Practice 2 -- The Breath of Oneness

Practice 2 ~ The Breath of Oneness

“All the principles of heaven and earth are living inside you. Life itself is truth, and this will never change. Everything in heaven and earth breathes. Breath is the thread that ties creation together.”

— Morihei Ueshiba

“Ancient lovers believed a kiss would literally unite their Souls,
because the spirit was said to be carried in one’s breath.”

— Eve Glicksman

“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness,
which unites your body to your thoughts.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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Exercise

Begin this practice by becoming aware of your breath, expanding it throughout your entire body. Allow your breathing to organically circulate, connecting cells and organs, blood and bones. Feel the beauty and elegance of your body’s intricate design. Through each inhale and exhale, allow yourself to be filled by the Spirit and filled with Oneness . . . then permit yourself to become empty, in Spirit and in Oneness.

The Hebrew word for breath is ruach, but it also signifies spirit and wind. It is your breath that connects you with Spirit and your Soul. It sustains your Soul. Now, with your breath, animate and give expression to your Soul, knowing that breath and Soul are from one origin. Allow yourself to be filled with the breath of Oneness, which is love, joy, peace, and unity. Exhale separation; inhale Oneness. Exhale fear and anxiety; inhale God’s loving presence and power.

Imagine that you’re breathing with every living being and organism on the planet and in the cosmos. Breathe with the trees and with the ocean. Breathe with the children in Africa . Breathe with the monks in Tibet . Breathe with the saints and mystics from the past: Jesus, Buddha, Krishna , Moses, and Muhammad. Breathe with your friends, family, and community. Breathe with those you consider “different.” Breathe with the planets and stars. Breathe with all of creation and know the truth of “I AM One. We are One.” Come alive with the breath of Oneness! Dedicate your breathing as a prayer for all sentient beings. Allow a single word or phrase to arise on your lips, and send it out to the world through the breath of Oneness. In this practice, your breathing becomes a prayer and a profound act of sacred activism.

Practice the breath of Oneness for at least five minutes at the beginning and end of your day and your Soul will settle into a heavenly peace. Return to it often throughout the day in order to practice the presence of God wherever you are and in whatever you’re doing.

Affirmations

I AM breathing Life, and Life is breathing me.

I AM forever connected to my Soul in the Spirit of Life. I AM, I AM, I AM.

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James: Following one’s breath is one of the primary focuses of almost any meditation practice. It’s also a wonderful way to understand Oneness. We breathe in and out, and although these are separate actions, we need to do both to survive. If our breath went in one direction only, we’d die. Yet they are really the same. If we follow the breath and use it as our focus throughout the day, it can help us stay in a state of active relaxation; thus, we can sense Oneness to a greater degree.

Anakha: The breath of Oneness connects us in all directions. It connects us in the present moment to ourselves, to those who have come before us, to those who are here with us now, and even to those who will come after us. It’s a beautiful process: connecting internally and vertically by breathing in the Spirit of God; and also experiencing a horizontal, external link to each other through our breath. We come together through the simple awareness that we’re all actually breathing in life together.

For all the differences we might experience on the planet today, there are basic experiences we share. Everyone, in this very moment, is breathing in life. That’s really beautiful when I think about that . . . about really connecting in that sameness, in that Oneness, to my brothers and sisters around the world.

James: I like your explanation of “breathing in life together.” When you think about it, every time we breathe we’re taking in at least a million atoms that were also breathed in by Jesus, the Buddha, Gandhi, and every other person who has ever lived. Every single breath connects us with every other person and every other being who has ever lived on this planet. So each breath we take literally links us to a state of Oneness, not just in theory, but in actual physical practice. So we can use our breath throughout the normal course of our day to remember Oneness . . . just by being aware as we breathe, acknowledging our connection with every person who lives now or has ever lived.

Anakha: That’s beautiful. If I’m consciously breathing with and even for different people or places around the planet—I’m thinking of Israel, for example—then through this awareness, through my love-filled breath, I can begin circulating my compassion to Israel or to any of the areas on the planet that are experiencing separation, conflict, or war.

What if I’m able to circulate love just through my conscious breathing? You’ll notice, when you start to breathe with another, that you can actually change and regulate the pace and depth of the other person’s breathing. As I was practicing this morning, I started to become aware of different places on the planet. I could actually feel my heart soften as I experienced genuine compassion being born out of Oneness through conscious contact with my very own breath.

James: So the breath of Oneness is a tangible way we can begin the softening of our own hearts in order to feel this state of Oneness that’s all around us . . . something we can apply to the most ordinary moments of our lives.

Practice 1: The Rhythm of Oneness

Practice 1 ~ The Rhythm of Oneness

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order
and rhythm and harmony.”

— Thomas Merton

“Smile, breathe, and go slowly.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

“Even in the middle of a hurricane, the bottom of the sea is calm. As the storm rages and the winds howl, the deep waters sway in gentle rhythm, a light movement of fish and plant life. Below there is no storm.”

— Wayne Muller

Exercise

Returning to your natural rhythm and moving with the pace of the universal heartbeat restores you to Oneness. Slowing down connects you with the rhythm of Life, with your essential self, and with other people. Holding yourself in this way brings you into the very heart of Oneness.

There’s a close connection between the rhythm of Oneness and the rhythm of your footsteps, your breathing, and your mind. Today, practice finding a pace that connects you with your breath, heart, and mind . . . truly connecting with your natural rhythm and flow. Notice when you feel your movements becoming forced and harried. Within that gentle awareness, take a moment to pause and return to your center. Breathe and rest for a moment in the stillness. Repeat the word ahimsa (meaning nonviolent actions) as a mantra throughout your day as you continue to return again and again to the rhythm of Oneness.

Imagine this practice as a moving meditation, like tai chi, or as a flowing dance, such as ballet. Allow one action to create and flow effortlessly into the next. Every breath, step, and thought is connected. As you engage in this practice, the frenetic pace of your thoughts will become slower and calm down; and your breathing will become fuller and more relaxed. You’ll experience the beauty, vitality, and energy of life. You’ll feel connected to your own deep personal integrity and to the integrity of life that surrounds you. In this place, you’re moving within ahimsa—expressing compassion to yourself and others—and you’re in union with all things. Paradoxically, when you slow your pace to your natural rhythm, your movements become more graceful, powerful, and focused—thus, more is accomplished, created, and received with less effort and energy.

For today, experiment with pace, rhythm, and movement. Discover the Rhythm of Oneness for yourself and share it with others.

Affirmation

I AM moving with the rhythm of my heart, in harmony with the purpose of my Soul, vibrating with all of creation.

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Dialogue Between James Twyman and Anakha Coman

James: There is a natural rhythm to life that gives us a tangible experience of Oneness. We felt it when we were born and when we were young, but as we grew, we realized that the evidence around us painted a very different picture. This evidence led us to believe that we’re in competition with every person and situation we encounter. This is how the ego was born, and we nurtured it because we thought we needed its protection. But in reality we were simply out of rhythm, and Oneness felt like a distant dream. Now that we realize this, we can enter back into the stream and sense that natural rhythm again.

So, Anakha, earlier you were speaking about the Oneness we felt when we were born and when we were small . . . and that we had to actually learn separation. I’d like us to talk about that a bit more. This was a natural condition—something we needed while we were young, wasn’t it?

Anakha: Yes. When we watch children, we see that they are certainly in, and are accepting of, their own rhythm. They’re deeply in touch with their basic needs, whether it’s for food, attention, comfort or rest. They’re also wide open to the flow of their emotions. One minute they may be sad, the next minute mad, and the next, joyfully laughing and playing. Children allow themselves to move at their natural rhythm and pace. They accept what arrives from moment to moment and then allow it to spontaneously flow into something else.

It’s quite a beautiful experience to observe children in that place of Oneness. Yet what happens when we’re young is that we start to interact with the world, our parents, and our primary caregivers; and in that process, our experiences tell us that we’re less than whole . . . that something is wrong with us, we’re not enough, or we’re not doing “it” right. And from those events a core belief of fear is created. We start mistrusting our inner rhythm, our essence, our natural state, our emotions, our truth . . . and we begin trying to fit into something that will guarantee our safety, security, acceptance and well-being.

The journey into Oneness includes identifying and dissolving those limiting beliefs that were created early on. Most often they aren’t even in our conscious awareness. They live just below our awareness in the subconscious; and they have a powerful impact on how we show up in the world, and how we act and relate to others. When we begin slowing our rhythm and discovering our natural pace—our automatic way of moving, speaking, and breathing—we reconnect to the state of Oneness.

James: One of the things I’m feeling right now is the importance of not judging these natural rhythms. We must know that they’re natural and vital to the evolution of our Souls. Allow the state of remembering and forgetting. We came here to forget who we are for a moment so that in remembering Oneness we may appreciate it more deeply.

I think this is really the journey of the Soul. So we don’t want to look at the way that we’ve lived—our ego existence—as wrong or bad because that actually makes it difficult to release or transform it. I think we have to accept and love ourselves exactly as we are. At that point, we’re ready to remember, ready to step out of that state of forgetfulness and think back to why we were born, why we’re here. And then we can activate that knowledge in our lives and in the world.

Anakha: Beautiful . . . yes! It’s a process. The rhythm of Oneness will bring us back into love and tenderness for ourselves and one another. And yes, there’s already enough pain surrounding how we’ve lived within the illusion of separation—we certainly don’t need to add insult to injury. Compassion is absolutely necessary as we allow those beliefs that have manifested as separation in our lives to actually begin to heal and dissolve.