Breathing

daal · **#21**

Bill Spight wrote:

wineandgolover wrote:

I have a dilemma somewhat related to Robert's "Oxygen" thread.

Oddly enough, I often stop breathing while reading in live games. I have no idea why, but suspect I am just over-focused, to the point of shutting down this "involuntary" reflex. This causes me intense headaches at tournaments. These headaches have gotten worse as I've gotten stronger and try to read deeper. My solution is to record the game, as this non-reading activity allows me to breathe every move. Obviously this is insufficient because I still get headaches.

This doesn't happen to me online.

Like Robert, I'd appreciate suggestions.

Hold a wine cork between your teeth.

(A tip I picked up from violin players.

)

Don't know if this looks sillier from the good seats in a concert hall or from across a go board.

Phelan · **#22**

EdLee wrote:

Phelan wrote:

breathe slowly and consciously, and focus on my breathing.

That's quite good, Phelan.

And not just for Go, either.

I think it's used a lot in meditation, and probably came from there at some point. I don't really remember where I saw that, if it was in Senseis, or some meditation article.

wineandgolover · **#23**

jts wrote:

wine&go, would you say that the muscles on your face and neck are tensed when intense concentration leads to these headaches?

Depending on how severe and frequent the headaches are, you might want to talk to your doctor. The worst-case scenario is that you have an unruptured aneurysm that comes under stress when your blood pressure rises. The best-case scenario is that these headaches are completely harmless and your doctor can prescribe a pill to prevent them. (Sorry if this isn't quite as satisfying as becoming one with your go!)

(Jts accidentally posted this to the professional advice thread. Funnily he prescribes a different sort of professional advice.)

I am not aware of tensing up while playing. Just occasionally catching my breath after reading, which is why I assumed I wasn't breathing.

jts, are you a doctor? Aneurism-talk makes me nervous.

These symptoms only occur at live go tourneys, btw. And I think they always have.

jts · **#24**

wineandgolover wrote:

jts wrote:

wine&go, would you say that the muscles on your face and neck are tensed when intense concentration leads to these headaches?

Depending on how severe and frequent the headaches are, you might want to talk to your doctor. The worst-case scenario is that you have an unruptured aneurysm that comes under stress when your blood pressure rises. The best-case scenario is that these headaches are completely harmless and your doctor can prescribe a pill to prevent them. (Sorry if this isn't quite as satisfying as becoming one with your go!)

(Jts accidentally posted this to the professional advice thread. Funnily he prescribes a different sort of professional advice.)

I am not aware of tensing up while playing. Just occasionally catching my breath after reading, which is why I assumed I wasn't breathing.

jts, are you a doctor? Aneurism-talk makes me nervous.

These symptoms only occur at live go tourneys, btw. And I think they always have.

I am not a doctor and nothing I say should ever be construed as professional advice, even if posted in the professional advice thread (least of all my fuseki suggestions). I had a similar problem once and talked to a doctor about it. In my case, I was both forgetting to breathe and tensing up. Apparently the pressure in the neck can put pressure on tangled veins... or something like that.

Breathing

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