The Secret of the Golden Flower - 3

"While sitting, one must, therefore, always keep the heart quiet and the power concentrated. How can the heart be made quiet? By breathing. The heart alone must be conscious of the blowing in and out of the breath ; it must not be heard with the ears. If it is not heard, then the breathing is light; if light, it is pure. If it can be -heard, then the breathing power is heavy; if heavy, then it is troubled; if it is troubled, then laziness and absent-mindedness develop and one wants to sleep. That is self-evident."

If one is able to trace back my past posting related to meditation it will be found that breathing is the key to all forms of meditation for it is the breath that is the connection between the mind and the body, the bridge between the mundane and the divine. As the zen saying goes, "Breathing is like a swinging door, you breath in it swings in, you breath out it swings out and if you stop breathing you are dead." No matter how profound or esoteric a meditation technique may be, it is the breath the plays the vital role in making it work. Mastering the art f proper breathing can help one in more than one way through life as a matter of fact it may help to save your life in times of need. Three nights ago I had an attack that could have been a minor stroke or some gastric reflux, that I felt was going to need and ambulances. I almost called out to my daughter who was laying in her room but decided not to scare her and laid down in my bed instead. I have had this attacks before and so I decided I was going to confront it like I have done before. 

The first words that came out of my mouth was, "Innalillahi  wainnalillahi rojiun", or from Him I came and to Him I return. I was not really scared but was pleasantly surprised that the first thing that came to my mind was my Lord, The little voice in my head whispered to me to stay calm and let go allow the process to take it course. Breath into the heart area where the pain was. I surrendered into the pain and felt my breath slowly releasing the tightness in my chest until it was back to normal again. I have learned my lesson a long time ago when I had my serious  (heart attack?) not to panic and force myself to breath. I had passed out a few times in the past but have kept it to myself simply because I had always wanted to see if I can find the way to heal myself and avoid the fuss and worry that it would cause others; at this age I really do not mind dying at all. I have lived to be seventy a bonus, more so than my peers whom I have helped to bury. But I feel if I am to die I wish to do it on my own terms and not at the mercy of doctors and as a matter of fact I would like to die fully and consciously.

It is not that I am not afraid of death, but I have been preparing myself for the experience of my final breath with a mind that is lucid and not in fear, InshaAllah, God willing. I have always looked forward to embracing death as my final journey towards understanding who I am and sadly enough even if I will not able to post the experience in my Blog, it will be my final act as one who has devoted his life to living to the fullest and ending it with dignity. Hence my deep rooted interest in the art of meditation with the focus on breathing. Perhaps to some it is a morbid thing to be dwelling on death and dying as a practice, but I see it as higher cause towards understanding our ultimate fear, that of facing death. It is said that nothing is more sobering than to know that you are going to die sooner of later as such what could be a more practical study than to understand the process itself before it happens. Most religions prepare you for the afterlife, few explains to you how to face the death process itself.