Spiritual evolution means the awakening of consciousness and engaging of some latent aspects of our own inner universe. This awakening of consciousness is achieved gradually, at a slower or faster pace, depending upon our mental opening and on the spiritual aspiration that we manifest. To evolve spiritually, immense patience is required, a permanent attention to all the phenomena which manifest themselves in our being and around us, and an ability to learn from our experiences and from the other aspirants who follow a spiritual path and, first of all, to let us open inside towards the wonderful example of the accomplished human beings who have already completed the path of the spiritual evolution, reaching the ultimate liberation. The spiritual path that opens in front of us is no different than of other people. All human beings who have attained liberation have taken the same inner journey and were faced with the same spiritual tests, and finally they got to overcome them. However, the spiritual path will be unique in its own way for each of us and to follow it we need the subtle guidance of an authentic spiritual Guide to guide our steps. He shows us what is the best choice we can make, but nevertheless, we are the ones who will take the steps on our own spiritual path. The spiritual Guide is also the one who helps us seek and acknowledge the presence of God in our being and in all that surrounds us.

Any human being that wishes to go throughout the long process of self-awareness will have to start by orienting their entire attention on the physical structure, on the body movements, the positions it adopts, the muscles that contract, on breathing, on the air which is used to both inhale and exhale, on his thoughts etc. Especially in the beginning, this awareness can be partial or vague. But later, as the capacity of awareness increases, we will manage to penetrate increasingly subtle layers of knowledge of our own being; our consciousness will stretch gradually and will start to include newer and newer mysterious realities, unsuspected before. We will then move to another phase of awareness, in which we realize that in fact we no longer identify only with our body or mind, and we begin to discover that there is something ineffable, far more subtle in our being. Emotional experiences will increase gradually, becoming global, deep and complex. At this stage, we find that there is a lucid consciousness that observes all the emotions, the states and the sensations they we feel, without identifying with them. After this, we will be granted access to another high level of spiritual transformation in which any manifestation of the ego disappears, leaving the place to pure consciousness and  unification with the Divine, through the revelation of the Immortal Self ATMAN in our being. The last step of the spiritual ascent is the full conflation with the God the Father’s Immortal Supreme Self, PARAMATMAN.

At the beginning of our spiritual journey, we often wonder how long we will have on this trip, where it takes us and if we are able to carry it out during this life. But, on the way, we will get to live increasingly more often in the Here and Now, understanding the fact that the present time is in fact made up of unique moments through which the grace of God is manifested to us, and what we have to do is always abandon to his spiritual guiding. Thus, we will gradually get to think less and less in what moment and in what way we will reach the ultimate achievement, but instead we will live in a state of profound peace and quietness, fully recognizing the ineffable presence of God in every moment of our lives.

1. Awareness in the practice of HATHA YOGA

“A man does not become truly unique, until he awakens spiritually. Only then he is able to see with clarity and detachment his errors, illusions, false dreams and imaginative projections, only then, he intuits reality and totally accepts  the present moment, as it is manifested in all its divine perfection.“

yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru

To practice YOGA means to choose to evolve spiritually in an accelerated aware way. Many human beings practice YOGA in a superficial way, believing that if they do a HATHA- YOGA posture it will be enough to produce transformations in their being, that they will quickly become healthy and purified because of the energies that pass through their body. But it’s a great hoax. Even though this passing of the energy is produced, without a proper awareness of the processes that are triggered in our inner universe – when our spiritual practice – effects on the body, our psyche and mind are much reduced and it takes a longer period of time until they become visible in the physical plan. In this situation, analogically speaking, we are like a sieve that receives pure spring water, but the water will escape immediately through the holes of the sieve, leaving only a small part on the surface of the sieve. But if we begin to cover the holes of the sieve, one by one, carefully and patiently, we will notice that the water starts to be retained within the sieve and we will benefit more and more from the purity of that spring water. The awareness of the energies which are received in our being will make the body and mind purify and refine. Then, also through a proper awareness, we will see how these energies will begin to produce increasingly subtle transformations and at the same time more stability in our inner universe, as we start to have intuition on the mysteries of our own being and the universe. Thus, the spiritual evolution is accelerated and the conditions necessary for attaining the state of spiritual achievement will be achieved.

In certain phases of our spiritual evolution we will experience some moments in which the process of awareness becomes shallow, and we will see some slowdown in our spiritual evolution. These moments are particularly important because they represent milestones in our lives. If until that time we accumulated sufficient beneficial, transforming and purifying experiences in our being, they will become for us genuine spiritual anchors which will not let us go away from the ultimate spiritual goal already set in our mind. What we have to do when these difficult moments appear in our spiritual evolution, is to continue what we started with even more tenacity and perseverance, evoking the exceptional moments which we had lived until then. As soon as we pass over this spiritual threshold, a new spiritual ascent will follow. If until that moment we drifted in unconsciousness and laziness on the spiritual path, and our attention is no longer directed towards the attainment of high pure and elevated states, but is distracted by various temptations and attractions, towards the fulfillment of egoistic desires, then a spiritual regression will be produced which, if we do not become aware of it in time, we will lead to a removal from the spiritual path that we had followed until then.

“The initial state of euphoria that appears once with the first glimmers of the awakening of the conscience tends, in the vast majority of cases to fade after a shorter or longer period of time. This aspect characterizes the length of the impact of the beginning energy that supports us when we take our first steps on the road towards spiritual realization. After this effervescent period often occurs a feeling of shortage, of diminution of the state of grace, which can even lead to states of despair.”

yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru

Out of the whole complex of techniques and procedures that the HATHA YOGA system includes, the most well-known are ASANA-s, the body postures. During the practice of ASANA-s we will regard each body posture that we realize as a gate open towards profound spirituality. The practice of ASANA-s must be carried out in a continuous, effortless and patient way. Even though, at first, some aspiring YOGIS cannot do the body postures as they are described, due to some physical limitations, the practice of ASANA-s will always have beneficial effects if their attentionl focus on the execution of that posture. In addition, they may use creative visualizations, picturing mentally as clearly as possible, as they do that perfect body posture perfectly, with no tension. If the execution of each ASANA is accompanied by the focus of the mind on that respective posture, we will be able to more quickly become aware of the effects that appear in their being.

The effects of the YOGA techniques (ASANA-s), asserted by the yoga tradition are confirmed by the practitioners.

Also, to understand what this awareness means in the practice of the HATHA-YOGA techniques, we will take as an example the execution of a body posture MATSYASANA, or the posture of the fish.

2. Awareness in PRANAYAMA procedures and its applications in everyday life

Breathing is an indispensable condition of life. Through the respiratory act a vital fundamental energy called PRANA is captured and accumulated in the being. To become aware of this process will gradually lead us to the very source of universal life.

Through the correct practice of YOGA body postures (ASANA), we understand that only a purely physical exercise, regardless of its nature or complexity, cannot bring profound changes in the practitioner’s being. But accompanied by adequate awareness of the phenomena that occur in the body and of the processes of resonance with specific focal points in the universe that it triggers, this exercise will greatly help our whole being generating both interior changes of a deep nature as well as external transformation in the body.

Similarly, the mechanistic practice of these exercises of control and rhythm of breathing, PRANAYAMA, without being aware of the subtle phenomena that occur in the inner universe of our being, will not bring the extraordinary benefits mentioned in the millennial yoga treaties. It is therefore imperative that we focus our attention, first, on the air entering and leaving through the nostrils during inspiration and expiration. We observe the airflow inside the body and the route it follows and then its way out of the body through the nostrils. This method of awareness is similar to that presented in the first part of the article, where we spoke about how to be aware of the physical posture while performing an ASANA, the movements the body makes in order to reach that position. In the second phase of the awareness of the breathing process after we became familiar with the air circulating through the nostrils, we focus our attention to grasp the more subtle aspects of this process, namely the energies that are brought together with the air into the body and will produce the effect specific to the technique of PRANAYAMA performed by us. As a yoga posture correctly performed brings, through resonance, subtle energies of the macrocosm in the microcosm of our being, similarly, in the case of PRANAYAMA procedures the energy captured from the universe will be circulated in our own being, producing great changes in our inner universe.

For a better understanding we suggest you read the article Pranayama or how we can connect to the inexhaustible source of the universal energy, where detailed information about PRANA and the right way to approach PRANAYAMA techniques are presented.

Effects of conscious breathing on everyday life

Being aware of the breathing, of the way in which the respiratory process develops, can help us tremendously outside the spiritual practice itself, in many moments of our everyday life.

Many problems that the human being has to face are caused by the accumulation and expression of  negative emotions, some of them of a great intensity. Fear, stress, anger, jealousy, etc. trigger within our inner being, when manifested and lived with intensity, true mental and emotional storms and they may even disrupt the proper functioning of the body. Their disastrous effects affect the whole being, as they touch both the nervous system and immune and glandular systems. The mind becomes agitated, disturbed, confused and anxiety or choking sensations occur, etc. To counter these painful events we need to let go of the tide of destructive emotions and to begin immediately to breathe deeply, willingly, as regularly and consciously as possible. We will then focus our attention on the breathing process, realizing how, with the inspiration of air, we bring purifying and revitalizing pranic energy into our being, and as we exhale we will spread elevated energies, captured from the macrocosm, into our body, making evil and negative energies that tended to overwhelm us, dissipate and eventually disappear. After a relatively short time, our psycho-emotional balance is restored completely. A deep sense of peace occurs then, the mind calms down and on this background of clarity, superior insights and even brilliant solutions to problems we deal with may appear. Practicing these conscious breaths for a long enough period of time we achieve a state of self-confidence, enthusiasm, and zest for life, vitality and power to act in harmony with everything around us.

Method to capture the purifying, healthy, elevated energies through a force idea or creative images

In his book Initiation in Hermeticism, Franz Bardon describes a novel method of inner transformation that is based on the idea that air can be impregnated with some beneficial force ideas, thoughts or images. This impregnated air will play a dual role when it is directed to the lungs and then through the blood vessels throughout the body. At first, in the first phase of breathing, the material, coarse part of the air components is brought into the body and will be used to support and vitalize it. In the second phase, the subtle part of the components of the breathed air, filled with those beneficial ideas and images will reach the etheric and astral bodies impregnating them well. It goes without saying that what matters primarily is not quantity but quality of inhaled air, specifically the ​​force idea with which it was impregnated.

From a practical standpoint, this method has the following steps: sit as conveniently and comfortably on a chair or on the ground. We aim to relax the physical structure and to breathe slowly, calmly, through the nose. We focus our attention on the force idea that we want to use in this method, for example: we visualize and realize how, once with the inspired air, health, peace, peace and love (or whatever good aspect we want to assimilate into our being) enter the lungs and blood. The visualization must be very clear, lived intensely and with full conviction. The inhaled air impregnated with the beneficial force idea will be rapidly assimilated in our body and subtle bodies and what we pursue will then become reality. We should practice each visualization at a time, with each of the beneficial states that we aspire towards, moving to the next force idea after we managed to obtain the state that we had aimed for before. Awareness of all the subtle aspects occurring in our being both during the actual practice of this method and at its end are extremely important.

3. Awareness in the meditation process

In the previous article we approached the subject of becoming aware of the respiratory process in PRANAYAMA techniques and we pointed out its importance with the purpose of obtaining a connection with the very source of life, through the accumulation of the vital primordial energy, PRANA. When this occurs, a certain state of self confidence arises in one’s being, a state of mental serenity and depth.

After this stage we will begin taking note of the activity of our mind and what happens beyond our thoughts, then we will deepen the meditative states and, while remaining in complete silence, we will have access to superior knowledge, through the awakening of the supramental consciousness.

The famous treaty Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, written in the form of a dialogue between SHIVA and his beloved consort SHAKTI, presents a wide array of techniques for spiritual enlightenment, some of these being based upon the process of becoming aware of the respiratory process. In Osho’s comments to one of these techniques, he describes the way in which this should be done in order to lead us to the revelation of our primordial nature.

“When the energy touches your nostrils, feel it there. Then let it enter. Be with it, fully aware. When you enter with it, do not lose it. Do not rush ahead and do not fall behind, go with it.  Breathing and consciousness must become one. When the energy enters, you enter. Only then will it be possible to reach the point between two breaths. Move together with the PRANA on the inside, move with it on the outside.

If you’ll keep on practicing this technique of becoming aware of your breath, suddenly, one day, without even knowing, you’ll reach that interval. Because the more profound your consciousness will become, the more awake and solid it will be – the whole world will be bleaker, blander; your world is just the inspiration and the expiration, it is the arena of your consciousness – suddenly, you will feel that hiatus where there is no breath.

When you move attentively, in synchronicity with your breath, how could you ever remain unconscious? You will suddenly become aware of the fact that there is no breathing there, and a time will come when you will feel that no breath comes in, no breath comes out. It ceased completely. In that break you can become fully aware of your divine nature.”

First, it will be rather difficult for us to sense that break between the breathing out and breathing in; most of the times, we are under the impression that the two phases of breathing follow one after another endlessly. But when we focus our attention on breathing, without changing it, just observing it, we will notice that both the breathing in and the breathing out slow their pace, they become lighter and slower and then we’ll be able to perceive that hiatus between them, that moment of going back from the outside and going inside and vice versa. That’s the point where the mind calms down, the consciousness focuses inside the being and touches the center. In that point, the respiratory processes are united and the creation occurs.

To be aware means to be an observer

„To easily attain a state of contemplation, you should seek to detach yourselves from spontaneous thoughts, at least once a day; just let them wander freely, just as clouds are passing by in the sky. When we focus into such a state of contemplation, you should try to be the life, and not just think of life.”

yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru

Observing all the events that occur within us and around us with great attention, lucidity and detachment, we will become more and more aware of ourselves and the surrounding reality. Our ability of being aware will increase more and more, it will get more refined, we will be able to seize more and more profound aspects, more subtle aspects, we’ll be able to go beyond appearances and to master a wider area of our sphere of our consciousness, which will expand further more.

Usually, when we are paying attention to something of the outer world, we are actually referring to one of the sense: sight, hearing, smelling, touching or tasting. But the real attention consists of a perception with all the five senses, and a complete stillness, with no mental fluctuation to disturb our inner silence. This is the moment when we can consider ourselves true observers. If someone tells us about the beauty of a flower and its perfume, we can notice these details, indeed, but that doesn’t mean we’ve actually felt that flower properly. We’ve only noticed certain specific aspects of it.

Truly becoming aware of the flower actually means that we stop our mind, we leave ourselves to be absorbed by that flower, with all its characteristics, as a whole. And then the field of our consciousness will change, the mind will stop, the body will be still and nothing outside of that flower will no exist. This is a very special state which is also very difficult to reach.

Then you can no longer say that there’s just you and the flower, because you’re becoming one with the flower, your consciousness has absorbed the flower and became one with it. This analogy can extend to the human beings we think we know. But we will never truly know someone unless we have incorporated them entirely in our consciousness.

Thus, being truly focused on something also means stopping our mind from playing and focusing it on one thing. For this to happen, an assiduous practice is required, because the mind is just like a monkey restlessly jumping from one tree to another. Can you even rest three whole minutes without thinking of something? This is difficult exercise, but many will say: “Yes, I can.” But after a few seconds, you’ll notice that there are images unfolding before your eyes, or some thoughts just passing through your mind, thoughts about what you’ll do after this experiment, or some thoughts about what happened just a few minutes ago.

Obviously, the process of becoming aware is inseparably connected to consciousness. And we can say that what we comprise in our sphere of consciousness is a measure of our spiritual level of evolution, of the degree in which our consciousness is awakened. The answer to the fundamental question “Who am I?” is intimately related to what we’re capable of becoming aware of.

Are we the body? Are we the emotions? Are we the mind? Or the soul? Are we a divine immortal spirit, a spark of God, the Father? The depth of our direct conscious experience is what determines the answer and not our conscious mind, based on ideas or concepts.

The act of observation is a gate to the Supramental Consciousness

Most of the times, attention is selective, and the process of becoming aware is more complex, more comprising. It manifests in a field which is generated on the object to be perceived. That’s where the attention is heading. If you focus on your breathing, then you’ll not only become aware of the act of breathing, but also of the complex processes that take place during breathing: the air going through the nostrils, the presence of the subtle energies along with the air, the body posture, etc. You will be able to awaken your consciousness and to increase your ability of expanding it, while focusing your attention on the “third eye”, AJNA CHAKRA.

When you will be able to focus your attention on that point, you will notice your thoughts going before your closed eyes, without disturbing your concentration and you will become their observer. For a moment, the state of detached witness lingers, but then you’ll fall back into the world of thought and reason. Then you leap again and you’ll go back to the state of detached witness once again.

After a while, this state begins to stabilize and you will become a lucid observer of the occurring thoughts and ideas – they will occur less and less often in the end. The passing of the mental agitation will draw a state of complete silence and relaxation with itself. In this state of silence, with no thoughts to disturb it, you will be able to have access to the Supra-mental realm.

The energy which is specific to this realm is of a more subtle nature, it is pure and highly elevated. Sri Aurobindo said: “The world in which we’re living is an empire of the senses, in which the divine essence of our soul, the real Self was forgotten by most people. We are like actors on the great stage of life, actors who stopped listening to the directions of the Director, actors who identify themselves with their parts completely, and therefore they can no longer remember who they really are. The Tower of Babel is no longer a metaphor, but an image of day to day reality. If we want to transcend the great show of cosmic illusion, we must also be detached observers. The mind becomes silent when observing attentively. Only then, the TRANSFORMATION can begin…”