45 Lessons on Breath

1. Breath controls all aspects of life from the seen to the unseen. When breath is in the body life is in the body, and when breath is not in the body life is not in the body.

2. Breath may be called the essence of a human being from one point of view. As individual being, human is mind. As collective being, human is Adam. It was into Adam's nostrils that God breathed the breath of life. It is breath which invigorates each and all human beings. It is mind which makes the human; it is breath or spirit which unites human beings, which forms Adam. This makes possible the Brotherhood of Human Beings in the Holy Spirit or Divine Breath.

3. One notices that after a rain the air is purified. This is one part of the process by which poisons are removed from the atmosphere, but it is only one.


5. Breath is not to be confused with air. It is something like the relation between magnetism and iron. There is magnetism apart from iron, that is, there is energy apart from matter. The energy connected with breath is called prana. The science of breath may be called pranavada in Sanskrit and Pasi Anfas in the Sufi language.

6. What are called spirit and matter in English correspond in some respects to what are called Shiva and Shakti in Sanskrit. The body, being the temple of the holy Spirit has accommodation for both Shiva and Shakti.

7. What is called the Neck Center in Indian esoterics corresponds more or less to the glottis in man. This organ or gland sends material into the digestive tract and spirit with air to the lungs. All functions in man are of the Shiva or Shakti varieties.

8. Ryazat: Breathe identifying yourself with breath. Breathe holding Darood, i.e., "Toward the One," with each inhalation and exhalation. Identify yourself with the breath; identify with the Darood. This helps free you from identification with the body.

9. Practice meditation by breathing the Darood ("Toward the One") either a prescribed number of times or at least five minutes daily. Learn to feel the life-force entering the body. Identify yourself with the breath, identify yourself with the life-force. Do not identify yourself with the body. Thus you will learn to actualize: "This is not my body, this is the temple of God." This is used as a disciplinary practice for beginners; it is used as a method of identification (fana or yoga) by the more advanced.

10. The degree of spiritual evolution can be measured by the breath - its power, its sweetness, its rhythm and its tonicity. Spirit and breath become one, and the grade of spiritual evolution is measured by the breath.

11. Every element in the breath attracts a similar element in another person's breath. This is one of the reasons for harmony between people.

12. Every inhalation is God's gift to man and every exhalation is man's sacrifice to God.

13. Christ is born when breath enters man's body, and Christ is crucified when man thinks of himself.
Ryazat: Practice thinking of the breath; practice thinking of the breath with Darood; practice concentrating on Love; practice thinking of oneself. One will notice a great change. This self-thought is called Nafs by Sufis and is the greatest obstacle to life and happiness.


Ryazat: Try concentrating in turn on a rock or mineral, a precious stone, grass, a tree, an insect and a four-legged animal. Notice the difference in your breathing; (this subject is continued in the commentary on "The Inner Life").

16. Disharmonies arise because of clashes in the rhythm of breath. These disharmonies can be removed by singing, dancing, devotion and esotericism. Therefore, Sufis use Wazifas and practice Zikars, not only to bring peace and harmony to each person, but also to each group.

17. Both inhalation and exhalation have an effect upon the atmosphere and it can be harmonious or inharmonious in relation to the atmosphere of another. But when the etheric element is present, it destroys the nafs (ego-mind) and prevents inharmony. Esoteric practices regulate breathing.


19. Life-force enters with the breath and leaves with the breath. This life-force is stored in the body. It is not the result of caloric intake through food. A stout man may obtain many calories from his food without being able to utilize them in actions. If the caloric theory alone were true, the stout would always be superior to the thin. The energy in an electric battery is derived from the chemicals introduced and not from the material of the battery. In a similar way the life-force vitalizes the body and the body utilizes the life-force. Therefore, the body is an accommodation and not a person.

20. Shiva is breath-energy and Shakti is body material. In the Jewish mysticism these aspects are expressed as Mi (meaning who) and Ma (meaning what). It is the interaction between Shiva and Shakti, between Mi and Ma which accounts for all of life.


22. The goddess Kali represents the divinisation of material forces apart from spirit. This can only be relatively true. There is no Purusha without a trace of Prakriti; there is no Prakriti without a trace of Purusha. The body is not entirely dead because of the absence of life-breath; it is then only an accommodation for subhuman forces.


24. The Sufi does not force any type of development or activate any gland or center. It is mastery and control of the breath which spiritualizes the whole personality. When the breath and bloodstream and mind are purified by yoga exercises and meditation, the flower of the heart and soul open through the combined efforts of the sun, rain, and earth within.


26. Given a problem: Meditate on the problem. Given a problem, Meditate on "Toward the One."
Ryazat: Fikar-concentrate on La ilaha with each exhalation and on El il Allah with each inhalation.

Do this 21, 33, or 101 times, according to the intensity of the problem. Now after this re-concentrate on the problem. There should be an influx of Kashf or insight that will help throw light on the problem, perhaps solve the problem. This is generally true of headaches, small pains and personal disturbances with loved ones.

27. Practice of Darood ("Toward the One") will generally give one more strength than another person. It is therefore not necessary to hold inimical thoughts. By these methods of practicing the Presence of God one assures oneself of self-firmness, and helps to build up with and from others. We all breathe the same atmosphere, and therefore are in communion whether we are aware of it or not.


29. The Hindu repeats, "Neti, neti." The Sufi has the more complete practices of Darood, Zikar and Fikar.

30. The small self is not transformed by undue attention to the small self. The small self is transformed by practicing the praise of God (Zikar) or repeating the Divine Attributes (Wazifa).



33. The movement of earth around the sun necessarily alters the metaphysical constitution of the atmosphere. Motion of earth, angle of sun's declination, intensity of light or degree of darkness, all have their peculiar effects. Light has a direct action upon consciousness and so affects breath.

34. In a purified body, the etheric element helps to clarify the tone and beautify the expression. Mild breathing brings about that condition of which Jesus spoke, "Blessed art the poor in spirit." Thus mild breathing may increase the scope for magnetism and bliss.

35. The breath sciences enable one to understand the Sufi mysticism in all its aspects.

36. If oxygen were the sole supporter of life one could breathe contentedly in an atmosphere of pure oxygen. But pure oxygen could also consume. Shiva is not only the divinity in life, he is the destroyer and transformer.

37. The earth itself breathes. The Mother requires prana for her life. Only deserts remain practically without it. After a rain the air is purified. No doubt this increases what the scientists call ozone. Ozone is not only physically activated oxygen, it is also a carrier for the all-pervading power in space. Yogis and ascetics often live in high mountain areas where there is less denseness and less oxygen, but where the ozone is comparatively higher.

38. Adepts controlling the breath and able to draw the blessings of Nayaz can adapt themselves to any environment.

39. Nayaz proposes there are three ways toward health, viz.: through the rays of the sun, through the waves of the air, and through the all-pervading power in space. By space is meant akash, which is the accommodation for all power. Both this power and the magnetisms contained in air enter the body through the channels of breath.

40. Breath is also light. It carries light, it carries color. It invigorates the whole body or any portion of it to which it is directed.

41. Concentrating on the heart, one can purify the breath: Concentrating on the breath and blowing "Hu" one can purify the heart.

42. The breath is the channel for many kinds of magnetism and what is called baraka, which also means blessing. The Murshid blowing on the disciple can help and impart blessing. The Shifayat (healer) blowing on the patient can impart healing. The adept blowing on food and drink can help anybody.

43. Practice of Fikar with consciousness of breath develops what can be called the ark which carries the soul symbolically in the next world and carries the soul actually in all worlds.

44. Identifying oneself with breath is a form of self-effacement which takes one from mortality to immortality. Material things are left behind; spiritual 'things' are carried to the next world. Breath-identity carries one to and through the next world.

45. All the denseness of earth is left behind when one has this breath realization.

These lessons were written by Samuel L. Lewis

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