Breath - School of Metaphysics

COURSE of STUDY, the connecting link with the divine

Breath

How someone breathes is how they use energy spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. This is important considering that energy is infinite. If this is true why is that people seem to run out of energy? Why do we tire and require time to sleep during each 24 hour cycle? Why is there a point at the end of a lifetime when there seems to be no more energy and thus death results? Why have we for millennia had to use more than one physical body when there are immortal masters who purport using one physical body for hundreds of years? The answer lies in breath.

Moments after birth a new baby breathes in air for the first time. Parents and care-givers focus and wait expectantly for the first breath which is often indicated by a cry. When the cry is heard we judge that the baby is okay, she is alive and will survive outside of the womb from which she sprang. She’s breathing. If too much time passes without breathing death is imminent. This is a belief commonly accepted by mankind at this point in time.

Man breathes physically and man breathes mentally. Mental breath is the lifeline that directly energizes the body and comes straight from God. Breath ties the soul to the body. Mental breathing is the prana moving into and out of form. Our planet breathes, we breathe, plants and animals breathe, I believe our Creator breathes.

There is a distinction between physical breath and mental breath. This is important because it frees us from the belief that we must have air to live. Physical breath is a function of the autonomic nervous system and a way that we draw oxygen into our body. Mental breath allows the body to continue to live without oxygen. Countless examples of this are evident in stories of people drowning and going without oxygen for several minutes. Upon rescue and revival they started breathing physically again and continue to live. Mental breath kept them alive during the crisis. Most people do not know about mental breath.

Breath is associated with the air element. We must have motion to live, which is what the element air represents. The nature of mind is motion. The nature of the physical is change. When someone tries to stop motion disease and disorder begin. This is one of the greatest secrets for mankind to discover in order to be free of entrapment. When the conscious mind aligns with and flows with the energies of the subconscious mind and the superconscious mind it is tapping into the great infinite energy of all creation.

A less common known fact is that one way prana enters the body is through breath. This is important because continual, connected breathing means there is a continual flow of energy into the body. Without it there are disconnections and irregularities in this flow of energy. When someone is sick or dis-eased their breathing is laborious, shallow and irregular. The dis-ease results from negative, limited thinking. Thoughts that are in discord with Universal Law and Truth entrap the individual in what is temporary and finite. In this case cutting them off from the infinite source of energy — the Creator.

Breath is the prana or cosmic energy from the Creator as shown in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:

“As smoke and sparks arise from a lighted fire kindled with damp fuel, even so, Maitreyi, have been breathed forth from the Eternal, all knowledge and all wisdom . . . They are the breath of the Eternal.”
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, p. 144)

The study of breath aids in understanding infinity. In India pranayama is studied and taught as a discipline of connecting with infinite energy. Set patterns of breathing are conducive to certain states of consciousness. This varies from continual breathing to slowing the breath until the individual exists solely from cosmic energy.
Chanting is a specific way of breathing that aids one to open their mind to greater consciousness. Chanting is part of nearly all cultures in the world from American Indians to tribes in Africa to the highest peaks in the Himalayas. While in Dharmasala, India I had the opportunity to witness Tibetan monks during their morning chanting session. The phrases they chanted were foreign to me since I did not speak the same language. I was acutely aware of how the different tones affected my chakras. When the chanting changed I observed changes in my chakras. Each energy center was quickened while I listened to the chanting. I could imagine what it would be like if I was making the sounds myself.

Leonard Orr, founder of American Pranayama (rebirthing), teaches that we are designed to breath continuously. A continual cycle of inbreath and outbreath is natural. He says,

“Rebirthing . . . is the direct intuitive experience of God through the human breath. Connecting the inhale to the exhale in a relaxed rhythm brings about an awareness of a direct mental perception of spirit, and emotional feeling of spirit, and a physical sensation of the actual life energy, which is Almighty God flowing through the flesh . . . Rebirthing is the intuitive and gentle act of learning how to breathe from the breath itself. It is connecting the inhale with the exhale in a relaxed, intuitive rhythm until the inner breath, which is the Spirit and source of breath itself is merged with air – the outer breath.” (Physical Immortality, Orr, p. 11)

Recently I watched a newborn chick breathe while sleeping and the breath was easy, continual. The breath was connected, no pause between the inbreath and the outbreath. Watch a baby when she sleeps. It seems like she is breathing rapidly because there are no pauses between inhalation and exhalation. This continual breath is natural to the babe who is still so closely connected to the Creator. When you study nature it is easy to see the Universal Laws naturally expressing.

Breath does tie the soul to the body. Breath also ties the soul to I Am and the Creator. Breathing is how energy moves through form. Control of breath is vital in order for the thinker to direct his energies and use them to the fullest.