by The individual's development through total breathing
In this exercise, we build on the practice of conscious breathing introduced in Step One. The Step Two exercise is similar to the first, but it involves breathing from the lungs and through the skin’s pores, engaging the entire body. To clarify this, it’s essential to explain what pore breathing means.
Our skin has small openings that allow sebum to reach the surface through sebaceous glands, and sweat to exit through sweat glands. The idea of “breathing through the pores” seems illogical since these openings primarily serve an excretory function. A layperson might view this practice as scientifically unfounded, while some practitioners believe its purpose is physically activating skin breathing. So, who is correct? Let’s look at Bardon’s perspective: “Try to think that, with each inspiration, not only your lungs are breathing, i.e., inhaling air, but the whole body is doing so. Be firmly convinced that, together with your lungs, every single pore of your body simultaneously receives vital power and conveys it to the body.”
The answer lies in the phrase “try to think.” The secret of hermetic breathing is found in the conscious application of our skin’s natural sensitivity to external sensations such as heat, cold, and pressure. This practice involves stimulating, with full awareness, an impression that mirrors a physical experience. It means creating a flow of energy that descends from the mental and astral planes—the realm of sensations—down to the physical level. This lays the groundwork for unifying our existence across these three dimensions.
This approach does not involve deceiving oneself into feeling a non-existent physical perception; rather, it is about realising breathing through the body via mental visualisation and then manifesting it on the physical plane through the astral body. It is an inversion of the natural process where external stimuli typically produce feelings that are then processed by the brain.
In this practice, the individual consciously creates experiences, enhancing the natural methods through willpower. Describing this experience in words can be challenging, as everyone interprets it based on their sensitivity.
There is still more to discuss regarding what Bardon refers to as Vital Energy. In the theoretical section of Initiation into Hermetics (IIH), it becomes clear that vital energy is an energetic matrix composed of the four Elements: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, along with the ākāśa, as well as the electric and magnetic fluids mentioned in the context of the tetrapolar magnet. This energy is not a substance that can be measured in a conventional sense, except through its effects on the human body. It represents mental and astral energy, which serves as the causal basis for the biochemical and oxidative processes that sustain the physical body. This energy is often visualised as a golden yellow radiance that harmonises the body’s physiological mechanisms with the subtler principles of the astral and mental realms.
The practice is organised into four sections:
- Sit in a comfortable and relaxed position. Take a few deep breaths, focusing on the sensation of air filling your lungs and your whole body with each inhalation. Imagine that your entire body is like a dry sponge, absorbing and swelling when immersed in water. This visualisation should evoke an intense sensation; it’s crucial to feel as if the air is entering not just your lungs but also your skin and pores.
- Once you feel the sensation, imagine that as you inhale the air, you also draw in the etheric vital energy surrounding you like a golden cloud. Visualise this energy penetrating your body through your skin and lungs, reaching all your organs and parts.
- Next, replace the inhalation of life energy with that of a desire, as described in the practice of conscious breathing. The only difference is that here you breathe in with your whole body, not just from your lungs.
- Once the exercise is stabilised, you can focus on exhalation. Imagine that, as the air is released from your lungs and pores, you are also expelling the opposing and complementary aspects of desire, such as weakness, selfishness, and any physical, mental, or emotional ailments.
The four sessions may be experimented with freely, and their execution is not time-limited. Once you achieve the desired results, the exercise is complete.
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