Breath in the Sufic term is called Nafs; in Sanskrit it is called Prana, which means "the very life". It spreads life and magnetism in all parts of the body, for breath in itself is life and is magnetism. Deformity of form and feature is often caused by disorder of the breath. Lack of proportion of the body, in form and strength, is also caused by lack of order in the breath.
By exercises for physical culture and exercises of voice production breath can be developed in different parts of the body. It can especially be noticed in the fingers of the violinist that by constant practice on the violin she puts a sort of magnetism, of life, into the strings her fingers touch. This example is the plain proof that it is not the fingers that play nor the violin that sounds, but that they are instruments of life.
The importance of breath is now becoming known to the scientific world, and there is much of this mystical subject which is unexplored. But mysticism has been founded on the science of breath. There is no mystic, whether Buddhist, Vedantic, or Sufi, who makes use of another process than that of breath. Breath is the first lesson and it is also the last.
A mystic becomes capable of sending breath to any part of his body; thus she is able to send life, radiance and magnetism to any particle of her body. The question, “Does she send the breath by his power of will?” can be simply answered by “Yes,” and yet that is not enough. If there are no strings on the violin, you cannot play it by willpower. So long as the adept has not balanced her breath, and controlled it, and mastered it, it cannot bring about the proper result. Therefore it is of no use to try to make use of breath for physical or occult attainments until one has caused the breath to be in such a condition that it can work properly in the body.
Many, therefore, are not successful in spiritual attainments because before making use of the breath in the body, they want to produce psychical phenomena.
The body is the instrument for every experience, worldly or spiritual. By a deep study of breath seekers after truth will find that, as every particle of their body is formed and nourished by breath, so from that, and according to that, their character is formed.
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