The
Breath of Life
9/8/7
Humans can live without food
for weeks, water for a few days, but take away someone’s air, and they’re dead
in a matter of minutes. This is the
importance of air or “the breath of life.”
In The Essene Gospel of Peace,
we’ll find some precious passages about the healing power of air:
Seek the fresh air of the forest and of the
fields, and there in the midst of them shall you find the angel of air. Put off your shoes and your clothing and
suffer the angel of air to embrace all of your body. Then breathe long and deeply, that the angel
of air may be brought within you. I tell
you truly, the angel of air shall cast out of your body all uncleannesses which
defiled it without and within. And then
shall all evil-smelling and unclean things rise out of you, as the smoke of
fire curls upwards and is lost in the sea of the air. For I tell you truly, holy is the angel of
air, who cleanses all that is unclean and makes all evil-smelling things of a
sweet odor. No man may come before the
face of God, whom the angel of air lets not pass. Truly, all must be born again by air and by
truth, for your body breathes the air of the Earthly Mother, and your spirit
breathes the truth of the Heavenly Father.
In my Kundalini/Tantric
workshops, one of the primary things we focus on is breath. In yogic terms it is called “pranayama” or
the “yoga of breath” or “union of breath” as yoga means “union.” The following are some excerpts from the
first class in my workshop which are taken from Ishvara’s book Oneness in Living.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini is described in yogic scripture as “The
Serpent Power.” It is said to lie
dormant in the lowest chakra (energy center), the Muladhar Chakra, just above
the perineum (the space between the anus and the genitals). Certain stimulation or spiritual practices
are said to cause kundalini to awaken and then gradually to rise up the spine,
eventually reaching the crown of the head.
Spiritual energy is frequently
called shakti. Shakti is a name for the female consort of
the great Hindu god, Shiva, whose energy is present in the crown of the
head. When kundalini leaves the lower
body and reaches the crown, it is Shakti energy reaching Shiva energy in a form
of divine union. The word “yoga” means
“union.”
It is also said that shakti is
hot Sun energy rising to meet the cool Moon energy of the crown. In Sanskrit, the Sun is “Ha” and the Moon is
“Tha,” so Hatha Yoga is Sun-Moon yoga, i.e., raising shakti energy to the crown. Hatha Yoga is more than postures and
breathing exercises, which, while valuable in themselves, are a preparation for
creating this union.
Energy Yoga
Energy yoga is the core of all
forms of Kundalini Yoga as well as of many other spiritual, growth and healing
practices. It is an uncontroversial term
that we can use that is universally understood.
Energy yoga not only purifies our awareness and mentality, but also the
physical body. Impurity in the physical
body prevents energy from flowing and acts as a drag on consciousness. Yogis say that purification of all three of
these—body, mind and spirit—leads eventually to eternal life in a body of light
or “divine body.” Energy Yoga is the
essence of yoga and is not for the faint-hearted! Students considering its practice would first
be familiar with the energies stimulated by postures and pranayama. This way they can determine whether they want
and can withstand a leap into much greater intensity.
Prana
To explain kundalini we must
start with prana. Prana is life energy
or breath energy. It flows throughout
the body, manifesting in many different ways.
An abundance of it is often found in serious spiritual practitioners and
powerful healers. Prana purifies. It removes impurities in the body as it
presses against inner barriers or rigidities that impede further
purifications. Sometimes it removes
these barriers or bursts through them.
The most common inner barrier is tension, which locks chemical
impurities or toxins in place. These
are discharged when the tension is released, along with emotions that were also
blocked by the tension.
Pranayama
Pranayama, or the yoga of
breath, means “restraint” or “control” of prana. Pranayama can be a practice of increasing
breathing, of changing breathing, or of ceasing breathing. Increasing breathing is more common at
beginning levels of yoga, while ceasing breathing is more common at advanced
levels. Any form of pranayama
intensifies prana. Our bodies, when we
surrender, sometimes want spontaneously to practice yoga. This can mean yoga postures but more often,
one or more rapid, intense breaths will spontaneously take place as forms of
advanced pranayama. When we surrender
and give up control, tension often releases in the form of one or more spasms of
the body. In yoga, these spasms are called
“kriyas” (movements or doings). Kriyas
usually last only an instant in the beginning.
As you progress into advanced forms of kundalini yoga, the kriyas can
last hours or even days.
Three Stages of Kundalini
There are three stages of
energy manifestation that are often described as kundalini. They usually occur in succession starting
with Stage One. A leap into Stage One
energy is most often caused by serious spiritual practice, done a least daily,
but occasionally this energy becomes active for no apparent reason. A guru or shaman can also awaken kundalini
energy if it is appropriate for the student and if the student is prepared.
Kripalu calls Stage One energy
“pranotthana,” or “very strong prana.”
It runs all over the body and is often hot. Compared to anything that has been felt
previously, it is very intense and sometimes rises up the spine, just as
ancient scriptures describe kundalini doing.
Kundalini flows only in the central energy channel of yoga, the Sushamna Nadi. This energy channel lies inside the backbone
from its base to the neck and then goes into the third eye and the crown of the
head. Energy felt elsewhere is prana,
not kundalini.
Stage Two kundalini starts with
an intensification of energy vastly beyond Stage One. It has been described as a shattering
experience and is often overwhelming. It
is believed that it has caused many to go crazy or commit suicide. The awakening of Stage Two energy cannot be
reversed, so the energy must be tamed with spiritual practice to integrate it
into our lives and become balanced again—at a higher level of capability and
tolerance of strong energy. This strong
energy activates all seven energy or spiritual centers known as chakras.
In Kundalini Yoga, they are areas of resistance to rising Stage Two
energy and need to be cleared and balanced in order for the kundalini energy to
flow smoothly.
Stage Three becomes activated
only in individuals who have greatly purified themselves. They must have experienced long periods of
very strong prana and must not have remained lost in the many blind alleys of
yoga practice. A famous yogi, Yogeshwar,
describes Stage Three kundalini as the prana flowing upward, grabs very
strongly the “apana” form of prana, which wants to flow downward, and forcibly
pulls it up. This union in an upward
direction permits the activity of true kundalini. The union occurs as a sustained and strenuous
kriya or mudra (hand posture) where three bandas or body locks operate as
energy seals, immobilizing the abdomen and diaphragm and closing the
throat. Some have described Stage Three
kundalini as a whole body spiritual orgasm or total release of energy through a
body wave or kriya. The bliss experienced
in such a release is said to be a thousand times more ecstatic than physical
orgasm. This is one reason kundalini
yoga is often sought after.
Tantra
Tantra is the
only philosophy or method that explores the oneness of one person with
another. Like kundalini, it is a word
from India that is often used, but seldom accurately. Tantra sees the whole Universe, and each of
its parts, as God. This includes the
parts usually considered bad as well as those considered good. Tantra is a framework for describing and
attaining oneness with objects, persons, or deities. Yoga means “union,” and Tantra means
“thread.” The thread connects separate
parts into union.
Pure attraction, without desire for personal
enjoyment, is spiritual and Tantric, whether it is for God, for nature, or for
another person. Often it leads to oneness. We can be attracted to an aspect of nature or
to a representation of a guru or deity.
We can be attracted even more powerfully to a member of the opposite
sex. Worship in Tantra is the worship of
another as God or Goddess. In this
worship, we direct attention and love towards what is adored and open up to
her, him, or it. When we worship,
without attachment, a member of the opposite sex as a spiritual being, the
worship leads towards oneness. The
energy of attraction powers the worship and the movement to oneness. Oneness with another naturally grows to
oneness with the universe.
Oneness
The highest, deepest and widest
perspective is oneness. Oneness is
therefore the most spiritual perspective.
The central truth of life is that everything is one—all of the Universe
and all of each person. Because oneness
is the ultimate reality, it is the focus of any spiritual practice—especially
kundalini yoga and tantric energy awareness.
Oneness, or non-duality, is the core of any yoga practice. The opposite of oneness is separateness. When oneness replaces separateness, problems
disappear, for they can exist only in separateness. Nevertheless, most viewpoints are based on separateness. In oneness, which is the highest form of
love, there is a total merger—everything is melted into one awareness. To reach an ecstasy that transcends opposites
and becomes oneness we must surrender or give up all effort, including effort
to suppress desires. This transcendence
is a gift of grace and the more we surrender and thereby open ourselves to
receive this gift, the more easily it comes to us. In unrestricted ecstasy we are fully
surrendered to feelings and events. In
complete peacefulness we are unaffected by them. Unrestricted ecstasy and peacefulness are opposites,
except at the highest levels, where they merge.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment is very vivid,
clear, and sustained experience of oneness.
It is deeper, longer lasting and more powerful than most oneness
experiences. Oneness usually comes and
goes, lasting for seconds or minutes. It
has less momentum for us than everyday reality, and once it leaves, it will not
easily return. Enlightenment, in
contrast, has considerable momentum and lasts for hours or days. When we slip out of it, it will easily
return. Enlightenment fully engages
mental and perceptive faculties. This
means totally accepting whatever we perceive, including uncomfortable feelings. It means to refrain from judging our
experience, and not to deny it in any way.
Complete equal-mindedness is a difficult and rare achievement; it is an
advanced state that requires complete non-attachment. If the full energy of life is to be directed
peacefully toward the divine, desires cannot be killed or suppressed. They can only be expressed and transmuted
into love, which is God. For infinite
love is the only reality—everything else is an illusion.
In closing I’d like to share a
poem I wrote concerning “The Breath of Life” entitled “Just Breathe.” If we could just learn to breathe through the
resistance and restrictions which cause the contractions in us, then we would
create the space for the energetic expansion into enlightenment.
Just Breathe
Today
my friend called me with some news
We
hadn’t talked for months—
Our
differences had gotten in the way
She
choked out her words…
Our
mutual friend had died yesterday
A
malignant brain tumor had taken her
In the
summer of her life
No
words could begin
To
comfort both our broken hearts
And so
I simply said…
“Just
breathe”
Today I
went to lunch with a client I adore
I felt
his pain when he explained
His
wife had just lost their unborn child
In his
tear-filled eyes
His
brilliance shone beyond his years
We
smiled and shared our anecdotes and antidotes to
“And ye
shall know the truth…and the truth shall set you free”
We
hugged…and he gave me a holy kiss upon my cheek
My
heart was warm as he drove away
And I
told myself…just breathe
Today a
lady client came for Thai massage
Unknowingly,
she was the wife of an Israeli diplomat
We
shared our stories—of women liberating themselves
From
the violent ravages of internal and external war
Her
body was tense and tight and squirmed in agony
As I
did the bodywork that needed to be done
Tomorrow
she would return to her war-torn homeland
And
face the never-ending bombings and unrest
I
hugged her warmly as she left
And
said, “Michelle…just breathe”
Today
my husband did his finest to annoy me
Did
everything he could to cause me grief
He
spent his entire Saturday doing work for his ex-wife
Instead
of doing the ever-lengthening-honey-do-list for me
When he
got home
I took
a breath to quell the surging rage within
And
then expressed with quiet dignity
My
angry words of well-deserved dismay
And
miraculously he listened…for a change
And I
noticed how it became much easier for me
To just
breathe
Today I
worship in Sunday Celebration
In the
Church of the Gathering of What is Real
Privately,
I begin by cleansing my own temple
Inside
and out with the Angel of Water—
An
ancient ritual practiced by the Essenes
I then
join with others in Quantum Light Breath Meditation
Where a
Sacred Sage invites us to worship
The
Divine God and Goddess who dwell within
Together
we inspire the Holy Spirit
Joining
ourselves to the oneness we all share
And
when I can no longer contain the rapture and ecstasy
I come
back to the voice who reminds me to…
Just
breathe
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