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(From page 243 of " A New Earth " by Eckhart Tolle):

 

 

The Breath

 

Discover inner space by creating gaps in the stream of

thinking. Without those gaps, you're

thinking becomes repetitive, uninspired, devoid of any creative

spark, which is

how it still is for most people on the planet. You don't need to be concerned with the duration of those gaps.

A few seconds is good enough. Gradually, they will lengthen by

themselves,

without any effort on your part. More

important than their length is to bring them in frequently so that

your daily

activities and your stream of thinking become interspersed with

space.

 

Someone recently showed me the annual prospectus of a large

spiritual organization. When I looked

through it, I was impressed by the wide choice of interesting

seminars and

workshops. It reminded me of a

smorgasbord, one of those Scandinavian buffets where you can take

your pick

from a huge variety of enticing dishes. The person asked me whether I could recommend one or two

courses. " I don't know, " I said. " They all

look so interesting. But I do know this, " I added.

" Be aware of your breathing as often as

you are able, whenever you remember. Do

that for one year, and it will be more powerfully transformative than

attending

all of these courses. And it's

free. "

 

Being aware of your breathing takes attention away from

thinking and creates space. It is one

way of generating consciousness. Although the fullness of consciousness is already there as the

un-manifested, we are here to bring consciousness into this

dimension.

 

Be aware of your breathing. Notice the sensation of the breath. Feel the air moving in and out of your body. Notice how the

chest and abdomen expand and

contract slightly with the in- and out breath. One conscious breath is enough to make some space where before there

was

the uninterrupted succession of one thought after another. One

conscious breath (two or three would be

even better), taken many times a day, is an excellent way of bringing

space

into your life. Even if you meditated on

your breathing for two hours or more, which some people do, one

breath is all

you ever need to be aware of, indeed ever can be aware of. The

rest is memory or anticipation, which is

to say, thought. Breathing isn't really

something that you do but something that you witness as it

happens. Breathing happens by itself. The intelligence within

the body is doing

it. All you have to do is watch it

happening. There is no strain or effort

involved. Also, notice the brief

cessation of the breath, particularly the still point at the end of

the out

breath, before you start breathing in again.

 

Many people's breath is unnaturally shallow. The more you are

aware of the breath, the

more its natural depth will reestablish itself.

 

Because the breath has no form as such, it has since ancient

times been equated with the spirit­the formless one Life.

" God formed man of dust from the ground

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became

a living

creature. " The German word for

breathing­atmen­ is derived from the ancient Indian (Sanskrit) word

Atman,

meaning the indwelling divine spirit or God within.

 

The fact that breath has no form is one of the reasons why

breath awareness is an extremely effective way of bringing space into

your

life, of generating consciousness. It is

an excellent meditation object precisely because it is not an object,

has no

shape or form. The other reason is that

breath is one of the most subtle and seemingly insignificant

phenomena, the

" least thing " that according to Nietzsche makes up the

" best

happiness. " Whether or not you

practice breath awareness as an actual formal meditation is up to

you. Formal meditation, however, is no substitute

for bringing space consciousness into everyday life.

 

Being aware of your breath forces you into the present

moment­the key to all inner transformation. Whenever you are conscious of the breath, you are absolutely

present. You may also notice that you

cannot think and be aware of your

breathing. Conscious breathing stops your

mind. But far from being in a trance or

half asleep, you are fully awake and highly alert. You are not

falling below thinking, but

rising above it. And if you look more

closely, you will find that those two things­coming fully into the

present

moment and ceasing thinking without loss of consciousness­are

actually one and

the same: the arising of space consciousness.

 

 

 

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