This breath training practice was taught to me by members of the Sufi Order. It is a basic practice taught at all classes for the general public. It is also considered a foundation practice for initiates. I am an initiate and have been sponsored by the Sufi Order to teach this breath practice.

These breath patterns relate to the elemental bodies. Those bodies are physical body, mind, heart, soul and spirit. The five bodies relate to the five elements of life. These are: Body/Earth, Mind/Water, Heart/Fire, Soul/Air, Spirit/Ether.

The purpose of the purification breaths is to cleanse the elemental subtle energy bodies by bathing them in the all-pervading pure power of the breath of life. This cleansing encourages release and renewal.

All inhalations in this practice should come with the intention to bring renewing energy to the subtle body which you are working with. Exhalations should encourage release of old energy, ideas, feelings, attitudes and limitations. All energy should be transformed before sending to the land, water or air. The power of intention can transmute energy if you will it. If you choose, you can make it a habit to add one or two fire breaths at the end of each pattern of breathing to facilitate the transformation of energy. You can also light a candle or have a bowl of strong saline handy and project the energy to these locales for transformation.

The breath patterns are as follows:

Earth:

In through the nose and out through the nose

During this pattern, envision your physical body bathed with colors of the Earth. Envision your body permeated by those colors and see the colors vibrate used life energy from your body, transforming it and releasing it. Apply breath especially to areas of the body which are discomfited or ill. Allow pain and dis-ease to transform and be released from your body. Connect with the emotions of the physical body which are smell, sound, taste, touch, and the sight of beauty. Envision your body full of vibrant vigor and deeply connected to Gaia, rooted like a tree. Stretch fully. Breathe deeply and prepare to shift focus to the mind.

Water:

In through the nose and out the mouth

During this pattern, you might envision your thoughts as songs and notes in the orchestra of the universe. Allow the songs of your mind to flow around you like a stream of consciousness. Listen to them and allow the breath and the water to cleanse them of disharmony. Purify yourself of attitudes and attachments which limit you. Let resentment flow from you. Let your powerful breath wash away mental concerns, leaving behind a receptive and calm mind. The emotion of the mind is excitement, resentment, forgiveness, worry, learning and clever problem solving. Breathe deeply and prepare to shift focus to the heart.

Fire:

In through the mouth and out through the nose

This breath focuses on the heart. This subtle body is a physical one as well as a spiritual climate of consciousness. It is emotional, but logic and thought have little to do with the experience of those emotions. Changing the thought cannot change the passion. Only transformation can do this. Allow your heart to lean into fear, joy, love and anger. Allow the embers of your compassion and grace to spark into life. Allow your heart’s fire to transmute emotions which threaten to consume you. Warm and stir harmonious passions and creativity. Encourage these with the breath to grow bigger, more wildish and free. Breathe in Divine Love and allow it to bath your heart being in peace and joy. Breathe deeply and prepare to focus on the soul.

Air:

In through the mouth and out through the mouth

The soul is the focus of this pattern. This body animates the previous bodies. Its emotions are inspiration, revelation and ecstasy. The rhythm of the breath should be gentle and slow, as if close to sleep. Bath your whole being in Divine light and relax your thoughts. Connect with your soul. See it as a cluster of personal vibrations and color, spinning and swirling, dancing and singing. Listen to its song for a long moment…

Breathe deeply and prepare to focus on your spirit.

The Ether breath is generally not recommended by Sufis for newcomers to breathe work or meditation. Breath work is very deconstructive and catalyzing and you should be cautious of going faster than your comfort level with the Ether breath pattern. If you are showing signs of stress or energy loss or had trouble coming back to your body for the last few breath patterns, you should not add this next breath pattern to your meditation. If you consistently experience these symptoms, you should leave the ether breath out of your meditations for at least several months while you become more familiar with the first four patterns and accustom yourself to the purification process. The Purification breathes do, after all, have a gentle cleansing effect on your being and can take some getting used to letting go of things so steadily and consistently. Sufis recommend the first four breath patterns be done in sets of five, eleven or thirty three breaths. They recommend that the ether breath be done in sets of no more than three to five breaths except by those who have worked for long periods of time consistently with the ether breath and who are able to control its effects. The ether breath pattern causes consciousness to unify with the collective consciousness or the source of the universe. It is important to maintain control over that process so that you can reintegrate comfortably back into normal consciousness. No Sufi recommends the Ether breath be used for more than ten to thirty minutes at a time, even on spiritual retreat. I feel that these are very good rules of thumb and strongly recommend that you take them under advisement yourself.

If you want to add in an Ether focus but not the breath pattern itself, you might want to use the Air or Earth pattern and focus on the concepts of unity.

Never do the Ether breath exclusive of the other patterns. The other patterns prepare the energy system for unification and astral projection and going backward through them when completing the Ether pattern is highly recommended as this will recenter you quite nicely.

If you feel you are ready for the Ether breath pattern:

Ether

In and out the nose and mouth simultaneously

This pattern is done with gentle, but shallow and somewhat rapid breaths. The movement of the air flowing from the lungs should be very fine and soft if you cupped your hand over your mouth. Again, the sense of you should be as if falling into a deep sleep. Connect again with the soul. Listen again to the song of the soul. Find its central chord. Drift with the beauty of that part of your song toward the center of the soul. In the center, rests the place of connection with all of creation. Find that place of connection. See it sparkling with colors. Let it beckon you into itself for a few moments. Breathe in that unity. Allow it to bath the connection and spread to all the rest of your being. Allow your consciousness to fade into that collective for just a moment. Draw your consciousness back to itself and return to the place of your soul connection. Pause there and sing a song of perfect trust and peace. Follow those notes back through each of your elemental subtle bodies to your physical body and breath deeply. Sit with yourself, breathing the Earth breath pattern for a few moments to ground.

The Element or Purification Breaths should be done daily and again whenever you are feeling fatigued or unsettled. Individual patterns can be done in brief for certain needs. When I am cold, I often do the fire breath as it warms me. When I am tired, I do the earth breath and I feel refreshed. I also like to use the water breath for feeling overwhelmed or mentally over stimulated.

You might want to get a tape and recorder and read the visualizations above on to the tape. It might be helpful to listen to while doing the breath patterns until you have memorized them. You can also veer from this visualization and do one just likeStarhawk ’s Safe Space meditation in her book Spiral Dance. You can even let the visualization unfold organically as you become familiar with the meditation process.

This practice is an excellent addition to shamanic or Reiki healing sessions. You can ask clients to do the first four purification breaths during their healing process with you. It facilitates release and changes in energy patterns.

There is another Sufi practice which I really love to combine with the purification breaths. It is called Nature Meditations. With this meditation, a nature-related affirmation is said silently to yourself with the breath. Here is an example:

Inhale-”I am the green

Exhale-growing life of trees.”

You can use your meditation time to discover appropriate nature affirmations for you or you could also pick up a pack of fairy cards or a book of inspirational sayings to do this sort of meditation with. Working with affirmations and the breath teaches your personal life patterns. I highly recommend teaching this meditation to clients with chronic health concerns!

 © 2004 Shannee Green