Mosconcert artist Valery Avdeev once told about his feelings while walking barefoot on hot coals, lying on broken glass and other experiments on himself. He noticed that he didn't feel pain when he held his breath. But as soon as he takes several deep breaths and exhalations at a critical moment, the painful sensations immediately return and his state of health sharply worsens.
But why is this happening? Perhaps the solution to this phenomenon is in the research of the Novosibirsk scientist, candidate of medical sciences K. Buteyko? And so the artist and the scientist met in Novosibirsk.
… The posters are intriguing: “Psychological experiences. Know yourself …”On the table lies an ordinary compass, its black arrow, as expected, points to the north. All viewers see this: the enlarged image of the arrow is projected onto a large screen.
Valery Avdeev appears from the depths of the stage. His face is focused and his arms are spread wide. With light movements of his fingers, he seems to be sorting out something invisible to the public, but felt by himself. A minute passes, another - the arrow does not move, although the hands are already close to it. But when Valery made a sharp exhalation, she suddenly deviated, obeying a wave of his hand.
The assistant covers the compass with a glass cover, but the needle still fluctuates. Repeating the movements of the artist's hands, it sways from side to side and finally begins to rotate rapidly. Academician Yu. Kobzarev, who was present at one of such experiments, noted: “Valery Avdeev can really affect the magnetic needle of a compass, being more than a meter away from it. Of course, this phenomenon needs to be studied."
The experience gets more complicated. Avdeev tensed and froze over the compass. His face was covered with sweat, the veins on his hands were swollen, breathing was not heard at all. And suddenly a minute later the compass came to life: twitching several times, it began to smoothly move away from the artist. Having moved fifteen centimeters, he stopped and began to rotate slowly. And, having made a few turns, stood at the edge of the table.
The audience applauds. And Valery unexpectedly suggests:
- Do you want you to discover an unknown ability in yourself now? Remember how your favorite perfume or cologne smells - and you will feel this smell on any item.
Promotional video:
The spectator distrustfully hands Avdeev a handkerchief, which does not smell, and timidly says: "Riga lilac."
- You are welcome! - says the artist loudly. And the girl in amazement exclaims:
- Oh, now it really smells!
The neighbors take her handkerchief, bend over it - and authoritatively confirm: indeed, "Riga lilac". Maybe perfume was sprinkled on him imperceptibly? No - after a minute the smell disappears as suddenly as it appeared.
“And now you can demonstrate extraordinary physical abilities,” the artist says to the audience and calls three volunteers from the hall. But first, he asks them to enter the special state necessary for the experience.
-Close your eyes, mentally focus on your feelings. Listening to your breath, try
reduce its depth. Now imagine that you see your body … from the side. Here it is filled with weight, strains, becomes straight and strong, like a steel bridge …
At this point, assistants pick up three volunteers in their arms and place each of them on the backs of chairs. Supported only by their necks and heels, they seem to hang in the air parallel to the floor. Isn't it a miracle? And Valery calmly explains that in such a state a person can withstand not only the weight of his body, but also three more people who would stand on him - this number was once demonstrated by circus fakirs.
- What is this amazing state? - the artist is often asked. - Isn't it hypnosis - after all, with its help you can induce catalepsy and inspire odors?
- Not at all - having entered the desired state, people independently cause themselves the illusion of their favorite smells.
It is also easy to make sure that the volunteers are not hypnotized on their backs. You can talk to them - they will clearly answer any questions and share their unusual feelings with a sense of humor. And under hypnosis it is impossible.
The doctors present in the hall agreed that this is really not hypnosis. But what then?
“The ability that each of us possesses, often without knowing it,” explains V. Avdeev, “holding his breath and focusing on the image, cause various changes in his body. I call this the “imago” state - from the Latin word “image”. Having entered it, a person can discover amazing abilities in himself. I show all the numbers on the stage only in this state.
- You are able, - said one psychologist, - from the first try to remember hundreds of words that are not related to each other in meaning, and then repeat them in the same sequence in which the audience spoke, and even in reverse. But is it possible to do this in the “imago” state - thinking about your body?
- I do not think, I just feel it every moment and perceive the world around me through the prism of these sensations. Our distant ancestors knew how to do this, but most modern people have forgotten how to “listen” to their body. Only by learning to induce this condition in myself, I was able to get rid of a serious illness and develop unusual abilities in myself.
Interested in the artist's story, some of the viewers, sitting in their chairs, tried to do imago-training exercises - closing their eyes and holding their breath, listen to the heartbeat, feel the blood flowing in their fingers, identify the warmest and coldest part of the body, find a diseased organ - in a word, feel yourself.
- And you know, - a surprised female voice came from the audience, - my headache is gone!
“And my heart stopped tingling,” said the elderly man.
Is it instant healing from ailments or temporary relief from self-hypnosis? Here is the opinion of Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, who was present at the concert:
- I am not at all surprised that in the state of "imago" the reserve capacities of the organism are realized. Some artists of the original genre who perform with similar experiments were examined in our laboratory in one of the Novosibirsk institutes. It was found that, concentrating on their sensations, listening to the work of organs, even a person unfamiliar with imago-training involuntarily holds his breath. And Valeria Avdeev, apparently, deliberately reduces its depth.
But this, as our studies have shown, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood, causes reflex vasodilation, and hemoglobin begins to give oxygen better. As a result, the cells of the body receive / ego several times more than in the normal state. This is probably why sick people in a state of "imago" stop spasms of the vessels of the brain, heart and other organs. And healthy people feel an extraordinary surge of strength, their mental and physical performance increases sharply. For example, statistics show that schoolchildren and students who recover from shallow breathing significantly improve their academic performance.
There is nothing mysterious in the fact that in the state of "imago" Valery Avdeev does not feel pain, lying on broken glass or walking on hot coals. After all, he does it while holding his breath. And our research has shown that large doses of carbon dioxide act on the body like laughing gas, which is used for pain relief. And people who train in shallow breathing can sometimes endure surgical operations without anesthesia - some of my students were convinced of this.
By the way, many exercises of Indian yogis, elements of autogenic training also reduce the depth of breathing, increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood - this, in my opinion, is the main reason for their healing effect. Remember how, in obedience to mental orders, warmth begins to flow down the arms and legs, they fill with a pleasant weight - this is the reflexive expansion of the vessels and filling with blood.
But the blissful state will quickly disappear if you take a few deep breaths in and out. And in the “imago” state, the healing effect of shallow breathing seems to be enhanced by self-hypnosis: by focusing on the diseased organ, a person is able to cause a sharp vasodilation and activation of hemoglobin in it.
Probably, in experiments with a compass, Valery Avdeev deliberately causes a rush of blood to the hands - this significantly increases the number of charged particles, electrical potentials can accumulate on the fingers, which act on the arrow.
However, it should be emphasized that we did not specifically investigate Valery Avdeev, and everything that has been said about him can only be taken as assumptions. In my opinion, it would be very useful to comprehensively study the method he developed.
The same opinion is shared by Nikolai Alekseevich Zheltukhin, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Lenin Prize Laureate:
- Specialists from a number of subdivisions of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences and the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Medical Sciences consider it expedient to organize an in-depth study of the phenomena demonstrated by Valery Avdeev. He came to us at the invitation of the House of Scientists and, in addition to concert activities, met with employees of the institutes of the Academgorodok, answered numerous questions. According to the general opinion, studies of the state of “altered consciousness” (“imago”), subjectively registered by the experimenter, which significantly changes the physiological and psychological capabilities of the organism and personality, are of great interest.