Controlled breathing

1. Take a calm, strong breath.
2. After breathing in, breathe out
   As calmly and strongly as the in-breath; there is no pause between breathing in and breathing out.
3. Abstain from breathing for a brief period, let the breath remain wholly outside the body.

The following are the approximate periods to be observed:

• The time taken by the in-breathing is optional, to be adjusted in accordance with one’s capacities.
• Breathing out should take twice as long as breathing in.
• The abstention from breathing should take three times as long as the in-breathe.

If, for example, two seconds are needed for in-breathing, then four seconds are taken for the out-breathing, and six seconds for the abstention from breathing.
Let this 1:2:3 breathing ratio be effortless, something you can keep up.

This in-breathing, out-breathing, abstention from breathing pattern is repeated four times.
During the in-breathing and the out-breathing the mind is emptied of thought and the whole consciousness directed to the breathing.
During the abstention from breathing the conscious is focus on a part of the body and filled with an image.

If these exercises in concentration are continued strenuously for several weeks, something will be felt at those points upon which the consciousness has been focused:

• at the root of the nose,
• in the larynx,
• a stream in the hands and arms,
• on the whole outer surface of the body.