The Miracle of the Breath: Mastering Fear, Healing Illness, and Experiencing the Divine

The Miracle of the Breath: Mastering Fear, Healing Illness, and Experiencing the Divine

"Take a deep breath." "Just breathe." Common calming mantras, but what do they really mean? Though every second of life is govered by breath, few people pay heed to this important facet of good health. The Miracle of the Breath explores the importance of breath not only to physical well-being but as a main conduit of divine energy. Replete with stories and case studies of people healed from asthma, arthritis, anxiety attacks, and other physical and mental traumas through proper breathwork, the book also examines the concept of breath as a spritiual life force. Drawing on methods of breath control developed by ancient masters in India, China, and Tibet, readers learn how to use meditations and practice techniques to improve emotional and spiritual health. The Miracle of the Breath Mastering Fear, Healing Illness, and Experiencing the Divine By Andy Caponigro New World Library Copyright © 2005 Andy Caponigro All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-57731-478-3 Contents Introduction, How to Use This Book, PART ONE The Miracle of the Breath, Chapter 1 The Breath of Life, Chapter 2 The Science of Breath, Chapter 3 Meditation on the Breath, Chapter 4 Breathing Blocks and Illness, Chapter 5 Breathing-Release Techniques, PART TWO Mastering Fear, Chapter 6 Making Friends with Fear, Chapter 7 Grounding and Strengthening Techniques, Chapter 8 Breath-Balancing Techniques, Chapter 9 The Shield of Detachment, Chapter 10 Learning to Trust Your Breath, PART THREE Healing Illness, Chapter 11 The Invisible Man, Chapter 12 The Healing Triangle, Chapter 13 Healing Respiratory Problems, Chapter 14 Fear and Emotional Illness, Chapter 15 Fear and Emotional Healing, Chapter 16 Pranic Energy Healing, PART FOUR Experiencing the Divine, Chapter 17 The Breath of Creation, Chapter 18 Samadhi: The Breathless State, Chapter 19 Breath-Retention Techniques, Chapter 20 The Gateway to Creation, Chapter 21 The Sacredness of the Breath, Chapter 22 The Path of the Breath, Notes, Bibliography, Recommended Reading, Acknowledgments, Index, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 THE BREATH of LIFE God breathed the breath of life into man's nostrils, and man became a living soul. — Genesis 2:7 (AV) Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian author, once wrote a story about a beggar who lived in a hut by the side of a road, living off the few coins and scraps of food that travelers put into his begging bowl. When the old man died, the villagers buried him in a pauper's grave and burned his squalid hut to the ground. While raking through the ashes afterward, they struck something hard and metallic just beneath the earthen floor — and dug out an old treasure chest filled with silver, gold, and precious gems. The unfortunate man had struggled with poverty all his life while sitting just a few inches above a splendid fortune. Like that beggar, most of us are living in a relative state of ignorance and poverty, unaware of incredible treasures that are closer to us than our breath. The key to unlocking these treasures is the Breath of Life — the spiritual life-force that dwells in our breath. By learning the secrets of breath control, we can master fear, heal diseases, and even become one with God. The Breath of Life is the greatest of natural wonders. Even more, it is the greatest of all miracles. When I speak about the Breath of Life, I'm referring to the spiritual energy that gives our breath its life-sustaining powers. Our breath carries the life-force much like a car carries its driver. People never confuse a car with its driver, but even those who've studied the powers of the breath tend to confuse the physical breath (or the air they breathe) with the life-force that flows within it. The spiritual life-force is a ray of pure Divine Consciousness that emanates directly from the Godhead — the formless dimension of reality that is the source of all creation. From the point of view of our spiritual self, this Divine ray is our soul's imperishable link with its Creator. From the point of view of our physical self, it is our direct link with the cosmic energies that give birth to the universe. The Breath behind the Breath The Hindu sages recognized the Divine nature of the life-force thousands of years ago. They called it Prana. Since they also used the word prana to designate breath, wind, and air, they sometimes referred to the Pranic life-force as "the Breath behind the breath" to distinguish it from the physical process of breathing or the air we breathe into our lungs. Because our breath is so closely linked with the life-force, the ancient Hindu masters called the human soul the anu, which means "the one who breathes." They measured the span of a person's life, not in terms of how many years they live, but in terms of the number of breaths they take from the moment they're born until the moment they die. They had observed that when we're born our first action is to breathe in — and that when we die our last