Focusing on your breath, or any element of your form, will block access to your Higher Self and bar you from Enlightenment!
Why is this true? Because your Lower Self is not the path nor doorway to your Higher Self! To focus on it is akin to walking in the Opposite Direction.
Thinking you can focus on your Breath or Chakras to awaken to Higher Reality is utter nonsense!
That is like saying you can be In Fear AND Radiate Love; or that you can get to Love through empowering Fear. Love and Fear are at opposite ends of vibrational frequency. How can the lowest end possibly lead you to awaken full consciousness at the highest end? It cannot! Likewise, one must let go of physical plane focus, in order to open to Higher Reality. This includes the breath, the brain, and the chakras – every part of our physical form.
When we Begin the spiritual path, yes, we must put some focus on our physicality, we need to purify our body – replacing Low-Vibrational habits with Higher ones, until this becomes habitual. And likewise, as we grow, we will need to put some attention on our emotions and concrete minds; all parts of the Personality Self need to be brought into Harmonic Balance and then Alignment with the Soul.
When we are finally ready to Awaken Higher Perception, we must lift our focus from ourselves, out into serving the collective, and simultaneously upwards within to High-Vibrational Reality – the opposite direction of down into materiality or form.
Breathwork and Drugs Awaken Lower Psychic Powers
All that Breathwork will do, can do, is force open certain chakras – no True Awakening or Enlightenment will come from this! Siddhi’s – psychic powers of the lower order, yes – but True Awakening, absolutely not!
It is true that you may receive some psychic visions into the lower Subplanes of the Astral Plane or see the energetics of the Etheric Subplanes of the Physical Plane, and they can be incredible to behold – but these two levels, while they can essentially be called the inner planes or non-physical reality, are still well within the confines of the Incarnate Personality Self and are not at the level of the Soul or Spirit, and therefore Do Not Constitute Spiritual Vision or Awakening! As incarnate beings we have astral and mental bodies as part of our constitution, therefore all that exists within the astral and concrete metal planes is within the domain of our illusional transitory selves. Truth lies beyond these lower levels.
Practices of force will not open you to High-Vibrational Reality, they cannot. This higher degree of awakening only happens in accordance with the right ordered timing of the Heart – never from self-focused pursuits seeking power, confirmation of non-physical reality, desire for contact with external beings from beyond the veil, or any other motive driven by selfishness. Even that greyed-out selfishness of seeking self-empowerment, validation, or approval, which is so often thinly disguised under the genuine desire to “help others”!
When chakras are forced open through breathing techniques, or drugs of any kind (chemical or plant-based) – if all of the necessary self-work has not been completed; if the needed energetic alchemy has not been mastered; if the person is not yet deeply anchored in Genuine Selflessness and True Harmlessness – the most likely outcome, at best, is an empowering of the weakest patterns within the person’s lower nature (their line-of-least-resistance); psychic madness, possession, or even death, at worst!
Yes, I am saying that one of the most likely consequences is that you will unleash, empower, or create even more challenges, dramas, or problems that you will then need to deal with in your psychology and life! You will set up a situation of constant self-focus through the need to do even more work on yourself – in resolving problems that were not actually necessary to be worked upon at that time. In essence you create for yourself a drama-storm of unending challenges!
Discerning the Lower and Higher Paths
Therefore, due to these problems, all Higher Paths avoid all such practices, unless an incarnate Fully Enlightened Master is present to guide the disciple. On the Path of the White Lodge, Powers and Abilities are never to be sought for – they are side effects of doing the work and walking the Way of The Heart. If we do seek them, we pave the way to the Dark Lodge with great rapidity!!
The reason it is not widely known what people are forcing themselves open to, or even that these methods constitute “force”, is because most seekers rely on Inner Plane Cosmologies that are either primitive, based in superstition, or simply lacking in the depth and completeness that is abundant in the worldview of Esoteric Science. This means that a great many folk are using poor models of existence to evaluate what they encounter. Understanding the many Planes and Subplanes of reality, how they all fit together, what energies and beings exist within each, and the true nature of evolution, is essential knowledge for co-measuring and comprehending all inner experiences. Yes, accurate esoteric knowledge is a must, else all that is left to one is vague undefinable feeling states that cannot be put into words and shared. Therefore, in the final analysis, these experiences prove to be of little true value for humanity at this time in earth’s development.
I realise in even suggesting this, that while some people will feel expansive possibilities resulting from hearing such ideas, others will likely feel their spiritual beliefs are being judged and therefore, may feel threatened or outraged. If you find yourself in the latter group, my suggestion is to utilise the discomfort to guide some deeper self-reflection. Much can be gained by looking at what triggers your emotional reactions. And the value of training the lower mind through exploring the abstract principles of the higher Mental Subplanes, is of incomprehensible value to all those enraptured with, and addicted to, feeling states.
Enlightenment Starts Where the Personality Ends
To dwell in High-Vibrational Reality, actual Spiritual Consciousness, requires that we shift our focus Away from our Lowest Vibrational aspect of Self – our physical body! And we must also master and render receptive to higher impulses the astral and lower mental bodies.
Before we have the possibility of “dwelling” in Spiritual Consciousness, we may have flashes of insight or moments of higher connection. However, the stronger the identification with any part of the Personality, the fewer the higher insights or connections we are able to receive. Holding excessive focus upon, or identifying with or as our body, actively blocks impressions from the Soul. Why? Because the Soul has lived lives as all sexes, is fully group-focused, and as such, embodies a collective or universal consciousness. By focusing on our separated individual Lower Self, we are actively turning our back on the state of consciousness of our Higher Self – just like focusing on Fear turns us away from Love.
Therefore, if we are seeking full awakening or enlightenment, the first stage of this requires mastery of body, emotions, and concrete mind, and then alignment and fusion with the Soul. As we master each level of the Personality it essentially drops beneath the threshold of our consciousness. This means eventually, our seat of power shifts from the Lower Self into the Higher Self, and to this exalted state the dense body is not the doorway.
The body is a manifestation of Effects from higher Causes, and so, some degree of insight can be garnered through this reflective nature – but the clarity of insights will be entirely dependent upon how clear the mirror is and how free from illusion, glamour, and maya our perceptions are. This level of clear seeing only becomes fully enabled after the 3rd Initiation, therefore, it is far beyond the vast majority on earth. And so, aside from occasional reflective insights, it is better to focus directly towards the Soul for intuitions rather than onto the dense, low-vibrational form.
You cannot Awaken to High-Vibrational Reality through excessive self-focus, and especially not, through focusing on your most dense, Low-Vibrational Body with Practices of Force!
Wishing you Safe Traveling on your Path
Azure Seer
Hello Azure Seer,
Thank you for sharing your insights.
My question is regarding your quote: “Focusing on your breath, or any element of your form, will block access to your Higher Self and bar you from Enlightenment!”
Specifically, do you mean that any breathing meditation at all is counterproductive, or are you meaning that only forceful breathing (like intense or prolonged pranayama) is a block to spiritual progress?
I ask this because Buddha’s most famous meditation was Anapanasati (mindful focus on breath)…
Also, in the Agni Fire book called Letters of Helena Roerich II she said “Without doubt, simple, rhythmic breathing is in itself quite beneficial.”
Thanks for any clarification you might have,
-RM.
Hello Rob,
And thank you for your well-considered question.
Mindfulness, in all its various forms is not at all what I am speaking of. Practicing mindful presence is indeed a good, healthy, and of vital importance in our modern world. It matters not whether one is focusing on the sensations and nature of the breath, a candle flame, consciously walking, a simple mantra, or even the flow of energies through their Torus; the point of the exercise is to still the emotions, and quiet and focus the mind – cultivating the ability to focus the attention on one thing, to the exclusion of all else.
The physical body is so constructed that the breath naturally adjusts itself to our requirements, relevant to the nature of the activity we are doing. When we are physically active our need to exhale carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen both increases, and so we naturally breathe deeper and faster. And likewise, when we are in deep meditation, everything within our body, our entire metabolism, slows right down, and therefore our need for oxygen also reduces. This means in very deep states our breathing naturally slows to only ‘sipping’ small amounts of air. This is natural and correct.
The breath can have powerful effects upon on psychology. For example, we know that fast short breaths will very quickly create an experience of anxiety, and slow deep breaths will calm and centre us – such is the effect of breathing.
If we now consider pranayama, “box-breathing”, or rhythmic breathing with counted breaths… we are now endeavouring to use our Will (conscious control) to manipulate what should otherwise be a natural process, below the threshold of our consciousness. And it is here that most of the problems start. It is this that I am speaking to in this article.
These methods are powerful in their effect upon the chakras or ‘doorways’ to our various levels of consciousness; and can awaken us to things we are not yet prepared to handle. Hence the caveat given by all Wise Teachers – breathing exercises should only be undertaken with the guidance of an Enlightened or Great Teacher.
The quote you mention from Helena Roerich is one I am familiar with. That one sentence is part of a larger passage which must be considered for correct interpretation. Yes, it is said that many folks do not breathe rightly, and maybe for them, some regular vigorous exercise is all that is necessary to correct it. Perhaps a short period of conscious rhythmic breathing could also be of benefit… but the focus must remain on “correct breathing” and not upon awakening the chakras or the powers accessible through them.
I have throughout my posts talked about the necessary steps before enlightenment, namely that before Soul Fusion is possible, we must master and integrate the Personality Vehicle, and this certainly includes correct control of the form. So, being sure that one’s breathing is natural is part of the first stage of this journey and is rarely relevant to one who is now a conscious seeker – as they should have long since passed the level of physical control – all such right behaviours being now habitual.
I include here the full section from Helena, in case you are not familiar with it, and for the benefit of other readers who may see our correspondence:
“Thousands of books dealing with easy mechanical methods of developing the hidden lower psychic powers are now thrown upon the world book market. In truth, these ignorant and irresponsible writers are collaborating with the forces of darkness. The latter want nothing so much as to open certain centers in people and thus get hold of them, and through them to join in earthly life in order to fulfill their dark plans. Indeed they are trying to retain around Earth an atmosphere polluted by the very low emanations necessary for their existence.
Without doubt, simple, rhythmic breathing is in itself quite beneficial. People forget not only the benefit to be derived from fresh air but precisely how to breathe correctly, which actually is the foundation of our health. However, the pranayama of Hatha Yoga has nothing to do with such rhythmic breathing. The pranayama employed by the Hatha Yogis has as its purpose, by means of suspension of breath, rotation and other gymnastics, the arousing and calling forth of an influx of blood to certain centers, thus causing their increased activity. But one can well imagine how harmful it can be for a man to arouse the centers that are in organs which for some reason, are weakened or even diseased; certainly their diseased condition will only be intensified. That explains why there are so many unfortunate cases among those who practice pranayama under ignorant and irresponsible teachers. The opening of the centers can safely take place only under the guidance of a Great Teacher, who sees the true condition of one’s organism in all its complexity, and who knows what can be applied or permitted, and when. Let us bear in mind that precisely during the transmutation of the centers a tremendous tension and influx of blood toward them take place. The Teacher must know how, at times, to transfer these tensions to a less dangerous place, or to divert the excess of blood, in order to avoid general conflagration and even fiery death. Believe me, the Teacher will not lose a single moment if a disciple is ready for such transmutation, and will provide whatever is necessary for his organism in accordance with his way of life.”
I would suggest that the “how to breathe correctly” that Helena is speaking of, is regarding three main points, and these become quite clear when we read what she says of Pranayama.
1. Not holding our breath, allowing it to move naturally and freely.
2. Getting lots of fresh clean air through exercising outdoors.
3. Not counting or controlling our breathing.
And I would add from personal study and observations…
4. That we should primarily breathe through our noses, rather than our mouths.
I hope, Rob, that this helps to clarify any confusion I may have created by not being as concise as I could have.
Cheers n Light
Azure Seer
Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to clarify this subject and for providing your additional insights.
Love & Light,
-RM.