During meditation we are asked to try to feel the breath in the center of the eyebrows but some people recommend to direct it into our spine. Which one is the right technique and if both are right then what’s the difference between the two?
—Archit, India
Dear Archit,
Both are right, and I know this can seem confusing at first, but I will try to explain. Especially in the Kriya Yoga meditation techniques given to us by Paramhansa Yogananda, we are taught to feel the breath in the astral spine and consciously direct it up and down the astral spine in order to magnetize and purify it. But we are also taught to focus our gaze and our attention at the spiritual eye, the point between the eyebrows, while practicing these techniques, and actually at all times or as much as possible throughout our daily lives.
It’s not that we actually breathe at the spiritual eye, at least not in the beginning of our meditation practices. Eventually what happens as your meditations deepen and with a regular, daily practice of the techniques of Kriya Yoga as taught by Yogananda, he describes it as a state wherein “breath becomes mind.” This means that the breathing becomes very shallow to the point that physical breath is not needed at all. At this point, you do feel as though your breath and your consciousness have become centered at the spiritual eye and you have entered into a state of breathless superconsciousness.
