Reading books cannot give anyone control of the breath: practice is needed. Reading the theory of music cannot make anyone a composer, a singer, a piano player. Ask composers, singers, violinists how much they have to practice. The practice of breath is very difficult and arduous. We see Yogis sitting or standing for hours in the same position, practicing for hours in the night or before dawn. Through control of the breath all things are gained. If a man is a great writer, it is because his breath holds the thoughts that are in his mind. Sandow, through control of the breath, developed ideal muscles. Before control of breath is learned, control of the body must be gained by the practice of postures and positions. For instance, if a small child is trained once a day to sit still for four or five minutes, not to run about, if it is trained not to begin to eat at dinner until everybody eats that will give it control.

The ways of control of the breath are many. It must be done by realization of the self. But as long as we think that this body is our self, we cannot realize our self. And often we not only think that our body is our self, but we think that our overcoat is our self! If it is miserable we think that we are miserable; if it is very grand we think that we are very grand. It is natural to think that what is before our view is our self.

We always remember the words of our great poetess Zeb-un-Nisa, "If thou thinkest of the rose thou wilst become the rose; if thou thinkest of the nightingale thou wilst become the nightingale. Thou art a drop, and the divine Being is the whole. Whilst thou art alive, hold the thought of the whole before thee, and thou wilst be the whole."

The mystic always consults his breath in the evening and in the morning in order to know whether it is harmonious with the sun, with the moon and with the planets. He is always conscious of the breath. This is achieved through concentration; the Sufi gives a lesson to teach it, which is caller fikr.

My spiritual teacher, my Murshid, once said, "People say that there are many sins and virtues, but I think there is only one sin." I asked him what it was, and he said, "To let one breath go without being conscious of it."

Vol. 8, Health and Order of Body and Mind

The Control of the Breath

-ALL-

Vol. 8, Health and Order of Body and Mind

The Control of the Breath