Tantric Meditation part 3: Devotional Breath
This is the 3rd article I have written recently that explores the 112 tantric meditation techniques.
I have chosen 3 techniques that involve love, and this third one is about devotion.
Let us hear the technique:
‘With utmost devotion, center on the two junctions of breath and know the knower’
This is the 3rd technique of the 112 that instruct to focus on the junction between the two breaths.
This is foundational, for the 112 meditation techniques are about becoming conscious. Breath, is the vehicle for consciousness.
If you can become aware of 20 breaths without thinking, in their full cycle, you will immediately shift your consciousness.
Try it. It is much more difficult than one would expect to focus purely on the breath without mental fluctuations and thoughts interrupting.
The full breath cycle is
- Inhale – which has a beginning, middle, and end
- The turn between
- Exhale – beginning, middle, and end
- The second turn
8 separate moments in one cycle to become aware of. But this technique, unlike some of the former ones is not simply saying be aware of the breath. It is saying to be aware of the breath at the junction.
With devotion.
The junction is key. The second key is devotion.
First, let’s explore the junction.
The space between inhale and exhale is a unique state of consciousness. As one inhales life force energy is coming into their body… it is bringing life and sustaining life…the exhale is letting go, it is death. The full cycle of breath is a complete lifetime, life comes in, it is maintained, and then it dies.
The place between the two breaths is void. Life force is neither coming in or going out. There is a still point…the zero-point energy field…when this still point is made conscious, all kinds of beauty may arise.
Consciousness is no longer coming in or going out of your body at the still point. There is not doing, thus there is an entry into pure being. In this moment of stillness, is the calm between the storm, it is where you feel god… it is beyond life and death. When the moment between two breaths is known with every breath, you can become constantly aware.
The second part of the technique is about devotion. Many express devotion for God, for Jesus, for Buddha, for their beloved. This technique is concerned with your devotional heart. It is not asking for you to project that devotion onto an image or person. It is instructing you to place it between the two breaths.
Why?
One could say…
Between the two breaths, there is God…without form or name, not to name the god, but to experience the god through the stillness.
As you tie an intention and a heart felt devotional energy field into the breath, you imbue the breath with devotion…this devotion enters you, and you become divine. It is akin to recognizing your own divinity and blessing yourself. You are a temple, to bless the breath, is to consecrate yourself.
As a practice… you are purifying yourself. To practice this meditation daily, is it purify your body and mind.
Remember, Tantra is a technology. It is not to be believed, but explored. I have said many things, they are not to be believed… know for yourself -gnosis.
Tantra has techniques to cultivate our nervous system. Do you want to live with more devotion in your life? This is a practice of self-cultivation… make each breath a devotion, a prayer… see how your life changes. Devotion lies within you, it is yours to know and grow. This technique does not ask you hang a picture of your guru on your mantle and practice devotion. It does not ask you sing to Jesus or to repeat hare Krishna.
It instructs you to become a witness of the breath, and to have devotion for it.
Why a witness?
A witness is an observer.
These techniques are about raising consciousness. The witness is a place of being, that is beyond the body and mind. To be a witness means to watch the body sensation, to watch emotions, to watch the thoughts… not to be in them, but to be aware of the one who is thinking them. It goes beyond, it is an expanded awareness. When you are beyond the body and mind, and you are attuned to the vibration of devotion.. your whole body and being may then align with your intention. Your intention is like a thought-feild of energy and information that surrounds the bodymind, and if this field of awareness is held continously, it will harmonize the system.
It is true of all thought fields. If you have anger, your whole being will become angry. All of your cells will become angry, your body will become red and inflamed.
When you become devotional, your energy and whole being and all your cells shout the high heavenly cord of hallelujah. Your blood no longer runs, but dances.
‘Between two breaths, witness the junction with devotion’
When we cultivate a devotional heart, we are primed to be devotional. When this practice takes root, you may find yourself becoming devotional to strangers, to objects in your home… you may find yourself expressing new levels of love and appreciation for your beloved and your family.
Remember these are cultivation techniques… and to cultivate takes time… and good conditions. But the technique is scientific. It will change you. By changing the way you relate to yourself, you will alter your physiology…by consistently changing your thinking, it will ripple through your entire system.
Remember, you are always living and dying with every breath cycle… all the cells in your body live and die, the being you were 7 years ago is no longer here. Just thinking of who you could be if you practiced devotion with each breath for just 7 days… 7 days, with over 24,000 breaths per day… that’s a lot of prayer.
Even if it is for just 20 breaths… see how it changes your state. There may be reistence at first… if you are not feeling at home in your body and emotions.. it may be hard to be devotional unto yourself and breath… this is when the medicine has a chance to work.
Remember that this practice is not simply about you. To raise one’s vibration helps all beings.
An encouragement to explore this simple mediation throughout your day and offer your devotion to your loved ones and all beings.
May all beings be happy
May all being be healthy
Blessings
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