Refining Exercise 1

REFINING EXERCISE NO. 1 - This Exercise Deals with the Area of the Heart and the Lungs.

Method:

Take deep and false breaths at the speed of 36 breaths per minute along with the musical rhythm by placing both the hands (palms) on the chest. Be attentive that the chest should go out while inhaling and it should go in while exhaling, and the others parts of the body should not move. The entire breath is restricted only in the chest/lungs area.

Time limit:

Maximum one minute in the beginning. Once you are comfortable with a minute, increase by about ¼ to ½ a minute per month till you reach 3 minutes.
* Please note that the duration should not be extended beyond 3 minutes.

Benefits:

Physical

1. Problems connected with the lungs. As we grow older the lungs get stuck at the upper part due to non-use. By doing these exercises these are opened up and breathing, blood flow etc. is freed, thus curing asthmatic and respiratory problems such as wet lungs.

2. This is the area of the heart. This exercise therefore remedies all kinds of heart aliments such as weak heart, blocked arteries, valve problems etc. It helps regulate the flow of blood. From the heart, oxygenated blood reaches every cell in the body. Each cell has its organic memory as Tavariyaji used to say; this memory at present is of conflict. So by doing this exercise at the 3SRB rhythm, blood from the heart imbibes this rhythm and transports it to each cell of the body. This rhythm is then slowly taken up by the organic memory of each cell. And where there is rhythm, conflict cannot exist. So in this way, the first exercise ensures good overall health of the body.

Emotional

This is the area of the magical quality we call love. But before that, this is also the area where the ego (I Consciousness) is born. And love would mean transcendence of Ego. This ego starts from birth, ever since a name is given to a person. Then everything starts revolving around that name, eg. My name, My Family, My House, etc. Satisfying of this ego becomes the central point of our lives. Everything revolves round it, which in turn leads to self-centeredness, manipulation of others, power-gathering etc. Because of this we cannot love, because to love we must have the will to love. We can therefore say that this is the area where will is also born. At present this will is flowing outwards in gratifying this ego. Shri Tavariaji called this neutral will. But to tread on the path and then to walk on it we need intellectual will and then spiritual will. Intellectual will means an initial understanding of the whole situation of the ego and trying to rise above it. This rising above involves sacrifice of personal gratification (Ego) to helping others. Guruji called this the move from internal consideration to external consideration. As this proceeds and our structure of acceptance changes, we are in a position to bring about spiritual will. Spiritual will means -not allowing the entity of the ego to interfere in our actions, but to surrender it to a higher consciousness and later onto the divine fragment inside.

According to Shri Tavariaji, spiritual will is created at the Anahata. The Anahata he says is a Chakra with two parts one -positive (right) and the other -negative (left). By doing this exercise initially we dissolve the granthis and then the negative energies are made positive. Finally over a period of time the part of the Anahata which is negative becomes positive and then becomes steady and rhythmic and this happens because the exercise is done at the 3SRB rhythm. It is at this point that spiritual will is created. Apart from the above, this is also the area of balance. Many or most of us have a feeling that life is swinging from one extremity to another i.e. there is constant imbalance.

This exercise slowly over a period of time keeps us balanced in all the ups and downs of life. Finally and most importantly let us now talk about the endocrine system.

Here, we have a gland called Thymus, which in the Astral is connected with the Anahata. The thymus is connected with 'overall' growth. A young child has a large thymus and as he approaches adolescence his body growth slows down and the thymus shrinks in size. At around the age of three years another function also develops from the thymus, namely the growth of personality. Most importantly what we are concerned with is where the Anahata gives the energy to the Thymus for growth in an absolutely new direction and dimension. The path to inner evolution. Tavariaji called this our POINT IN TIME. Because the exercise takes us closer towards that first step on the path, this is the FIRST refining exercise.