Everything is Breath

You can last a few weeks without eating food, a few days without drinking water, but you would only last a few minutes without breathing. So important is breathing that the Indian yogis have a science of breath, which they call pranayama. Other esoteric disciplines would also have their own sets of exercises and practices (e.g. chi kung) to control and master the breath. Esoteric practice would be incomplete without any attention devoted to breathing.

The secret of breathing is not in the air. This is something more than a biochemical process. The way one breathes helps regulate how much prana, or life force, the body absorbs and generates. Prana is the life force energy that permeates all things. Prana is a sanskrit term, but in Chinese they would call it chi, and in Japanese it's called ki. Some western esoteric disciplines call it vital force or vital energy. The more fresh prana that one can absorb and utilize, the healthier one is. This is actually one of the principles of pranic healing, where stale prana is removed so that the healer can project fresh prana into the patient.

Prana is associated with the air element. It's interesting to note that the mind or intelligence is also associated with the air element, given that there is the popular esoteric phrase, "Energy follows your thoughts." Given the relationship between mind and prana (breath), it's easy to see how regulating the breath can help calm the mind. In fact, in pranic healing, patients with anger issues are advised to practice deep abdominal breathing for about 10 cycles when angry so that they can regain control of themselves. Deep abdominal breathing (also called pranic breathing) is often done with a 7-1-7-1 rhythm, meaning one cycle insists of inhaling for 7 counts, holding for 1, exhaling for 7 counts, holding for 1; then repeat the cycle.

More than just the health implications of breathing, I believe that the deeper significance of breathing is related to its cyclical nature. Breathing consists of continuous cycles of inhalation and exhalation, one alternating after the other. I suspect that the ancient sages put so much emphasis on breathing because it was something intrinsic to us, and therefore can easily clue us in on the cyclical nature of everything (incidentally, cycles are the bread and butter of astrology). Why do you think we need to give, in order to receive? It's the secret to prosperity, and it also follows the same rhythm as breathing. You can apply this model to almost anything.

It's easy to think that breathing is solely about inhalation and exhalation, but there is a third factor: the space in-between the breaths. So we encounter the mystical trinity: inhalation, exhalation, and retention (the space between the breaths). This is why in breathing exercises, one should pay attention to the space in-between the breaths, because that is the secret to generating enormous amounts of prana. It is the stillness between the OMs.

It's interesting how cycles are so intertwined with the breath. A baby that just entered life will take its first breath, a dying person will exhale its last breath before transitioning to the other side. Life itself and the state before being born (which is also the state after death) constitutes one big space "between breaths." So life and death itself is one big cycle, alternating one after the other (if you believe in reincarnation, that is).

But the breath is not confined to a person's life. The Hindus say that the existence of the universe constitutes one exhalation of Brahma, and there will come a point in time that Brahma will inhale and everything will return to the state before creation. This simply follows the maxim "As Above, So Below."

So don't take breathing for granted. It's not only the key to better health, it could also be the philosophical key that unlocks the secrets of the universe.