“A mortal lives not through that breath that flows in and that flows out. The source of his life is another and this causes the breath to flow.”
Paracelsus
It might seem incredible but one of the most fundamental things that we all do when we are alive is inextricably wrapped up with our thought processes - and that is to breathe.
Now most people don’t realize we speak on the out-breath. Try and speak on an in-breath to see what I mean.
I’ve mentioned that the phrases like “let me chew that one over” give away what we are thinking and what is actually happening.
In the same way, the derivation of individual words sometimes sheds light on their true meaning and etymology.
Look up the word inspiration in a dictionary and you will see definitions something like this from www.dictionary.com:
These are all fairly standard and to be expected.
Depending on the dictionary, you may also see definitions such as:
These are somewhat unexpected and imply that there is an external influence at work, where perhaps the breath as the agency that carries or modulates it.
The etymology of the word comes from the Latin “in” and “spirare” to breathe. Of course, inspiration is half of the respiration process.
Yet we commonly use the word without connecting it to the breath, as in “she is such an inspiration” or “that view from the top of the hill is so inspiring”.
This linguistic disconnection has led to a loss in our understanding.
If we hyphenate the word in-vention, we also see that it is routed in the breath. We are literally ‘venting in’ ideas – bringing them in with our breathing. In the same way, the word ‘prescience’ or pre-science also implies that we are experiencing scientific enlightenment before it is known. Our language is littered with such clues.
The role of insight [inner-sight] and intuition [inner-tuition] also plays a starring role in the creative process.
It will come as no surprise then that many meditation techniques are based on the breath. There are literally hundreds of meditative practices and even more people who will tell you that their way is the best. You can even buy iPod-like meditation machines nowadays to induce the meditative state.
No matter what technique you use, and I recommend you try several until you find one that suits you, they fall broadly into two classifications known in the Buddhist tradition as samatha and vipassana.
In samathic meditation, you can focus on an object like a candle or a spot on the wall. Alternatively you can repeat out loud or internally a sound known as a mantra, like “OM” or “AUM”. More commonly you focus on your own breathing. The different types of meditation combine these three elements into different permutations either in parallel or in sequence.
In vipassanic meditation, you replace the candle, the mantra and the breath with another type of object, namely your own thoughts. This is akin to the process of counting sheep at night to get back to sleep, and the process I referred to as the Quantum Collapse of Thought. Where it differs slightly is that you become an observer of your own thoughts from a different perspective.
It is when you are in the state of vipassana, that light bulb moments occur. If you’ve experienced a light bulb moment in the past then you did this without perhaps knowing that this state has been known about for thousands of years. Now you know about this, you can learn how to induce this state on demand.
It has been known for many years that our brains emit electromagnetic energy in the form of brain waves. We are biochemical and electrical beings after all.
In our normal waking state, we are in what is known as beta state with brain waves oscillating between 15 and 30 times a second. There are three other states known as alpha, theta and delta states where the frequency decreases, to just a few times a second, as we withdraw our consciousness from waking reality through meditation and into deep dreamless sleep.
Note the state is only a measurement of what is going on in our brains. It doesn’t cause the state of consciousness; it is just an output from it.
You also don’t have to be asleep nor have your eyes closed to experience the alpha, theta or even the delta state.
If you have ever driven home without being consciously aware of how you got from A to B, you were in alpha state. Unless, that is, you were on the mobile phone having a conversation, in which case you were probably in beta.
If you are day dreaming almost to the point of nodding off, you are probably in theta state. You can also experience this when out walking especially in nature. If you do drop off, incidentally, you can enter the state known as delta.
In actual fact, we flip between these states continually. If you have ever been in a boring meeting and your mind wanders elsewhere, you are sliding from a waking beta state into an alpha, theta or even delta state. People who are doodling are also inducing this state.
Through samathic meditative practices, you begin to control your entry into the alpha state. Using vipassanic meditation, you can then access theta and even delta states.
When we have a light bulb moment, for a fraction of a second we naturally flip into the vipassanic state.
The key therefore to having light bulb moments on demand is either to enter the vipassanic state via meditation or, even better, while your eyes are open. The easiest way to do this is to enter the state of samatha and then to allow yourself to slide into vipassana.
The ability to enter this state at will sets up the conditions to experience light bulb moments on demand. Like any activity, the more you practice, the better you get at it.
Getting into the habit of meditating each day is the optimum place to start. There are collateral benefits to this too such as health and well being. You also begin to notice and experience synchronous and serendipitous events in your life. What’s more, by starting the day with a meditation, you can better enter the vipassanic state for much of the day.
You also start to appreciate that most thoughts aren’t necessarily what you think of as your own. As we will see in the next chapter, this can spill over to our sleeping time too.
This illumination is designed so you can do it at any time of the day with your eyes open. You can also use it at the start of the day as part of a meditative practice. It is the breathing equivalent of the cross crawling exercise in Illumination 5. If you feel particularly in-ventive, feel free to combine the two. There is no right or wrong with these techniques, apart from stopping breathing completely or over-exerting yourself.
This whole process can take only five minutes and after a while practicing in private you should be able to do this easily in any situation. For example, it is great preparation before a presentation or for an important meeting.
We primarily breathe in through our nostrils; this is primarily a defence probably against foreign bodies entering our mouths. What we are probably not aware of is that we favour one nostril over another and this changes throughout the course of the day.
There have been some studies that imply that breathing through our left nostril energizes and enriches our right brain and vice versa for the right nostril/left brain. Remember that we are not so concerned about left or right brain function, more that both hemispheres are engaged and the conscious mind is quietened.
Step 1: Breathe 7 times alternately through each nostril. That is 14 times in total starting on the right nostril and switching to the left nostril and so on. If possible, make the out-breath about three to four times as long as the in-breath. Optionally, you can open your mouth on the out-breath. This is priming the ideas pump.
Step 2: Now switch to your normal type of breathing but become aware of your diaphragm. Breathe 7 times taking in at least double the amount of breath in than your norm by really opening your chest and swelling your belly. Again the out-breath should last three to four times the in-breath.
Step 3: Continue this breathing but perhaps a little shallower. Now imagine that on inhalation, the breath starts at the base of your spine and comes right up past your neck, on the outside of the spine right to the top of your head. On the out-breath, it flows back through your neck and down the spine but on inside of your body. Imagine this is circular and rhythmical and the in- and out-breaths should be of roughly equal duration. Do this at least 7 times.
Step 4: While continuing this type of breathing, imagine that on the in-breath, inspirations and ideas are flowing into you. On the out-breath, internally give thanks and appreciation for the insight and intuition they bring. Use the words inner-sight and inner-tuition if you prefer.
Step 5: At the top of the breath, become aware of the still point just before exhalation, imagine the idea drops into your head from the crown chakra. Note that sometimes it comes in when the breath gets to the base of your skull, the cerebellum. This can also be associated with a bit of a jolt; these are true moments of guidance and are worth paying attention to.
At the end of this exercise, note down any inspirations but ideally as central ideas for Mind Maps to allow you to explore them further.
The breath is the fuel of inspiration.
Inspiration is one half of the respiration process.
Pay attention to thoughts on the in breath and the still points.
Breathe more deeply than you do normally at least once a day.
The longer you ‘deep breathe’, the longer you keep breathing.