2. Breathing exercises

 

 2. Breathing exercises

My basic and most important session, which I usually do twice a day, is divided into several parts. First I do hatha yoga and then breathing exercises, all the basic ones listed on JoS, from full Yogic breathing to lunar breathing.

It is important not to feel the bladder or other physiological needs during these and other spiritual exercises, including obtrusive sexual needs, because this not only breaks the concentration, but also makes the work itself much more difficult.

When using this small "exercise" rosary, I recommend starting with the separated ball, ending with the eighth in the row and moving on to the next exercise with the separated one (there will be exceptions to this, but more on that in a moment). I also recommend moving a ball forward, ending the standing while inhaling and starting to exhale. It is a good idea to have the ninth ball be unequally spaced from the eighth - then you will be able to always move in the same direction, which will make your rosary accumulate more power.

I recommend doing these exercises on a blanket folded so that you can comfortably sit cross-legged on it against a wall or closet to lean on. You can sit also, but IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE SPINE IS STRAIGHT. You can stop using the backrest in this position once you are sure that you won't slouch without it. Despite several years of practice, I still use it myself. And it is important to stop the session if it starts to hurt from sitting in such a position - preferably between exercises - to stretch your legs.

2.1. Full Yogic Breath

For this way of breathing, as well as for all breathing exercises, I recommend getting yourself a cheap wall clock, or a battery-powered alarm clock (one that "clocks" every second), or installing a metronome on your smartphone - this is a much better solution that I only came up with recently... It's best to set the tactometer to 60 or 58 (I like this number better), the clock speed to 1/4 and change the timing sound from beeping to clock sound (no. 4 on my Real Metronome). -This is just my suggestion; If one of you feels better in complete silence and is good at keeping a steady rhythm without losing concentration on the exercises {*}, then of course there is no need for a clock/metronome.

{*Concentration is the most important thing in meditation itself, but no matter what you do on the Eightfold Path (and in life in general), it is worth concentrating on what you are doing. Of course, your mind will sometimes wander away into thoughts, dreams, etc., but it is IMPORTANT to catch it as often and as quickly as possible and bring it back to concentration. Although it is also VERY IMPORTANT not to get angry and discouraged by failures in this aspect, because practicing concentration was one of the most difficult things in my practice..}

With full yogic breathing, it is best to learn how to do these exercises with a 'clocks' (for those who choose to use such assistance). It is important to go straight up for six seconds and not speed up or slow down towards the end. It is also important not to "beat the clock with your breath", i.e. breathe independently of the clock (not to "accentuate" these beats with your breath or something like that). He is only to be a help; if you listen to it too much, it can become difficult. For the next six seconds you stand {*} and another six seconds to exhale, just like with the inhalation. It is important to remember that both inhalation and exhalation should go from the bottom up (abdomen then chest) and this is the rule for all exercises, except for the proper part of the fire breath.

{*If you can stand four seconds better, then stand four. IT IS MEGA-IMPORTANT HERE TO NEVER OVERLOAD YOURSELF UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! This is absolutely not about "dry high", as these exercises would be called by some addiction therapists. So if you increase this length a little over time, do it carefully and MAKE SURE YOU GO BACK TO A LOWER NUMBER if you feel like you need to.  This situation may occur during hot weather, when it is much more difficult to do these exercises - do not maintain this time at all costs..! Although always try to find a place in the house where there is the freshest and coolest air - this is very important.}

2.2. Solar-Lunar Breath [AnulomaViloma]

It is a breath that, apart from being the basis for working on the heart chakra - Anahata, also (thanks to this) aligns the entire soul. {*} It introduces a state of peace/balance, necessary for learning concentration during all spiritual exercises. When you finish the previous exercise, moving to the separated rosary ball, place your right thumb on your right nostril (or vice versa, if you prefer to hold the rosary in your right hand) and exhale for four and then immediately (NEVER STAND ON THE EXHALE!!! ) through the same nostril, you inhale for four (about a month later you can start inhaling for two, when you have mastered this breath). While holding your breath, you pass the rosary to your other hand (the same ball) and do the same to the other nostril. Then you put the rosary 'back', only one ball further, and then do the same thing again, which will give you nine rounds and eighteen breaths in total. In my opinion, it is best to set an equal, comfortable and SAFE breath-holding time for all breathing exercises.

{*However, especially at the beginning, I strongly advise against focusing too often on the heart chakra, or even more often humming to it; words of power or Names of Demons. My experience shows that apart from working on the heart chakra, it is better to focus on the sixth chakra or the third eye during this breath. Excessive 'racing' of the heart chakra may cause self-poisoning, because its spiritual metal is mercury. (Therefore, if you are going to do Planetary Squares, I recommend doing the Mercury Square only after you have done all the other spiritual and material Squares at least once.) The heart chakra must be developed very carefully and gradually; to open your soul, you can't skip it, but I advise you to just be careful...}

Due to this exercise, it is worth blowing your nose well before the session. And yes, you will certainly get a little "snotty" during this exercise - you shouldn't worry about it at all, just keep doing what you're doing. At best, if the situation is "difficult", have a tissue within reach and take breaks between rounds to blow off steam.

2.3. Breath of Fire [Kapalabhati]

After the last inhalation through one nostril, you do a standard hold, exhale for four (first down, then up) and start "pumping" air through your nose, using your abdominal muscles - it is important not to use your chest, but as much as possible in the lower part of your stomach, which will make you feel it's in the diaphragm. Initially, twenty per rep NO MORE, and if you start to feel even slightly dizzy, out of breath, or something like that, DO NOT DO THE FULL NINE REPS!! Increase the speed of pumping over time, when you know that you are doing it well (and as with holdings, you MUST DROP BACK in case of any problems with maintaining your breathing freely). It is recommended to do it slowly at first to master the movement itself. Exhalations are to be faster and more controlled; like contractions, and the inhalations seem to happen by themselves. I think that if you follow these instructions, you will quickly get the hang of it. After these twenty breaths, you inhale for four (as in full breath, only faster) and hold for six (during this hold, it is recommended to press the chin to the chest and squeeze the butt - these are the mentioned bandhas). After completing this series of breathing, I recommend stopping the exercise to stretch your legs and even out your breathing (at least for a minute). It's true that I don't do it anymore and I straighten my legs without interrupting the breathing exercises (and before humming, I also repeat full and alternating in the reverse order), but for the first two years I took two permanent breaks and I think it is necessary if you are a novice.

2.4. Yogic breath humming [Brahmari]

After the break, you start humming. This breath is done in the same way as a full breath, except that you hum as you exhale. (If you master other exercises well you can stop make stands - inhale/humming/inhale..) It is important to feel the sound in the body, how it vibrates and spreads throughout the body. At first you can only feel it around your diaphragm and throat, but I assure you that over time you will even feel it in your feet... (and of course in the aura, of which you will be aware). The basic mantra best to hum is AUM{*}. (Maxine recommended humming only Mmmmm, but AUM is much more effective and, in my experience, it is not dangerous at all for beginners.) Aaaaaaaa... with your mouth open, smoothly move to Uuuuuu... gradually closing your mouth and with Mmmmm... that's it with completely closed. Each letter is designed to last approximately the same length; it is best if M is not shorter than the others, but a little longer.
{*Zip file with my recordings of how to hum individual words of power, Names of Demons and mantras of Planetary Squares - [here]}
Since the exhalation is key here, do the first humming on the first ball in the row (moving from the ninth one after holding), and the last one on the separated one, which will make a full nine. While humming, of course, we do not listen to the clock and we do it for as long as possible.

2.5. Cooling Breath [Sithali]

I do it in such a way that from humming I immediately switch to breathing, curling my tongue, but it's BETTER TO INHALE AND EXHALE NORMALLY THAN TO THINK ON THE EXHALE WHAT TO DO NEXT (DO NOT STAND ON THE EXHALE!!!). Here, as in the next exercise, do not count the inhalation. As usual, first down, then up, but simply to fill the lungs; Don't rush or delay. Hold and exhale as standard, as for full breathing. You start it on the separated one and end it on the last one in the row.

2.6. Breath of the Hissing Serpent [Sitkari]

This one is done in exactly the same way as the previous one, except that you place your tongue on the palate above the upper teeth, making a "whistling hiss" sound. If performed correctly, it gives the same cold air to the lungs as the previous one and requires some effort when inhaling (JUST DO NOT OVERDO THE EFFORT!!) With the rosary, it is the same as the previous exercise.

2.7. Cat's Breath [Ujjayi]

This is a HARD breath, so I recommend not doing it at the beginning. It's true that it's like soft snoring, but I know from my own experience that this tip can be misleading. That's why I'm explaining: during this breath, the sound should be more of a hissing sound, no purring or anything like that. It is supposed to be more like the sound when vibrating the runic S (except that we do not hiss with our tongue against our teeth, but through our nose using the clogged epiglottis in the throat).

This is called cat breathing because cats make this sound when they are getting ready to fight; it's not about the purring of the cat... And you also have to be careful here, because doing it too quickly, or with a poorly covered epiglottis, can be very dangerous in this respect, for the throat, which can easily be hurt.. Practice it a bit before you start do it in a series if you decide to do so. (Personally, I only do it as a preliminary breathing exercise when I do Squares; Mars and Saturn to warm up these chakras.) And it is also good to cough off when there is phlegm in the throat; she is terribly disturbing during this exercise...

However, it is worth learning it at a later stage, because this exercise is the basis for working on the lower chakras.

2.8. Lunar Breath [Kumbhaka]

It is a breath similar to a full breath, but where you inhale quickly for half of it (about two seconds), stand and exhale for six seconds, and half of it you inhale for six, stand and exhale for four (not as fast as the inhalation in the first half ). Starting with an inhale for two, on the last ball in the row, and ending after a full turn of the rosary on the separated one, with an exhale for four, you have ten repetitions. If you have three balls in your back and when exhaling you grab the fourth one, your inhalation will be slow for six and the subsequent exhalation will be for four. It is worth practicing third eye breathing with this breath. At first you won't feel much, but imagine that you are breathing it; do what you can and don't be discouraged. Over time, as you activate your third one, you will begin to feel it clearly. When you open the crown chakra, it is worth doing the same with full {*} for this chakra. Chakra breathing is an important introduction to more complicated things in meditation and magic.

{*I also recommend doing full crown breathing before meditation or opening the crown chakra. Although it is not a breath specific to this chakra, because there is no such thing, you can do chakra breathing for any chakra, and this option stimulates it nicely. I say this from my own experience. (Especially since the upper chakras are easier to learn to sense, control and generally work with)}

2.9. Additional tips for breathing exercises

 During the breathing exercises themselves, do not sometimes do a mudra such as the one popular in "universal" Yoga, i.e. the thumb and the index, middle or ring finger together, the rest straight together - because these mudras are done alternately for all fingers in some rituals, and never separately for longer time (at first you won't feel much anyway, but over time these mudras, held statically and for a long time, are simply harmful).

During these exercises, it is best to focus on the sensations from the body/spirit (aura and energy flow in the body, and with development, also chakras). You can also practice visualization during AUM, starting with a simple symbol (e.g. a square, or a circle, or even a dot), gradually moving on to more complex ones, which is very important for opening the third eye and later learning magic (not during chakra meditation - you try there feel and visualize a given chakra). One more important note about visualization: it's not about imagining it in your mind, it's about drawing it on this "black field" when you close your eyes... It's really difficult (at least for me it was), so I don't recommend starting with complicated ones. symbols or Sigils...

When it comes to bandhas , the middle one can be done practically with every single exhalation. The idea is to press your belly in as much as possible while exhaling. These two remaining bandhas are useful when breathing fire and working from the solar chakra down.

Over time, you can slightly increase the time you hold your breath (I currently do eight seconds, but the first two years I did six), as well as the amount of "pumping" when breathing fire. However, every ten more per round should be at least a year in my opinion. I once tried the last round "to the max" and once I even reached a thousand, but it later had very bad consequences for my health and development, so I do not advise you to repeat my mistakes...

Regarding the breath of fire, there are two things that can be added here. After the last round, standing on the inhale may be a little longer and in general with this breath it may be a bit longer than with the other breathing exercises, BUT NOT AT THE VERY BEGINNING. When doing such things, you must already know what you are doing and remember not to exaggerate, like I did with this "thousand".. However, currently for the Solar chakra I do the breath of fire with breaks for 13 seconds, and for the sixth chakra for 18 seconds. –And this is the second thing: you can and even at a later stage (again, not for completely new people…) it is recommended to do the breath of fire for the sixth (also the pineal gland/third eye – this whole mechanism) in such a way that you do not focus around the diaphragm, only the forehead and the center of the head, trying to ventilate this area with this breath. {*} After some time, you will feel as if you were not hyperventilating with your lungs, but with your third eye. And with this version of the breath of fire, you don't do a bandha while standing on the inhale, you just sit straight and focus on the pineal gland.

{*Mageson once wrote about this method, but in my opinion he misinterpreted it from some sources (…). He recommended doing it with one hole plugged for the Sun and one for the Moon, as with Solar/Lunar. I have no doubt that it would certainly make some sense, but people, especially before the rise of the Kundalini Serpent, usually have at least a little clogged one of their nostrils, so for most people it would usually be a very difficult, and often impossible, exercise to perform. And the breath of fire directed once to your Sun and once to the Moon by focusing once on Manipura and once on the sixth makes perfect sense, what I am saying from my own experience.}

Don't forget about the affirmation at the end . It's worth putting your energy into something, and these exercises generate a lot of it. I recommend that you focus on "negative" goals at first - that is, on eliminating diseases, harmful habits (addictions), some character traits (flaws) that bother you, or bad luck in general, etc.

When you get rid of the dirt in your aura that has been destroying your life so far, only then should you move on to "positive" goals. Affirming "love of life", or money, etc. right away, when you have other matters unfinished, is like building a house without foundations - impractical and unreasonable. This is because all these faults of yours will feed on the energy of your exercises, becoming stronger and stronger, destroying these positive goals and harming you more and more in life.