The Breath - Dr. Swami Rama

We are all breathing the same air. There is only one proprietor of all who is supplying life breath to us. Who is giving you this life breath? The Lord of life, who gives it to all. Breath is a direct link with the Lord that you have every day. It’s a perfect philosophy. Besides the philosophical aspect, it is also a practical science that is known to only a fortunate few. Your breath is like a barometer that registers both your mental conditions and physical conditions. Breath is the bridge between the body and your thinking process called mind. In our modern world, we either talk only about the body or about the mind but we have not done much research on the breath. The science of breath is a science unto itself. From the age of three, I have been doing experiments on breath. I have done experiments not only in the traditional monasteries of the Himalayas but also in modern laboratories all over the world. I am talking to you based on this experience and not merely because I have read something somewhere. In ancient scriptures, yogis who do research on the breath are called prana vedins. They can suspend their breath for a long time, even for months and months. You don’t have to go so deep.

What is your body? That something which you can touch, grab, understand is called your body. Your body is composed of five gross elements: Earth, water, fire, air, and space. It’s like a jar. You break the jar, earth goes to earth, water goes to water, fire goes to fire, all the elements go to their respective elements. It’s a very interesting subject. Look at Figure 1. You are not body alone. Now this body is related to your thinking being. Who connects you with your thinking being? This is not discussed in books. No book explains why your thinking and physical being function together. I have not seen any book like that. So this is your thinking self and this is your physical self. How do the thinking self and physical self function together? There is a link between the two and that is called prana in Sanskrit. In English we call it breath. Life is breath and breath is life. This breath of ours creates a bridge between our thinking process and body. Please pay attention to this diagram, it will help you. Our thinking process is divided into two compartments, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. There are two guards constantly guarding the city of life and they are called inhalation and exhalation. This is such an important link, but see what the scientists are doing. They talk of body, food, vitamins, exercises; they talk of mind and its analysis; but then nobody talks about the breath, because no one knows. Very few experiments are being done. For pregnant women, they have some breathing exercises. Otherwise no one knows much about breath. "We are all breathing," they say, "what is there to be learnt?" I say you are breathing, but you are not breathing properly, you are not breathing accurately. There are five main pranas and five secondary pranas in your body. Some of them supply energy to your body and there are others that cleanse your body.

© "HIHT News" (December, 2004) published by Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, Swami Ram Nagar, P.O. Doiwala, Distt. Dehradun 248 140. Uttaranchal. Website: www.hihtindia.org. Reprinted with permission.

Excerpts from `A Personal Philosophy of Life’ by Dr. Swami Rama.

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