https://www.breathingmeditations.net/home daily 1.0 2025-12-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1627381592854-VHP50UJANK9RL83RHBNT/Meditation-Pranayama-Courses_Content.jpg Home - Meditation Courses Learn the three core breath-supported meditations and their fast-breathing preliminaries. Each pranayama breathing technique creates a unique energetic flow. We use these different directional flows to guide different meditations. All the meditations focus attention on our living, breathing connection with the cosmos. This is the source of their calming power and inspiring nature. Each meditation connects you with nature in a different way (as illustrated). This meditation on merging is layayoga. The courses build from a grounding, foundational practice, through a balancing/integrating pattern, then up to the transcendental. Progress at your own pace as far as you choose to go. Teaching is live, online or in-person. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1628354678110-UWQBNBT2PZA3P77KY6FA/Meditation_Pranayama_Laya.jpg Home - Three Layers of Practise The practice uses the body as a gateway to meditation. It uses three interwoven techniques. Controlled breathing patterns work on a physical level to calm and stabilise mind & body. These breath flows also focus attention inward. The insight of your mind’s eye is then trained to visualise the feeling of these breath flows in ways which support embodied meditation. This multi-tasking also prevents mind-wandering and promotes stillness. It is an active, engaging & empowering approach to meditation that assures success. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1627321719105-042U7LK3ROK1YPPSNEHZ/Meditation_Three_Aspects_of_the_Absolute_Bulaki-Duality.jpg Home - Meditation Sources These techniques were codified in India by practitioners who realised that the human body and the natural world provide a perfect focus for meditation. This connects us with the cosmos and nature, bringing a sense of both silent stillness and universal belonging. To resonate with these practices, all you need is an appreciation of earth, nature & sky - a sense that will only deepen as we progress. https://www.breathingmeditations.net/meditation-three-layers-of-practise daily 0.75 2025-03-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1628353761067-98UPJ4VJEXJJK2QH8122/Meditation-Laya.jpg The 3 Layers of Practise - The 4th Layer The one that is not a layer at all. The goal of the meditations is to open the bounded, individual self to a sense of merging with the unbounded outer world. The shift into a sense of an unbounded self is referred to as laya (merging or dissolving). This is initially felt as a directional connection - such as elevation or grounding - guided by breath-flow and the power of the mind’s eye. When ending the physical practice, we gently dial-down & then drop the directed breath-flow, mantra & visualisation and move into a calm, stable state of observation. A sense of stillness occurs spontaneously. There is now no physical effort or will-power involved. We are simply sitting quietly, doing nothing. The more well-known meditation paths aim directly for this, such as za-zen/”no-mind” meditation. The practise is to observe your thoughts without engaging with them, without building on them. This may be described as “letting go”, “thought witnessing”, “being with what is” or ”being aware of awareness”. Disengaging from thoughts & emotions is a very difficult way to meditate for many people. It can easily be counter-productive: creating irritation, disappointment, dissociation or lethargy. The ability to “let go” is far easier for most people to achieve after a breath-driven, focused attention meditation that fosters the necessary calm, clarity and balance of mind & body. And crucially, during the practice - “along the way” - the active approach yields a range of nourishing, connective experiences between inner and outer world. These contribute to the many physically & psychologically therapeutic benefits of an active practice that a passive meditation cannot provide. (See Breathwork for more on the therapeutic applications of the physical techniques that underpin the meditations.) https://www.breathingmeditations.net/meditation-courses daily 0.75 2025-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1627665421789-2GS8D8MQ0TZB7A8PL1TX/meditation_pranayama_courses.jpg Meditation Courses - Course Structure Courses are designed in a linear order, from the fundamental to the transcendental. Each course builds on the previous set of practices. Progress at your own pace, as far as you choose to go. Series 1. Course 1 : Breath Waves & Inner Currents develops the awareness & the physical, muscle control techniques needed to direct breath-flow. Course 2 : Elevation & Grounding, establishes the foundational vertical meditation (the central channel) & develops third-eye focus. Supporting breath-flows are guided by two techniques, ujjiya & kapalabhati; and by selective application of directional locks (bhandas). Course 3 : Balancing & Expansion uses alternate nostril breathing to support a meditation that builds & balances our outgoing (solar) & reflective (lunar) qualities. These are then united to drive a powerful centering & expansion practise. Series 2 : When stable in Series 1 meditations, there are two more detailed courses that will suit some: a balancing Elemental Activation that can be followed by a Transcendental Elevation technique (kuṇḍalinī raising). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1626281356763-YBUEEOU3N3QUM2WX7PQD/Central-Channel_Courses.jpg Meditation Courses - 2.Elevation & Grounding The Central Channel & Third Eye. This course focuses on the foundational pranayama-driven meditation. It cultivates vertical energy flows. We learn two practices - one slow cycle and one fast cycle. The slow cycle is an elevating and grounding flow using ujjiya breathing that establishes the central channel. This is your core energetic conduit. It comes into clear focus when we learn to track the moving breath-flow by accompanying it with inner sounds & visualisation. This builds the axis of our inner, subtle body. The grounding technique establishes a stable foundation and the origin point of the central channel. The elevation practice takes us up the central channel to the bridge of the nose, where we stabilise the Third Eye (often simply called “the light in the head”). We view this light-point as the connection between inner & outer world. The fast-breathing technique is Kapalabhati (Shining Skull). This is a short preliminary practice that creates focus and prepares the mind-body for a slow breath-cycle. Kapalabhati is an elevating up-flow that ignites the light in the head. When practised correctly, it focuses energy at the eyebrow centre with calmness & clarity. Finally we link the practises into a single sequence, concluding with a pattern of gestures (mudras) in coordination with a slow pranayam that brings energy & awareness into the heart centre. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1626024625064-L5RS428NL17GQNFCT7GA/Meditation-Pranayama_Waves_Course.jpeg Meditation Courses - 1.Breath Waves & Inner Currents Breath Control & Extension. This first course establishes the breathing patterns needed to stabilise body and mind. The core techniques slow the breathing in a way that lowers heart rate/blood pressure and rests the metabolism, whilst simultaneously sharpening mental focus. This creates the ideal state for successful meditation. We start by freeing-up your body and breath with a mix of physical techniques & somatic awareness training. These therapeutic exercises introduce you to the various breath-flows and how they affect you, physically and emotionally. You also begin to learn the skill of inner body visualisation. We then learn how to move & hold the energies of inhale and exhale to energise or calm. By the end of the first session, you will be able to regulate your energy levels and how you are feeling. This mastery is, of itself, highly beneficial to physical and mental health. Indeed, the first part of this course is very similar to the BreathWorkShop (Breathe Into Life). But here we are building the basis for a successful seated meditation practice - so we have an additional focus on breath cycle extension, flow re-direction and breath pausing. These are the subjects of the second session. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1626281068972-XF1RLB5BVE2SVFCH9JTO/Meditation-Nadi+Shodhana-Course.jpg Meditation Courses - 3.Balance & Expansion Side Channels & Solar/Lunar Centres. Emission & Re-absorbtion. This is a two-stage practice that can be done separately but is most powerful as a single sequence. The first meditation focuses on channels at either side of the central channel (ida & pingala nadi) & on associated solar & lunar centres in the gut & head. Meditation is supported by a bilateral (left/right) breath-flow channelled by alternate nostril breathing (nadi shodhana). We add inner sounds to the breath cycle that build internal visualisations of sun and moon. This cultivates the contemplation of growing and balancing our contrasting capacities for reflection and action - our receptive and our outgoing inclinations. This is a deeply nourishing practice of itself. The second practice starts by switching the breathing pattern to integrate the balanced solar and lunar qualities at the heart centre - an inner merging. This is followed by a switch to another breath pattern which expands our balanced, united energy outward into the external world from the heart centre - an outgoing, expansive merging. We then absorb energy from the external world to expand the heart centre. We contemplate these multiple energy mergings - the combining of our inner solar/lunar qualities at the heart centre, their emission into the external world & re-absorbtion back into the heart centre. This is a profound practise of deep connection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1626281134509-5PWVHQZ93JLT54C3YB7C/Meditation-Pranayama_Kundalini-Course.jpg Meditation Courses - 4&5.The Elements & Kundalini This is a second series of two courses. They elaborate on the techniques and views learnt in the first three courses. You need to be stable in the first series before moving onto these. The first practice is elemental merging. This is a detailed meditation that moves deep within by mapping the elements of the macrocosm: space, wind, fire, water & earth - onto ourselves (the microcosm) along the central channel. This process creates a connecting substrate (the mesocosm) that is called the subtle or astral body. This installation uses elemental seed mantras and visualisations. It is, in essence, a more detailed version of the Lunar/Solar cultivation and balance we practised in Balancing & Expansion. The supporting breath is the same vertical directional flow used in our Elevation & Grounding practise. The elements are installed in a linear order along the central channel using mantra and visualisation. This meditation can then form the basis for a transcendental elevation that engages and lifts energy up the central channel and beyond. It is commonly viewed as kuṇḍalinī raising. This is the practise that moves meditation beyond the elemental, material world. It is a more complex process, both in terms of the breath control and in the management of additional mantras and visualisations. However, we do not use a high-intensity, pressure-cooker pranayam (that is, extensive breath-holding with multiple locks). I share a meditative practise that is supported by a less demanding pranayam. We will inevitably discuss some aspects of these detailed techniques during the first courses, so you will be able to decide whether these practices are for you. https://www.breathingmeditations.net/meditation-sources daily 0.75 2023-04-11 https://www.breathingmeditations.net/breathwork daily 0.75 2025-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1627467483222-87G5VYQIXXC7K1M570AY/unsplash-image-W1OQnzpk3ZE.jpg Breathwork https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1627467801735-H62HT7C3P8IVHMCCAC8O/unsplash-image-vvyiIlWGsrU.jpg Breathwork https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1627468013792-I1AQR04LO8DM2VT4SQEE/unsplash-image-suj3od1uMv8.jpg Breathwork https://www.breathingmeditations.net/about daily 0.75 2021-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1628413702718-VV9FE5ZBAPU0XIODRB6X/Breathing_Meditation_Tree.jpg About As a footnote, I thought I’d mention this tree, which has been a constant thread throughout my life. It’s part of the team. I discovered it as a child in the woods near home in Alderley Edge. I visit it every time I return to see old friends and graves. The woods up on The Edge are one of the legendary homes of Merlin. I learnt that as a child and took to imagining his life-force infusing this amazing old oak that stands at the start of a narrow ridgeway path. As an isolated teenager in darker days elsewhere, I took to visualising the trees around me as connected by the roots to Merlin Tree. In this manner, it was still here now, enveloping me with protective power. This was a great source of comfort & strength. Over time, the interconnection expanded to encompass every plant & blade of grass. With hindsight I realise that this is similar to some of the meditation approaches taught in the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra. I think that we all do this sort of thing intuitively, often as a support in times of need. We certainly all visualised with ease as children, when it was called play. Perhaps some have lost the art, but it is easily rediscovered to be put to very good use as a layer of meditation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e7289c461d940fd3dcc0aa/1628340425160-IOZ0OSVAXXHYYBT35H47/About_Meditation.jpg About - Warren is your guide Tobias Keene, D.D.S. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Tobias Keene brings a bit of unabashed Southern hospitality to all his patients. He moved to Washington, D.C. over thirty years ago as a freshman at Ivy College. Right after graduation, he attended World University’s School of Dentistry. Before opening Keene Dental in 1994, he worked for free clinics and some of the finest practices in the District. He is part of the 123 Dental Association and stays up-to-date on the latest dental discoveries. When not striving to keep his patients happy and healthy, he’s enjoys hiking with his family in Rock Creek Park. https://www.breathingmeditations.net/donate daily 0.75 2021-07-10 https://www.breathingmeditations.net/contact-1 daily 0.75 2021-09-16