No, O Legenday Wise Elder , and in this case (Walker says) it was to be the first step in an exercise designed to help locate repressed memory/emotion which is still in the body.
I've used the relaxation-through-breathing thing before. Bradshaw starts with that in his exercise for meeting one's inner child (very interesting), in "Waking the Tiger" there's another one (about startle response? also interesting).... this time though it is having a disturbing effect, coming each time to thoughts of just letting myself die is a curve ball.