Beloved Ones of God, Practice Assignments for God is Breath Class 5 Bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim. Peace and Blessings of the all-compassionate One be with you on the path of your life. As I reflect on our process of exploration and realization of the nature of the divine reality as seen through the lens of the Breath, my sense is that we are at the stage of our practice where it is most important to focus on the integration and grounding of our experience. We need to become firmly established in a basic way of working with the breath and to become more and more capable of attuning our breath to deal with life's circumstances in a masterful way, using the teachings we have already received. I plan to spend a good part of our class time focusing in this way. From the standpoint of ongoing practice beyond the class, this invites you to pay particular attention to breath awareness and mastery in everyday life. Try to remember to take a minute at least once every hour to check in, become mindful of your breath's condition and adjust it according to guidance. At this stage of our work it is very important to continue to cultivate and explore a relationship with one of the illuminated souls with whom you feel a deep heart connection. Practicing oneness in this way enhances one's own sense of self by revealing the availability of awakened consciousness in our meditations and in all of life's circumstances. In general, our intention is to maintain a daily rhythm of concentration and to keep cultivating a deep interest and connection with all the practice and teachings. Please not rush through the texts we are studying, but take the time to savor them, reflect on them, and apply them. May we be graced to keep remembering our focus and to feel the beauty at the heart of our process. Love and Blessings, Wali Ali P.S. Please notice that I have added 5 minutes to the daily meditation practice and to the practice of either #4 or #5. It will also be useful to read over the assignments below as there are a few more things that have been changed.
Daily Practice Assignments: 1. Begin with recitation of the Sufi Invocation three times followed by inner reflection in which you connect with the meaning of this prayer. Then clearly establish your own intention and authentic prayer. 2. Do 33 vocal repetitions of Ya Fattah opening to the vibration of success and accomplishment in all your concentrations and calling forth heart-centered attention and interest. 3. Follow that with a 20-minute daily meditation: Allow yourself to breathe naturally. Notice the rhythm of this breath and consciously maintain this rhythm. Gradually allow the breath to become longer and more refined. Become aware of the small natural pause at the top and bottom of the breath. Place your attention on the magnetism (prana) that is carried by the breath. You are drawing from the all-pervading life in space. Center your awareness in the heart (middle of the chest) and consciously bring the magnetism into the heart as you inhale and radiate it as you exhale. Your whole physical body becomes charged with life-force. Feel this as a palpable energetic presence that continually fills your atmosphere with livingness. Recognize this magnetism as love and consciously call it forth. Using the rhythm that has been established in your breath, stay attentive to this regular swing--long, refined, rhythmical--and begin to seek loving connection with the beauty of the divine perfection as you imagine it. As you do this feel your heart connecting and merging with one of the illuminated souls such that you naturally begin to experience life through those eyes, ears, thoughts, etc. Always stay alert and if your breath begins to stray from this balanced and refined state gently bring it back. Using the sound Allah, Allah in thought and feeling and let remembrance of the perfect One naturally fill the breath. Constantly flow with the awareness of the joy of the essence of your life in Allah, and be alive to love's longing for completion in Allah. Choose for the whole month to do either the concentration on the Dove as the descent of the Spirit of Guidance, the divine breath, as described here and in the Gatha commentary (#4 below) or to do the contemplation practice using Ya 'Ahad and Ya Samad (#5 below). Also please note that we are extending this element of our practice to 10 minutes.
4. Begin with 33 recitations of Hu Allah, and then proceed with the contemplation. Both practices should take about 10 minutes as a whole. As you inhale visualize the Dove descending to your crown and hear the sound of the breath as huuuu.at the pause at the top of the breath accept the guidance it brings and direct your attention to your heart where you visualize the Name Allah written in light. As you exhale you send forth the expression of the divine as a beacon of powerful compassionate vibration that is sealed with the imprimatur of the Name Allah shining forth in it. Authentically offer the stream of living magnetism, generous well-being, and beneficial intention through the heart. 5. Recite 33 times Ya 'Ahad, Ya Samad and follow this prayer with the following breathing contemplation practice using Ya 'Ahad and Ya Samad. (these combined practice should take about ten minutes). When you exhale continually dissolve into the Oneness that is unending, breathing out Ya Samad. When you breathe out Ya Samad it is the same as breathing out Toward the One and becoming melting snow, dissolving the sense of your small self into the eternal, continuous and unending, all-pervading Oneness. When you inhale, breathe in Ya 'Ahad. There is nothing outside of the unity of the One that is al- Ahad, and that includes your own self. Experience this Unity of the One as a dot, and with the inhalation of Ya 'Ahad draw the reality of all that is into a dot and experience integration of self in this dot. You become aware of the One that is the ultimate unity of being. Nothing is outside of this One. Nothing can be added to it or subtracted from it. To be fully conscious as you perform this practice asks you to accept that what you call your own awareness is actually an activity of the Only Being, and is nothing but that Being. Oscillating back and forth between the dot and the continuation of the infinite and eternal circumference of the expanding circle gives the right psychological framework for progress in meditation. It allows us to ease into the continuing process of letting go of self, dying before death, and experiencing renewal. The Sufi Invocation uses all these levels of meaning of the One. 6. Do the following walking practice in nature if possible when you can. Breathing Toward the One in and out from the heart center. Opening, encouraging and allowing your heart to feel lovingly drawn by the beauty of the perfect One, and feeling the inner harmony of your connection with the Source and Goal of all, you radiate the light-ray of your intention on the path of your life. At the same time feel your heart drawn to the Source by its magnetism, beauty and perfection. Be aware of both poles of this practice simultaneously. Follow your
intuition in deciding how much to accentuate the pole of radiating the light of your intention or feeling the magnetic pull of the goal. 7. Kasab Practice: Begin by fully exhaling through the right nostril slowly repeating in thought the phrase "Allah Shafee, Allah Kafee" in rhythm with the breath. Immediately, fully inhale through the left nostril with the same rhythm and thought as above. Then, retain the breath while repeating "Allah Shafee, Allah Kafee, Allah Shafee, Allah Kafee" in the same rhythm as before (takes twice as long). Then exhale left nostril in the same rhythm and speed as the inhalation was. Follow this immediately by inhaling in the right nostril in the same manner. Again, retain the breath taking exactly twice as long as the time of the inhalation. You have completed one cycle of the practice. Continue until you complete five cycles. At the conclusion of the practice, take a few minutes to be fully aware of your breath in both nostrils. Throughout the practice we are connecting in our breath and in our prayer with God's all sufficient power of healing and purification. 8. Periodically check in with your breath throughout the day and mindfully notice its condition. For example, it could be Jalal, Jamal, Kamal, Urooj, Zaval, refined/coarse, powerful/dull, broad/narrow, etc. After checking in, consciously confirm the rhythm in your breath or, when needed, establish a rhythm in your breath. Stay with this awareness of the swing of your breath and allow it to gradually become longer and more refined. Then continue with your activities. Notice any way in which your emotions have been influenced by doing this. 9. 20 Purification Breaths and Healing Prayer There are many different forms in which this practice is done. In this class we are placing our attention throughout on the avenues of purification mentioned in the prayer that follows the breaths. The Purification Breaths: Five times slowly breathe Ya Shafee (O Healer) in through the nose and Ya Kafiyy (O Remedy) out through the nose. Five times slowly breathe Ya Shafee in through the nose and Ya Kafiyy out through the mouth.
Five times slowly breathe Ya Shafee in through the mouth and Ya Kafiyy out through the nose. Five times slowly breath Ya Shafee in through the mouth and Ya Kafiyy out through the mouth. Follow with the healing prayer Nayaz: Beloved Lord, almighty God, through the rays of the Sun, through the waves of the air, through Thy all-pervading life in space, purify and revivify me, and I pray, heal my body, heart, and soul. To be done at any time: Journaling Continue to write in your journal at least once a week or more. In addition to noting the condition of your breath at different times, and what you learned from it, also give some attention in your journal to the different things that your breath connects with and what it draws from that connection.