ON BREATH AND BREATHING
Subtle Energy Breathing: Engaging the Throat or Cervical “Pump.”
I recently had a wonderful conversation with Martin Jones about a spiritual breathing exercise that he calls “Holographic Breathing.”
I experience it as a “diaphragm or “pump”. In the throat. It involves what Leonard Orr called “subtle energy breathing.” It helps in the activation of the pineal gland. And it’s something that I observed happening in both BabaJi and Hu Bin from time to time.
Here’s the practice in a nutshell:
1. Close your mouth and keep your lips sealed, as you breathe in and out through your nose.
2. Let the surface of your tongue gently stick to the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue touching or almost touching your front teeth.
3. When you inhale, let your jaw drop slightly, creating a small space between your teeth.
4. When you exhale, close your jaw gently, allowing your teeth to come together again.
5. Keep this subtle movement of your jaw happening with each breath: opening on the inhale and closing on the exhale.
6. Make sure to keep your lips sealed and your tongue softly touching the roof of your mouth the whole time.
You might start by simply breathing through your nose while being conscious of your tongue touching the roof of your mouth. And notice that you can move your jaw up and down while keeping your lips sealed and your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth.
Once you are comfortable with all this, focus on your breathing to bring it all together. Feel your jaw moving down as you inhale and up as the exhale, creating a small quarter inch space between your teeth as you inhale and closing that space as you exhale.
At some point you will find that this movement naturally synchronizes with the movement of breath. When it does, slow everything down and meditate on the subtle energy sensations in your nose as the breath flows in and out.
Feel your teeth gently separating to allow the breath to flow in through the nose, and then softly coming together to allow the breath to flow out through the nose. Notice that as you breathe in through the nose the jaw gently relaxes open, and as you breathe out through the nose the jaw gently closes.
At some point, you may begin to feel breath energy moving through your face and head. If so, enjoy it, and shift your attention to your chest and belly. Notice how your whole torso opens with each inhale and closes with each exhale.
Conscious relaxation and meditative awareness are very important in this practice. It’s also important to keep your neck and throat, and your forehead and face soft and relaxed during the practice.
Notice how your whole body opens and closes energetically along with your teeth and jaw as you breathe in and out. Notice how breath-energy moves in your brain and through your spine and infusing every cell of your body while you breathe.
Notice that you are the conscious living link between the heavens above and the earth below!
Good luck in your practice and many blessings on your path!
