Concept
Freeze Response
The dorsal vagal freeze that holds the body still every night in sleep, entered consciously in meditation through HRV resonance and sitting very still. Its signs run from tingling skin and numbness to parts of the body vanishing from awareness. He teaches it as pratyahara, interiorization: body asleep, mind awake.
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Freeze Response in Meditation - Polyvagal Theory
Explains where the freeze comes from: the vagus nerve's two branches, and how the long outbreath presses on the dorsal vagal to bring it on.
00:01Watch from here
The Crux of Yogic Meditation - Yogi Explain
Explains why the freeze, as interiorization, is the crux of all yogic meditation, told through an ashram story and the war of the Gita and Ramayana.
02:08Watch from here
Four Proofs Into the Freeze Response - Yogi Explains
Picks up where the Four Proofs leave off, names each sign of the freeze to watch for, and explains why the proofs dim as it grows.
07:52Watch from hereWhere it comes up
01:09“There's also a freeze, and so it's not two, it's three, three parts of your nervous system that you want to regulate.”07:52“And so, what does the freeze response look like?”06:15“So, I want to notice some of that freeze.”05:47“The tingling that you feel when you start to get the fourth proof, which also means you're on the edge of the freeze response.”02:06“And understanding that that is the freeze response.”12:25“What does the freeze response look like?”09:58“That is the freeze response, which is now overcoming the heat.”01:38“We get deeper into the parasympathetic system, and so the mind slows down some more, and it's just down and down and down the rabbit hole we go, and through that we begin to encounter the freeze response”26:10“There are a bunch of sensations that will happen because of the freeze response.”03:40“The freeze response is the yogic process of sensory withdrawal.”00:01“Today I want to talk all about the freeze response, the many ways that you might see it appear in your meditation.”04:08“Well, Forrest, what is the freeze response?”08:11“Now, when you feel it internally, and you have a very deep freeze response, and we're cultivating that, right?”00:01“Today I want to talk about the wonderful and glorious freeze response, and it's something that you might not have heard of very often.”07:31“And what will happen at this point is you'll start inducing, because we're working so much with the dorsal vagal complex, we start inducing that freeze response of the dorsal vagal complex.”12:01“The next thing is to feel the freeze response.”02:38“The body freezes, so it's going into the freeze response.”04:26“So what is this freeze that we're trying to get into in meditation?”10:40“Tranquil breath, freeze response, and you are recovering in your sleep because of that.”04:40“That freeze will come over the chest, and the upper portion of your chest will slowly gradually become frozen, and it will push the breath naturally into your belly.”08:44“You do that again and again, and eventually you enter the freeze response, and in that moment you are entering into interiorization.”03:02“So, we establish that parasympathetic again and again and again, and it leads to the freeze response.”04:46“And when you're awake in meditation and you feel this freeze over time as you get deeper into it, it will feel more and more blissful.”04:59“I stay with it, and the freeze comes over me more deeply.”04:00“We really need that freeze for a really good session of meditation.”03:40“Now, remember that the freeze response. This is the crux, right?”02:56“So getting deep into the freeze is a humongous milestone in the journey of the yogi, because the body, like he said, my whole body is mellowed out.”04:21“And it's this magical deep response from the parasympathetic system, from the dorsal vagal, as we're entering into the freeze response.”08:58“It means he gets the freeze response and he gets the tranquil breath, and that is the end.”07:43“This is the portion which leads us into the freeze response.”11:58“We want the freeze first, and that freeze, that dorsal vagal, that slower, low-idle-state creates the clarity that clears the mind, and it won't be perfect.”09:23“Sitting very still, getting into the low-idle-state, encountering the freeze response that pulls you in towards the dorsal vagal.”05:48“And because you are doing these two things at once, you're going to awaken the freeze response.”03:29“And when you sit very still, you're going to get into the freeze response.”02:16“It's a deeper solitude that comes from yogic skill that we enter into interiorization through the freeze response, and the whole world, our whole body, our whole story dims from our awareness, and we retreat into the parasympathetic system and the deep brain.”03:56“We're using the freeze response.”11:51“We're opening the way for this to show up again and again and again in our lives more and more often, and the freeze response will come over us.”03:49“But he was in a freeze response.”04:06“So the rest of your body can be completely frozen, and you're just moving your hand, and it's not as much of a disturbance of the freeze response as moving the entire body or moving the upper chest can be.”04:30“And as we continue to sit very still, we will encounter naturally more of the freeze response, and that's humongous in your meditation.”18:38“He's come all the way down to the core of the projection of the chakra, and he finds a perfect access into the higher self, into the left amygdala, especially into bliss and inspiration, and it starts to bleed through all of his meditation, and everything else in that progression begins to fade through the freeze response.”09:53“And as you get into the freeze response, there's this delightful sensation where the skin becomes frozen, the outside of the body becomes a little bit of a shell, and you just feel this kind of.”06:55“Do I have the freeze response?”05:15“Watch the levels of the freeze response.”10:06“We're getting some of the four proofs, and that is washing us deeper and deeper into a subtle and then a more profound freeze response.”16:28“And when you get into, oh God, and when you get into the freeze response, you may notice the tranquil breath begins to show up as well.”12:26“All of that begins to come online, and it's the freeze response and the tranquil breath that makes the meditation so enjoyable.”06:13“It starts overpowering your preoccupation with the body, and the body begins to fade from your awareness, and that's the freeze response.”03:37“So I talk about we got to have tranquil breath and the freeze response, but they're actually married.”10:44“I'm doing the kriya, and all of a sudden, boom, my my whole upper chest just went into the freeze response so fast.”12:52“We're actually our consciousness is getting pulled up into it, so it's really really powerful, and now because of this and because of the freeze response and because of the tranquil breath, these three things coming together, the the body awareness begins to dim radically, and so you you could point yourself to the body.”09:23“It helps us go deeper into the freeze response in meditation.”02:41“It's this wonderful feeling that comes over your body, and you don't want to move your body at all.”07:25“So the freeze response itself is an aftereffect poise state, right?”05:57“Now, once all this happens and you've gone through all of the four proofs, you may begin to get into the freeze response.”02:49“Especially when you get into the freeze response, you're doing all of that and you're sitting very still, and because of that, the body will automatically begin to go into a freeze response.”08:39“And as you step into that practice of heart rate variability and freezing and holding very still, you will begin to enter into the freeze response.”06:29“This is the freeze response of the dorsal vagal nerve, and it's amazingly pleasurable to feel.”14:56“You'll feel a release, and then you're ready to sit down and meditate using the dorsal vagal nerve, because freeze is not always bad.”05:58“We enter into the freeze response, and everything begins to disappear.”04:35“That's going to awaken over time the freeze response and the tranquil breath together, and then I'm going to clean myself out with the Om Japa, and that is going to give me the roll-up of consciousness.”05:20“There are unfoldments that happened, like the freeze response, like HRV resonance, and the freeze response.”04:49“I keep saying to you, look, when you reach the freeze response, oh my God, it's so gigantic.”06:45“It is essential to get deeper and deeper and deeper into the parasympathetic system so that you can begin to notice the freeze.”06:43“Oh my God, the freeze response and the trance.”04:36“That I've gone so far into my own parasympathetic system that I've gone so far into that that the freeze is naturally going to rise, and the freeze will come over my chest at some point”02:01“The yogic progression was all the yogic progression that he has been doing all this time, all of the om japa work that he has been doing, all of the HRV resonance which he has been doing, all of the low-idle-state and the freeze response which he has been doing all this time.”08:21“What I know about you is that you are getting the freeze response and you are having downloads.”02:21“We are awakening the parasympathetic system, and over time, we are developing the freeze response.”06:17“And some of the freeze response shows up in my meditations.”10:49“Interiorization, the freeze response, pratyahara gives way to dharana.”05:23“So when you go into meditation and you have HRV resonance at the drop of a hat, if you have hands hot and heavy at the drop of a hat, if you can get into your parasympathetic system and sit very still, and you begin to encounter the freeze, oh my goodness, are you a yogi?”14:11“You pay attention to the freeze.”09:26“If you can feel the freeze, you've tasted what it is to be a true yogi.”06:24“They will reveal the freeze response to you.”02:26“You have awakened your parasympathetic system, and if you keep going down this road, you will encounter the freeze response.”09:22“Here's another one, and it's going to break the freeze, but once you learn it, you can do it very subtly.”04:46“I'm going to get to know the freeze response, and out of all of this physical quietness, it reflects back on the mind, and the subconscious comes online automatically.”06:45“You miss the subtle feelings of the freeze response.”06:09“It's sitting very still and inviting that freeze response, parasympathetic system to take over, and so we start to feel bliss, and that bliss furthers the deepening of the experience, allows us to let go, and through all of that Om Japa and that letting go, we start to have this roll-up of consciousness, and it feels and it looks absolutely magical.”02:37“That parasympathetic system deepens into the freeze response.”16:24“I want to notice those four proofs, and then beyond that, I want to begin to notice the tranquil breath and the freeze response.”07:18“I am going to get into the low-idle-state, get the body slow, get into HRV resonance, get into the freeze response, become still and quiet as I possibly can.”10:16“When Patanjali talks about interiorization, he's talking about the freeze response.”06:10“I allow myself to rest in the freeze response.”10:14“That I know how this works, and I can help myself to make it work every single time by getting into first of all HRV resonance, and then we get into the freeze response.”07:38“Why am I going to do an action in meditation which is moving me out of the freeze?”06:13“I can sit down and sit very still and begin to encounter the freeze response.”17:38“It's a glorious thing, and then what you are probably feeling is it cascades over your whole body is that you're entering into the freeze response just wonderfully.”13:08“Tranquil breath, freeze response.”05:21“I'm getting a little bit of this freeze response.”02:23“When you start noticing the tranquil breath and the freeze response, it's a huge deal, just so gargantuan.”10:58“I am noticing the freeze for my life.”04:29“Oh, look, I have the tranquil breath and the freeze response a little bit.”07:37“It's in the freeze response.”03:56“It's a blossom inside of you through HRV resonance, through sitting very still, through awakening the parasympathetic system, through encountering the freeze response.”15:30“He goes, "Yeah, I'm getting into the tranquil breath and the freeze response," and he described it to me.”08:31“The HRV resonance, the sitting very still, which awakens the freeze response, the four proofs that let us know we're in the parasympathetic, the Om Japa in the chakras that clears the way so that the consciousness can roll up into the brain, right?”01:20“We want to sit very still as we do that, so that we can invite the freeze response to show itself.”12:22“I'm doing this HRV resonance, sitting very still, four proofs, Om Japa in the chakras, roll-up of consciousness, tranquil breath, freeze response.”02:59“We enter into sense withdrawal through that freeze response.”16:41“We want the tranquil breath, the freeze response, the roll-up of consciousness, then we let go.”05:47“Because we want to get into the wonderful freeze response, that ever so natural freeze response, which happens every night in sleep, totally, totally natural.”06:26“All of that is very reasonable, and we can figure these things out when we allow ourselves to think reasonably within the realm of Kriya Yoga and the principles that we have: the low-idle-state, the freeze response, the tranquil breath, Om Japa in the chakras.”13:48“We cleared the way, we got the body out of the way with the low-idle-state and the freeze response.”08:13“You do, you're slowing down, entering into the low-idle-state, working with the freeze response, noticing the four proofs, making sure the parasympathetic is online.”13:37“You are on your way to the freeze response, and that is what creates pratyahara.”14:06“But everything that I'm teaching on this channel, heart rate variability, resonance, Om Japa, in the chakras, sitting very still, entering into the tranquil breath, the freeze response, and the roll-up of consciousness, all of these things are unlocking you from the left brain, entering into expansion, into the non-dual state.”00:54“Now, you don't want to break the freeze response while you're in meditation, but as soon as you come out of meditation, absolutely, we should write down our successes.”12:35“So the tranquil breath and the freeze response, these are the ideal conditions to be in that very, very low-idle-state, so that we can encounter this huge clarity of mind.”14:50“All the sitting very still, all the four proofs, all the parasympathetic, all the HRV resonant breathing, all the freeze response, that is to prepare you to enter into the deep brain, where you expand.”01:36“It allows for the tranquil breath, the freeze response, and the roll-up of consciousness, and these are kind of magical things because you can't force them, right?”03:39“Occasionally, I get somebody and they say, "I'm in the freeze response.”12:25“We need that freeze response in order to experience sense withdrawal.”13:34“And then sometimes they'll even dim out because you're going into the freeze response, and so those feelings of the chakras will begin to dim, and that's okay as well.”02:30“You might have the tranquil breath, the freeze response, and the roll-up of consciousness.”03:33“The second level is tranquil breath, freeze response, roll-up of consciousness, then expand and let go, inviting in your guest.”02:39“We go into the freeze response every single night.”10:47“So we can get into that freeze response, which is taking place with the dorsal vagal parasympathetic.”11:55“That's secondary, and all of this is completely secondary to the tranquil breath, the freeze response, and the roll-up of consciousness.”09:35“And if you are using heart rate variability resonance to get through all of the states of concentration, and you are encountering the freeze response, then you are doing the same thing.”10:02“He said it became so clean it started to disappear on him because he started to go into the freeze very deeply and he couldn't find anything.”17:37“Now we can concentrate on heart rate variability resonance, the tranquil breath, the freeze response, the roll-up of consciousness.”02:22“What I would suggest instead of concentrating solely on the spiritual eye is concentrate on the low-idle-state, concentrate on the freeze response, concentrate on the tranquil breath, and concentrate on the roll-up of consciousness.”14:09“You're deep into the freeze response.”03:49“It's an amazing book, and that mountain, just like Mount Olympus, is the first symbol in the Star of David, and that is the yogi sitting every day in meditation, sitting very still, going into the low-idle-state, awakening the parasympathetic system, awakening the dorsal vagal parasympathetic system specifically, going into the freeze response and freezing in stillness like the mountain.”06:29“That freeze response just begins to really show itself, and the whole skin begins to tingle.”04:38“That was the freeze response.”00:13“And so, to bring about the deeper freeze response and the roll-up of consciousness, we're doing the Om Japa in the chakras, right?”04:19“That's part of the freeze response.”11:51“You might go into the freeze response and the tranquil breath and the roll-up of consciousness into the brain.”19:31“You're very, very deep in a freeze response, and so all there is is just your awareness and this grand, infinite, spaciousness, this expansive experience.”13:53“You can look for the tranquil breath, the freeze response, and the roll-up.”07:35“If you feel the freeze response, soak in the freeze response.”12:47“I will stick with my heart rate variability resonance, my four proofs, my tranquil breath, my freeze response, and I will just go into those as much as I possibly can and become skillful at those, and then let the rest fall out where it may.”11:11“You have the freeze response.”07:11“It activates the freeze response in the body.”01:50“So when we establish heart rate variability, resonant breathing, we lower the heart rate, and we're also lowering the breath rate, and that puts the whole body into a low-idle-state, especially if we get into the freeze response.”08:54“But we sit there, and we sit there, and we sit there with it, and it gets a little bigger, and it gets a little bigger, and then we have a freeze response, and then we enter into the tranquil breath, and wow, this is this is starting to compound, right?”06:55“Well, on this channel, I teach you to build skill, build the skill of heart rate variability, resonant breathing, build the skill of sitting very still, build the skill of entering into the tranquil breath, build the skill of recognizing and entering into the freeze response.”03:25“So the tranquil breath and the freeze response are kind of like a hibernation state, and that's what you're doing.”04:23“And so what will happen is the yogi will go into a state where the breath rate is very low and they're in the freeze response and they are exhibiting symptoms of absorption, but they have no consciousness of it.”04:20“So I'm going to stack heart rate variability with sitting very still, which will create a consequence of the freeze response and all of that.”04:37“You might feel like I can't even move because now you're starting to get into the freeze response, aren't you?”03:15“And so, if we're constantly adjusting our fingers and our hands, practicing a spiritual eye development technique, then we're going to miss out on that freeze response, and so we don't want that.”09:45“We can associate those together, where we are entering into this phase in our meditation where we're just going to actually listen, so we listen to the four proofs and we listen to the tranquil breath and we listen to the freeze response.”02:11“But if you have to raise your hand and measure your breath, of course, that's going to be a bit distracting, and you're going to come out of the freeze response.”05:49“That's what helps to initiate the freeze response.”07:53“We're looking for a deep freeze response.”07:26“So now fast forward to today, I have explained, I think I explained on a video, and I I know I explained in the Patreon group that that state when you have the freeze response and you have the tranquil breath, and you have the roll-up into the brain”18:26“Not only that, but the heart rate variability resonant breathing is much more calm, and so it will automatically lead to a calmer state, and you'll have more ability to get into the freeze response much more quickly.”10:24“Are you also in the freeze response?”06:58“You'll go into a freeze response.”16:21“We notice the pressure from the thoracic cavity, and then the whole skin may be tingling, letting us know we're right on the edge of that deep freeze response.”07:01“You will feel meditative mellows inside your body, and if you sit very still, you will begin to go into a freeze state.”20:17“We need to get into the freeze response of the body, and so why we sit very still and we practice heart rate variability breathing, the hands will become hot and heavy.”12:02“That's a window into the dorsal vagal nerve, into the freeze response in the body, and that response is blissful.”02:07“You're trying to get into the dorsal parasympathetic nerve, which runs in the spine, and that's the nerve of freeze.”01:20“That's going to induce that dorsal parasympathetic nerve, which is the freeze nerve.”