Fikr, therefore, is not a breathing practice. In fikr it is not necessary that one should breathe in a certain way, different from one's usual breathing.. Fikr is becoming conscious of the natural movement of the breath, and picturing breath as a swing, putting in that swing a certain thought, as a babe in the cradle, to rock it. Only the difference in the rocking is that it is an intentional activity on the part of the person who rocks the cradle, and in fikr no effort must be made to change the rhythm of the breath; the breath must be left to its own usual rhythm. One need not try even to regulate the rhythm of the breath, for the whole mechanism of one's body is already working rhythmically; so breath is rhythmical by nature and it is the very breath itself which causes man to distinguish rhythm.