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The Cool Breeze

Marshmallow

Thinker
M
Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
146
I know I've been asking a lot of random questions here lately, but this one's been nagging at me.

In almost all the religious traditions, the Holy Spirit or All-Pervading Power has been described as a cool breeze. It is also called Kundalini energy.

Thousands of people have felt this breeze. I myself have felt it before - even before I knew what it was considered to be. I first felt it after I'd started meditating and before I'd even heard of it, and even though I stopped meditating soon afterward, it continued for months. It literally feels like a cool breeze is blowing on my hands, head, and feet as is described in these religious and spiritual traditions. It's not something I'm imagining - there's definitely something going on, but I don't know what it is.

I've searched hundreds of scientific and medical sites for answers, but I didn't find conclusive answers. Almost all of the websites that come up when you search for this stuff are of the credulous variety.

I can't be sure that it's not supernatural in nature. After all, there's that old saying about how you can't prove a negative.

It seems like this might possibly have something to do with circulation, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, I wanted to know if you guys had any ideas for what it might be. This subject does not seem to be very widely known.

This is the woman who is currently promoting this idea. I've found many reasons not to believe her claims, however:

http://www.sahajayoga.org/
 
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Never heard of the "cool breeze" cold or trendy. Is it just me?
 
Have you done anything to try to figure out what it is? I can imagine several things I'd do that would tell me more about it if I were experiencing it.
 
Marshmallow said:
Thousands of people have felt this breeze. I myself have felt it before - even before I knew what it was considered to be. I first felt it after I'd started meditating and before I'd even heard of it, and even though I stopped meditating soon afterward, it continued for months. It literally feels like a cool breeze is blowing on my hands, head, and feet as is described in these religious and spiritual traditions. It's not something I'm imagining - there's definitely something going on, but I don't know what it is.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of this particular thing either, but there's the widely referenced phenomenon of a "cold chill" or a "shiver went down my spine" or feeling "goosebumps" when the temperature hasn't actually dropped, in connection with high-alert, creepy sensations, ghosts, etc. So a psychologically-induced feeling of cold seems quite widespread and common.

I always figured that the sensation itself was a biological one caused by internal emotional reactions, but that some people choose to interpret it as being caused be external stimuli, since it feels similar to an actual change in temperature.

But since there's nothing obvious external, they need to make up supernatural and/or invisible causes, and in fact this can become a means of coersion.

If you can convince a person that a mundane but not-well-known or not-well-understood reaction is actually evidence for the particular paranormal thing you're trying to convince people of, then when it happens, and they don't have another explanation, and it bothers them to accept it without an explanation, they'll tend to latch onto your explanation and assume you have some superior insight.

It would be similar to people who claim that ouija boards or dowsing rods are being controlled by outside forces or there really are ghosts/bigfeet/etc. in pictures, rather than accepting an internal explanation of pareidola or the ideomotor effect.

Not sure if what I'm talking about is the same kind of feeling, but I'd say the explanation is the same.
 
Marshmallow said:
In almost all the religious traditions, the Holy Spirit or All-Pervading Power has been described as a cool breeze. It is also called Kundalini energy.
Click to expand...


Yes but it looks like it's experienced in a variety of ways. For instance, the Holy Spirit and Kundalini are associated with flame.

ZONE OF FIRE

[...]

Although Christian dogmatists might protest the equation, it seems evident that the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) and the Kundalini are one in the same. The Holy Ghost, like Kundalini, is symbolically represented by a flame. (Many of the Christian saints who were not familiar with the Eastern concept of Kundalini suffered from mysterious illnesses in which they claimed to be "burning" with the spirit of God within them. This was officially known as incendium amoris, the fire of love.)

The other common Christian symbol for the Holy Ghost is the dove. Again, parallels to Kundalini can be found: much of the mythology of the dove centers around the sacred feminine and divine mother. The Greek Goddess Aphrodite was said to have been born from an egg brooded by a dove, and Jung wrote, "It is not without reason that the dove of Aphrodite is the symbol of the Holy Ghost." He also mentions that "in the Acts of Thomas, the Holy Ghost is addressed as the mother" (as is Kundalini).

[...]
 
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Marshmallow said:
In almost all the religious traditions, the Holy Spirit or All-Pervading Power has been described as a cool breeze. It is also called Kundalini energy.
Click to expand...

Never heard this. The holy spirit in Christianity was described as fire, if I remember correctly.

Thousands of people have felt this breeze. I myself have felt it before - even before I knew what it was considered to be.
Click to expand...

Then my thought is that you have simply gone back and said "oh, yeah, that must have been it!" You are forcibly applying this to your own life when it might not. You may have just felt - gasp - a cool breeze.

I first felt it after I'd started meditating and before I'd even heard of it, and even though I stopped meditating soon afterward, it continued for months. It literally feels like a cool breeze is blowing on my hands, head, and feet as is described in these religious and spiritual traditions. It's not something I'm imagining - there's definitely something going on, but I don't know what it is.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of medical reasons this could be happening (note I didn't say diseases - I mean things like your hands falling asleep, or the placebo effect). No need to come up with a random weird answer.

I've searched hundreds of scientific and medical sites for answers, but I didn't find conclusive answers. Almost all of the websites that come up when you search for this stuff are of the credulous variety.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. Sites that talk about woo are generally either woo or debunking sites, like this one.

I can't be sure that it's not supernatural in nature. After all, there's that old saying about how you can't prove a negative.
Click to expand...

There's also the old saying about how you don't have to disprove something which has no evidence supporting it.

It seems like this might possibly have something to do with circulation, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, I wanted to know if you guys had any ideas for what it might be. This subject does not seem to be very widely known.
Click to expand...

The circulation thing seems like a good explanation to me. Occam's razor makes it hundreds of times more likely than whatever the woo sites said.

This is the woman who is currently promoting this idea. I've found many reasons not to believe her claims, however:

http://www.sahajayoga.org/
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's crap.

Another thing, Marshmallow: if this is supernatural, how do these people know it's the holy spirit or whatever rather than aliens? Or faeries? Or demons? Ask yourself that. Are any of those really less likely than the offered explanation?
 
Paul2 said:
Have you done anything to try to figure out what it is? I can imagine several things I'd do that would tell me more about it if I were experiencing it.
Click to expand...

Absolutely - and the first would be, the next time I thought I might be in a situation which would be conducive to feeling the "cool breeze," to make sure there was no way a breeze or draft could reach me.

Going back retroactively and saying that there was no way you could have felt a physical breeze at the time will not work, simply because you do not know what you might have missed - a draft coming in under the door, a window opened slightly to allow ventilation, etc.
 
A moment of fear can give you a cold feeling. If youre constantly fearful of what other people class as imaginary things I would think its a learned response.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
Really? That's news to me. Doubtless you have examples from "almost all" the world's religions' scriptures?
Click to expand...

I have never heard of it either. And since 67% of the world's population are not Christian, and the Holy Spirit is a tradition in Christianity only, I doubt that the OP will find many references in "almost all" the world's religions scriptures.

Norm
 
Limbo said:
Yes but it looks like it's experienced in a variety of ways. For instance, the Holy Spirit and Kundalini are associated with flame.


[...]

Although Christian dogmatists might protest the equation, it seems evident that the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) and the Kundalini are one in the same. The Holy Ghost, like Kundalini, is symbolically represented by a flame. (Many of the Christian saints who were not familiar with the Eastern concept of Kundalini suffered from mysterious illnesses in which they claimed to be "burning" with the spirit of God within them. This was officially known as incendium amoris, the fire of love.)

[...]
Click to expand...

Wait ... so the Holy Spirit is both a cool breeze and a fire within? How does that work?

I've never heard the cool breeze one, either. The fire metaphor is the one I'm familiar with.
 
Sorry for taking so long to reply.

fromdownunder, what about Islam? They use the term as well. And as I said, there are other names, such as the all-pervading power.

I'm not claiming that this is necessarily some paranormal thing, but I'm telling you what thousands of people believe it is.

Anyway, here are some details I left out:

When I have the cold feeling, I feel it regardless of what temperature it is. Even if I move to different rooms, leave the house, go to the store, etc...it's still there no matter what environment I'm in. It usually lasts a few days and sort of works its way through me - it's hard to describe. It starts in my hands, feet, and the top of my head and slowly spreads up my arms and through my body. It usually gets stronger and then just disappears after a few days.

It literally feels like a flowing breeze blowing against my skin.

I have noticed that it gets stronger when I'm anxious about something or when I've been on the computer for a long time (especially my laptop). But when I'm not anxious, sometimes it just sort of sits there and doesn't spread through the rest of my body.

This is really strange...I haven't found any medical information that completely explains this, but I do have a few ideas.
 
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borealys said:
Wait ... so the Holy Spirit is both a cool breeze and a fire within? How does that work?

I've never heard the cool breeze one, either. The fire metaphor is the one I'm familiar with.
Click to expand...


Well, what comes to my mind is Revelation 3:16. "Since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth."

I think I experienced it as a heat. When I was a little kid I went to Catholic school for a couple of years. Church service M-F. Once day in Church I was fixated on a statue of the Virgin Mary. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with heat. I started sweating profusely, and got dizzy. I got scared and I stumbled out of the pew and sisters came running up to me and led me out.

Marshmallow, can I ask your gender?
 
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Marshmallow said:
I'm not claiming that this is necessarily some paranormal thing, but I'm telling you what thousands of people believe it is.
Click to expand...

So? You don't need to believe something just because everybody else does. That's called the argument ad populum fallacy.

This is really strange...I haven't found any medical information that completely explains this, but I do have a few ideas.
Click to expand...

Anything you can come up with is hundreds of times more likely than any paranormal things people try to explain it with.
 
I didn't claim that I believed it or disbelieved it. What I'm saying is that I haven't found scientific or medical information to adequately explain this. I wanted to know if you guys had any ideas for what it could possibly be.

Why do you need to know my gender, Limbo?
 
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borealys said:
Wait ... so the Holy Spirit is both a cool breeze and a fire within? How does that work?

I've never heard the cool breeze one, either. The fire metaphor is the one I'm familiar with.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Holy Spirit blows hot and cold.
 
Marshmallow said:
I didn't claim that I believed it or disbelieved it. What I'm saying is that I haven't found scientific or medical information to adequately explain this. I wanted to know if you guys had any ideas for what it could possibly be.
Click to expand...
Autosuggestion. You experienced a sensation once before you knew what it was, and that sensation got associated in your mind with the deep meditative state. The first instance may in fact have been a literal cool breeze, but subsequently your brain has re-manufactured the sensation under certain conditions. The fact that you have found references in certain scriptures I would put down as a coincidence, possibly even you looking for, and therefore finding, confirming reports in various writings.

My own initial religious indoctrination was in the Pentecostal tradition, where the Holy Spirit is very definitely associated with fire. These two verses in particular were very popular:

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. " Mat 3:11

"They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them." Act 2:3

So in essence, my thought is that it is simply your brain doing what brains do - looking for and finding patterns.
 
Marshmallow said:
Well, to answer your question, I'm female.
Click to expand...


Hmm. And the woman you link to in your OP claims to experience It as a cool breeze, right? Maybe there is reason to look into a gender correlation further.
 
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arthwollipot, your explanation might help to explain some of it. Still, I'm not convinced that's all there is to it. For one thing, it wasn't what I would call a deep meditation experience, and for another, I didn't associate the feeling with meditation until days afterward when I mentally re-traced my steps. Also, I wasn't looking specifically for religious writings. I wanted to find out what it could be and I didn't know whether it was medical or spiritual...but those texts are what came up when I searched. I had the sensation for days before I decided to look it up.

Limbo, I think I've read accounts of men feeling it as cool air, too, so I'm not sure there is a gender correlation.
 
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Marshmallow said:
So, no one has any other ideas?
Click to expand...

It's not so much that we don't have any ideas as much as it's there are so many different possible explanations that anything could explain it. There are literally hundreds of mundane explanations for what you felt. There's no need to come up with a paranormal one.
 
I was sleeping, and being comforted
by a cool breeze, when a gray dove
from a thicket sang and sobbed with longing,
and reminded me of my own passion.

I had been away from my own soul for so long,
so late-sleeping, but that dove's crying
woke me and made me cry. Praise
to all early-waking grievers!

-Adi al-Riga
 
Limbo said:
I think I experienced it as a heat. When I was a little kid I went to Catholic school for a couple of years. Church service M-F. Once day in Church I was fixated on a statue of the Virgin Mary. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with heat. I started sweating profusely, and got dizzy. I got scared and I stumbled out of the pew and sisters came running up to me and led me out.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me once. Only I wasn't at a church, I was at a swimming pool. :) Really. I was working as a lifeguard at the earlybird swim. There were about three people in the water when I was hit with a sudden rush of dizziness, heat, and sparkles in my vision. I stumbled to the guard office and asked the head guard to relieve me while I sat down and drank some nice cold Gatorade. Fifteen minutes later I was fine.

I chalked that one up to a lack of sleep and a lack of breakfast, rather than some sort of religious experience. If it had persisted, I'd probably have been off to the hospital.
 
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