Yoga as the Field of All Possibilities
Many ask me: what relationship does breath have with meditation?
Breath is related to everything: wherever we are, whatever we look at, breath is fundamental to our life. It happens automatically without needing our attention. Breathing fluctuates with our emotions and sensations. Nothing new here: if we see something beautiful, our breath shifts; if we encounter something distressing, it shifts again. When we run, breathing speeds up; when we rest, it slows down. This happens in every single experience of life.
During meditation, breathing naturally adopts a subtler, quieter rhythm, and at times it seems almost suspended. But breathing never stops. We should never fear if we feel we are barely breathing: during meditation, metabolism drops significantly and all physiological functions quiet down.
In short: when meditating, do not pay attention to the breath. If attention naturally wanders there, simply return gently to the mantra, treating awareness of the breath just like any other passing thought.
There are breathing exercises that can be helpful for a practitioner, but initially, it is far better to proceed in the simplest possible manner. Meditation itself spontaneously teaches the body how to breathe optimally. Sitting down and straining to concentrate on the flow of breath leads nowhere. That is not meditating. It may create momentary distraction, but it does not take you beyond the surface. Meditating means descending deeply into consciousness until you touch the field of all possibilities.
What Is the Field of All Possibilities (Unified Field)?
It is the place where everything begins. Where life manifests and expands universally. Only with a vehicle (the mantra) can we embark on such a descent. Thinking the mantra effortlessly guides us into our deepest quiet, drawing us closer to the source where everything originates: the field of all possibilities.
The Mechanics of Meditation: The Garden and the River
Imagine you are a small vegetable garden under the summer sun, and your garden needs more water. Not far from you flows a great river brimming with water. You need water for your garden, so you dig a small irrigation channel — a gentle furrow allowing water from the great river to nourish your soil.
The furrow must not be too large or too small, but just right to let water flow steadily without flooding the garden.
The garden is you — your life, your daily growth. The river is the vitality of life, primordial energy, pure Being. Rain alone is no longer enough to nourish our growth, so we build the channel. Our tool to trace this furrow is the mantra (the vehicle). Our engineering wisdom is the effortless technique of using the mantra. Regular daily practice ensures our success.
Of course, you shouldn’t picture yourself hunched under a blazing sun hoeing heavy soil, wondering how distant the river is. The river of life is already inside us. So close that a single subtle intentional thought is all it takes for the connection to occur. That subtle thought is the mantra.
A fundamental realization in meditation is that the subtler and seemingly gentler our thought, the more powerful its effect. Brutal force accomplishes nothing. Rigid, stubborn thoughts get stuck. Soft, subtle thoughts always find their way forward.
Day after day, subtle coherence accumulates within us. Practicing meditation is like tossing a small ball from one hand to the other: with each catch, the ball grows slightly larger. And as the ball grows, our arms simultaneously grow stronger to support it effortlessly. One day, you find yourself holding and directing an immense reservoir of vital energy with complete natural ease.
Meditation is the greatest exercise in intuitive freedom ever discovered in human history. It expands the mind harmoniously and unlocks breakthrough solutions. Albert Einstein and all great thinkers recognized that sudden flashes of intuition provided the answers to their deepest inquiries.
Meditation must be an ally in life — never a dogma, never a rigid exterior imposition, never a religion. It is an experience of freedom, and that is how it must be lived.
Thank you.
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