The Essential Breath

While we exist in this body the breath is the essential support of our existence. Therefore, it is important for us to know our essential breath which stays at the very root of our embodiment. Essential breath is the settled breath. It certainly has all our qualities. Getting intouch with our essential breath is almost like coming back home. Breathe changes its nature, quality and intensity depending on the circumstances. It also gets modified in tune with our placement, the situation we are in , our moods and the activity we are engaged in. Every time extraneous factors like sensory information or physical activity causes internal reactions such as emotions and thoughts, the essential breath gets modified. It stays modified for a time, enabling us to carry out the specific functions for which the breath got modified in the first place. After a while, it returns to the state of essential breath again. The essential breath is the balanced breath. It is natural and the changes that happen to it in the process of coping with various circumstances are also natural. For example, no one can enter into the act of sex without the breath getting naturally modified. Furthermore, without changing the breath we would neither be able to let out our tension through anger nor feel a sense of possessiveness, both of which happen to be part of the basic human instincts for survival. Similarly, the breath modifies itself in moments of greed, passion, compassion and love. These changes in breath are constant and continuous. As long as we are alive and breathing, our breath will change in conjunction with our reactions to the surroundings. Certainly these fluctuations are essential for the survival of mankind. It is good and bad at the same time and, hence, we need to strike a balance. When we are totally relaxed and balanced our breath will make a small whistling sound. When the breath starts to whistle we can be sure that we are with the essential breath. It is the subtle music of life, the symphony of living. The essential breath is constant for each and every person. It depends upon both the psychological and the physical make-up of the individual. It also depends on the intensity with which we have taken our first breath. What is normal for one person may not be normal or ideal for another. The normal breath changes depending on one’s state of mind and body. When we are anxious or feeling insecure, the breath changes to a level which is normal for that situation. There are qualitative as well as quantitative changes in breath depending on the emotion of the moment, be it anger, pride, or avarice. The same is true for the emotions of sorrow, empathy, compassion and love. When one feels deeply integrated within oneself, the breath becomes feeble, starting to flow without even the air noticing it. This is the state of Kevala Kumbhaka or absolute retention as told by Yogis. By looking at the essential breath, its manifestations, and the corresponding changes which happen in the mental and physical planes, one will be able to ultimately realize that everything is functioning quite naturally. This realization will help a person accept himself the way he really is. Accepting without attempting to modify is a great step in the process of evolution. Firstly, one has to accept that one is an animal. Then follows the development of thought that one is human. When his humanness is fit enough to accommodate the entire existence, he will realize that he is in every being and that every being is in him. This marks the transformation into divine! He will in turn experience the intelligence that flows like an unbroken stream of consciousness and expresses itself as his very Existence. He becomes the flute that plays the music of life which connects him to celestial ecstasy.