Conscious breathing is Pranayama. Learn to bring our consciousness into our breathing. We then become aware and conscious of our breath. Our thoughts and visualizations then ride on it. Agathiyar in asking us to go within asked us to use the breath as a tool. He told us to observe the breath. Ramalinga Adigal too came to remind us of that. Osho writes "Buddha said, "Be aware of your breath as it is coming in and going out." Eventually we shall take notice of the gap or interval between two breaths without effort. In bringing us Shivas first of nine techniques concerned with the breath, from the "Vigyan Bhairav Tantra", Osho in his "Book of Secrets" reveals, "If you can feel the gap Shiva says, the beneficence, then nothing else is needed. You are blessed, you have known; the thing has happened."
Osho explains that contrary to our belief that the incoming breath and outgoing breath are running parallel as in parallel lines, they actually are one single breath, that in actuality flows in a circle. There is a point where the incoming breath turns and becomes the outgoing. Quoting another stanza of Shiva, we are asked to observe and realize this point of turning and become a realized soul. When the breath is static neither going out nor coming in, at this fusion point we are in our center. Agathiyar calls this center Suzhimunai. Each shall realize his center. It is the place where there arise energy and a feeling or unarvu that comes with it. "Know it to be your Suzhimunai," says Agathiyar. One who arrives at his center becomes total. Agathiyar calls this the state of Paripuranam. Osho asks us to observe the child breath. He says children are in their center and at their center. The reason being children give themselves up completely in all their doings and at all times. Hence we should learn to follow these children give themselves up in totality and not try to change them to our ways.
Similarly learn to bring our consciousness into everything we do. Bring our consciousness into the simplest acts that we do each day. Learn to bring our consciousness into the act of eating, bathing, and even sex too. It would result in fulfillment and joy and satisfaction in having a meal, in getting a wash, and sex. Take some time to savor your food and drink rather than washing it down your gut. A technique to bring our awareness to the food we take is taught in the Buddhist tradition that Lama Surya Das writes about in his book, "Awakening the Buddha Within - Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, Bantam Books, 1997. In his book, he teaches us "Eating meditation", a marvelous way of putting ourselves in touch with now-ness. It can really slow us down and make us more aware of compulsive behavior", he writes. This meditation does try one's patience to the limit though he says. For instance, he says we are accustomed to eating raisins by the handful. Here we take it one at a time. But before we put it into our mouth we feel it, we look at it as if we have never seen it before. We are asked to examine it thoroughly. Smell it. We are taught to direct our total attention to the raisin, which otherwise we hardly do. Only then do we begin to chew it slowly, actually tasting it for the very first time. Chew till it becomes juice.
Bring our consciousness into the walk that we take around the park. Look around us and be present in the moment. Catch the breeze that brushes our faces. See the greenery in all its beauty. Stop and talk to the trees and hug them. Stop and smell the flowers. Remove the sandals and shoes and go barefoot grounding ourselves once in a while. We are so connected to people and animals. Turn our attention to the rest of nature at least for once. Come out into the night and watch the night sky. Watch the moon and the stars.
When consciousness comes within the quality of life improves. Everything is more enhanced especially the senses. Everything outside of us would become more brilliant to us. The sights, smell, sounds, touch, taste are all amplified. I am going through this phase currently.
My ex-schoolmate, Muniandy Shanmugam writes about how he handles the stress that comes with his high-risk job in maintaining law and order in war-torn countries and recommends several coping mechanisms at ( https://www.linkedin.com/posts/muniandy-shanmugam-949a4245_managing-and-coping-mechanisms-with-stress-activity-7042398482749358080-tSl9?utm_source=li_share&utm_content=feedcontent&utm_medium=g_dt_web&utm_campaign=copy )
I have spent over two decades in high-risk countries and faced very challenging and demanding environments. Over the years in Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia, I was slowly pulling away from people, displaying anger and agitation. I realized that these are common warning signs of emotional distress and needed to address them. Sharing some of the coping mechanisms as outlined below:
1. In the evenings, I listened to calming music such as sounds of birds chirping, rain, waterfall and especially the Tibetan Singing Bowls on my laptop.
2. I walked approximately 6 km daily and practiced “Grounding” (sitting with bare feet on grass) for at least an hour every day.
3. Listened to some favorite mantras and sang along to relax and ease tensions.
4. On the weekend, met my security focal points in their Cafes at Embassies and Security Chiefs in a much different setting than usual.
5. Enjoyed silence with eyes closed and always lighted a scented candle on the weekend.
6. I also ate my food early and healthy. I was careful with the food that I consumed daily.
7. Engaged a stress councilor to compliment the above coping mechanisms and to address some of my other concerns.
All these efforts helped me cope with the cumulative stress and my direct exposure to traumatic events especially in Afghanistan and Somalia.
The relief from the coping mechanisms gave me the energy and presence of mind to work till my retirement from the United Nations.
Find a way to get out of the rut and routine once in a while. Give yourself a treat that you deserve. A chief clerk at my office would always speak about wanting to listen to classical music played in the comfort of his home in the evenings. I finally told him to get a player and he did the very next day. He had fulfilled his desire. A cousin of my wife was gifted a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle on his 6oth birthday by his wife. She fulfilled his wish to own and ride one. They both hit the road on weekends these days. A devotee had an eye on the Honda HR-V and now drives his family and us around too. My daughter wanted to watch A.R.Rahman live. The opportunity came when he held his concert recently. Her desire was fulfilled. So did my second daughter fulfill her desire to watch Pentatonix in Malaysia some years back and Billie Eilish recently.
Osho says that it is important that we fulfill our desires. If you have any go out an fulfill them. You shall then leave this world without any regret. Know that beside our karma or the merits gained from our deeds both good and bad, unfulfilled desires too are a reason to take another birth.
The saints on the other hand give their lives to the divine completely. Hence the divine comes to live within them. Every act of them is seen as divine. They act for the benefit of others rather than themselves. Since we are all connected, as the Prapanjam heals so do we. Saint Manickavasagar's humble prayer goes as follows.
You know what I want,
You give me all I want,
You who are not reachable to Brahma and Hari,
Have come to embrace me,
However your grace shall be,
I shall accept it,
If there is a gift,
That too I shall leave it to you.
வேண்டத் தக்கது அறிவோய் நீ,
வேண்ட முழுவதும் தருவோய் நீ,
வேண்டும் அயன், மால்க்கு அரியோய் நீ,
வேண்டி என்னைப் பணிகொண்டாய்!
வேண்டி நீ யாது அருள் செய்தாய்,
யானும் அதுவே வேண்டின் அல்லால்,
வேண்டும் பரிசு ஒன்று உண்டு என்னில்,
அதுவும் உன் தன் விருப்பு அன்றே!
See the full song குழைத்தப பத்து - ஆத்தும நிவேதனம் at https://ta.wikisource.org/wiki
Osho relates the story of God asking a Sufi saint what he wanted through his angels.
Let me tell you one very famous Sufi story, “The Holy Shadow.”
There once lived a saint so good that the angels came from heaven to see how a man could be so godly. This saint went about his daily life diffusing virtue as the stars diffuse light and the flowers scent, without being aware of it. His day could be summed up by two words — he gave, he forgave — yet these words never passed his lips. They were expressed in his ready smile, his kindness, forbearance, and charity.
The angels said to God, “Lord, grant him the gift of miracles.”
God replied, “Ask what it is that he wishes.”
They said to the saint, “Would you like the touch of your hands to heal the sick?”
“No,” answered the saint. “I would rather God do that.”
“Would you like to convert guilty souls and bring back wandering hearts to the right path?”
“No, that is the angels’ mission. It is not for me to convert.”
“Would you like to become a model of patience, attracting men by the luster of your virtues, and thus glorifying God?”
“No,” replied the saint. “If men should be attracted to me, they would become estranged from God.”
“What is it that you desire, then?” asked the angels.
“What can I wish for?” asked the saint smiling. “That God gives me his grace; with that would I not have everything?”
The angels said, “You must ask for a miracle, or one will be forced upon you.”
“Very well,” said the saint. “That I may do a great deal of good without ever knowing it.”
The angels were perplexed. They took counsel and resolved upon the following plan: every time the saint’s shadow fell behind him or to either side, so that he could not see it, it would have the power to cure disease, soothe pain, and comfort sorrow. When the saint walked along, his shadow, thrown on the ground on either side or behind him, made arid paths green, caused withered plants to bloom, gave clear water to dried-up brooks, fresh color to pale children, and joy to unhappy men and women.
The saint simply went about his daily life diffusing virtue as the stars diffuse light and the flowers scent, without being aware of it. The people, respecting his humility, followed him silently, never speaking to him about his miracles. Soon they even forgot his name, and called him “The Holy Shadow.”
This is the ultimate: one has to become the holy shadow, just a shadow of God. This is the greatest revolution that can happen to a human being: the transfer of the center. You are no longer your own center; God becomes your center. You live like his shadow. You are not powerful, because you don’t have any center to be powerful. You are not virtuous; you don’t have any center to be virtuous. You are not even religious; you don’t have any center to be religious. You are simply not, a tremendous emptiness, with no barriers and blocks, so the divine can flow through you unhindered, uninterpreted, untouched — so the divine can flow through you as he is, not as you would like him to be. He does not pass through your center — there is none. The center is lost.
This is the meaning of this sutra: that finally, you have to sacrifice your center so you cannot think in terms of the ego again, you cannot utter “I,” to annihilate yourself utterly, to erase yourself utterly. Nothing belongs to you; on the contrary, you belong to God. You become a holy shadow.