Breathing Exercises

Thread in front of the nose. Proper breathing is very important in meditation. When breathing, try to breathe in as slowly and quietly as possible, so that if somebody placed a tiny thread in front of your nose, it would not move at all. And when you breathe out, try to breathe out even more slowly than when you breathed in. If possible, leave a short pause between the end of your first exhalation and the beginning of your second inhalation. If you can, hold your breath for a few seconds. But if it is difficult, do not do it. Never do anything that will harm your organs or respiratory system.

Breathe through different parts of your body. Before you start meditating, please breathe in deeply a few times. With each breath, try to feel that a stream of energy is entering into you. Then try to feel that you are breathing in through different parts of your body: your eyes, your ears, your forehead, your shoulders, the crown of your head and so on. Feel that each of these places is a door, and when you breathe in, feel that you are opening this door. At that time, energy enters in from the Universal Consciousness.

Life-energy in the chakras. Please breathe in and hold the breath in the third eye for a couple of seconds. Your concentration will be in the third eye. The second time you breathe in, hold the life-energy in the heart centre. You are holding the breath, the life-energy, here. The third time you breathe in, hold the breath in the navel. Please repeat this, first in the third eye, then in the heart, then in the navel.

Seven higher worlds. While breathing in, with each breath try to repeat ‘Supreme’ slowly seven times and again seven times while breathing out. Inside you there are seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds. When you repeat ‘Supreme’ while breathing in, feel that you are going into the seven higher worlds inside you. Once you have reached the seven higher worlds, you will find solid power. When you breathe out, think of the seven lower worlds within you and try to throw the strength of the higher worlds into the lower worlds. Accumulate everything in the higher worlds and then, while saying ‘Supreme, Supreme, Supreme…’ when you are breathing out, enter into the lower worlds with peace, light and bliss to purify the lower worlds.

Your breath is God’s playground. Try to feel that your heart is a vast playground, and that inside this playground there is a special and sacred place where God likes to play. That chosen place is inside your life-breath. Each time you breathe in or breathe out, try to feel that the breath you are inhaling or exhaling is for God. When you are breathing in good thoughts, you have to feel that those good thoughts are for God. And when you are breathing out undivine thoughts, you have to feel that those undivine thoughts are also for God. You do not have to count how many good thoughts you have breathed in or how many bad thoughts you have breathed out. No! Only you have to remember that, good or bad, each breath of yours is for God only.

Breathe in purity. The first thing that you have to think of when breathing is purity. When you breathe in, if you can feel that the breath is coming directly from God, from Purity itself, then your breath can easily be purified.

Breathe in peace, breathe out restlessness. Each time you breathe in, try to feel that you are bringing into your body peace, infinite peace. The opposite of peace is restlessness. When you breathe out, try to feel that you are expelling the restlessness within you and also the restlessness that you see all around you. When you breathe this way, you will find restlessness leaving you.

Breathe in power, breathe in joy. Please try to feel that you are breathing in power from the universe. And when you exhale, feel that all your fear is coming out of your body. After doing this a few times, try to feel that what you are breathing in is joy, infinite joy, and what you are breathing out is sorrow, suffering and melancholy.

Cosmic energy. Feel that you are breathing in not air but cosmic energy. Feel that tremendous cosmic energy is entering into you with each breath and that you are going to use it to purify your body, vital, mind and heart. Feel that there is not a single place in your body that is not being occupied by the flow of cosmic energy. It is flowing like a river inside you, washing and purifying your whole being.

Then, when you start to breathe out, feel that you are breathing out all the rubbish inside you—all your undivine thoughts, obscure ideas and impure actions. Anything inside your system that you call undivine, anything that you do not want to claim as your own, feel that you are exhaling.

One-four-two breathing. We have a traditional system of controlled breathing in India which is called pranayama, control of the life-breath. Prana is the vital energy, the life-breath; yama means control. The very first exercise you can practise is to repeat once, as you breathe in, the Name of God, the Christ or whomever you adore. Or, if your Master has given you a mantra, you can repeat that. This breath does not have to be long or deep.

Then hold your breath and repeat the same name four times. And when you breathe out, repeat two times the name or mantra that you have chosen. You inhale for one count, hold your breath for four counts, and exhale for two counts, inwardly repeating the sacred name. If you simply count the numbers—one-four-two—you do not get any vibration or inner feeling. But when you say the Name of God, immediately God’s divine qualities enter into you. Then, when you hold your breath, these divine qualities rotate inside you, entering into all your impurities, obscurities, imperfections and limitations. And when you breathe out, these same divine qualities carry away all your undivine, unprogressive and destructive qualities.

The beginner starts with a one-four-two count. When he becomes mature in his breathing, he will be able to do it to a count of four-sixteen-eight: breathing in for four counts, holding the breath for sixteen, and breathing out for eight. But this has to be done very gradually. Some people even do this with an eight-thirty-two-sixteen count, but this is not for the beginner.

Alternate nostril breathing. Another thing you can try is alternate breathing. This is done by pressing the right nostril with the thumb and taking in a long breath through the left nostril. As you breathe in, repeat God’s Name once. Then hold your breath for four counts, repeating God’s Name four times. And finally release your right nostril, press your left nostril with your fourth finger and release your breath to the count of two—that is, two repetitions of God’s Name. Then do it the opposite way, starting with the left nostril pressed closed. In this system, when you breathe in, it does not have to be done quietly. Even if you make a noise, no harm. But, of course, these exercises should not be done in public or where other people are trying to meditate in silence.

You should not practise one-four-two breathing for more than four or five minutes, and you should not do alternate breathing more than three times. If you do it twenty or forty or fifty times, heat will rise from the base of your spine and enter into your head, creating tension and a headache. It is like eating too much. Eating is good, but if you eat voraciously, it will upset your stomach. This heat acts the same way. If you draw it up beyond your capacity, then instead of giving you a peaceful mind, it will give you an arrogant, turbulent and destructive mind. Later, when you have developed your inner capacity, you can do this alternate breathing for ten or fifteen minutes.

Pranayama is a traditional yogic discipline with many serious, complicated breathing exercises. They can be dangerous if they are not done properly or if you do not have a teacher to guide you at every step. But these exercises that I am telling you about—the one-four-two count and alternate nostril breathing—are very simple and, at the same time, effective. They will never harm your lungs.