While we sit in silence, immersed in light and opening as much as possible to God's love, allowing that love to become our own and to extend further and further out into the world, we also breathe, slowly and deeply. 

Breathing does not ordinarily need to be thought about.  It is the first act upon entering this world, and the last act upon leaving it.  It is as natural and as inevitable to us as the idea that our own bodies define who we are as distinct from what is around us.  Now, it is time to learn something else about breathing – to discover the inherent possibilities for transformation that exist within each breath, that exist when we pay attention to the light carried on the breath.

This light comes from higher dimensions, and from the higher Self at one with divine Being.  It is transmitted through an impulse that carries it from the upper to the lower realms of light, and that permits it to enter the physical plane when the opening is created and when the heart is willing. 

Sacred breathing is founded on an awareness of the light that is the source of life.  When the cord of light that connects us with the Source is severed at the time of death, our spirits no longer inhabit our physical bodies, but depart from the physical plane and enter another.

Breathing in light can become as natural as breathing in air, for the light is 'carried' on the physical breath and does not require anything extra in the way of technique.  What it requires is conscious attention and an understanding that each breath can bring light down through the crown center at the top of the head, through every limb and organ of our body, down to the lowest members which are the feet and toes that touch the earth.  This downward passage of light into every cell and pore, every tissue and organ, is cleansing, healing, and transforming.  While it may be experienced differently by different people,  its action is always the same, corresponding to its essence which is to illuminate and to bring healing and love.

While we sit in meditation and prayer, we can inhale in this way, feeling the light entering us at the top of the head and moving downward.  Also feeling it as an envelope around the self, infusing the energy field that surrounds the body and entering the skin which is porous.  Thus, we simultaneously can breathe through the top of the head and through the skin, and all breathing bring to us sacred light of the Divine.

Conversely,  as we exhale in a physical sense, we can simultaneously exhale all that is not in harmony with sacred light, all impurity and all negativity, all that rejects love, and all that we wish to release and no longer have within us.  We breathe in, and inhale light.  We breathe out, and exhale into the greater light of the Universe, all that must be let go of in order to become purer vessels of light and sacredness.

In the beginning it may be necessary to think about this process.  But soon, we can just breathe naturally, and know that light is doing its work.  We can sometimes experience this work directly, feeling how our sitting and breathing is affecting the various organs and tissues of our body. But even when this sensitivity is not fully present, we can breathe and know that we are breathing in the holy light of God.

This consciousness of light carried on the breath is meant to be part of the knowledge of every human being.  It is a fundamental way of staying in equilibrium within oneself, and of maintaining a process of continual self-healing that draws from the Source of light and love.

As we sit, let us pray to feel more light moving through us so that one with our hearts, and one with the Divine, we can reach and extend outward to the Earth that we love, and to all others who inhabit this sacred planet.  

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