Return To Innocence | 3-Phase Breath Meditation

Last weekend I visited a friend.

She is in mid 40s and she has a child.

She's a very loving mother just like any other mother and she observes the child from the very small age to how the child is developing,

How the child is growing.

She asked me because she was observing the child,

She said you know this child had such bright eyes,

So much innocence was there.

Everything came out spontaneously in every situation how the child was behaving and how he was.

And now I see that something is slowly changing.

He's losing that authenticity.

He's losing that innocence.

He's losing that freshness of the face.

Not because he's physically getting old.

And in that process,

In that process of concern for the child,

The mother also realizes the same for herself.

What has happened?

What has happened all along these 10,

20,

30,

40,

50 years,

60 years?

What is happening?

Why are we losing this innocence and more importantly how to go back?

How to return to this innocence that we all have in us,

That we all had in us?

How to go there?

How to revive that?

Meditation is one of those processes that helps to return to that innocence.

Where have we lost this innocence?

Is with all this learning that we have carried with us all the conditioning through education,

Through culture,

Through society,

And through so many things which are they have their own place.

They have their own utility.

But all along the way we have lost something very essential,

Which is something very accessible.

But we have forgotten how to reach out to that because we have learned so much.

We have put on such a face.

We have put on so much burden on us,

On our mind,

On our mind.

On our inner innocence that it never expresses itself again.

It never unburdens again.

And then we look for happiness.

Then we look for joy outside.

We look for inner peace somehow from the outside.

It's all within us that innocence is within us.

That freshness,

That brightness in the eyes.

When you look at something as simple as you know,

When you go outside in the world,

A tree,

A flower,

Another person is all there in us.

All we need to do is unburden ourselves.

Put all the garbage,

All the burden that we have carried on us away.

And meditation is that process which allows us to on regular basis whenever we get a chance in our life to unburden what we have carried,

What we have learned,

What we have conditioned ourselves into.

For today's session,

I would like to have the meditation in three parts.

The first part is a breathing exercise.

It's a breathing technique.

It's called the fire,

The breath of fire,

Which is very well known.

When you subject yourself to this breathing technique for five minutes,

What happens is your entire energy system is shaken up.

Your pranic energy system is shaken up,

Which allows you to also throw away and unburden all these impressions that you're carrying constantly in your mind,

All the conditionings that you're carrying which are bothering you to just be spontaneous and be present in the moment.

So we'll do this breath of fire for five minutes to raise our awareness,

To raise our energies to a certain point.

How to do this?

We breathe in and out very,

Very rapidly,

As rapidly as you can,

As fast as you can,

In and out.

What you should be ensuring or taking care of is that your breath is somewhat equal to,

So the inhalation is equal to the exhalation.

You're breathing in and out in the same amounts,

Not too much inhalation,

Not too much exhalation,

You're inhaling and exhaling at a very rapid pace,

As rapid as possible.

Do it at your own pace,

Whatever is comfortable to you.

Try to let go in it,

Try to be the breathing when you're breathing,

Don't think about this or that,

Put all your energy in this breath of fire.

It is very,

It's a magical process if you allow it to happen where all the burden is is released just within five minutes of doing this practice.

That would be the part one.

Part two is when you have subjected yourself to this breath of fire,

We'll allow our breath to restore,

We'll allow our natural breath to restore and in that process you'll focus on exhalation,

The pause after the exhalation.

So when you breathe out there is a natural pause before you breathe in.

In that pause let go of everything that is there in you,

In your mind still left,

In your body still left,

With every exhalation release everything that is still hanging in your consciousness,

In your awareness and with every breath out let it go more and more and more.

We do this for another five minutes.

Afterwards the third phase,

Final phase where you don't have to do anything,

Just sit in silence,

Remain aware.

When you sit in silence and you remain aware you will see still some residual things they will arise in your consciousness.

When those things come up they could be thoughts,

They could be emotions,

They could be any other kinds of contents of your mind when they come up let them go.

And you just move towards silence with awareness,

Sit in silence with awareness.

Three parts.

First part is to raise your awareness.

To raise your pranic energy system.

Shaking it up completely with these breaths of fire,

Breathing in and out.

Five minutes,

Then another five minutes where you restore your breath,

Let it calm down and you focus on exhalation,

Letting go of all the residuals that you have in your mind,

In your impressions that you're carrying.

And lastly sit in silence,

Move as deep as possible in silence with awareness.

I would invite you to close your eyes.

Find yourself a comfortable sitting posture.

And then you can move to the next level.

A comfortable sitting posture with your hands either in your lap or on your thighs.

Your back straight,

Shoulders down,

Head straight.

And start breathing in and out as rapidly as you can.

Breathe in and out through your nose.

Inhalation through the nose,

Exhalation also through the nose.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Engage your whole body in and out as rapidly as possible.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Breathing in and out through the nose.

And let go.

Allow your breath to find its natural pace.

Allow your body to rest.

Feel the sensations in your body.

As your breath settles,

Become aware of the pause after exhalation.

Allow your breath to settle.

And keep your awareness on the pause after exhalation.

With every exhalation,

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Allow your breath to rest.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

And with every exhalation,

Let yourself go more and more and more.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Breathing in and out and your awareness on the pause after exhalation.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Allow yourself to become more silent.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Now leave the breath.

Just remain aware of nothing in particular.

Keeping your awareness inwards.

In your inner space.

Allow this inner silence to grow and your awareness to settle in your inner space.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Remain absolutely still and silent.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything that arises in your consciousness.

Let that go.

And silent and aware.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

No more movement.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let everything go into silence.

Let everything go into silence.

And simply remain aware.

All your awareness in your inner space.

And move deeper into silence.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

And your awareness to your breath.

Move your breath as it rises and folds restfully.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

In this absolute silence,

You're observing your breath rising and falling.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Let go of everything in this pause.

Notice a sense of centeredness,

A sense of silence,

Stillness.

And while maintaining that sense of stillness,

Silence,

Be thankful that you are alive.

Be thankful that you're healthy.

And very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes or remain sitting with your eyes closed for the next minutes.