(please see previous article, ABC’s of meditation, ch3, part 1.)
ARE YOU DEPRESSED?
Here’s a variation for when you are feeling sad or depressed. The imagination is a very powerful tool for changing the way we think and feel. More and more people are using the positive power of thought to make their lives more creative, fruitful and peaceful. If you can change your thoughts from negative to positive, you are effectively changing everything in your life. Countless books have been written on the power of positive thought. Sri Chinmoy stated:
Whether I believe it or not,
My thoughts affect the world
Immediately. Seventy-Seven Thousand Service-Trees, part 17
So you might as well make them good ones!
By adding the purifying and powerful tool of the breath, you can enhance the power of your thoughts and create immediate, concrete results.
BREATHING EXERCISE # 2
This time when you breathe in, feel you are breathing in ‘joy’ or ‘happiness’. Imagine whatever it is that gives you a deep feeling of happiness. Don’t think of a fleeting happiness, think of something that always makes you happy. Feel that special joyful feeling as you breathe in through your nose and feel it spread to your heart and then to ALL parts of your being.
When you breathe out, exhale and expel the sadness or depression that is inside you. Imagine it flowing out of your nose and exploding into nothingness. Immediately breathe in ‘joy’ again. Continue doing this exercise until the joy and happiness have completely overtaken the depression. You will feel delighted and exhilarated, and you should be very proud of yourself. By allowing the positive to overrule the negative, you have made a very concrete step in your progress towards the goal of lasting peace and fulfilment.
BREATHING FOR ENERGY
We’ve covered breathing for stress and for depression, and now we will do one more breathing exercise for energy. We do many things to deplete our energy in the course of a day and not too many things to replenish it. This exercise can be done for only five minutes with hours of positive results. The longer you do it, the longer the effects will last. As with all breathing and other meditation exercises it is helpful if you sit with a straight back.
TWO VARIATIONS
For the first version of this exercise you will breathe through the nose as you did before. Feel that each time you are breathing in, energy is entering into you. Feel that with each incoming breath a great flow of energy from the universe is filling your being with that same power. As you exhale, feel that with each outgoing breath all tiredness and weakness is leaving your body for good. Feel the fatigue or exhaustion dissipate into nothingness as soon as it leaves your body. If you have trouble finding the energy to breathe in, use your imagination. Visualize something that unleashes great energy, such as a surging wave in the ocean or a powerful electrical current. Or simply allow your own inner being to interpret the right energy for you.
Second Variation: This is another way of breathing energy. This time when you breathe in, feel that the energy is entering you from all parts of your body– through your eyes, your ears, your forehead, your shoulders, the crown of your head, etc. Imagine that each of these places is a door and when you breathe in you are actually opening this door. This exercise will fill your being with cosmic energy and will send you a lot higher than any caffeine fix or artificial stimulant.
Breathe Out the Negative
A similar exercise involves breathing out negative qualities or anything that is bothering you. Exhale what you don’t like and don’t allow it back into your being! Let’s say you hate someone and sincerely don’t want to be filled with such a negative emotion. Imagine the opposite of hate, which is love, and each time you inhale, breathe in real love. Breathe out all the hate or bad feelings, and you will be filled with the new positive quality. Once again you will have rid yourself of a destructive force in your life, sending you forward on the road to happiness, peace and perfection.
(please see Next article, linked below)
https://www.montrealmeditation.org/en/articles/abcs-of-meditation-ch3-part-3-pranayama-mantras-japa-chanting/
