Breathing and its relation to EOM/VOM

["Regulus Magus" <RegulusMagus@...>]

Please forgive me if this question has been covered before (I did do 
a message search on "emptiness of mind" but the search retrieved a 
gazillion messages --- "gazillion" is a middle-American word 
meaning "more than I can count on my fingers and toes"). 

As I have worked with the emptiness of mind exercise in Step 1, I 
notice that it is much easier to silence my mind (and even my 
sensory awareness) during an exhale. Almost all of my distractions 
occur during the inhale. I was curious why that might be. Can anyone 
suggest an answer or point me to an archive on this?

On a (possibly) related note ? I find my psychic awareness of other 
people seems to be stronger on the inhale than the exhale. This is 
something you might want to try.

(1) stand close to a cooperating friend.
(2) achieve emptiness of mind as best you can
(3) inhale deeply and slowly while focusing your attention on your 
friend.

For me at least, this usually produces an inrush of emotion and 
physical sensations. If I ask the friend to describe what he or she 
is feeling --- there is usually a pretty good match (this works best 
if you are both at least 50 feet from other people and about 3 feet 
or less from each other).

I wonder if this experience is somehow related to the "exhale --- 
mind empty / inhale --- mind full of distractions" problem. Your 
thoughts, helpful suggestions would be most welcome.

Sincerely, /RM/