Utter stillness is perhaps one of the deepest meditations. We can cultivate “stiller stillness” with pre-birth breathing. When we are internally still, our subconscious mind-noise subsides and the deeper vibratory patterns which are beyond our true selves have the possibility to arise and disperse. This is no easy feat.
Once we are seated for meditation (sometimes no easy feat in itself) we can focus our attention on our breathing. There are a myriad of ways to do this. One option is to choose between pre-birth breathing and post-birth breathing. In this article, we will attend to pre-birth breathing.
Pre-birth breathing is also called pre-natal breathing or embryonic breathing. It is the respiration we did in our mother’s womb before we used our lungs to get oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. At this time, respiration was solely at the blood and cell level. There was no engagement of our lungs and the outside air. This is an amazing realization once we get it.
When we are in pre-birth breathing, even in our post-birth bodies, external movement of the body is minimized. Even if we are still and breathing abdominally, our belly is moving. This is a fine way to go however we can become more fully still by utilizing the mind of cellular respiration or fluid breath which is the gas exchange (oxygen and carbon dioxide) at the cellular level.
One way to gain subtly of cellular respiration and increase our sense of stillness is to allow the entire body to experience the flow and rhythm of breath. The body breathes pre-natally in one of two ways which ultimately become one in-the-same.
Initially we may attend centrally or peripherally. When centrally attentive we focus on the dan tien and open our cellular membranes to allow the fluid-breath to fill to our periphery- the legs, arms, pelvis and head and empty in reverse. When we are peripherally attentive, we open our cell membranes and allow our skin to expand fluidly or energetically, just as we fill a rubber balloon with air and empty in reverse. In this way, it may be felt as a flow or ripple of fluid.
With some practice, these unite as center and periphery become indistinguishable as one essence. The body-mind simply expands and condenses which is our respiration; the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at the cellular level.
This brief description is a somewhat technical writing of one of our most simple and basic states of being. Pre-birth being is better experienced than written and read about. With practice the sense of peace and serenity are profound and the opening to divine wisdom becomes more and more available to each and all of us. Hopefully these words will plant and nurture the seed of possibility to remember something which has long been forgotten.
