Dimensions of Breath and Awareness – Part 1

The rising and expansion of awareness happens in three ways:

~ Actuating the ascent of our individuated awareness through the skypath of the central channel.

~ Soaring with ease on the updraft like the majestic hamsa bird.

~ Or, in absolute surrender, being inhaled upward into that infinite space by God’s in-breath.

In most spiritual traditions it is understood that breath is the means of contacting the highest Consciousness within. Consciousness is the place from which breath arises, and the pulsation of Consciousness gives life not only to our breath but to all manifestation. This is spanda, the subtle pulsation of the breath of God, the imperceptible movement of Consciousness into form. My teacher Rudi described the experience of being in a deep state of surrender as “being breathed.”

There are three ways we can use our breath to penetrate within and discover the pulsation of Consciousness:

1. Moving into the Skypath of the Central Channel

The central channel, the suṣumṇa, is the pathway of śakti, the highway that individual consciousness travels to ascend back to its Source. I love the term “skypath” because it evokes a sense of unimpeded movement. Despite impurities and blockages in the suṣumṇa, we can cultivate the subtlety of awareness to detect and move past these barriers. Just as a pilot can spot turbulence ahead and navigate around it, we can direct our awareness to find a clear path through the central channel as if flying through the sky.

In this practice we use our consciousness and breath to internalize our awareness and direct it into the suṣumṇa. Using Rudi’s Double-Breath exercise, we attach our awareness to our breath, bringing them both into the heart and the navel chakra. As we feel the energy expand, we channel it into the base of the spine, which is the doorway to the skypath. We use the Double-Breath both in our meditation and throughout the day to open the chakras and establish ourselves in a flow of energy inside.

Once our awareness is internalized, through our clarity of intention we can use breath and awareness to move through any density or blockage we might encounter. As the breath and energy rise, deeper dimensions of the suṣumṇa are opened. Each successive dimension is more subtle, has less obscurity, and contains less of “you” as an individual. In fact, the misunderstanding that our individuality is separate from higher consciousness is our greatest obstacle!

This work is not only about energy but awareness. As energy rises, consciousness expands. Actually, what expands is the place in us that is free from misunderstanding; as it reveals more clarity, it releases more energy.

2. Soaring on the Updraft

With an open heart, tuned in to the suṣumṇa, we can cultivate the capacity to discover still deeper dimensions of the central channel and can be lifted on the updraft of energy that is being drawn back into Consciousness. This is a palpable experience we should have in our meditation. Penetrating into the vajra and citriṇī nāḍīs — the deeper layers of the suṣumṇa that go directly into the center of the head and the crown — we discover the ever-present updraft.

The Single-Breath meditation, tuning in to what I call the “Breath of the Goddess,” helps establish our connection to the energy in the subtler channels. This technique develops such a subtle capacity that we can hold the breath in pause at the base of the spine and allow the energy to “uncoil” and rise to the center of the head and above. Again, we hold the breath in pause and a second uncoiling takes place, and we follow the energy back down.

If we truly surrender to that intrinsic current of śakti, we can ride it all the way home to dvādaśānta, the space 12 inches above the head that is the abode of śakti’s Source, pure Consciousness. The energy allows us to soar like a condor on currents of air, often traveling miles without even flapping its wings! We trust the energy to reveal not only where it wants to take us, but that it can dissolve all barriers along the way. This is what it means to surrender to the śakti.

3. Absorption into God

Living in the state of surrender, immersed in stillness, we are inhaled upward into the infinite space of pure Presence. At this point, the aperture at the top of the head is opened, and I often describe the experience as God sucking you up through a straw, or God breathing you back into His own heart.

There is tremendous power in breath. We begin with our individual breath, which allows us to internalize our energy. Then we move to the practice of the Single Breath and soar on that current. Finally, we tune in to the internal breath, the very pulsation of Consciousness breathing us, and we are simply absorbed back into God’s breath, the source of our individuated life and all of creation. We have the extraordinary experience that we do not have to breathe to be alive.

There is no form or individual that is separate from divine Source. If you can turn inside long enough, deeply enough, and tune in to the fundamental pulsation of life, the experience of separated identity will dissolve. As we discover ever more subtle dimensions of ourselves through breath, we recognize breath as the pulsation of Consciousness, the vitality of Presence.

Our existence is due to grace. God’s breath is like an eternal umbilical cord through which He breathes into us pure, unbounded Consciousness. Connecting to and establishing ourselves in the subtle capacities of breath, we enable kuṇḍalinī śakti, the energy of our individuality, to rise back to its Source. We surrender our misunderstanding of separation and allow ourselves to be absorbed by God.