Through the Flaming Sword

First, a note about brain waves. A commenter has said that my information about brain waves is out of date, and I wouldn’t be surprised. I learned what I passed on in the early 1970s and have tried to update my knowledge since. That’s fifty years of research ago. I should have mentioned that. That doesn’t change the value of using techniques that shift our consciousness more toward the dream state, though.

The words “breath” and “spirit” are the same in Sanskrit, Greek, and Hebrew for a reason. The word “inspiration” means both being inspired and breathing in for a reason. Your breath and your spirit are intimately related. 

Breath is the only autonomic function we can consciously control. Taking deep breaths slows us down. Slowing the breath relaxes us.

Deep Breaths

There’s more to taking deep breaths that you might think. We normally breath from the chest, even when we take a deep breath. But it’s better to take a deep breath from your belly. Well, technically, it’s from your diaphragm. Here’s how you do it: As you breathe in, let your belly expand. When it’s bulged out as much as is natural, then switch to the chest and finish the inspriration. Now that’s a deep breath.

Paying Attention

This is the basic element in any breathing exercise: to just pay attention. Just keeping your attention on your breath is a powerful deepening exercise. Your mind will wander off onto something else after a few breaths. When it does, you just bring it back to your breath. That simple. The more you sustain your attention in this way, the deeper you sink. But now for an added element to paying attention.

Letting Go of the Expiration

This utterly simple addition to attentive breathing is even more effective: Pay attention as you exhale and exhale naturally, without force. When all the air in your lungs has been expelled, DO NOT BREATHE IN right away. If you just wait and pay attention, your body will naturally pause between breaths for an amazingly long time. This is a letting go of breath, a letting go, letting . . . until your body naturally starts the next breath. 

Allow this letting go, breath after breath, and you will go deep after deep.

Now, sometimes you might feel a little panic while doing this. Your body—and your mind—are not used to this extended pause. If you feel compelled by this little anxiety to breathe, go ahead, No problem. Return to the exercise with the next breath. You might feel the need to make this breath a deep one. Go ahead.

The more you continue letting this pause after exhalation take place, the longer the pause is likely to last, until you reach a floor. It’s at this point that I usually switch to the next part of my practice, if I haven’t already.

Tagged: breathing, meditation, mindfulness