Accidental holotropic breathwork/ poison oak shamanism

[chachaloco72]

Here's something interesting. So I work for an environmental protection and restoration company and spend a lot of time outdoors in areas where most of the public is not allowed. One consequence of this is that I am around dangerous plants such as poison oak a lot of the time. Earlier this week I was exposed to a large and highly potent strain of the plant, and over the next few days a rash started to develop. It started out mild, as the oils from the plant take time to seep into your skin and spread around your body (in this case, this happened to an extraordinary degree because I was wearing short sleeves at the time and didn't wash my clothes immediately after), but by the third day after being exposed I was in excruciating pain.

Both of my arms were completely covered in blisters along with my hips, parts of my chest, and the lower part of both of my legs. Quite inconveniently, by nighttime of this day I ran out of calamine lotion, which is the best treatment that I know of. As a result, the pain became unbearable - I'm scratching myself like a meth addict, screaming in pain, often rolling around in the fetal position. The only thing that I can think of that may help is taking a few hits from my weed pen, which I use mostly just to fall asleep. As the effects of the weed start to take effect (a matter of minutes), I notice that it is not helping - in fact, the weed makes the itching pain even more intense! (This makes sense, given that one of the effects that I get from cannabis is a heightened awareness of my bodily sensations)

At this point, I am experiencing what is probably the most brutal physical pain of my life. I am completely frantic, and really hot, so I go outside and have a seat and try to compose myself. I start taking deep, long breaths to try to relax. This seems to work for a brief amount of time, but then the pain comes back and I start to hyperventilate uncontrollably. Keep in mind, at this time I have very little control over myself, my state of mind is completely haywire and all I can think about is the itching pain. I continue to hyperventilate for some time. It's hard to say how long, but my guess would be that after about three minutes of this, I start to experience noticeable changes in consciousness. I feel a little bit lighter and the pain feels less intense. My breathing however continued, and it starts to become apparent that I'm experiencing an altered state of consciousness similar to an LSD come up. The most noticeable effect was just the fact that I was more aware - I started to listen to the sound of the wind and observe what was around me. After maybe ten or fifteen minutes (again it's hard to say how long) I start to experience mild yet vivid hallucinations - again similar to ones I've experienced from LSD, mushrooms and others. Perhaps even most shocking is the fact that my body feels much more relaxed. I still had a slight tingling sensation in the parts affected by the rash, but overall I felt very relaxed, even peaceful. 

I eventually manage to get to sleep, and the next day I get more calamine lotion to keep everything under control, but the experience of the other night was something I'll never forget. I wonder if perhaps there are any traditions that used painful experiences for medicinal/healing/shamanic purposes. The oil which causes the reaction, urushiol, is found in at least three different widespread plants across the world (especially North America it seems) so I'm sure many tribes had uses for it. Nonetheless, I can now say with confidence that if you ever need motivation to do some spiritual work try just walking into a poison oak bush! 

[Forestluv]

@chachaloco72 You experienced a rapid increase of oxygen, nitric acid and dmt as well as a rapid decrease in C02 levels. This can create a state similar to a psychedelic trip. Yet a couple differences: you were very likely pushing out on the out-breath. A key component of breathwork is relaxing on the out-breath. Also, having rhythmic circular breathing. As well, you were likely producing the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which generally aren't produced in breathwork. 

You can access these transcendent states via breathwork if you would like to. For people not experienced in breathwork, physical pain generally triggers the "fight or flight" response. The breathing may be rapid, yet it would be jagged with tension. 

In terms of pain, there are some traditional tribal cultures that use painful experiences as a rite-of-passage for adolescents. For example, wearing gloves filled with fire biting ants (each bite is like 10 bee stings). This produces hours of pain so bad one faces surrender and enters trippy spaces. Yet I'm not sure how much impact the breathing has.