Breath is life and it is through breath that we are yoked with super-consciousness-the God Almighty and in mantric breathing, we can strengthen our link with super-consciousness by breathing with the seed word AN which constitutes the infinity in breathing as in the word “LONG”. You can breathe as long as you want, to your maximum capacity. A mantra which yokes us with Infinity is given below :-
Inhale with ATMAN
Exhale with IMTIEN
The word Atmah in Hindi means Soul. Thus the mantra ATMAN Yokes us with the super-soul to draw in as much pranic life energy as possible and thus cure us of all the diseases, dissolving all the stress in the process The word T stands for taste gland in our body and from this it is apparent that the soul resides in our body as long as we continue to cherish the taste of living/Eating.
Breath Centre : The seed word for breath centre is S or SH. It is located just below the Swadhistana Chakra and above the Muladhara Chakra and forms the top of Kundalini – the vessel of divine life energy which is activated by the four words L, V & S & SH. Kundalini energy is imagined as both potential (Sleeping) as well as Kinetic.
Dormant Kundalini energy is symbolised by the sleeping coiled serpent and the Kinetic Kundalini like the wakeful serpent, and the kindled Kundalini Energy moves alongwith breath upward upto the Crown Chakra through the so-called Sushumna opening in the spine. The movement of Kundalini energy is amplified by the seed words L, S, SH and V of Basic and Sacral Chakras.
Our breath connects the kundalini – the vessel of life force at one end to the continuum of Infinite life energy what we call the super-consciousness at the other end, with the seed Word SAN where the word SA signifies inhaling and N signifies the infinity in breathing.
Thus, we can inhale with the help of the simplest mantra SAN spoken as SAAANNN, to get united with the God and exhale with its exactly opposite mirror image mantra-1 ENS where ‘IE’ signifies exhaling and the mantra helps to exhale breath back to its origin signified by word ‘S’. Thus, the simplest science of breathing with mantra is SAN-IENS. And this breathing mantra is NEUTRAL. It neither prefers left brain nor right brain but stimulates the total Brain/Mind.
Optimum Breathing :
We are yoked with the God Almighty through the medium of breath, the breathing going on automatically without any conscious effort by us, being controlled by the respiratory centre in the brain but God has endowed human beings with the power to voluntarily control breathing also, as we require to do it during under water swimming and in the conscious control as in pranayam exercises to develop control over our body/mind system. Normally, a person takes about 15 breaths per minute, its frequency as well as the depth of breathing depends to a great extent on the physiological state of our body/mind system.
In jogging or running, the rate of respiration increases to meet the additional demand of oxygen by muscles. The tired feeling at the end of running indicating the accumulation of un-metabolised lactic acid which during the proper rest period comes back to normal. Similarly during the situation of anger or stress, the breathing becomes more rapid to help the brain to meet its addtional demand on oxygen. And during illness also, the breath becomes shallow and un-rhythmic, thus indicating a state of imbalance between the Body, Mind and Soul.
The breathing mantras given in this book help us to restore the breathing to its natural equilibrium and depth, thus healing us completely, supplemented with balanced nutrition, because diseased state of our body/mind system is the result of blockages in the harmonious flow of pranic life energy and nerve currents, either due to improper breathing or deficiency in the nutrition to supply the proper minerals/protiens/vitamins/ fat/carbohydrates input to our body.
Because, our health depends upon i.e. what we breathe, what we drink, what we eat and above all what we think – since positive thinking opens up our energy channels while negative thinking impedes the free flow of pranic life energy and nerve currents, thus making us prone to illness. And according to Hindu thought, more rhythmic, and deeper and slower the breathing i.e. less the number of breaths per minute, longer the life span.
Mantra for Abdominal Breathing
The Words which help the lungs to breathe with greater efficiency are Y,J,H,JH, B, BH, P, PH (F) BR (Bronch), PR, Z, etc. and these words will be utilised in the mantras framed in this book to breathe more efficiently. Out of these helpful breathing words, the word BRA or PRA help us to inhale both from the lungs with their seed words B or P and also from the abdomen with its seed word R.
That is why the word “BREATHE” helps us to exhale fully from the lungs as well as from the abdomen. Similarly, the word PRANNA fulfills our lungs with P, the abdomen with R and the Brow chakra and the left brain with ANA. The complete breathing mantra for total breathing is however, SA-PRANAM and its exhale mantra is INMPRESS.
And complete abdominal breathing helps to supply oxygen and the pranic life energy to all the cells of our body, thus recharging our life battery fully again to meet the challenge of stress and disease.
Our breathing alongwith blood/water circulation also helps to keep our body at the stable temperature of 98.6°F, through also the action of breathing alternately through the right nostril called the sun or hot breath and the cooling left nostril breathing called the Moon (Cool) breath.The switch over from hot breath to cold breath occurs every one to two hours depending upon our physiological needs of our body.
The right nostril breathing activates the left brain, hypothalamus/pitUitary gland etc. while the left nostril breathing stimulates the crown chakra, the right upper brain, the pineal gland and helps us to sleep well by its pacifying action on the brain. Similarly, movement of right hand up first, while standing or sitting opens up the right nostril breathing, stimulates the left brain etc. and the movement of the left hand up first opens up breathing through the left nostril, stimulates the right brain and the crown chakra, thus helping us to communicate with various portions of the brain through breathing.
Similarly, inhale mantra YAHHAN stimulates the left brain/Brow chakra while the inhale mantra YAHHAM stimulates the right brain and the crown chakra. And breathing with the mantra YAHHAN-is NEUTRAL, it neither prefers the right brain nor the left brain but fulfills the total brain, unifying the total brains’ action.