Conclusion
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
In breath exercises, one controls the breath, whereas in breath awareness one only follows it mentally. Eventually the body tremors, itches and discomforts disappear as the mind becomes calmer. Then the student is ready for more advanced meditation techniques. The breath is the link between the mind and the body. The breath is like a thermometer or gage which measures the conditions of the mind and body.
The awakening of sushumna is absolutely necessary before deep meditation and the awakening of kundalini is possible. Only when the student enjoys being still, and is not forcing oneself to be still, is sushumna possible. No meditation is successful in the long run until breath awareness is achieved, which in turn creates the joyous mind described in sushumna. The mind follows the breath and vice versa, as if they are one and the same function.
There is a direct communication between the human and the cosmos, for everything breathes, even inanimate objects, to some extent or another. The cosmos itself is breathing. All the creatures of Earth are breathing the same breath. Meditation is the sustained state of one-pointedness of the mind. The mind is then able to pierce through conscious and unconscious minds to the superconscious state. This is called samadhi, a breakthrough in meditation. Here the microcosm becomes the macrocosm just as the drop of water is no longer an individual and merges with the ocean instead, becoming the ocean rather than the drop. The individual atman is united with total identity, the cosmic self. The kingdom of God is within oneself and the ultimate freedom is now possessed, the freedom from the human condition as self-identity. This completes the evolution of man to God. This completes the human journey. Even if no other meditation practice is used, something as simple as the practice of breath awareness can bring one to this state. Pranayama is the doorway to deep stillness, and stillness is the doorway to the universe that is within you.
Awakening kundalini through deep meditation and kundalini yoga can connect one to the superconscious mind also known as the state of samadhi or sushumna. In a Samadhi tank one can practice Samadhi yoga and experience the feeling of the cosmic identity as a drop in the ocean. In the human journey we can transcend the human condition through the breath awareness of pranayama yoga, a kind of breath science where pranayama breathing is used to align one’s breathing with the cosmic breath of the atman.