I tossed and turned on my smallish antique bed on the second floor of the Lone Pine Hotel until well after midnight. I had a plan to prove once and for all that Aaraak was some type of inner manifestation. It was very difficult to accept that some guy, full of wisdom, was sitting in some cave where I conveniently manifested night after night. My plan was simplicity itself, I would go to sleep in the nude and, when I woke in the Ancient Cave, I would simply check out my own nakedness. The foggy memories of previous visits were without reference to my own clothing. Did I have any? I remembered a chilly feeling on at least one occasion. Was I cold, or was that fear? On the one hand I tried to calm my mind down, to mute my excitement and expectation, on the other hand I was wondering if my little tests were going to offend Aaraak. What exactly was I hoping to prove by showing up in the nude?

Finally I went out and in the next moment, or so it seemed, I was drifting into a state of awaked ness in the Ancient Cave. Immediately my hands went to my legs. I was wearing something, not exactly clothes. I explored the garment, more with my hands than my eyes, and discovered it to be a largish loose-fitting robe of a rough material that was akin to cotton. It was a dark color, possibly brown.

“Like that robe?” Aaraak asked, once again appearing in my mind’s thoughts as well as in a voice external to me. “I had it made up for you some months ago.”

“Unnh, you were expecting me?”

“Of course. The universe is only a mystery to those with limited vision.”

“It doesn’t offend you that I keep trying to prove to myself that this is all unreal…or real?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Aaraak chuckled, “In fact it greatly amuses me! Keep trying! Perhaps you are making some progress!

“Today we will continue our exploration of the inner self, going boldly where many have gone before…and where many later will come. Breath has many, many dimensions. Today we are going to learn a useful application, a practice that will feel ‘right’ immediately and, just as importantly, be the groundwork for multiple future practices. We will label this basic maneuver the ‘circle’ breath.

“Circles are basic. They have an elementary shape, a traditional shape, an archetypal shape. They exist as a paradigm in our conscious, our subconscious, our unconscious, our superconscious states. Why do they fascinate us so? Why do they intrigue us? They are an essential part of many inventions and practical applications in our physical world. If we add depth, they are the approximate shape of most celestial bodies. Symbolically they represent our boundaries as sentient beings in an uncertain environment. In a direct way they represent our completed spiritual being.

“The next few observations are beyond your immediate comprehension, but I will mention them here and we will return to elaborate at some future date. In most civilizations the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but in spiritual reality everything curves, and these curves become circles. Circles tend to confound our math; we apply incomplete numbers and approximations to them in an effort to make them definable. Completion requires at least four dimensions to have validity for the soul.

“Okay. That is background material. Now we move on to the actual instructions. First, you have to find a quiet place to sit, someplace where you are unlikely to be interrupted for a few minutes. Let’s turn off the phone, turn off the kids, turn off the office, turn off as many distractions as one can. One round of practice will only take twenty seconds or so but it is good, if possible, to take thirty seconds or more to get oneself ready, and a minute or more afterward to allow for a full integration of the experience.

“First we must take a moment for the ‘sitting’ instruction. These will be used for all sitting practices and can be reviewed as needed. Sit upright in a comfortable position. A comfortable position generally means one that you can stay in for ten minutes, or more, without feeling cramps or loss of blood flow, or aches and pains that require immediate attention. It does not matter if you are on a rug, on a floor, on a cushion, on a hard chair, on a soft sofa, or on a device of your own design. One detail that helps make it work is, the first time in any surroundings, check to make sure that your knees are lower than your pelvis. This allows the blood and energy more access to your lower extremities. Now let your gut sag forward. Gently push your lower abdomen forward if you cannot find your sag (don’t worry! No one will be watching!). This will tend to pull the lower back forward a bit and subsequently opens the chest and makes one sit taller than usual. Pull the chin down just a bit, toward the chest, which brings the gaze, still forward, into a gentle down-slope. The back of the head is pulled slightly skyward. Imagine that you are suspended from a string that dangles from the heavens. If you have arrived at the proper position, this will happen effortlessly and will not have to be assembled one detail at a time. Furthermore, the position alone should not only feel natural, but it should actually begin to energize you. Lastly, you place the open upturned hands in your lap with the right hand resting in the left, the fingers of the right hand lying in the palm of the left hand. The two thumbs come gently together with just enough touching or pressure that they would be able to keep a sheet of paper from falling to the floor if it were placed between them.

“Each session of the ‘circle’ breath will be a minimum of five breaths. Originally a goal of achieving five smooth breaths is excellent. It might take nine or eleven breaths to get five smooth breaths the first week but thereafter, if the preparatory steps have been taken, it is likely that every breath will seem ‘smooth’ and seamless. The first weeks we will close our eyes while doing the ‘circle’ breath. This is not an important detail of the practice but is done to cut down on sensory distractions.

“Again you bring your awareness to the tip of your nose. You follow your inhale down the front of your body, reaching a point low in the abdomen where the inhale comes to a natural stop. Then you follow the exhalation up the spinal area to mid-brain and allow it to curve back down to the nostrils where you completely empty your lungs with a little push. This is one full breath. And then you begin the next, inhaling down the front… If one feels distracted just be patient with yourself. Take a few breaths in a normal way, double check your sitting posture, and review your plan for the next practice breath. Don’t panic, with a little practice you will be successful. It will get easier and easier, I promise.

“The scientists and intellectuals that you encounter will be quick to point out that this is not the path taken by an actual humanoid’s breath, nor is it a circle. And I agree with them! However it is a very convenient fiction that allows us to accomplish much now, and even more as we go into the future. I encourage you and everyone you teach to follow this imaginary circuit of the breath without judgment and see if good results do not follow. As you continue to work with breath there will be many practices that are augmented by some use of imagination, visualization, or mantra (‘charged’ or empowered sound), as well as other practices that do not use sound or light as complementary aids. The key to both sets of practice will always be, in some way, the use of awareness.

“The ‘circle’ breath can be done as often and as much as you like as long as it fits your schedule and does not interfere with your life. Just do it! A minimum of five ‘circle’ breaths daily will adequately prepare you for future instructions. There is no conflict at all with the ‘six magic seconds’ practice, which can continue to be done whenever you wish. Soon we will have even more breath exercises to choose from. You will learn to use the one that is appropriate for you. Occasionally more than one practice is appropriate, what goes together, or does not go together, you will have to develop the ability to discern. This is exactly like mixing drugs; some combinations are fine, others are not.

“Enough talking for now, but I want you to do five sets of five circle breaths before you return to your sleep…in Lone Pine…without the robe!” Aaraak laughed uproariously, somewhat at my expense. Thankfully the darkness hid my blush. “I will do the ‘circle’ breath with you,” he added, “which will fully empower you so that, some day when you have mastered this practice, you can empower others.”

I smiled and, although struggling to put this simple practice together in my head, felt his power in a direct way, almost as a warm glow…