Breathing Breath in through your nose and draw your breath down into the area just below your navel, allowing your stomach to expand as you breath (Baby Breath) and filling your lungs entirely with each breath before exhaling through your nose. Breathing is the MOST important part of meditation and Kundalini Awakening. From our birth until death we breathe more or less continually, yet for the most part we do it without any awareness of our breath and its effects on us, and believe it or not most people in the western world do it wrong! Take a moment right now and feel your breath. Pay attention to the air as it flows in through your nostrils and down into your lungs. Don’t think about anything or do anything other than just breathe. 1. Are you taking a relatively shallow breath and just filling the upper lobes of your lungs? 2. Does your stomach move out as you breathe? 3. Do you feel the bones of your ribcage expanding and opening with each breath? For most people the answer to 1 is YES and the answers to 2 and 3 are NO so lets expand this exercise a bit. Take a moment right now and feel your breath. Pay attention to the air as it flows in through your nostrils and down into your lungs. Don’t think about anything or do anything other than just breathe. Draw your breath down to a point about 2 inches below your navel (the body’s center of gravity). When you do this you’ll feel your stomach expand and push out in front of you. Most westerners usually keep their stomach pulled in and their chest out, so if you do this you’ll have to relax all that. Just take a moment and be aware of your breath as it flows down into your center. Now as you inhale and draw your breath down, also let your ribcage expand. You’ll feel your floating ribs at the bottom of your ribcage spread and move, and you may get a few pops out of your spine also. Now just take a few moments and breathe this way. Don’t think or let your mind wander, just breathe. If you’ve never meditated before then congratulations, you just did! It’s exactly that simple. There are many benefits to proper breathing. The extra oxygen in your system means that your heart doesn’t have to beat as fast, lowering your pulse and your blood pressure. Drawing the breath down into your center also helps to massage your internal organs, providing more oxygen to them as well as helping to release the accumulated stresses that build up there. The long term health benefits are immeasurable and have been repeatedly proven for thousands of years. Breathing is by far the most important part of the kundalini awakening exercises, although it sounds so simple. Paying attention to the breath is the beginning of opening up your awareness and it’s seen in every culture on the planet. Take some time to practice this, as it’s the foundation for everything that comes next. If you have to dedicate your meditation time to breathwork for awhile then that’s good, as we all proceed at our own pace. I recently read a translation of some of Jesus’ teachings from the original Aramaic (the language he actually spoke, although he apparently wasn’t literate) and it was very interesting to me that in Aramaic they used the same word for ‘wind’, ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’. Those with a Chi Kung background might find it interesting to take another look at the New Testament and insert the word ‘breath’ every time you see the word ‘spirit’. Robert www.highmountainhoshin.com

Hi Robert, I just started a beginner's yoga course. What I have found interesting is that it is more than just exercise. Didn't fully appreciate the spiritual part of yoga until the last few weeks. Thanks for this subject on breathing. It is a big help.

I wonder if Jamie has Kundalini energy fireing his eyes? I had to really breath and ground just to behold him. Live Laughing!! B in ID USA

I know this thread is old but I just had to comment to Micheal (who is probably very accomplished at yoga now!) that the best thing I ever did for my yoga practice was to make a resolution a couple of years ago that I would do three sun salutes every day. The PRACTICE of daily yoga really brought me into the spiritual mindset quickly. Not only did my body adjust to the positions so I became quite accomplished but I was also able to notice nuances of pressure and stretch that I'd not known before. I knew I could commit for sure to that short time of yoga and I think I only missed one or two days out of 365 because of illness. Now I notice that when I swim laps or skate laps that I can enter the zone that yoga gives me. I have the full body awareness of the feeling of muscles I'm useing and the flow of prana through those areas. It often takes about 20 mins for me of doing regular exercise to get to the point where it becomes flow and not a struggle but once I'm there I feel I could go on forever. There is such a feeling of bliss. I'm now practicing more at different types of breathing and yoga. I recently borrowed a Kundalini Yoga tape (the instyle one). It is horrible in many ways as the teacher in it keeps talking about how it will make you more beautiful and keep you young and save you from "unsavory circumstances". Seems very hokey but the exercises are so invigorating. I love the feeling of energy flow that I get from doing them. Namaste

I just took an introduction to yoga course and I LOVED IT!!! I'm going through a transitional period in my life and I believe that yoga is really gonna help me to make it through with my sanity!!! it was so relaxing and everything...Although I didn't get all the poses they asked ( i am a rather large girl!Ha!) I felt together, peaceful, light, happy, confident and all this from just one introductory session!!! I really want to continue with some classes but right now I can't afford it, so I guess I'll do drop-ins and keep up with this group for guidance and encouragement.

Hey Vintage, I haven't had much money and have only done 1 session of classes in 8 years of doing yoga. Borrow videos from the library if you can. I find the Gaiam ones have some nice ones. The beginning yoga ones with Rodney Yee are nice. I'm at a stage where I can do one hour of power yoga easily and I still find his tapes have the best layout and a nice flow of poses. Don't worry about not being able to do all the poses, it will come with time. One of the best things I ever did was make a New Year's resolution to do 3 sun salutations every day. By doing that little bit of yoga EVERY day (I think I missed 5 days in a year from being sick or far too busy) I really "got" the spiritual level of yoga. Good luck with your practice! Namaste, theresa