Posts Tagged ‘pranayama’
Breathing In and Out of Labor – 4
Yoga and Childbirth – Chapter 4
Everything that we do involves our whole being. But of course different activities alter the balance between the parts of our total self. For instance, if I am swimming, some of the blood may have been taken away from the digestive tract to be circulated in the voluntary muscles. Thus the rate of digestion may be slowed but the activity of the muscles, heart, and lungs greatly increased. While swimming I am probably not thinking deeply, or aware of finer emotional feelings not connected with the physical sensations of the water. On the other hand, if I am sitting reading, my digestion can go ahead undisturbed, I am probably little aware of my physical sensations if the book is interesting, but am much more alive to the world of thought, memory, emotion and comparison. In fact, different activities concentrate our awareness on the various parts of our being; as in sleep, where what remains of consciousness contacts parts of self usually right outside our range of awareness.
Unconscious tensions and fears
If we carry this illustration farther, it also becomes obvious that habits we have formed in the past, often quite unconsciously, largely control situations in the present. For instance, my wife was nearly drowned as a young girl, and now has a dread of swimming. Because of this her emotional reaction to the water creates physical tension and timidness, making it difficult to trust her body to it. Of course, such habit patterns can be changed and gradually replaced by new ones. To do this,however, often requires us to become very conscious of the old habit and what it is doing to our body and emotions. A friend who once broke a bone in his foot, because of the pain, learnt to walk on the side of his foot, and still carried on walking this way years later, even though the break had healed perfectly. But many of the things that hurt us are not physical. As a child or even as an adult, someone we love and trust may have badly hurt us, and without realising it we withdraw our feelings in order not to be hurt again. Just as my wife cannot trust her body to water because of her original terror, so we, if hurt in love, may also find it difficult to once again trust our own feelings to the intimate relationship of sharing ourselves deeply with someone else. I wish to stress again that we may be quite unaware of this.
We have already seen how such unconscious tensions or fears may cause us to take on a posture of withdrawal or tenseness during intercourse or childbirth. If you are now wondering what all this has got to do with breathing and giving birth, it is simply that 1 am trying to show how all these different aspects of life are linked. Also, just as when the actual birth occurs, all that we have done in the way of exercises, diet, relaxation and development of helpful habit patterns, is all brought together in the one event, so in our actual study and practice I do not wish you to lose sight of the unity of these different things. After all, while you are having the baby, you obviously do not want to have the bother of directing attention from relaxing the back, to correct breathing, to surrendering, to relaxing the face, and so on. Better to have one routine that covers the lot, than a method so complex it becomes impractical. In describing it however a chapter is devoted to each aspect of the one routine to explain it more adequately. In any case, in our hurried world, who is going to have time to practise all these different techniques? Therefore we must attempt to incorporate each with the other.
The need for air
Before such incorporation can take place, we have to be breathing correctly. The habits arising out of emotional tension influence many people’s breathing patterns and have to be corrected before proceeding on to further methods. This is important, as faulty breathing cannot help but place a strain on the body, especially that of the pregnant woman. Many people tend to forget the body’s enormous need for oxygen, and that the baby breathes through the mother’s lungs. To indicate the importance of air to the body and soul (for breathing influences consciousness), there is an ancient and much quoted yoga statement, which says that while we can go without food for weeks and yet remain alive, or without water for days, we can only go without air for a few minutes. In another way we can get a similar picture of the need for air. During each day we may drink about a quart or more of liquid; we may eat several pounds in weight of food; but in the same period we breathe in about 375 cubic feet of air.
As far as science is concerned, oxygen combines with carbon in the body cells and forms carbon dioxide. This union produces heat and energy. If the supply of oxygen is cut off to particular cells, the flame of life literally goes out in them. If it is reduced below their needs, they are made to function inadequately. Yoga, and some aspects of modern research, such as that done by Dr Reich, also see the breathing rhythm as an expression of life itself. Reich has postulated a cosmic energy radiating from the sun, which he named ‘orgone’, which when acting upon matter expresses its innate qualities by producing our form, movement, and consciousness. One of the basic movements expressed when this cosmic energy activates a physical form is pulsation, or contraction and expansion, tension and relaxation. This we see in the spontaneous sexual movements already discussed; also in breathing, and childbirth. Every spontaneous movement is in fact an expression of this relationship between what yoga calls prana, and Reich calls orgone, and the body. Heartbeats and breathing are particularly good examples of this.
If this idea is difficult to grasp, and it seems hard to understand how an energy can cause spontaneous physical movements, insight might be gained by thinking about a simple example. I believe everybody must have had the experience of hearing a pin, or other small object, vibrate in a vase or on a shelf, when a particular note or sound is made either on the television or by passing traffic. Particles of sand on a piece of stretched cellophane will also vibrate when we sing or speak near it. This is how the telephone works. If we realise that our body is a very complex receiving instrument, and can be made to respond in the most amazing ways to the sea of energy in which we live, this is a very basic idea of the yoga philosophy regarding the cause of existence. But while the example of a pin bathed in the sea of energy we call sound, and sometimes moved by it when there is resonance between pin and sound, helps us to understand the resonance between our physical form and the energy which enlivens it, yet something remains unexplained. It is that the pin has no choice as to whether it will surrender to the spontaneous movement, or fight against it through fear, habit, or self will. As, in our case, consciousness and decision, or will, are produced by energy interacting with matter, we can interfere with the instinctive patterns of expression that arise in us.
It is strange that the thing created, even though it depends utterly upon its source, can yet interfere with that which creates it. This opens up the possibility of seriously injuring the natural function of creative on created. In other words, it is like a car destroying some of its wiring or turning the ignition control, and thus advancing or retarding the ignition, and putting the engine out of tune. As far as yoga is concerned, this is the major cause of misery in our life. Knowingly or unknowingly our will has been directed against that which creates us, causing it to malfunction in our being. (I would like to point out for those who are thinkers with scientific background, this explanation is only analogical. Yoga does not separate matter and energy, or matter, energy, and mind. It does see that what we call energy interacts with what we call matter, but it points out that these are merely polarities of a single thing just as the left hand can interact with the right hand, yet are one and the same body.)
As I hope you will begin to see, the golden thread of this book is to give methods which will help you to find your natural, spontaneous source of health, love and life. Throughout the book the attempt is made to let go of those habits and fears that are acting against your own innate nature. This chapter on breathing follows the same aim. Although in theory it is sufficient to surrender our will, habits and fears to the natural and spontaneous workings of our being, in practice we often need to help the process along. We do not need to look for the reason. It is that many of our fears or habits are so deep rooted or unconscious, that we cannot let go of them even when we decide to. This is because we no longer have hold of Them – they have hold of us. Thus, a man who, despite the fact he loves his wife and has decided to be faithful, yet allies with several other women, does so because despite his decision, his passions have too strong a hold on him.
Analysis of our breathing pattern
Therefore, before we can integrate our breathing practice into the exercise routine already given, we need to view the overall pattern of our breathing, and maybe help it into line a little. To analyse our own breathing pattern, a simple method can be used. Sit in a chair, or kneel on a yoga blanket, hips on heels, back straight. Put one hand on chest, one on solar plexus, just breathe in as far as possible without letting the chest rise. If this is successful the hand on the solar plexus will rise, without the one on the chest moving much at all. A point will be reached in the inhalation where your cannot breathe in any more without moving the hand on the chest. At this point allow the chest to rise until full inhalation is reached. As this happens the hand on the solar plexus will probably drop back a little. This is quite normal. If your pregnancy is fairly well advanced there will be less ability to raise the solar plexus hand first, but there should still be some ability to do so.
This little test shows us whether we have the natural cycle of abdominal breathing. If you cannot breathe in and raise the solar plexus hand first, then wrong habits or tensions are interfering with normal breathing. The fact that the abdomen does not rise shows that your breathing is also inadequate, and the lungs are not being sufficiently filled with air. This will obviously decrease the amount of oxygen available within the lungs – and, just as important, the waste products that pass out of the body via the lungs will not be properly eliminated. This is a sort of thoracic constipation. During pregnancy it is more important than ever to make sure that our elimination from the lungs is sufficient, as the baby also eliminates some of its own poisons through the mother’s lungs. We do not have to be fanatical about this; but we do have a goal in view, that of helping nature’ to produce a beautiful and healthy child. Efficient breathing is part of the activities that together mould and form the baby.
Another test for tensions
Another test to determine how much our own breathing pattern is controlled or disrupted by tension is as follows: Sit or kneel as before. Take a slow deep breath in. Now breathe out rapidly until the lungs are as empty as possible. If this out-breathing is in one unbroken stream from ‘full’ to ’empty’, then all is well. Many people will find however, that try as they may, they cannot exhale in an unbroken stream. There will be ‘catches’ where they stop for a moment and then continue. Clinical work done by a number of therapists has shown that this disturbed exhalation is a sign that the person is controlled by a fear, resulting in tension. Such tension not only influences the breathing of the person, but also the relationship with other people, and events in life. This usually produces unsatisfactory sex life, and other emotional or life problems. Because we are concentrating here only on yoga as it directly relates to pregnancy we cannot go into a long description of how to deal with such problems in detail. But at least a general method must be given because such tensions usually cause unnecessary difficulties during confinement.
The following breathing methods are not necessary for those whose breathing cycle is normal. They are recommended for those who, in the above tests, found that their natural breathing was interfered with. If you found that you could not breathe abdominally and move the solar plexus hand, it is sufficient to frequently practise the movement until it is attained. The aim is to make proper abdominal breathing into a habit. This will require persistence and patience. Our ingrained habits arise because we have performed the activity hour after hour. In the attempt to breathe correctly we not only have to instil in ourselves the correct pattern, but we also have to eradicate the old method.
Methods
Therefore, if you do not breathe abdominally, for ten minutes after the postures sit or lie comfortably, one hand on the chest, one on the solar plexus. Breathing slowly and fully, try to breathe raising the lower hand first as already described. Keep steadily at this for ten minutes, and keep at it each day until you eventually learn how to do it. Once you get the hang of it, you can naturally dispense with the use of the hands. Also, once the method is established, concentrate on it at odd moments of the day, such as while out walking. In this case breathe in and out in time with your strides. For instance three strides breathing in, three strides breathing out – or whatever is easiest for you. By concentrating on it frequently like this, it will quickly become a habit.
If you are unable to breathe out in one smooth flow, the recommended exercise is as follows: Sit upright in a chair, or cross-legged on the floor, or kneel on the floor with the hips on the heels. Breathe in slowly and deeply, hold for a moment and breathe out quickly with a rush through the nose. Breath slowly in again and repeat. The aim is to gradually break down the resistance that stops the smooth exhalation. This resistance may be an emotional one. For instance, crying causes us to breathe out fully, and if the suppress ion of grief has caused us this tension then if we break through we will release a lot of grief and weeping. Of course, it may be other fears or suppressed emotions that are behind the faulty breathing. If these arise during the breathing we have to have the courage to let them out and express them.
This is a very stimulating exercise, and it is difficult to give a -general length of time to practise it. This is because some people may become slightly dizzy due to the amount of oxygen absorbed. Therefore, you will have to experiment to find your own level. I would suggest at least fifteen repetitions, and not more than one hundred. Practise it daily until the breakthrough to normal expiration occurs. Then, if abdominal breathing is possible, pass on to the ordinary breathing practices mentioned later. Otherwise practise abdominal breathing. If your breathing is abdominal, with a steady exhalation, only general breathing methods need be practised. I stress particularly the importance of deep rhythmic breathing while walking as already described.
For hundreds of years yoga has taught a variety of breathing practices. Some of these are aimed at calming and stilling the mind, others at cleansing the body, others at oxygenating the cells. During childbirth one of the greatest needs is to keep the muscles of the uterus well supplied with oxygen so that it does not become exhausted under the pressure of work. Also, the baby itself may develop an enormous oxygen debt unless the breathing is sufficient during the birth. I am indebted to Erna Wright’s description of how psycho-prophylaxis uses breathing methods during childbirth. I have attempted to describe here how to use the traditional yoga methods however, although it must be admitted that as far as I can see it is psycho-prophylaxis that has had the genius to pioneer the use of these practices.
Just as a man who is walking and suddenly starts running will immediately need more oxygen, so in childbirth there are different levels of needs as the body contracts and relaxes. If we completely expressed our instincts, we might pant as a dog does, when contraction occurs. However, being often out of harmony with our instincts it is a wise insurance to prepare ourselves through training, to meet the need as it arises. The following breathing practice should therefore be done every day while relaxing. This should be done whether you have perfected abdominal breathing or not.
Take up your position of relaxation. Begin your relaxation as described in the chapter dealing with it. When you reach the point of tensing parts of the body and at the same time relaxing the rest of the body, incorporate the following: Before you begin the contraction breathe fully but slowly as in the abdominal breathing method. After three or four breaths say to yourself mentally ‘contraction beginning’. Now gently contract both arms, relaxing all the rest of the body. As you do this begin the following breathing method. Breathe in through the nose as in the abdominal breathing, but when it comes to breathing out, blow out through the mouth just strongly enough to make a blowing noise. Take three breaths in this way, then tense the arms as hard as possible by, bringing the hands to the shoulders as when tensing the biceps. As you do this go into the next stage of breathing. Imagine you are a dog panting. Breathe in and out through the mouth, blowing as you breathe out, to make the characteristic panting noise. This is approximately one out breath per second. Hold the tension and carry on breathing in this way for ten seconds, which is stage three breathing. The others are stage one and stage two, respectively.
At the end of the ten breaths in stage three, relax the arm tension slightly and drop into stage two breathing for three breaths. After this relax the arms and entire body, and drop into stage one breathing, at the same time saying mentally, contraction finished’.
It is fairly obvious that what is being attempted here is to perfect the ability to change the breathing rate at will according to the need of the moment, and at the same time be able to relax all of the body not being contracted. This will undoubtedly seem extraordinarily complicated at first, but practising each session will gradually perfect it so that ‘on the day’ you will be adept at it. When you have taken three or four breaths in stage one go through the whole procedure again, but this time tense the right arm and left leg instead of both arms. Obviously, at the same time you must keep all the rest of the body relaxed.
After having repeated the cycle using right arm and left leg, go through it one more time using left arm and right leg. When this is finished carry on with the relaxation as described.
When you first start this practice of relaxation and breathing, not only will it seem very complicated, as already said, but it will also take a long time to pass through the various stages of relaxation as described. After a few weeks, however, you will find that the strange ideas are becoming meaningful, the routine is becoming second nature and the whole thing will take far less time. But as a whole it should take at least half an hour.
Erna Wright gives a much more complex method, which I am sure in general is very necessary to achieve the pain-free birth aimed at. Noting the tremendous difference that diet and supplementation makes on the length and progress of birth it is unnecessary to go to such lengths, if the diet given is followed. Many women have a problem-free birth simply through taking the dietary supplements of C, E and calcium. My own wife, during her last pregnancy and eating largely a raw-food diet, practising the yoga postures and taking vitamin supplements, was only three-quarters of an hour in labour. Therefore, as long as the diet suggested is being used, far less discipline need be applied in these other ways, as the vitamin E alone aids oxygenation of tissues, the calcium decreases pain, and the C increases energy level and recuperation. In a later chapter, more details will be given as to how you use the breathing stages on the actual day. Meanwhile, once you have really established the breathing method, after about two months of practice, they need only be practised once each week.
Go to Chapter List –Go to Chapter 4
Breath Control
Yoga and Relaxation – Tony Crisp
Breath Control – Pranayama Chapter 5
Many writers on the subject of breath control start off by showing how breathing is linked with emotions, thought activity, heartbeat, even digestion. For instance, it is said that in states of high emotion one can easily notice that the breathing directly reflects the mood. Anger, passion, fear, affection, deep thought, even imagined situations, will each produce a particular type of breathing. This is all mentioned to try to impress upon the reader that there is something magical or particularly special between breathing and the rest of our being. Certainly there is such a special link, but there are also just as wonderful connections between the heart, digestion, circulation, brain and nervous systems, and even the tiny hairs and the rest of the body. Each cell, in fact, has a special relationship with the whole.
The relationship between body and psyche (i.e. mind, emotions, feeling), between the psyche and any organ, cell, or function, is nothing short of a revelation. So much is this so that an expert on any particular aspect of our body or mind, such as the way you walk, sexual activity, writing, breathing, stance, or features such as your skin, urine, hair, eyes, speech, liver, your shape, etc., can tell an enormous amount about you, even to the point, in some cases, of a minute description of personality. It is because this special relationship exists, that Yoga can take any of the aspects of your being, and through training, influence the whole self. Yoga also says that a similar relationship exists between an individual and the cosmos.
The Cleansing Breath
In using breathing techniques as a method to find liberation from ill health, nervous tension, unhappiness and futility, one has first to learn a natural breath rhythm. In doing this it must be remembered constantly that our sickness, our lack of harmony with ourselves, our fear and tension, is interwoven with the way we breath (and all our functions). When working with our breathing, or mind, etc., we are directly confronting our difficulties.
Wilhelm Reich, in his monumental work “The Function of the Orgasm,” says, “There is no neurotic individual who is capable of exhaling in one breath, deeply and evenly. The patients have developed all conceivable practices that prevent deep expiration. They exhale ‘jerkily’ or, as soon as the air is let out, they quickly bring their chest back into the inspiratory position.”
We must, therefore, approach any breathing exercises with the realisation that any difficulty we have in breathing easily and smoothly is a reflection of our inharmonious condition. In disciplining our breathing to right this, we are reaching deep into ourselves to the basic causes of our personality dis-ease. All sorts of excuses and fears will rise to the surface trying to dissuade us from continuing. It is only by gently but firmly persevering that we move through and beyond such problems.
Yoga also maintains that the breathing methods have a cleansing effect upon the system. It maintains that throughout our body are a series of non-physical pathways of energy that it calls “nadis.” These are not the nerves, although at certain key points the nadis and the nervous system relate through resonance of cells and energy. These points are at the base of the spine, the plexus that controls the sexual organs and bowels, the solar plexus, cardiac area, base of throat, centre of forehead and fontanel or crown.
You must realise that through controlling your breath you are gradually changing very deeply seated habits that have been with you a lifetime. Taking hold of the breath and controlling it is like taking hold of your nervous system, or body, and gradually altering the way it responds to events and thoughts. It is a bit like taking a wild animal and gently taming it. There should be no force or conflict involved. Gradually you will see that your way of dealing with, or responding to, difficult emotions, fears and stressful events, is changing. You feel more able to meet difficulties, allowing you to grow as a person, and be more creative.
Energy in us
It may be difficult for some of us to visualise or believe, that energy can have no physical channels, but we can see such energy at work when a magnet creates patterns in iron filings through the lines of its invisible force field. Crystals also “grow” in the pattern of these invisible lines of energy, thus having regular and beautiful shapes. But in ourselves we can feel such energy flow when we feel flows of pleasure or the variety of emotions. Such flows often flood the body with sensation.
The nadis are said to be clogged in the majority of people by very fine matter of an unclean nature in our system. This causes the body and mind to function far below its possible level. The breathing exercises, if done carefully and regularly, act upon the energy in the nadis in a stimulating manner, which circulates it and cleanses the dross. Phlegm, excess mucous, catarrh, clogged sinus, foul breath, odorous perspiration, constipation, are all signs that the body is badly clogged, and needs cleansing. Allied with a wholesome diet, the breathing methods will cleanse the whole system, and bring greater harmony.
Naturally, if you are going to practise Yoga seriously, it is best to choose one of the methods to use as your main practice, only using the others when necessary. If you are practising numerous postures, there will be little time left for breathing exercises of an extensive nature, or for meditation.
Each one of these if practised for results, needs at least fifteen to twenty minutes each day. Trying to do too many methods will result in failure in all. Better to stick to one that suits you – all will work.
Of course, deep breathing also has repercussions upon all the tissues in the body, not only the nadis. Thorough oxygenation of the system supplies each cell with sufficient oxygen to enliven its functioning, and to burn up waste products. This enables the body to utilise food more thoroughly and to repair itself. But Yoga does not use breathing techniques so much for their physical exercise value, as their value psychologically. If we understand this a little more, it will be seen what is meant, and the greater knowledge will enhance your practice.
The Breath of Life
Breathing is one of the most obvious movements of a living organism. When a baby takes its first breath it becomes capable of existing individually as a physical being; while death is often noticeable by a sudden stilling of breathing. The movement of breathing therefore has become synonymous with living, though this is only because it is so obvious, even in sleep. The other functions of the body such as heartbeat and digestion are also synonymous with life. The point is however, that the act or movement of breathing is an expression of life through the body. Like the heartbeat and digestion it is spontaneous. Like these also, it can be interfered with by the ego. That is, the moods and desires of the self-conscious part of you can interfere wish the natural response to movement and living. Thus, even while sitting still, in a position the heart would usually be slow and calm, palpitations may occur because of the way in which we have thought or spoken, or the events you are witnessing.
These spontaneous movements of breathing, when interfered with, represent self control. Therefore, controlling the breathing in any way through conscious decision, represents an intervention by the ego upon the natural or unnatural rhythms arising in the body. Reich and others, observing the breathing, also noted that holding the breath represents self-conscious, or ego control of emotions, and inhibition os frightening or anxiety producing sensations.
To control weeping or anger for instance, one usually holds the breath and grits the teeth. This also applies to sexual feelings, where, if one has feelings of guilt or fear about them, one tenses the abdomen, rectum, and holds the breath to restrain them. As all of these, along with feelings of joy, affection, pleasure etc., are expressions of spontaneous feelings, blocking them through tension or breath holding, represents an inharmonious condition between our conscious self and the source from which they arise.
The breathing, or body as a whole, can be influenced by several things, i.e., the breathing rhythm may be an expression of uninterrupted relationship between the internal development of energy, feelings and bodily expression. This may be interfered with by movement or outer activity, conscious decision, or latent tendencies such as unconscious fears, memories etc. The eventual aim of Yoga being a surrender of control to the balanced inter-relationship of all aspects of your nature. The breathing techniques, however, aims at taking control of the function from one’s unconscious conflicts that may be influencing breathing. Without conscious control, one can hardly surrender that which one does not have.
Stilling the Restless Sea of Mind
Sri Ramana says that “The source of the breath is the same as that of the mind; therefore the subsidence of either leads effortlessly to that of the other.” Therefore, to still the breath is to still the mind, which allows a glimpse of what lies beneath thoughts and the ever moving sea of emotions. It will be seen that this is very different from repression of an emotion through tension, for through discipline we have wrested the control of our breath away from fear and tension. In this way are we freeing ourselves from our negative Karma.
One other thing of importance to remember is that through any of the Yoga practices, one is awakening the Kundalini. This word can probably be used as synonymous with the Christian concept of the Holy Ghost. That is, it is the immense latent potential we each have. But it specifically refers to the potential that remains unexpressed. To put it in simpler terms, light is invisible, and always remains so. Yet colour is a manifestation of invisible light. It is only in its contact with matter that we see light. Either it is a luminous body of matter, or it makes some material object visible. If light were visible, we would see it in the night sky before it touched the moon. Therefore, Kundalini is the “colour” of the process of life within us. It is Prana manifesting within us. All our ability to sense, feel, respond, think or hope is Kundalini. That is, an expression of our psychological and biological energy.
Quoting Reich again, in talking about this energy, which he named “Orgone Energy,” he says it would have to have the following characteristics – “Contrary to galvanic electricity-it would function on organic material which is a non-conductor for electricity, and animal tissues. Its function would not be restricted to isolated nerve cells or cell groups, but would permeate and govern the total organism. It would have to explain, in a simple way, the pulsating basic function of the living, contraction and expansion, as it is expressed in respiration and orgasm.
It would express itself in the production of heat, a characteristic of most living organisms.-It would definitely explain the sexual function, i.e. it would make sexual attractions understandable. – It would explain what has been added to the chemically complicated protein in order to make it afire. – It would, finally, have to show us the mechanism of the symmetry of form development, and what is the function of form development in general.”
If one has followed what has been said about Prana so far, it will be seen that it explains all these points. It functions in the organic because of the affinity between them due to polarity, i.e. receptive and dynamic. Each cell is an expression of it, and pulsates, breathes, reproduces under its impact, producing heat. The sexual attractions and orgasm are expressions of its polarity, the receptive and dynamic, the orgasm being their unity. While form is an expression in the limitations of space, time and matter, of its innate nature.
Example: This led to me holding my breath for quite long periods and observing what I felt. In other sessions holding the breath had led to feelings of intense quietness or being merged in the one life. This time it was an experience of lifting my awareness beyond everyday thinking. An experience of expanding, of lifting beyond what had been everyday. But with it there was the feeling perhaps like a lighter than air balloon that rises, but after a short time it hits the ceiling or something preventing it rising or expanding further. So I felt as if I had hit a ceiling. I didn’t want to fall back, but hadn’t yet found a way to rise beyond the present ceiling. I want to break through into the next level.
With this experience came the observation that although the breath holding had brought this expanding or rising sense of myself, like so many other things, once the thing was seen clearly, one could achieve the same end by intention without the physically descriptive act of holding the breath. What I mean by this is that at some time one might have shifted from a mood of depression by dancing. One could believe that one could only make such a move by dancing. But in fact once one realises that a mood shift is possible, one can use other tools, or simply see how the shift occurs and use one’s will or intention to do the same thing.
Unfolding the Serpent Power
There is more to it even that this, and to explain Kundalini, the analogy provided by another living form, a flower, will be used. If we look at the seed of a rose, we realise that here is potentially a fully blown rose, but to realise its potential, the seed needs to be placed in the right conditions. Under these conditions it will first produce roots and stem. This is still not the rose bush, despite the fact the potential is expressing. Next leaves and stalk are produced and later, if allowed to mature, it brings forth bud, then flower, then seeds. As the final stage, root, leaves, seeds The developed out other so to speak. For the seed depends upon the whole cycle of seed, shoot, root, stem, leaves, bud, flower, pod. Thinking of the Prana acting upon the living matter of the seed’ in the case of the new seed, it has completed its cycle of expression as far as it could in the rose.
As a human being, we also start as a seed, planted in the fertile organic matter of the womb. A human being’s development goes beyond the growth of physical structure, into the realm of consciousness, feelings, mind. Yoga states, however, that virtually none of our race allow the Kundalini to complete its cycle of expression inns. In other words our growth is stunted to one of the first, second or third stages of unfoldment beyond the physical development. This is rather like a rose stopping at the formation of root, stem and leaves. The higher or further expressions remain latent.
Taking this explanation further, Yoga designates seven points on or in the body that act as physical centres for the possible stages of growth. It calls these CHAKRAS, or sometimes LOTUSES or CENTRES. These are: Root Chakra as the base of spine, between rectum and sex organs; Abdominal Chakra, just above sex organs; Navel Chakra at solar plexus; Hears Chakra mid-way between breasts; Throat Chakra at base of neck; Brow Chakra between the eyebrows, connected to centre of head. Lastly the Crown Chakra, on top of head. Just as the eyes are physical organs of sight, so these areas, and the plexuses and spinal nerve ganglia are the physical parts of us that correspond to the extensions of human consciousness. Each of these centres of human consciousness cannot properly awaken until the lower one has developed. If we could watch this growth of a human being to its completion we would witness something like the following.
In the beginning, beyond time, space and form, is the Satchitananda. This, through its manifestation of duality in Prana and Akasha, has built self-perpetuating forms after its own latent possibilities. The ovum and the sperm are only expressing a tiny part of the possibilities of the receptive and dynamic. when they meet under the right circumstance, a new level of possibility incarnates (i.e. becomes physically manifest) in them. This is the vegetative growth principle. As the form matures, still in the womb, yet a further possibility awakens or incarnates as the form becomes capable of expressing it. This is the dawn of awareness, for the baby becomes aware at a very basic level in the womb. This spark of awareness is like the seed, awakened into growth by the warmth, soil and moisture. Here there is only a point of awareness, not knowing shape or individuality, only a submersion and deep sharing with the mother.
At its birth, because of its individual breathing, and more direct awareness of form due to removal from the body-heat fluids surrounding it in the mother, yet another latent aspect incarnates. Here begins the possibility of relating to separate objects and people, and also with its own distinct form, along with a whole new world of sensation. These act upon the spark of consciousness, which is Satchitananda, plus sensations of separateness due body sensations.
The root chakra has to do with the basic “roots” of consciousness-the spark. The sense impressions at birth develop into what should be, for proper unfoldment, a wonderfully satisfying sensuality. Its mother’s breast, its bowel and wetting motions, the senses, tongue and whole body immerse the spark of awareness in sensations, in sensuality. Previous to incarnation Satchitananda was only pure being-consciousness-bliss, without sense impressions. Through the physical body the basic consciousness is polarised in expressing one part of its nature outwardly, although inwardly it is whole.
Thus, sensuality gradually develops into sexuality as the organs develop. Or rather, the organs develop as sexuality realises itself out of the inward growth. The abdominal chakra is the main centre dealing with this. Through the proper development of sexuality, the person begins to be able to relate to people in a new way. Not only does this mean that relationship of the body, but also a more extensive emotional awareness, giving them greater musical, artistic, social consciousness. Sexuality also makes possible a new type of love and creativeness, absent without this growth of the budding possibilities. Many of the race stop here in their development, because the ego does not know how to respond to the power of growth within itself, or else moral, political or social conditions have retarded the inner growth.
While the abdominal chakra represents the realisation of relatedness, sexual, emotional, intellectual, the naval chakra sees the development of the next logical stage interrelatedness. That is, the finer shades of understanding within a relationship. This shows in knowing how others will feel as a result of our words or actions.
Working like a very fine sense organ it informs us what affect our life is having upon people and things. This is the sense that allows us to feel atmospheres of joy or fear in people and places. Naturally it cannot exist consciously until relatedness has been developed out of sexuality and the spark of consciousness.
The centre above this, the heart chakra, carries the awakening consciousness a step further. Out of a finer awareness of relatedness, there arises an ability to sympathetically be aware of what others are feeling. Here is the first stage of supersensual awareness that some yogis, saints and seers have demonstrated. Thus one gradually becomes aware of other people’s emotions, desires, hopes, as if one were seeing them. All of us have such abilities in some -degree, but most people can only read the gross impressions of intense fear, anger, love or illness upon the face or form of others. When the heart centre develops, this ability becomes very marked. One does not necessarily have to see the person to know, for it shows in all they do. This organ of consciousness also puts us in touch with the “feelings” of the dead. This is why most of us cannot “see” the dead. We depend so much upon sight of the body, but even this does not tell us what people are feeling or experiencing within themselves. If that body is removed, leaving only the part that thinks and feels, how are we to be aware of it unless we have developed this deeper contact with living human beings in the body?
The last centre began to open the door to non-physical realms of experience. Now the throat chakra begins dealing with the thought life of others rather than their emotions, thus deepening our insight into the non-physical. As thought itself is a turning or transmutation of experience -and feelings into abstract ideas or principles, this centre also transmutes our experiences of life, physical and cosmic, into understanding or philosophy.
The brow chakra is related to the ability to sense form, colour and position in space. With this centre developed, one has visual impressions of natural forces such as heat, electricity, plant growth etc. These visual impressions relate directly to the way such things work. In other words, the impression translates what is seen, be it thought, emotion or a nesting bird, into symbols or images illustrating its inner nature. This centre is also the connecting link between the individual consciousness and the eternal Satchitananda. One’s experiences are here brought into con tact with the eternal wisdom of one’s Source.
The crown chakra is often seen illustrated in the pictures of saints as a halo. Those with brow chakra operating would see the active crown chakra much as depicted. It is the aspect of developing consciousness, where the individual merges again with the ALL that one has always been, though not realised. Thus, in the most profound Yoga, the basic expressions of life (Kundalini) within us such as awareness, sensuality, are transmuted into suprasensual awareness and an individual surrenders to union with the whole.
All this may have seemed something of a diversion from breathing exercises, but these and the other Yoga methods often precipitate unexpected glimpses into the further reaches of awareness. Coming without explanation, these can be very frightening, and sometimes make one reject the whole practice. Having said this, the breathing methods themselves will now be dealt with. Remember that these methods, in the order given, are particularly helpful in dealing with nervous tension, emotional disturbance, or inability to quieten one’s mental activity. If one is afflicted with these, then these breathing techniques should be practised before the method of relaxation. In general, however, they should be a -natural follow-on of relaxation, and a deepening of it.
Do not practise them hastily or forcefully. As with the Asanas, our own latent violence and haste will damage us. It is best to practise one method at least three months regularly, in the order given, before going on to the next. Remember that we never heal ourselves, we never produce our own growth, we only find a way of opening ourselves to the healing force, of allowing the power of growth to act upon us.
Traditionally, Pranayama in the form of breath control, should be started only in winter or spring. Unfortunately, the traditional teachings do not explain why this is so. Neither can the present author throw light on this, except to say that there is usually a perfectly good reason behind such suggestions. It is simply taught that less problems will be encountered in this way.
The Full Breath
The very first step of therapeutic Pranayama is to learn how to breathe fully and easily. There must be no blocks in our out-breathing and no difficulties on breathing in. Also, the breathing must fill our whole chest, not just part of it. One of the common difficulties in regard to this is the -inability to breathe abdominally. To see whether you can breathe abdominally, place one hand on the chest, and one on the abdomen. Breathe right out as far as possible, noticing whether this is a smooth or jerky exhalation. Then, breathe in as far as possible without moving the chest. Thus, in the beginning of this inhalation, the hand on the chest should not rise, only the one on the abdomen. Only then, with further inhalation, should the hand on the chest rise. For many people, at first try, this may seem almost impossible. The strange thing is that one is not in this way practising a breathing discipline, only trying to breathe naturally. Those who cannot do this will see for themselves, how tensions and inbuilt Karma have influenced their bodies.
If this is difficult it should be practised daily for five minutes at first, gradually working up to twenty or thirty minutes. The time should only be increased when a sense of ease is experienced at the present length of practice. On the other hand, the five minutes should not be given up because of difficulties. Even if it is easy, it should be gradually worked up to thirty minutes (provided you are using just Pranayama), doing it in an upright seated position, or seated cross legged on the floor. Naturally one can dispense with hand on chest and stomach as soon as one has the idea of it.
The Slow Breath
When this has been mastered, one can pass on to the next method, which is simply to breathe very slowly without strain. Do not feel that any breathing exercise is more advanced than another, and therefore try to practise the “advanced” methods. Each one grows out of the other, or -should. Again start at five minutes and slowly increase, also in a seated posture. This is quite different to the last, The aim is to breathe naturally-abdominally-but to breathe as slowly as comfort allows. It must be comfortable, however, as the aim is to induce quiet of mind and emotions, and if one is struggling with the method it defeats its own purpose. So there must be no gasping for breath because you are breathing too slowly. Find a rhythm that is slow but not making you out of breath.
Therefore, slowly breathe in counting to see how long this takes. Then exhale to the same count. There is no need to concentrate on anything except the beautiful slowness of the breath. If one has not already practised the previous method however, this may be difficult to experience.
With practice, one should begin to experience a dropping away of tension, emotions and thoughts. Sometimes it will feel as if something has literally fallen away from one, or as if the bottom of the spine is opening as the tensions there drop away. Eventually one will glimpse something that can only be described as a void or absence of all personal activity. There is a quiet peace and bliss in this, but it will at first only be flashes, secondary glimpses, growing gradually longer. This is achieved when all efforts and desires drop away-never by striving after it. Surrendering to this void one is cleansed by it first-then it acts upon one producing growth of inner awareness.
The result upon our nervous or emotional conflicts is one of gradual calming, cleansing and leading towards the peace that passeth understanding. Such personality growths in this practice, while we may find ease from tensions
within months, should be hoped for only in the sense of years. Like trees, we grow slowly, but there is beauty in it. See: The Slow Breath.
Controlled Breath
The third and last breathing method given here, is one of the oldest and most often used of traditional Pranayama. This one aims at not only quieting the mind and releasing the Kundalini, but also of cleansing the nadis. This also should be done cross-legged, or sitting upright. Start with ten repetitions, slowly working up, over a period of many months, to eighty-four or less, according to ability. It is done as follows.
Place the first and second finger of the right hand down on the palm. Place the thumb on the right nostril, closing it, and breathe slowly in the left nostril to a count of five. Now hold the breath for a count of twenty, pushing the chin down hard on the chest. Then, lifting the chin, and closing the left nostril with the last two fingers, while opening the right nostril, breathe out the right nostril to a count of ten. Breathe in the right nostril to a count of five, hold it twenty, then out the left nostril to a count of ten. Each in-breath counts as a repetition.
It should be noted that the breathing is done to a 1-4-2 count. So whatever one’s in-breathing, one holds it for four times the length, then out for half that. Therefore, if the 5-20-10 count is too low it can be moved up 6-24-12 or 10-40-20 etc. But it is the repetitions that matter, not struggling to hold the breath for a long time. Therefore, find a count that is comfortable, and slowly build up the repetitions. Once one has got the hang of this, then use a meditation practice with it. As the inhalation is taken, imagine the whole body is being filled with Prana, the invisible force behind life. As the breath is held imagine that all the blockages in oneself that prevent the greater manifestation of Prana, are dropping away. This is a matter of experience during the practice, for after a while one feels parts of one’s tension or personality “letting go” and a release taking place within. This release, and the changes it makes upon the body, emotions and mind, and thus upon our whole relationship with the world, is called Kundalini.
The practice of Pranayama always aims at the release of Kundalini and, or, the quieting of the mind. While the quieting of mind and release of Kundalini is to reach union (Yoga) with being, consciousness, bliss. Practising with this ever before us, realising that despite our practice, the bliss is not produced or created by the practice, only by itself, we will not go far wrong.
We can practise Pranayama for the sake of health, to overcome asthma, bronchitis and catarrh, to find release from nervous or emotional tension and fears, or, most important of all, to find Yoga. In any event, it is a very powerful method enabling us to find that part of our being that is beyond all our fears, emotions, opinions, passions and desires. Seeing this, the whole universe begins to appear differently to us. For, after all, the vital part of us lies beyond change and circumstance in the eternal.
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Hadad – The Rogue Yogi – Superminds 6
Dr. Donald Wilson discovered Hadad while he was researching drug addiction in Leavenworth prison in the USA.[1] Little is known of Hadad except what Dr. Wilson was able to observe in the short time he knew him. Hadad was a black man, possibly born in Senegal West Africa from a mixture of Senegalese and Hindu parents. His own claims were more flamboyant. Speaking in a wonderful Oxford accent he described himself as “a Chaldean astrologer with direct line of forebears back to 400 BC.” He also said he had been educated at the universities of Carthage and Oxford, and was a Zombie priest from Haiti. He told Dr. Wilson that he had been initiated into secret and ancient blood rites which gave him immense powers. The facts were that Hadad was imprisoned on a sentence of murder. He had been what was known as the ‘finger man’ or is now called the ‘hit man’ in a terrorising gang. His capture had occurred when the police ended an impressive car chase with the gang by riddling their car with machine gun bullets. The car had careened off the road into a cornfield. Hadad was found hiding in the boot unharmed. This was mysterious as the rear of the car was everywhere full of bullet holes. The explanation Hadad gave was ‘I found it expedient to deflect the bullets from the anatomical headquarters of my spirit.’
The meeting between the Doctor and the Yogi occurred because Hadad was a profoundly expert escapologist. He had decided it was a long time since he had been to the theatre, so he escaped from his cell, and was later seen by one of the prison staff walking out of a Kansas city theatre. His explanation was, “It has been some time since I have been to a concert, and I felt it would be such a shame not to go. After all, I am just a short distance from the city.”
He died in solitary confinement
For his truancy he was put in solitary confinement for fifteen days. In solitary, Hadad was naked – a blanket was denied to reduce risk of suicide – he ate only bread and water, had no light, and was only looked at by the guard through a peep-hole. During this period the guard, Thompson, had called doctor Wilson because Hadad was not passing urine. When the doctor and Thompson called Hadad, there was no response to their call. Thompson opened the steel door and in the light of his torch Hadad’s black naked body was seen hanging against the bars of his cage with a belt around his neck. His apparently lifeless body was cut down. The belt was identified as belonging to a relief guard, Red. “What’s holding up your trousers these days?” Red was asked. Instead of a belt he had a piece of rope around his waist, but he still assured Thompson and Wilson that he was wearing his belt. Hadad had hypnotised him and managed to convince him to hand over his belt, and hallucinate that he was still wearing it. This so frightened Red that he later requested to be moved from solitary duties.
A quick examination showed that Hadad appeared dead, even though the belt was not tight enough to have caused strangulation. As was necessary in such a prison death, an autopsy – a thorough medical examination – was decided on in three days time. Meanwhile Hadad was placed on ice in the morgue.
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It was a Sunday morning when Wilson, with two other doctors, Fellows and Gordon, gathered for the autopsy. It was decided Fellows would make the first cut, opening the abdomen to extract the heart and lungs. Then the top of the head would be cut open to examine the brain. Fellows picked up the scalpel to begin, but the three of them suddenly froze as Hadad’s corpse rippled into life and took a long deep breath. Fellows dropped the scalpel as Hadad said, in his perfect Oxford accent, “Gentlemen, I would rather not, if you don’t mind.”
Cataleptic trance – being able to appear dead – is not uncommon in medical and occult literature. But being able to come out of it at will as Hadad had demonstrated, was, if not unique, extremely unusual. So when Wilson and Gordon next examined Hadad they were curious about what he had done. Hadad was ready to explain. He had used his apparent death, he said, to bring his abilities to their attention. But knowing that as doctors they were sceptical, he would give them an even more convincing demonstration. He reminded them that in the hospital within the prison there were many epileptic patients who experienced uncontrollable seizures several times daily. Nothing medical science at that time knew could stop those seizures. The doctors agreed. “I will again enter a three day death” Hadad told them. “This time I will cause all the seizures to halt for those three days. I will also make the signs of the zodiac appear on the correct parts of my body.”
The doctors agreed to this spectacular display of Hadad’s ability. Talking together, however, they thought that with Hadad’s power as a hypnotist, he might very well have already given the patients a hypnotic command to cease their seizures. Even if this were the cause, while science might explain the possibility of what Hadad was about to do, it could not reproduce it on the scale Hadad proposed.
After three days I will rise again
For three days all seizures amongst the epileptics in the prison ceased. For three days Hadad once more entered a cataleptic state in which he was apparently dead. For three days the signs of the zodiac appeared on his body in the form of raised welts.
After this amazing display, Hadad offered to pass on his secrets to Wilson and Gordon. They refused. Their reasons for doing so were many. Hadad was a known murderer, and admitted to murders unknown to the police. Wilson also gave his reasons as, “… having hypnotised us, he could have incapacitated us physically or crippled us neurologically. He could have left us mentally dissociated. We could have awakened from the trance insane. He could have given us amnesia for our scientific background and training, and left us wild-eyed exponents of the occult. We had no way of knowing what he might do. He might have killed us.”
That ended the relationship between Wilson and Hadad, who was reabsorbed into the immense prison system.
Yoga secrets
What were Hadad’s secrets? The methods he used to induce his apparent death were definitely connected with the yoga form of breath control called pranayama. This training is usually connected with strict rules of harmlessness to all creatures. The practitioner learns to gradually increase the time between one in-breath and the next. Hadad had learnt this skill to an extraordinary degree, where the held breath caused the physical signs of apparent death. The sensitivity of modern instruments have shown that the heart does not actually stop, but fibrillates or quivers. Hadad’s power of hypnotism is also a skill with a long history, much used in the East and in many old cultures. Not only was it used as a means of self-discipline in yoga, but also many tribal healers, such as the African ‘ngaka’, who is often known as a witchdoctor, diviner, healer, and herbalist, are masters of hypnosis and suggestion. In these cultures this skill was part of the communal life, and used effectively for mental and physical healing. Pranayama and the skills of the ngaka need a lot of training.
Safe yoga skills you can learn
Regulating your breath is one of the safest and easiest ways of learning to tame or calm your mind and nervous system. A classic yoga method for this uses a 1 – 4 – 2 rhythm. You sit comfortably in an upright but relaxed position. Close your eyes and wait for your breathing to level off if you have been moving about. Then breath in for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of sixteen, and breath out for a count of eight.
This is a suggested number that you will probably be able to do, but it is important to find a count that is easy for you to do without straining. So if it is too easy, take the inbreath count higher until you are disciplining your breath, but not straining. At a count of six for instance, you would hold for 24 and breath out for 12. If the starting count of four is too high, drop it to what is comfortable.
Once you find your comfortable count, you repeat the cycle ten times. As you are using the cycle be aware of whether you are tensing your body. If so drop unnecessary tensions so you are as relaxed as possible. Let your attention rest just on the counting and your physical sensations.
Your breath is constantly mirroring the feeling and mental reactions hitting your nervous system. Even if you are only reading a story, your breathing and heart rate will alter as you have a mental picture of certain parts of the story. Regulating the breath consciously therefore smoothes out these mental and emotional waves. It is one of the great tools to help deal with anxious feelings about such things as exams. So even if you don’t think you suffer such fears, it is an excellent practice, and should be used daily for two or three months to really make inner changes of mind and body.
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[1] My Six Convicts – By Donald Powell Wilson. Published by Hamish Hamilton. UK 1951.