Reflections on the chapter of breathing in meditation, part II

The mode of expiration that the author suggests places tension in the lower belly or tanden .

To tense the lower abdomen,
I place a finger on 2-3 inches below the navel and focus on there, while inhaling and exhaling as recommended.

I have made a mistake in my early breathing practices in relation to the expiration method recommended in the book. The mistake was simple: I did not read the instructions located somewhere in the paragraphs.

The author equates stopping breathing and almost stopping breathing with bringing the muscles of diaphragm and abdominals into opposition.

I attempted to bring these muscles into opposition not by stopping breathing only but by directly trying to do so.


The method of expiration suggested in the chapter is simple one: all you have to do is contract your abdominal muscles, after taking one of recommended postures or their likes, most importantly after pushing your lower belly forward sufficiently to host the weight of the upper body In the lower belly, until you expel the entire expiratory reserve volume, about 1100 milliliters, that is expel as much air as possible. After you complete expiration, inhale if you need and exhale too slowly because slow exhalation that stops and starts is extremely crucial in entering fana or samadhi, and generally in extinguishing egos.

Doing so of necessity brings abdominal and diaphragm muscles into opposition and this is what puts tension in the lower abdomen, or tanden.

Tensed tanden stabilizes body and mind and it helps you focus on a single task, afterwards.

A reference has to be, generally speaking, something that is easy to apprehend relative to that which it serves as a reference.

Horizon of breathing is less clear reference because It refers to the end of a process that is outside of human awareness, normal breathing.

As a result, the two methods of inspiration suggested appear to be less clear because their staring point is less clear.

If one considers expulsion of expiratory reserve volume, ERV, process and subsequent slow expiration as what constitutes below the horizon until one runs out of air to expire from his conscious point of view, then one may be able to understand the first phase of inspiration.

If so, inspiration below the horizon is simply achieved by taking air in and by inflating, simultaneously, the lower abdomen or belly. This is done naturally without any efforts other than inhaling when one needs inhalation, as one continues to contract the abdominal muscles.

I generally inspire or expire whenever I urgently need either of these forms of breathing, otherwise I expire slowly, since that is what is crucial to extinguishing egos and entering samadhi or fana..

Above the horizon, that is when one finishes expiring and there is no much air left to expire, the mode of inspiration is simply to inspire by inflating lower abdomen: you do this by first filling the lower abdomen with air and then by tensing it. These two phases of inspiration have allowed me to prevent