Yawning while training

[Dai Zhi Qiang]

Hi All,

I have been having these weird yawning happen while I am training (no, I am not tired). This happens especially after or during when I am practising the 1 legged squats (got my right up to 28 and my left at around 15).

During after the squats I feel light headed, dizzy and when I practice my lower basin straight after, coming up from a low position to standing I am getting some massive head rushes, but so far I have not passed out, lol.

I think it has something to do with adrenalin or something as not too long ago I got into a potentially very dangerous situation in China (long story) and I remember yawning as the adrenalin was gushing.

Anyone have similar experiences or could elaborate as to why this phenomena is happening while I am training?

JB

[nianfong]

supposedly you yawn because of a lack of oxygen in your system. basically your system forces you to take a deep breath.

You probably aren't breathing well during your squats. also when you get dizzy, there is likely not enough oxygen/blood in your brain.

[lazyboxer]

I used to get that a lot in my yoga days, when standing up after mat work or meditation. The rush was similar to what happens after hyperventilating, and I went through a period when I'd pass out for a few seconds. I doubt that it's an adrenalin response. These may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hypoxia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?indexed=google&rid=imitepil.table.2328

[qiphlow]

it's common when standing quickly from a sitting or lying down postition to have a drop in blood pressure and a rise in pulse, accompanied by light headedness and dizziness. it shouldn't last very long at all, however. you should normalize within half a minute or so.

[BonesCom]

Jon, how fast are you doing these pistols? Does it happen if you do a less but slower?

[Dai Zhi Qiang]

Jon, how fast are you doing these pistols? Does it happen if you do a less but slower?

I do them as a bat out of hell (especially on the right leg), but my left leg has some inherent structural problem, but I am working on it, it is not an issue as most people cannot do 15 pistols, so I do not qualify as a cripple, lol.

Once I have some coin, I want to buy a decent 8kg set of kettle bells and intensify the exercise. I want be adding weight onto my left leg until I can do 20 pistols with ease, like I can on my right.

The oxygen thing sounds about right, but I am sucking as much air as I can in on the lowering and breath pretty forcibly out on the way out. That could be the problem though, I am breathing out too forcibly or breathing out too much.

JB

[omni]

I usually yawn during exercise early in the morning, but thats usually me being tired...

[GrahamB]

supposedly you yawn because of a lack of oxygen in your system. basically your system forces you to take a deep breath.

You probably aren't breathing well during your squats. also when you get dizzy, there is likely not enough oxygen/blood in your brain.

I think Fong has it - yawning is your body's automatic way of increasing oxygen intake because it's not getting enough. If you're doing the pistons fast and with lots of fast breaths then you could be doing what they call in Systema "over breathing" and not getting enough oxygen into your system - Darthwing Teorists teacher has a free PDF book download on that subject on his website:

http://www.montrealsystema.com/Articles.html

It's the one at the bottom - path of the Ronin.

[Daniel]

The guys are right, Dai, a common thing is that you are tensed up and so yawn to get more oxygen. If it´s a physical reason, I would guess that something in your system snags, and that you are doing too many pistols and need to back off to fix the weak link. But that´s what I would say to a student, anyway.

The adrenaline-thing is also correct, however. If you have been in a threat-situation, especially a life-and-death one, your entire system closes down to a huge extent. There are many ways to very precisely work with this and clean it out. But a side-effect could be the held tension and stress slowly dissipating, which could manifest in yawning. It can also be a memory to the event, as yawning while under threat is quite common. The link kidneys/lungs is quite strong, and if it´s a really strong event, a lot of soft tissue locks in the pattern held at the moment of shock or trauma.

As I don´t know how aware you are of your body on the inside, or what training you do, a general blanket advice is to find an acupuncturist doctor, and go for a couple of treatments. If they are old school, remember to mention that you think it might the shock.

Not cleaning out those locked patterns in the body can have quite a bad effect on ones health over the long run. Especially so if they are repeated. Same goes for hit-trauma, emotional shocks, and falls, car-crashes, etc.



D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[David Boxen]

DZQ,
I'm just curious why you do the pistols for speed and reps. I try to go as slow as possible with pistols. Is it just that you get enough low & slow with other exercises?

[Dai Zhi Qiang]

DZQ,
I'm just curious why you do the pistols for speed and reps. I try to go as slow as possible with pistols. Is it just that you get enough low & slow with other exercises?

Good question and you pretty much nailed it, all the other moves I do very slow and controlled, so with this exercise I try and give it 100%. It gets the cardio going and I really push myself to exhaustion, it is not uncommon for me to do them until I collapse, but at the same time I do not injure myself.

I guess if you want to be pedantic you would still concentrate on the deep shu/zhan (contraction/expansion) like it is inherent in all other Dai moves, but for this one for me, it is strictly for building the brute strength of my legs.

JB

[Josealb]

I got into a potentially very dangerous situation in China (long story) and I remember yawning as the adrenalin was gushing.

You gotta be fracking kidding me. Im gonna guess a bit...so three guys pull two foot long knives each on you, and you just stood there and YAWNED??

I would have sheathed the knife and bought you drinks.

[Darthwing Teorist]

I noticed the same thing during my MA practice, especially when it is something a bit intense or the class is long. It is not out of boredom or fatigue.

The brain lacking oxygen is one theory. There was another one, but I forgot what it was. Maybe it helps relax the body?

[Josealb]

Interesting stuff from Wiki...

The primary reason behind yawning is to control brain temperature. It cools off your brain, much like a fan cools off the inside of a computer.[4] The claim that yawning is caused by lack of oxygen has not been substantiated scientifically.[5] Yawning may reduce oxygen intake compared to normal respiration.[5] Another speculated reason for yawning is nervousness and is also claimed to help increase the state of alertness of a person—paratroopers have been noted to yawn in the moments before they exit the aircraft.

Edit: These are Hypothesis only.

Edit: again: I just yawned and im in an office with full AC on, being lazy, so it doesnt make sense to "cool the brain". Im not exactly doing hard thinking here.

[Bao]

Yawning is good. Don't underestimate the body's own self-regulating system. Use it and don't fight it.