Wasabi Breathing

We had a group in on Saturday 14^th at 11am, 2017 and we decided to put into practice the oneness principles in the form of a structured module. 

The idea is that the first module prepares the participants for the second module. The second module prepares for the third module. And so on and so forth. The structure of the modules then supports the process in a holistic manner.

Module One – Deep breathing and breath retention for relaxation

We got the group to first practice deep breathing from the abdomen. The whole idea of deep breathing from the abdomen is to bring in more oxygen into the body so that people start becoming more relaxed.

Normally we all take in shallow breaths from the upper parts of the lungs and we are not sufficiently oxygenised.  By doing deep breathing – starting from the abdomen which is practiced by singers, we begin to take in more oxygen and fill in the lungs. 

As we do this for a few minutes, the idea is to get people more relaxed and also more focused. Once people start focusing on the breath, thoughts automatically and gradually go away.

After a few minutes, we started practicing breath retention. The idea is to breathe in deeply, then hold the breath for a number of seconds, and then breathe out.  In pranayama or deep breathing practice, there are patterns of counts in inhaling, holding the breath and then exhaling.

Certain people that I know can hold the breath for two minutes after lots of practice and they tell me that they experience bliss.  And from what I have read in the literature on deep breathing practice, this appears to be the case.

As we continue this practice, people generally can and will be able to feel energy flowing throughout their entire body.  The textbooks say we have many miles of meridians carrying energy throughout the body.  

Acupuncture is one method to restore the energy when we are not well. If we practice deep breathing consistently, we are performing a natural form of acupuncture.By the end of this session, people are sufficiently relaxed and prepared to continue with the next module.

In the interpretation of oneness principles, breathing in is merging the outside with the inside. Breathing out is merging the inside with the outside. 

Holding the breath is merging the outside and inside – in other words, experiencing oneness .  That’s why when breath retention is practiced consistently, people go into blissful states.

As the Visa MasterCard commercial says, it’s priceless. Bliss is an experience that has no substitute. At that very moment, you are one with everything. The more often one experiences blissful states, the more one can transfer those benefits to our daily conscious living.

Module Two – Feminine and Masculine Balancing and Integration

The idea is that once people are sufficiently relaxed with the deep breathing and breath retention, the mind slows down, people start feeling lighter and calmer. They are prepared for the next step.

We proceeded to guide the group of ten with the four hand mudras or movements. Each is done for two minutes.  Once people are more familiar with this practice, intuitively, they will increase the time spent on each hand movement.

These four hand movements can be seen in the Post entitled "Masculine and Feminine = One

The first hand movement releases all kinds of emotional gunk from the lower energy centers. That means letting go anger, frustration, shame, humiliation, sadness and any unnamed emotional crap that we have experienced and suppressed.

The energy body is similar to a battery. There is a positive (+) and there is a negative (-). Both must be balanced and in harmony for the physical body to stay healthy. When the energy body is out of balance, that’s when people start falling sick. This is the concept of Yin and Yang.

The second hand movement regulates the presence of feminine energy in the left ( -) current. If there is excess energy, it is released. If there is insufficient and more is required, then more energy is taken into the left current. 

We find that ladies generally who are caregivers or who have a giving nature, are generally depleted or have less energy in the left current. So they need energy replenishment.

Energy depletion on the left current is a serious issue as eventually that could lead to a stressful heart and strokes may be the result.

We then move on to the third movement. We practice the hand movement for regulating the energy on the right current which is the masculine channel.

We have discovered that there are ladies who have more masculine energy and during this exercise, excess masculine energy is released.  These ladies are normally gung ho Type A ladies who are more competitive or ambitious than the male species.

Our observation is that lady CEOs tend to have a need to be more competitive than normal to compete with male CEOs. While they need the adrenaline, the excess male energy when it is continually present puts them out of balance.

They can become abrasive and over aggressive. They can get the job done but they lose their femininity along the way. The idea is to be confident, ambitious and still be a lady. 

Collectively, there is already too much aggressive male energy on the planet whether it is coming from males or over aggressive females.  This gets worse when women are forced to become soldiers and fight in wars in the guise of patriotism.

The first step removes our emotional garbage. The second and third movement regulates the feminine and masculine. The fourth step balances and integrates the masculine and feminine so that the middle channel is activated, and the spiritual life force is gently released. 

The energy rises gently to the brain and energises dormant parts of the brain and eventually one’s inner wisdom and intuition are gradually awakened. 

We then move on the fourth hand movement. We asked for feedback from the participants. Two participants gave interesting feedback.  One lady had visions of a rainbow and a bright light. We can relate this to the rainbow body practice of Tibetan Buddhists. 

A beautiful rainbow captured by my friend Suriza when we visited Machu Picchu in 2011

The idea is that when the rainbow is seen, then one knows that the practice is working because this means that the major energy centers in the body are balanced. The seven major energy centers of the subtle energy body reflect the seven colours of the rainbow.

The other participant, an Indian male, had a vision of a gold aura and saw the swastika symbol.  Gold in the aura represents ancient wisdom from past lives returning to his present moment.

This means that intuitively this participant will access knowledge from previous lifetimes that he has mastered and he will introduce it in this lifetime.

The swastika is found in ancient Hindu temples in India and Buddhist temples in Tibet and China. It was present in their spiritual practices thousands of years ago before it was taken by the Nazis of Germany and adapted for their own purposes.

In the Hindu spiritual tradition, it is supposed to represent Dharma (natural order), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation).

Since we are all different and unique in our own way, each participant will have his or her own unique experience during the masculine and feminine balancing module.

Note:

The more people practice the yin yang balance in their lives, the more this balance will spread to the earth herself.

From various sources we are told that the foundation of the world is not strong. The world is not right. There is distortion due to the ill-treatment of the feminine energy. If that is not corrected the balance of energy on the planet cannot be right.

The earth is also a yin yang energy battery. There has to be balance and harmony. The planet is severely affected by the aggressive male energy present on the planet today.  There is a lack of harmony and balance between the feminine and masculine polarity.

When we are out of balance, we will automatically fall sick. When the earth is out of balance, natural disasters will occur. Balance must be achieved within human beings. Or else natural disasters and human disasters cannot be contained.

There is no other way to resolve these problems  - creating a balance between the masculine and feminine is necessary for inner peace and eventually world harmony to prevail. With inner peace comes a natural intelligence that guides us. We need to stop exploiting the natural resources of the planet and start sustainability practices.

Module Three – Thoughtless Meditation

After the second module, participants are supposed to be balanced energetically, the yin and yang in harmony and are more relaxed and calmer.

This is now the appropriate time to practice thoughtless meditation.  In thoughtless meditation, the idea is to gently seek the silence between the thoughts and lengthen the time of silence between each thought.

In this process, the participant is urged not to suppress any thought. When any thought comes, the thought is allowed to come to the mental screen and allowed then to naturally depart. Then another thought comes and the process is repeated. 

However because of the practice of Modules One and Two, the thoughts are now slower and one can then discern the silence or gap between the thoughts and gently lengthen that gap.

With sufficient practice, one can lengthen that gap from a few seconds to ten seconds before the next thought.  Then lengthen the gap to 30 seconds before the next thought. Then lengthen the gap to 60 seconds before the next thought. 

Through continuous practice, that gap can be lengthened to three minutes, then five minutes then ten minutes and so forth until one can sit in thoughtless meditation for 30 minutes – which is quite an achievement.

The participant will shift from a conscious state to an altered deeply relaxed state that is thoughtless and this is the time, the brain waves slow down and the body rests and rejuvenates itself and absorbs more life-force.

This life-force can then be used and directed for positive purposes. We will share this in other Modules.

We then closed with a practice to bring our energies back to the body. With both hands we brought the energy back to the base located at the root chakra seven times and tied the three channels. Otherwise people may feel spacey the rest of the day.

If there is still too much energy, then we practice the qi gong method of releasing excess energy - we repeatedly tap the head with the fingers and then gently slap the rest of the body.

I remember many years ago when I was teaching a class on kundalini awakening. I forgot to close with this method. A few days later I received feedback that one of the participants had so much energy - he couldn't sleep the whole night!

The reason why the title of this article is “Wasabi” Breathing comes from a comment of one of the participants. From his comment we can only conclude that he has a breathing problem which is caused by a blocked nose.

  

After the practice on Saturday, he wrote and commented on the Whatsapp Group. “A million thanks for an awesome session last Saturday. Great experience and (I) shall practice religiously. This morning had a wonderful sitting…my nose was opened. Oh what a feeling. It was like eating wasabi coz nose opened up.”

Wasabi is a form of Japanese horseradish that is used as a condiment and has an extremely strong pungency. It normally produces vapours that stimulate the nasal passages.

So for people with breathing problems or blocked noses, simple and easy-to-do deep breathing and retention practices do obviously help.