Remember your Breath

“If you can become master of your breathing you become master of your emotions.... The unconscious goes on changing your rhythm of breathing, so if you become aware of this rhythm and its constant changes, you can become aware of your unconscious roots, of what the unconscious is doing.”

The New Alchemy

a) Breathe deeply the whole day, not forced but slow and deep, whenever you remember, and feel relaxed, not strained.

b) Watch your breathe, observe it. When the breathe goes out, move with it; when it goes in, move with it. If you can observe your breath it will become deep, silent, rhythmic. By following the breath you become very very different, because this constant awareness of the breath will detach you from your mind. The energy that normally moves into thinking will move into observation. This is the alchemy of meditation — to change the energy that moves into thinking into observation...how not to be a thinker but a witness. But be playful about watching your breathing, don’t make it work.

c) Use your breath as an awareness of life and death simultaneously. When the breath goes out it is associated with death; when it comes in, with life. With every out breath you die; with every in breath you are reborn.

“Life and death are not 2 things, separate, divided: they are one. And each moment, both are present. So remember this: when your breath is going out, feel as if you are dying. Don’t be afraid. If you are afraid, the breath will be disturbed. Accept it: the outgoing breath is death. And death is beautiful, it is relaxing.”

Osho, The New Alchemy: To Turn You On