391

The reproduction ratio R0 of COVID-19 associates directly with the long-term ambient PM2.5 exposure levels. And the presence of secondary inorganic components in PM2.5 only makes things worse, according to Chakrabarty.

“We checked for more than 40 confounding factors,” Chakrabarty said. Of all of those factors, “There was a strong, linear association between long-term PM2.5 exposure and R0.”

Modeling revealed an increase of almost 0.25 in R0 corresponding to a 10% increase in sulfate, nitrogen dioxide and ammonium, or SNA composition and an increase of 1 μg/m3 in PM2.5 mass concentrations, respectively.

They found these linear correlations to be strongest in places where pollution levels were well below National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the levels of air pollutants that are considered safe for humans.

“Annual mean PM2.5 national standards are set at or below 12 micrograms per cubic meter, below that you are supposed to be safe,” Chakrabarty said. “What we saw, the correlation we’re seeing is well below that standard.” In fact, they saw a rapid increase in R0 when PM2.5 exposure levels were below 6 micrograms per cubic meter.

“We found black carbon acts as a kind of catalyst. When there is soot present, PM2.5 has more of an acute effect on lung health, and therefore on R0.”

The mediation/moderation study was not superfluous — one of the common ways people are exposed to SNA is through pollution emitted from cars and coal-fired power plants. Both of which also emit soot.

“Although decades of strict air quality regulations in the U.S. have resulted in significant reductions of nitrogen dioxide levels,” the authors wrote in the paper’s conclusion, “recent reversal of environmental regulations which weaken limits on gaseous emissions from power plants and vehicles threaten the country’s future air quality scenario.”

“Instead of working to resolve this issue, these reversals may be setting us up for another pandemic,” Chakrabarty said.

[Jhanananda]

Here is more research showing air pollution has a causal relationship with Alzheimer’s disease. The study found locations with high levels of PM2.5 compared to those locations with low levels, they found dementia risk increased by 24%.

Air pollution may contribute to Alzheimer’s and dementia risk – here’s what we’re learning from brain scans

The problem I have with these studies that only look at pm 2.5 is an unfortunate conclusion can be made that all one needs is a HEPA filter to remove them.  However, there are gasses that are part of the air pollution stream that will pass right through a HEPA filter, which can be removed with activated charcoal and a humidifier.

[Jhanananda]

Here is an interesting study that shows allergies can cause Chronic Bladder Pain in Some People. An animal study has shown prolonged high levels of histamine in the bladder can make the bladder's nerves hypersensitive. And histamines in urine appear to remain elevated for longer than in our blood as our bodies use this exit pathway to remove them. And, people suffering from Chronic Bladder Pain find antihistamines relieve their symptoms.  However, the study assumes a link to pollen and does not consider the cause might just be air pollution.

High Pollen May Trigger Mysterious Flares of Chronic Bladder Pain in Some People

[Jhanananda]

Here is one of the best articles that I have read so far on the damage to public health caused by air pollution.

'Invisible killer': fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds

Pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources accounted for one in five of all deaths that year, more detailed analysis reveals

The article recognized that air pollution is not just particles that can be filtered out with a HEPA filter, but also gasses, which pass right through filters and need other methods such as activated charcoal and a humidifier. But, the best part of this article is the recognition that it is the burning of fossil fuels that is producing the pollution, and it is the recognition that ir pollution is a global problem, and air pollution is the primary cause of the decline of public health.

[Jhanananda]

Here is more research showing the health degradation due to wildfires. Study Finds Wildfire Smoke More Harmful To Humans Than Pollution From Cars

[Jhanananda]

Recently I stumbled upon Salt Inhalation Therapy. It is what I have been doing for 14 months, which has dramatically improved my health and kept me out of the ER since I started using it.  I started adding a humidifier to my air purification methods when I was last in the ER.  There the EKG tech told me while he was hooking me up that both he and his wife had chronic respiratory illnesses and he had found using a humidifier helped them both, and he said adding salt to the humidifier water improved it effectiveness significantly. At the time he said he thought the reason why a humidifier worked better with salt in it was because the salt made the water denser.  Right away I knew his explanation was lame.  I figured if salt worked it would be because salt is a universal acid neutralizer.

Salt Inhalation Therapy or Halotherapy

Halotherapy is an alternative treatment that involves breathing salty air. Some claim that it can treat respiratory conditions, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and allergies. Others suggest it can also:

    ease smoking-related symptoms, such as a cough, shortness of breath, and wheezing
    treat depression and anxiety
    cure some skin conditions, such as psoriasis, eczema, and acne

The origins of halotherapy date back to the medieval era. But researchers only recently started studying its potential benefits.

 Halotherapy methods

Halotherapy is usually broken down into dry and wet methods, depending on how the salt is administered.

Dry methods

The dry method of halotherapy is usually done in a man-made “salt cave” that’s free of humidity. The temperature is cool, set to 68°F (20°C) or lower. Sessions usually last for about 30 to 45 minutes.

A device called a halogenerator grinds salt into microscopic particles and releases them into the air of the room. Once inhaled, these salt particles are claimed to absorb irritants, including allergens and toxins, from the respiratory system. Advocates say this process breaks up mucus and reduces inflammation, resulting in clear airways.

Wet methods

Halotherapy is also done using a mixture of salt and water. Wet methods of halotherapy include:

    gargling salt water
    drinking salt water
    bathing in salt water
    using salt water for nasal irrigation
    flotation tanks filled with salt water

 What do studies on halotherapy say?

Science hasn’t caught up with the halotherapy hype yet. There are few studies on the topic. Some studies have shown promise, but most research is inconclusive or conflicting.

Promising or Placebo? Halo Salt Therapy: Resurgence of a Salt Cave Spa Treatment

A new trend increasingly found at modern spas is halotherapy, or salt therapy—breathable salt particles intended to improve breathing. There has been news buzzing with the supposed benefits of salt therapy or halotherapy for lung conditions like COPD and asthma.

Turns out, salt therapy isn't new at all. Back in 1843, a Polish physician by the name of Feliks Boczkowski noticed that salt mine workers did not experience respiratory issues or lung disease vs other miners. Almost a hundred years later, a German named Karl Hermann Spannagel noticed that his patients' health improved after hiding out in the salt caves while avoiding heavy bombing during WWII. The news of the benefits of salt therapy spread across Eastern Europe where you can find many locations offering these giant salt rooms today, from Poland to Germany to the UK. It's even catching on in the States at Korean bathhouses where you can sit back, relax and breathe in the salty air while in a room made entirely out of giant slabs of Himalayan sea salt.

Dr. Norman Edelman, Senior Scientific Advisor to the American Lung Association, suggests that potentially, it could be more than just a placebo effect. Most people with obstructive lung disease such as asthma or COPD cough sputum (a thick mixture of saliva and mucus), and trying to bring it up can be distressing. (Think about the last time you had bronchitis, for instance.) Dr. Edelman suggests that it's possible that salt therapy offers relief to these symptoms.

"When fine salt particles are inhaled, they will fall on the airway linings and draw water into the airway, thinning the mucus and making it easier to raise, thus making people feel better," said Dr. Edelman. "Also, these environments are allergen-free and thus good for people with allergies affecting their lungs."

At this point, there are no evidence-based findings to create guidelines for patients and clinicians about treatments such as salt therapy, which begs the question—should people be using a therapy without current medical guidance? There is also the question of how well maintained the rooms are since warm rooms could provide ideal conditions for the growth of bacteria. The bottom line: salt therapy should definitely be discussed with your doctor.

What none of these people get is air pollution has been around for ever due to using coal as a fuel for the last 2 centuries to burning wood as fuel all the way back to hominid evolution millions of years ago.  And, burning these fuels releases substances in the air that can accumulate over time and cause chronic respiratory illness.

Ancient literature and Archaeology shows people have been going to the sea side to treat their chronic respiratory illnesses far into prehistory.

So, how does it work? Air pollution has a number of things about it that are respiratory irritants from the the PM 10 ad 2.5 particles which can build up in the lungs, to corrosive gasses that burn the lungs in very small amounts as little as parts per billion concentrations in the air we breath.  Some of these gasses are classified in NOX and SOX, which are oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, which are chemicals that are hungry for water and since the airways are moist then NOX and SOX attach to the water in our airways and turn into acids, nitrous and sulfuric acids.

Understanding salt is a universal neutralizer of acids we can now understand the primary mechanism of Salt Inhalation Therapy.  The salt neutralizes the air-borne acids. This means 30 minutes treatment a day is not likely to be particularly effective even though people do report benefit form it.  I add salt to my humidifier at 1 tsp per quart (liter) of water and I run it all day and night long when I am in my home. I have found almost complete recovery doing this.

If you search the web you will find there are now products that are sold specifically for salt inhalation therapy, but I find a humidifier with salt in the water works great.