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This is an excerpt from the book “Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep” by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche that we liked very much because it is a very clear and practical explanation of the Nine Purification Breaths. Hopefully, you will find it useful too:

Perhaps you have noticed how much tension is carried in the body and how the tension affects breathing. When someone with whom we are having difficulties walks into the room, the body tightens and the breath becomes shorter and sharper. When we are frightened, the breath comes quick and shallow. In sadness, the breathing is often deep and punctuated by sighs. And if someone we genuinely like and care for enters the room, the body relaxes and the breath opens and eases.

Rather than waiting for experience to alter the breath, we can deliberately alter the breath to change our experience. The nine breaths of purification is a short practice to clear and purify the channels and relax the mind and body. (The drawings of the channels can be found on page 47 of this book.)

Sit in a cross-legged meditation posture. Place your hands palm-up in your lap, with the left hand resting on the right. Bend your head just a little to straighten the neck.

Visualize the three channels of energy in your body. The central channel is blue and rises straight through the center of the body; it is the size of a cane, and widens slightly from the heart to its opening at the crown of the head. The side channels are the diameter of pencils and join the central channel at its base, about four inches below the navel. They rise straight through the body to either side of the central channel, curve around under the skull, pass down behind the eyes, and open at the nostrils. In women the right channel is red and the left is white. In men the right channel is white and the left is red.

First Three Breaths

Men: Raise the right hand with the thumb pressing the base of the ring finger. Closing the right nostril with the ring finger, inhale green light through the left nostril. Then, closing the left nostril with the right ring finger, exhale completely through the right nostril. Repeat this for three inhalations and exhalations.

Women: Raise the left hand with the thumb pressing the base of the ring finger Closing the left nostril with the ring finger, inhale green light through the right nostril. Then, closing the right nostril with the ring finger, exhale completely through the left nostril. Repeat this for three inhalations and exhalations. With each exhalation, imagine all obstacles linked with male potencies expelled from the white channel in the form of light-blue air. These include illnesses associated with the winds (pranas) as well as obstacles and obscurations connected with the past.

Second Three Breaths

Men and Women: Change hands and nostrils and repeat for three inhalations and exhalations. With each exhalation, imagine all obstacles linked with female potencies expelled from the red channel in the form of light-pink air. These include illnesses associated with bile as well as obstacles and obscurations associated with the future.

Third Three Breaths

Men and Women: Place the left hand on top of the right in the lap, palms up. Inhale green healing light into both nostrils. Visualize it moving down the side channels to the juncture with the main channel, four finger widths below the navel. With the exhalation, visualize the energy rising up the central channel and out the top of the head. Complete three inhalations and exhalations. With each exhalation, imagine all potencies for illnesses associated with hostile spirits expelled from the top of the head in the form of black smoke. These include illnesses associated with phlegm as well as obstacles and obscurations associated with the present.

From the book Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep

Photo credits: john mcsporran

This is a very simple meditation. Everyone can do it.

In fact, it doesn’t seem like meditation at all. But it works. It works very well.

Here’s the thing.

We are always in a hurry. We always rush to catch the next thing in the future. Whatever that thing might be. A TV show, a meeting, a computer game, a romantic rendezvous, you name it.

By when we do that, we forget to live our life. Because, we can live our life if we are at the ONLY time and in the ONLY place where life is happening:

Here and Now.

And if we are in a hurry, we miss that place and time altogether.

Introducing the One-third-speed Meditation

This meditation can be referred to as “One-third-speed Meditation“.

It can help you to reestablish your connection with the Here and Now.

I gave it a name “One-Third-Speed Meditation” because it is very descriptive and fully grasps the essence of the practice.

That is, it requires of you to slow down everything you do to one third of your normal speed.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you are washing dishes. The way I normally do that is very fast.

Why? Because I want to finish the task as soon as possible. After all, who likes to wash dishes? So, the sooner I’m done, the sooner I will be free to do other things.

But, that’s not the best approach. The main reason is it puts you in a mental state of hurry.

At the end of the day, the downside of putting you in a state of rush overweighs the benefit of being free to do other things.

Because, you program yourself to chase the next thing on your list, and when you catch it, guess what… there’s another one to chase.

So you are much better off if you break this mental state of constant rush!

And this meditation enables you to do so.

As I said, it is very simple, just reduce the speed of whatever you are doing to one third of what you are used to.

Resist the urge to do the job faster.

Whenever I manage to do that, as if by magic, my consciousness illuminates just a little bit more.

Instead of thinking about what next I am going to do, I start to be present in the here and now more and more and more and more.

The slower I go, the more present I am. I start to live in the present moment.

I don’t miss the here and now any more.

Let me propose something.

While you read these words, reduce the reading speed to one third of your normal reading speed when you surf the internet.

Right here and right now.

See what happens for yourself.

The Constant Flow of Thoughts.

Your thoughts are like a never-ending train passing by, taking you to whatever destination you dream about.

They never leave you out in the open, free and fully alive, conscious in the moment.

They can even be rather negative, in which case you should do everything you can to clear your mind of them.

However, if you do this meditation right, the train of thoughts starts to slow down. Or to put it differently, the thought cloud starts to clear up, even if a little bit. Normally, the cloud of thoughts follows you relentlessly everywhere you go.

But now, all of a sudden, you start to see through this cloud.

What you see is a glimpse of you clear consciousness beneath. A tiny millisecond of it. One precious glimpse after another, if you do this practice long enough.

There’s nothing more precious than that. Your essence shining through from within.

How to Do the One-third-speed Meditation

This one is no brainer. Choose a task and slow down to one third of your normal speed of execution.

Here are two examples:

Washing Dishes

Reduce the speed of washing. Observe how your hands are moving slowly. Observe the water flowing from the tap. Let your movement be gracious and continuous. Be present beside the sink as you enjoy doing the task at hand. Don’t project your mind into the immediate future, planning what you are going to do next.

Eating

You can do this meditation while eating your meals. Again, just reduce the speed at which you are normally consuming food. Chew slowly and make breaks between bites. Put down your fork every now and then. Relax. Enjoy the taste. Feel the nourishment as it makes your body stronger. Let your meal last 2 to 3 times longer than usual.

Advantages of One-third-speed Meditation

You Don’t Need a Special Time

While with some other meditation techniques you have to allocate special time to practice meditation (like, early in the morning, or before going to bed), here you don’t. Whenever you do some job, go run an errand, or perform a household task, there is an opportunity to practice.

You don’t need a special place

This is trivial as well. You don’t have to isolate yourself from your environment. You don’t need any special posture, special chair, special room, etc. Whatever you do can become your meditation.

Anyone can do it

Being a very simple form of meditation, in fact, hardly any meditation at all, everyone can do it. What can be more natural than slowing down and paying some attention to what you are currently doing.

Disadvantages of One-third-speed Meditation

You Won’t Go Too Deep

This is not really a disadvantage, but simply that”s how it works. Probably you won’t be able to concentrate and go deep into your inside. At least most of the time. That’s why I suggest having another form of meditation technique to complement this one. Another technique where you close your eyes and explore the depths of your inside world. My experience tells me that you can go much deeper into an altered states of consciousness if you close your eyes and direct the flow of consciousness inside. Therefore, learn another form of meditation alongside this one.

You Can Be Distracted Easily

At the beginning, you will find it that even a small distraction can take you out of your meditation. Either something or someone catches your attention, or you simply start thinking about something else and forget to go slow. If that happens, don’t beat up yourself. Simply go back to a slower pace once you become aware that you are out.

The Bottom Line

Believe it or not, whenever I manage to go slow, I also manage to do more.

If I rush, the end result is a series of rushed tasks that amount to very little or almost nothing. (They may even look big at the time you are doing them, but the end result is slim.)

It is a sort of paradox and a counter intuitive thing, but true nonetheless. It’s like the relationship between quality and quantity. Even a little bit of quality stuff is worth much more than a lot of stuff of no quality.

Your life is like that. If you don’t slow down it appears as if you are doing a lot of important things in your rushed day. But they amount to very little.

Slow down, and let your true presence, your true creativity come forward. It can only do that if you are conscious and focused. It can only do that if you are present, alive in the here and now, and if you don’t rush to catch the next thing on your agenda.

And enjoy.

Enjoy the movement of your body and the presence of your mind.

Enjoy in your being alive with this slow pace meditation technique.

Namaste!

Image Credit:

Courtesy of Brian Robinson