Sreenath Nair-Restoration of Breath. Consciousness and Performance. (Consciousness Literature & The Arts) (2007)
Sreenath Nair-Restoration of Breath. Consciousness and Performance. (Consciousness Literature & The Arts) (2007)
Sreenath Nair-Restoration of Breath. Consciousness and Performance. (Consciousness Literature & The Arts) (2007)
Consciousness
&
Liter ture
the Arts 09
General Editor:
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Editorial Board:
Anna Bonshek, Per Brask, John Danvers,
William S. Haney II, Amy Ione,
Michael Mangan, Arthur Versluis,
Christopher Webster, Ralph Yarrow
Restoration of Breath
Consciousness and
Performance
Sreenath Nair
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO
9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN: 978-90-420-2306-2
ISSN: 1573-2193
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2007
Printed in the Netherlands
To
Prof. K. Ayyappa Paniker
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction 7
Chapter One 11
The Location of Breath
Chapter Two
In Search of Breath 51
2.1 Aristotle and Breath 52
2.1.1 Breath is a Body 54
2.1.2 Breath and Soul 55
2.1.3 Breath and Emotion 57
2.2 Tao and Breath 58
2.2.1 Ch’i Meridians 60
2.2.2 Ch’i Kung and Breath 61
2.3 Breath and the Sanskrit Tradition 63
2.3.1 Space and Time in SƗmkhya 65
2.3.2 Breath and SƗmkhya 67
2.3.3 Breath and the Upanishads 69
2.4 Breath in Yoga and Ayurveda 78
2.4.1 The Sangitaratnakara and the Genesis of the Human 80
Embodiment
A. The Metaphysical Viewpoint 81
B. The Physiological Viewpoint 82
C. The Psychophysical Viewpoint 83
2.4.2 The Siva Svarodaya Shastra and the Yogic Technique 87
of Breathing
A. Nostrils: Structure and Modes 88
B. Nostrils and the Solar System 90
C. Techniques to Check Nostril Modes 92
D. Techniques to Change Nostril Modes 93
E. Practicing Svara-Udaya 100
2.5 Breath and the Siddha Tradition 101
2.5.1 Texts and Authorship 102
A. The Body in the Marmasastra 104
B. Marma and the Body 111
2.5.2 Agastiya’s Cave 112
2.5.3 Siddha Vidya 113
Summary 114
Conclusion 193
Bibliography 196
Acknowledgements
the bipolar dynamics of Yin and Yang: what we breathe in is Yin and
what we breathe out is Yang. Ch’i can exist without form and it can
also exist in the form of a thought or action, the spiritual or material.
The non-material states are pure energy, which is Yang, whereas the
physical and material states are affiliated to Yin. According to the
doctrines of Tao philosophy, establishing a natural cyclic equilibrium
of these two forces is the strongest basis of good physical and mental
health.
The idea of theatricality has been identified with both the Greek
idea of mimesis and the Latin concept of theatrum mundi. 1 Similarly,
Sanskrit poetics in general and the Rasa theory in particular offer
detailed descriptions of the concept and application of theatricality in
performance as well as in literature and other arts. In the Greek
classical tradition, according to Postlewait and Davis, the term
theatricality has been used as mimesis “…to describe the gap between
reality and its representation.” 2 It has also been used to describe a
different mode of perception by which the everyday reality is
exceeded by its representation. It means that the mimetic
representation transforms individual consciousness from the daily to
extra-daily. For Plato, mimesis attempts to evoke the “factual” or real
world but cannot capture it because “the real” is not located in “the
visual and tangible conditions” 3 of the material world. Hence, theatre
produces illusive mimesis that is “twice-removed” from the true or
pure realm of the real. This “mimetic product” posits an empirical link
between the perceiver and what is being represented, but this relation
is always simply a “rhetoric feat” of similarity, never “sameness.” 4
Thus, Plato disapproves of theatrical mimesis because the theatre may
imitate life, but like a metaphor, the re-presentation is always removed
from the real. Plato’s argument has proved to be a strong foundation
for the further development of antitheatrical attitudes in Western
thought.
12 The Location of Breath
spatial overlap from Sauter, Féral insists that the nature of theatricality
is an interplay between the work on stage and its reception by the
audience. For both Sauter and Féral, the definition of theatricality
encompasses all of the performing arts, including dance, opera,
performance art and theatre. Therefore, both theatricality and
performativity are not opposing terms but closely interconnected
concepts.
1.2.1 Definition
it is clear that the individual acts in any situation in terms of the ways
he perceives the situation. Perception, then, becomes a crucial process
intimately involved in the effective psycho-physical functioning of the
individual in the spatio-temporality of the objective world. This
functional approach towards the phenomenology of perception is
useful to understand the ways in which performativity operates in a
theatrical situation through multiple channels of transmission.
To summarise both the findings of this section, we can say that the
interaction between the performer’s actions and the spectator’s
reactions is characterized by three interactive levels of theatrical
communication: sensory, artistic and symbolic. These levels can only
be activated through the process of performance and only this process
facilitates performativity. According to Sauter, performativity is
something that takes place between actions and reactions. He
disagrees with Fischer-Lichte on her key argument that ‘the use of
signs’ designates theatricality. Nor does he think that theatricality is a
specific ‘mode of perception’ as Burns uses the term. Rather he
focuses on both perspectives as “…both actions which become signs
and reactions through which these signs are perceived in a special
way.” 31 Therefore, the question of performativity as a communicative
process, for Sauter, is a process of various actions taking place
between the performer’s exhibitory, encoded and embodied actions
and the emotional and intellectual reactions of the spectator. For
Sauter performativity consists in psycho-physical movements taking
place in between the presented actions and their perception in a
performance situation. Sauter’s emphasises the psycho-physical bases
of the role of performativity as an interactive process between
representation (performance) and its perception (audience reception).
The embodied actions as well as the act of perception are activities
related to the actor's and the spectator's physical bodies. The following
conclusions can be derived from this section:
The Location of Breath 25
dynamics between the body and mind operating on the temporal level
of human existence. In its classical definition, representation is
explained as mediation between perception and meaning, but for
Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, representation works only in temporality,
in movement, which are capable of affecting the mind outside of all
representation. This very idea of representation as movement is close
to theatre because performance as a world of signification is based on
animation. As Deleuze suggests:
Artaud points out that cruelty must not be taken in its literary
sense of “merciless bloodshed, pointless and gratuitous pursuit of
physical pain.” 59 Rather, it is “the aspect of our own existence,”
whose existence is not defined by a particular historical time; rather,
time in a current philosophical sense. Thus, Artaud is very clear in
using this term as an image that is entwined with the very condition of
being, which has always “been there”: cruelty is neither an invention
The Location of Breath 35
space and time that cannot be preserved or regained; for that reason.
Artaud called it the magical act. It is magical because it is movement
which cannot be captured in frozen time. It is also the fact that each
moment in time is endlessly transformational: the present transforms
into another present, not into future.
Artaud called this structure of time the “cosmic strictness” and the
“relentless necessity.” Both Artaud’s philosophical ground and his
views on the nature of theatricality could be understood by these
temporal sequences, which is a common trend with many philosophers
and critics of theatricality in recent history that we have been looking
at in this chapter. Artaud’s theatricality is not the frozen time of
representation but an active time of repetition of the body in the
present time. Repetition here is used not in its literal sense but in its
philosophical sense, as either an event or a movement that is not
repeatable in the same way twice. Derrida might argue in this context
that each moment in the past is inscribed in the present as trace and
that therefore there is no closure of space in which the traces could be
re-presented, which means that one has no space outside
representation and therefore it continues. Derrida argues that
representation is time itself in the form of repetition and each presence
in time refers to its existence in the past, the history of the presence
that belongs to some another point of time in the past, from which
there is no way of escaping. This Derridian rereading of Artaud
remains as one of the most important intellectual debates of our time
on and around the issues of representation, reality and consciousness.
The question Derrida asks still remains unresolved by both Artaud and
Derrida, as their unfinished projects, and my task here is to look at
Artaud’s views on representation in the light of Derrida’s rejoinder to
make sure that Artaud has not been misread by Derrida.
without which there will not be any sense either to the world
or to the Self. In this sense, Derrida suggests that while
prophesying a spectacle of the “first time” Artaud envisaged a
closed space outside of representation which also declares the
Death of meaning.
that there is no ‘place’ outside the linguistic and historic time and the
place Artaud was suggesting is the playing space “of the world as
play” and this play of life is artistic. At this point Derrida refers to two
kinds of repetitions: 1) the repetition that indicates a movement back
and forth and 2) the repetition that repeats itself as original without
reference, which begins with its own representation. Derrida suggests
that Artaud proposed a repetition without reference. Derrida’s first
category, repetition with movement refers to linguistic and historic
time whereas repetition without reference is a state ‘beyond’ the
linguistic and historic levels of meaning. As Derrida says, Artaud
suggests the existence of a higher level of consciousness in
performance by referring to a kind of repetition which repeats itself as
original. In this repetition without reference, representation continues
but not on historic or linguistic levels. The question left unanswered
by Derrida is what the nature of that non-referential representation is
and how a person can be aware of the existence of that level of non-
historic and non-linguistic consciousness.
And what is the temporal extension of human life amid all the millions
of years? Scarcely a move of the second hand, a breath.
circle of signifiers, the circle of Air. As she puts it: “of what [is] this
is? Of air.” 70
Summary
its place. Breath also reinforces the fields of known and unknown
levels of consciousness. As breath is physically located in the body, it
is also located, epistemologically, in the functioning of performativity
as a process of production and reception of meaning. In other words,
as I propose in the chapter, the materiality of breath is located as an
essential element in the process of meaning and consciousness within
the structure of significations. This physical material, breath, located
epistemologically in performativity also suggests the transformational
borders between known and unknown fields of consciousness (I will
look at this aspect in the fourth Chapter in details). Therefore, breath
is bio-theatricality and the invisible Other that reinforce meaning into
performativity. In the following chapter, I investigate how breath is
understood, explained and practiced in the traditional cultures,
searching for a working methodology and system of knowledge useful
to contemporary theatre practice and consciousness studies.
48 The Location of Breath
Notes
1
Tracy C Davis and Thomas Postlewait, ed. Theatricality, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003), pp. 2-39.
2
Ibid., p. 6.
3
Ibid., pp. 4 -7.
4
King, ct. in Ibid., p. 5.
5
Sara Grant, Sankaracarya’s Concept of Relation, (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1999), p. 19.
6
Willmar Sauter, The Theatrical Event: Dynamics of Performance and Perception,
(Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000), pp. 50-3.
7
Ibid., p. 50.
8
Roland Barthes, ct. in Tracy C Davis and Thomas Postlewait, ed. Theatricality,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 23.
9
Ibid., p. 24.
10
Erika Fischer-Lichte, “ Theatricality”, in Theatre Research International (TRI)
20.2. 1997: pp. 218-60.
11
Tracy C Davis and Thomas Postlewait, ed. Theatricality, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003), p. 27.
12
Josette Féral, ct. in. Ibid., p. 27.
13
Paul de Man, Allegories of Reading: Figural Language in Rousseau, Nietzsche,
Rilke and Proust (New Haven, 1979) p. 298.
14
Peggy Phelan, Unmarked: the Politics of Performance, (London & New York:
Routledge, 1993), pp. 146-49.
15
Ibid., p. 146.
16
Richard Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction, (London & New York:
Routledge, 2002), p. 110.
17
Willmar Sauter, The Theatrical Event: Dynamics of Performance and Perception,
(Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000), p. 56.
18
Marvin Carlson, Theatre Research International, (TRI) 20.2. 1996: pp. 100-120.
19
Erika Fischer-Lichte, “Theatricality”, in Theatre Research International 20.2. 1997:
pp. 218-260.
20
Ibid., p. 52
21
Ibid., p. 52.
22
Ibid., pp. 54-6.
23
Willmar Sauter, “Who Is Who and What Is What? Introductory Notes,” in
Advances in Reception and Audience Research, vol.2, pp. 5-16.
24
Nicola Frijda, cited in Willmar Sauter, The Theatrical Event: Dynamics of
Performance and Perception, (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000), p. 58.
25
Ibid., p. 59.
26
Ibid., p. 63.
27
Ibid,. pp. 62-3.
28
William H. Ittelson, Visual Space Perception, (New York: Springer Publishing
Company, 1960), pp. 5-6.
29
Ibid., p. 6.
30
Daniel Meyer Dinkgräfe, (1999) ‘Consciousness and the Concept of Rasa’,
Performing Arts Journal, vol.1, part 4, pp. 103-115.
The Location of Breath 49
31
Willmar Sauter, The Theatrical Event: Dynamics of Performance and Perception,
(Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000), p. 70.
32
Michel Foucault, “Theatrum Philosophicum”, in Timothy Murray, ed. Mimesis,
Masochism and Mime: The Politics of Theatricality in Contemporary French
Thought, (Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 1997) pp. 222-223.
33
Ibid., p. 223.
34
Ibid., p. 223.
35
Ibid., p. 223.
36
Ibid., p. 223.
37
Ibid., p. 223.
38
Paul Patton, Deleuze and the Political, (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 27-8.
39
Michael Foucault, “Theatrum Philosophicum” c.f. Timothy Murray, (ed). Mimesis,
Masochism and Mime: The politics of Theatricality in Contemporary French Thought,
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997), p. 222.
40
Gilles Deleuze, The Logic of Sense, tr. Mark Lester, with Charles Stivale, ed.
Constantin V. Boundas, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), p. 63.
41
Martin Heidegger, Nietzsche (Pfullingen: Neste, 1961), vol. p. 215, ct. in Arne
Melberg, Theories of Mimesis, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.
3-4.
42
Ibid., p. 4.
43
Ibid., p. 1.
44
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/#4> (consulted March 12,
2005).
45
Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, (London& New York: Continuum,
2001), p. 8.
46
Ibid., p. 8
47
Ibid., p. 10.
48
Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, (London& New York: Continuum,
2001), p. 10.
49
Ibid., p. 10.
50
Ibid., p. 10.
51
Ibid., p. 13.
52
Jacques Derrida, Margins of Philosophy, tr. Alan Bass, (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1982), pp. 3-9.
53
Martin Heidegger, Sein und Zeit, (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1986) ct. in Arne Melberg,
Theories of Mimesis, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995),pp. 154-59.
54
Ibid., p. 155.
55
Ibid., p. 157.
56
Jacques Derrida, “Signature Event Context” in Margins of Philosophy, tr. Alan
Bass, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 315.
57
Jacques Derrida, “Différance” in Margins of Philosophy, tr. Alan Bass, (Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 7.
58
See for more details on this in Ibid., pp. 18-22.
59
Claude Schumacher with Brian Singleton, (ed.) Artaud on Theatre, (London:
Methuen, 2001), p. 119. I follow this edition only for one letter which is missing
Victor Corti’s English translation of Theatre and Its Double (1970). But, I largely
follow Victor Corti because the original text is more or less unedited in Corti where as
50 The Location of Breath
in Schumacher and Singleton, many crucial portions have been omitted. For instance,
in their 2001 edition, Artaud’s classification of various patterns of breathing is
missing (p. 141), which is more important to this thesis.
60
Ibid., p. 80.
61
Jacques Derrida, “The Theatre of Cruelty and the Closure of Representation” in
Timothy Murray, ed. Mimesis, Masochism and Mime: The Politics of Theatricality in
Contemporary French Thought, (Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 1997), p. 42.
62
Ibid., p. 46.
63
Ibid., p. 59.
64
Antonin Artaud, Theatre and Its Double, tr. Victor Corti, (London: Calder &
Boyars, 1970), p. 30.
65
Ibid., p. 35.
66
Joseph R. Roach, The Player’s Passion: Studies in the Science of Acting, (Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999), p. 223.
67
Ibid., p. 89.
68
Martin Heidegger, An Introduction to Metaphysics, tr. Ralph Manheim, (New
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999), p. 1. The word essents stands for existence or
things that are, which according to the translator, is coined by himself because the
original German word Dasein refers to an every day meaning of ‘existence’. But,
when Heidegger uses this word in his philosophical writings, he splits the word as Da-
sein, meaning being-there. So, according to the translator’s opinion, essents is the
most nearest word in English that expresses the very meaning. In my view, there is a
time element in between the split words of Da-sein in Heidegger which is not at a
concern of the translator. However, I use this word essent since I follow this edition.
69
Martin Heidegger, “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking” in Basic
Writings, tr. David Farrell Krell, (New York: Harper Collins, 1993), p. 449.
70
Luce Irigaray, The Forgetting of Air, tr. Mary Beth Mader, (London: Athlone Press,
1999), p. 5.
71
Ibid., p. 5.
72
Ibid., p. 7.
73
Luce Irigaray, Between East and West, (New York: Columbia University Press,
2002), p. 73
74
Ibid., p. 75.
75
Ibid., p. 76.
Chapter Two
In Search of Breath
Breath is located in the body and serves as the basis of
theatricality in everyday life, through combining speech, action and
thoughts in relation to an explicit level of meaning. The psycho-
physicality of human embodiment is activated through the act of
breathing. Breath as the fundamental source of energy to all human
actions, reactions, emotions and speech, is an inseparable element in
the nature of human embodiment. The movement of the breath is the
movement of the body and the flow of breath is the flow of language
and therefore, meaning. All the body’s physical, mental and linguistic
activities are deeply interconnected with the dynamics of breath in the
body. Many of the cultural, religious, mythical and philosophical
traditions of the world possess, in one way or another, some forms of
knowledge related to the importance of breathing. Aristotle’s On
Breath, for instance, investigates the physiological and metaphysical
functioning of breath in the body while examining pre-existent views
of the ways in which breath has been conceived of and debated in the
Greek natural philosophical tradition since Diogenes and Democritus.
Aristotle elaborates these initial observations of the functioning of
breath in the body further in his metaphysical speculations, arguing
that the Soul and emotions are interconnected with the dynamics of
breath.
pulsation is “the trapping of the air within” (On Breath, IV: 497); it is
primary and has its own origin, which is found initially in the heart
and from here it is communicated to the other organs. At this point
Aristotle clearly describes pulsation as the “…animal’s underlying
essence, which is realized in activity” (On Breath, IV: 497). The word
‘animal’ refers to all breathing animals including humans. Aristotle’s
attempt here is to establish the link between bodily activities and
pulsation as an underlying essence of animal activity, and therefore,
he takes his argument further into the discussion of the origin of
pulsation.
Those then who have interpreted the soul in terms of motion have
regarded the soul as most capable of producing movement. But those
who have referred it to cognition and perception regard the soul as the
first beginning of all things- (On the Soul; I. II: 23).
Probably all the affections of the soul are associated with the body—
anger, gentleness, fear, pity, courage and joy, as well as loving and
hating; for when they appear the body is also affected. (On the Soul,
I.I: 15).
T’ai Ch’i Ch’uan is a Chinese martial arts form, perhaps the one
that is most well-known in the West today, often under its abbreviated
name T’ai Ch’i. The tradition has been ascribed to the thirteenth
century Taoist priest, Chang Sang Feng, who began training the
monks of Shaolin, situated upon the mountain of Wutang. Chang Sang
Feng and his Taoist priests encouraged the development of various
martial arts traditions in China. However, T’ai Ch’i flourished
between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in China. Known as a
system of self-defence, T’ai Ch’i opposes force by yielding and
defeats external force with internal force. Ch’i is breath. It is the air
that we breathe in order to sustain vitality and energy in the body.
According to the explanations provided by the T’ai Ch’i system, Ch’i
operates the bipolar dynamics of Yin and Yang: what we breathe in is
Yin and what we breathe out is Yang. As Paul Wildish, a senior
martial arts practitioner of T’ai Ch’i in the UK, puts it: “this bipolarity
is the constant of the inner alchemy schema and is present in each
aspect of the functions and movement of Ch’i.” 8 Ch’i is said to be the
primary energetic force from which the basic substance of all life and
matter is formed, and it is activated through the interaction of Yin and
Yang. As Wildish further explains these principles, Ch’i, as the basic
In Search of Breath 59
substance, can exist without form and it can also exist in the form of a
thought or action, the spiritual or material. The non-material states are
pure energy, which is Yang, whereas the physical and material states
are affiliated to Yin. According to the doctrines of Tao philosophy,
establishing a natural cyclic equilibrium of these two forces is the
strongest basis of good physical and mental health. In Taoist
cosmology, there are three powers that govern the flow of Ch’i, which
are Heaven, the Yang, Earth, the Yin, and Man, the Yin and Yang. The
nature of the bipolar dynamic of Ch’i is explained by the claim that
Yang Ch’i flows downward from Heaven, whereas Ying Ch’i follows
upward from Earth and in the zone of man, which lies between them,
these two flows meet and combine. The flow of these three elements
of air in the body is considered as the Three Treasures of Jing, Ch’i
and Shen: Jing is known as the essence, Ch’i is vital energy and Shen
is the spirit. Jing, Ch’i and Shen are further considered as the
fundamental essences of body, breath and mind; maintaining their
relative strength and balance will result in the longevity and health of
the human being.
Ch’i circulates all over the body along the meridian lines. A
meridian line is understood as a pathway of energy that forms a close
relationship with all the organs and the flow of blood in the body.
Wildish explains that in the context of the nature and function of
meridians, Ch’i is the energetic Yang force that moves blood around
the body; blood is understood as the material form of Ch’i, nourishing
the organs where Ch’i is generated. “As Ch’i moves the blood, the
blood moves Ch’i.” 10 This follows the principles of Yin and Yang in
which each contains the element of the other. When the flow of Ch’i is
blocked in the body, the affected organs will malfunction due to the
slowing down of the blood flow. Thus, the approach of Tao-based
Chinese medicine is applied as an intervention to unblock the
meridian flow in the body.
There are twelve main meridians in the body: the Yang meridians
are located on the back and the outside surface of the limbs, and the
Yin meridians are located on the inner surface of the limbs and the
front of the body. Ch’i flows downward through the Yang channels
and upward through the Yin channels as opposing forces, maintaining
balance in the body. In addition to these twelve meridians, there are
eight other meridian channels running deeper beneath the surface of
the body and these are known as the reservoirs of Ch’i that cross the
twelve primary meridians at several locations in the body. These
deeper circulating channels, according to Tao-based Chinese
medicine, are the most important meridians in the body and are
divided into two groups: the Governing Vessels and the Directing
Vessels. These Vessels are located directly on the front and rear of the
body. As Wildish explains, the Governing Vessels regulate all the
Yang channels in the body while it runs up the spine from the bottom
to the head, whereas the Directing Vessels regulate all the Yin
channels while it runs up the front of the body over the stomach and
chest to the throat and mouth. The flow of Ch’i all over the meridian
channels maintains the overall health and the chemical balance of the
body through the circulation of blood and other body fluids. Thus the
most important aspect of Tao-based Chinese medical practice is the
power of Ch’i or the breath.
In Search of Breath 61
The insights gained from this section pave the way to allow a
deeper understanding of how breath has been understood, presented
and practiced in various Indian traditions of philosophy, spirituality
and other physical practices like medicine and physiotherapy.
2. Apana’s sphere is down from the navel to the soles of the feet.
It is associated with the excretory system of the body and
concerned with the removal of waste. It also carries the foetus
downward and, to a certain extent, helps the delivery of the
child. This breath is said to be stronger than prana because it
drags prana downward with the intention of limiting its scope.
Vedas (1500 BC) and Upanishads (800-400 BC) are the sacred
texts composed in Sanskrit, which are regarded as the voluminous
containers of theological and philosophical literature and various other
forms of knowledge and practices across the disciplines, ranging from
human physiology to astronomy, from the art of warfare to highly
sophisticated philosophical thinking. The Vedas, which are four in
number—Rik, Sama, Yajur and Atharva—are mainly composed of
hymns, instructions regarding rites, ceremonies and rules about the
ways in which they should be conducted. The Upanishads are
concerned with the highest aspects of several systems of knowledge.
The word Upanishad literally means “sitting near”, which conveys the
idea of learning lessons in close proximity to the teacher. The word
also means “secret teaching” because the purpose of an Upanishad is
to disclose and explain the highly complex nature of ideas presented
in various philosophical traditions, including Vedas. In this sense,
Upanishads demonstrate the essence of Indian philosophical teachings
and practices. As Sankara, the seventh century commentator of the
70 In Search of Breath
this ultimate reality: “that is reality. That is atman. That art thou.”
(6.9.4). Fritjof Capra, evaluating this Upanishadic view in terms of
modern astrophysics, concludes, in his terms, that the Hindu cosmic
vision is based on the assumption that the existence of the entire
universe depends on the play (Lila) of dynamic forces. 23 Capra argues
further that the physical manifestation of the world is an illusion
(maya) because it is ever-changing, based on the ultimate reality of
Brahman: everything changes except Brahman. This entire motion of
never-ending transformation involved in the existence of the universe
is called Karma. Karma means action and “it is the active principle of
the play in which everything is dynamically connected with
everything else: the total universe in action.” 24 The Bhagavad Gita
explains Karma as ‘the force of creation’ from which everything has
life. The dynamic link between time and action is further explained in
the Bhagavad Gita:
What is Brahman and what is its nature? What are the ways in
which one can experience it? These are the questions often asked in
the Upanishads. In several Upanishads, questions about the existence
of Brahman are asked directly in the form of a request, enquiring
whether there is an existing system or a method or a practice which
can be used in order to understand and experience it properly. The
references in the Upanishads to a particular method seem to be
directed towards some practice related to breath. Hence, breath and
Brahman are interconnected in the Upanishads: the level of pre-
expressive Brahman can be experienced through specific breath-
related practices. The Mandukya Upanishad explains the nature of
Brahman as the all pervading source, which is invisible, immortal and
subtle, and which gives birth to the universe (I: 6). Forms emerge
from Brahman, from its ever-expanding movement, and forms also
submerge within it in the due course of the same movement, like a
spider spreading out and folding up its web from its belly (I: 7&8).
The physical manifestation of Brahman is thus illustrated in the
Mandukya Upanishad as the entire universe including earth, animals,
birds, plants, human beings and prana and apana, the two forms of
breath, emerge from it (II. 7-10). This Brahman is the underlying
dynamic force of the universe, which moves in the micro-structure of
anu, the atom. The explanations of Brahman in the Mandukya
Upanishad further clarify that this is the same principle that moves as
the dynamics of the body. As the Mandukya Upanishad puts it,
Brahman stays in the body (III. 7). The existence of Brahman in the
In Search of Breath 73
‘A’, situated two inches below the navel, ‘U’, in the middle of the
chest and ‘M’, located further up in the mouth behind the uvula.
Hence, the practice of A-U-M suggests a particular breath-related
practice. The Nada is the flow of air and the Bindu is the unmanifest
energy in the body. Individual consciousness emerges due to the bi-
polar movements of breath taking place in the body and there is no
sense of consciousness before the movement of breath, the Nada,
takes place in the body. Bindu is explained in the Mandukya
Upanishad as Brahman, the unmanifest potential energy from which
the universe emerges through a bi-polar movement. The most
important information we gain from the Mandukya Upanishad in the
context of our discussion is that breath causes the emergence of
individual consciousness.
An intelligent man shall practice while keeping the body erect and
then bringing the head, chest and throat parallel to it. There shall not
be any thoughts or emotions; there shall only be a pure force of vital
energy circulating in the body, which would enable you to control
thousands of horses drawing a chariot; and there shall be an
undisturbed mind in harmony with the body. When you feel like
coming back, respire through your nostrils. (II. 8-9).
This Upanishad lists ten forms of breath by adding five more vital
forms of breath to the existing five proposed in SƗmkhya: they are
nagam, kurmam, krikaram, devadettam and dhananjayam. The
functions and bodily locations of these forms of breath are not
mentioned anywhere in the Upanishads to which I refer in this
chapter. Such further explanations related to the latter five forms of
breath can be found, however, in the seminal texts of South Indian
Siddha philosophy, like the Thirumantiram and the Marmasastra. I
will discuss about these texts in details in the following sections. The
Brahmavidya Upanishad also mentions Vajrakumbhaka Sadhana as
one of the most important breath practices through which the
practitioner can enter into the area of Brahmarantra, said to be the
secret place of the highest form of joy and the source of potential
energy.
In Search of Breath 77
The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means
‘to direct’, but the meaning commonly understood is union or
communion. The Latin jungere, jugum and the French joug also have
the same meaning. Yoga is the fourth of the six systems of Indian
philosophy—the others are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, SƗmkhya, Karma
Mimansa and Vedanta. Further to this classification, the core of Indian
philosophy is based on “four interdependent concepts of ‘kinetic
ideas’ such as karma, mƗya, Brahman and Yoga.” 31 The law of karma
is the law of universal causality, which connects man with the cosmos
and condemns him to transmigrate indefinitely. The dynamic process
that creates and maintains the cosmos is the principle of illusion,
which is mƗya because stability is an illusion of ignorance (avidyƗ)
within the eternal motion and growth of the universe: things are in the
flux of an ever-changing state. The concept of Brahman is absolute
reality which is unmanifest and out of which the cosmic illusion and
karma, causality, emerge. This state of Brahman is unconditioned and
indestructible. Finally, Yoga is the means to understand the
interdependency of all other ‘kinetic ideas.’ Generally speaking, the
word Yoga serves to designate certain techniques and methods of
practice relating to body, mind and breath, which ultimately lead to a
state of liberation from universal causalities and cosmic illusion,
through understanding the all pervading ‘kinetic principle’ located in
the body. According to Eliade, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are:
All these eight limbs are the major focus of discussion in all the
available systems of Yoga and aim to explain the nature of the psycho-
physicality of human embodiment. To mention a few examples in
relation to breath, according to Yogi Ramacharaka, 35 human
respiration takes place in the four following ways: 1. high breathing,
2. mid breathing, 3. low breathing, and 4. complete breathing. High
breathing, also referred to as clavicular breathing, uses only the upper
part of the chest and lungs; in mid breathing, also referred to as rib
80 In Search of Breath
The word Mantra literally means ‘calls forth’, which also suggests
the meaning of ‘liberation through mental processes.’ 38 Man of
Mantra comes from the first syllable of manana, the Sanskrit word for
thinking and tra comes from trana meaning liberation from the
bondage of the phenomenal world. Hence, the word Mantra suggests
the idea of a transition of consciousness from daily to extra-daily. A
Mantra is composed of letters and these letters are arranged in a
specific sequence of sounds of which the letters are the representative
signs. Each Mantra is intoned in a particular way according to the
letters and the rhythm and resonates in the body by vibrating in each
zone of the body related to the respective letter of the alphabet. The
Mantra in this way is the sound-body. In the theory accompanying a
specific tantric practice called Nyasa, the physical human body is
divided into 51 zones including Cakras that correspond to the 51
Sanskrit letters of vowels and consonants. The aim of Mantra is to
stimulate the body’s energy centres or Cakras by vibrating and
In Search of Breath 85
Mounted upon the vital breath, the self conscious-entity through the
Sushumna keeps on ascending to the cerebral aperture and descending
back moving like a right rope dancer. 39
In the case of the Siva Svarodaya Shastra, both the author of the
text and the period in which the text was composed are unknown. The
text was originally written in Sanskrit and translations of the full text
are available only in a couple of the regional languages in India. What
is mostly available for English readers are books either written on a
few aspects of the original texts or mentioning the existence of the
original text in Sanskrit. My interviews with several people who are
either researchers or practitioners of Yoga revealed that many of them
have not seen the Siva Svarodaya Shastra but all of them have heard
about the inaccessible existence of the text. In this section, I use two
recent publications based on the Siva Svarodaya Shastra written by
Harish Johari and Swami Sivapriyananda to illustrate the basic
principles of this school of Yoga. The word svara literally means
sound but in the context of breath it means the sound of breath. The
word udaya means rise and hence svara-udaya means the rise of
breath. As Sivapriyananda clarifies further, this is not a method of
breath control but rather ‘a way of using normal respiration to
harmonise the forces of life with the pattern of breathing’ 40 The
technique of svara-udaya is based on the observable fact, which was
frequently overlooked for centuries in Yoga, that we normally breathe
freely through only one nostril at a time. The human respiratory
system changes intermittently from one nostril to another, roughly
every one and half hours and there is a qualitative difference between
the breath in each persistent changeover. The breath that flows from
the left nostril is cool, soothing, passive and feminine in nature,
whereas the breath that flows from the right nostril is warm,
energizing, active and masculine. According to the svara-udaya
system, the left nostril is connected to the moon and the right nostril is
connected to the sun; hence the change that takes place in nostril
operations is said to be due to the movement of the solar and lunar
cycles. The following sections provide information about the svara-
udaya system of breathing.
88 In Search of Breath
important Nadis, the tubular vessels, that carry both kinds of energy
and three out of fourteen are of vital importance according to Johari.
These three Nadis, which are called Ida, Pingala and Sushumna, are
connected to the limbic system. From a medical perspective, Ida
influences the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, activating the
growth of hormones and the anabolic process. Pingala influences the
thalamus and hypothalamus. The Sushumna is concerned with the
corpus callosum and the cerebellum. When it bifurcates in the brain
stem, one branch of the Sushumna goes to the corpus callosum, while
the other, known as the posterior sushumna, passes through the
cerebellum to the cerebral cortex and terminates in the corpus
callosum. Here it joins with the other branch known as the anterior
sushumna. This point of termination is called the fontanelle, the ‘soft
spot’ in an infant’s skull that hardens after three to six months. These
three Nadis, through their connection with the endocrine glands,
influence the entire body chemistry and the chemical nature of the
human organism. The sushumna Nadi is the only nerve that directly
pierces all the Cakras or the physical centres of the subtle body. These
centres are connected with the internal organs through sympathetic
and parasympathetic nerves, which are connected to the autonomic
nervous system working through the spinal column. The sushumna is
thus connected with the network of sympathetic and parasympathetic
nerves and the autonomic nervous system through its connection to
the Cakras and its passage through the spinal column. Although the
three Nadis meet at the same place in the pelvic plexus, they originate
from different parts of the base of the spine. According to the Siva
Svarodaya Shastra, all three of these Nadis can be activated and
controlled through breath in order to control the chemical balance and
the energy level of the body. The Siva Svarodaya Shastra explains the
Nadis as follows: 42
Ida: This Nadi originates at the base of the spine and works as
the left channel. It flows on the left side of the spinal column
and terminates in the left nostril by branching into fine
capillaries. This Nadi becomes active when breathing is
carried out by the left nostril. In yogic terms, this nostril is
known as feminine or maternal and it is connected with right
hemisphere, making it emotional and magnetic in nature.
Because of its dominance during the ascending cycle of the
90 In Search of Breath
Pingala: This Nadi originates at the base of the spine and acts
as the right channel. It is situated on the right side of the
spinal column and terminates in the right nostril by branching
into fine capillaries. During the operation of the right nostril,
this Nadi becomes active. It is connected with solar currents
and its energy is considered to be masculine. The right nostril
is connected with the left cerebral hemisphere, making it
verbal and rational in nature. Because it is dominant during
the descending cycle of the moon, it is called solar. The breath
flowing through the right nostril is called Pingala or sun
breath.
levels of the body. Nostrils are directly connected to the cycles of the
moon and during the ascending and descending cycles, the left and the
right nostrils are alternatively dominant. In the ascending moon cycle,
the left nostril operates for nine days, on lunar dates 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13,
14 and 15. In the same cycle, the right nostril operates for six days, on
lunar dates 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12. In the descending moon cycle, the
right nostril likewise operates for nine days, on lunar dates 1, 2, 3, 7,
8, 9, 13, 14 and 15. In the same cycle, the left nostril operates for six
days, on lunar dates 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12. The right nostril operates
for nine days and the left for six days. To describe these operations
more clearly:
1. The right nostril is associated with the solar planets: the Sun,
Mars and Saturn. On the day corresponding to these planets -
Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday - the right nostril works for
one hour, starting ninety minutes before sunrise. Half an hour
before sunrise it changes and the nostril of the day takes over.
When the right nostril is also the nostril of the day, flow of
breath through this nostril on these three days is auspicious.
2. The left nostril is associated with the lunar planets: the Moon,
Mercury, Jupiter and Venus. On the days corresponding to
these planets - Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday -
the left nostril works for one hour, starting ninety minutes
before sunrise. Half an hour before sunrise the nostril of the
day takes over. When the left nostril is also the nostril of the
day, flow of breath through this nostril on these four days is
auspicious.
The same nostril that starts the day one hour before the sunrise
also ends with the day at sunset. Day and night and the rise and setting
of the Sun and Moon take place constantly in the human organism as a
92 In Search of Breath
result of the constant interplay of left and right nostril modes. The
entire chemical balance of the body is maintained through this
constant interplay between nostril operations; the Siva Svarodaya
Shastra claims that by changing nostril modes intentionally one can
alter the level of consciousness and emotion by changing the chemical
balance in the body. This needs to be researched properly in the
contexts of both yogic knowledge and modern medicine in order to
explore more connections between respiration and the body. To
highlight a point for further discussion in the context of my argument
in this thesis, these left and right nostril modes indicate the passage of
time, whereas the middle path of Sushumna breathing does not
suggest any time: it is timeless, or beyond the ordinary sense of time.
The body maintains its natural, healthy rhythm if the nostrils are
working properly. If the correct nostril is not working, there will be a
change in the body chemistry and this alteration can lead to both
physiological and psychological problems within the next two weeks.
In Search of Breath 93
The nostril should be checked around dawn before getting out the
bed and in the case of incorrect nostril dominance, the person should
not get out of bed until it is brought back to its correct mode relating
to the lunar cycle. It is also suggested that one should wait
approximately ten to thirty minutes after the sun rises to change the
nostril operation intentionally.
When the middle path is dominant, you will feel either that both
of your nostrils are free or that both are congested. The flow of breath
will be even through both nostrils when the middle path dominates.
The Siva Svarodaya Shastra suggests the three following methods to
94 In Search of Breath
1. Press the operating nostril gently with the thumb and breathe
forcefully through the congested nostril.
2. If the right or left nostril operates for more than two or three
hours in succession.
3. If the Moon nostril operates at the time the Sun nostril should
normally be operating or vice versa.
* Note: The information given in table 2 is very ancient. Although it attempts to span
the entire panorama of human activities and behaviour, we can expand upon these
lists by observing how modern-day activities fit into the specialised functions of the
twin hemispheres (Johari: 1989, p. 27-28).
In Search of Breath 99
1. During the bright half of the lunar month the Moon rules the
night. Therefore, the effects of the Sun are at its minimum. To
harmonise this imbalance, it is necessary and advantageous to
block the left nostril and allow only the right channel to flow
all night.
All that has been mentioned here is only a tiny portion of the vast
descriptions available in various texts of Yoga relating to human
nostril operations. My intention in recording at least some of that
information is to show how breath is conceived, developed and
categorised in terms of different human activities and knowledge.
Breath-related knowledge, in my limited reading during the course of
this research, seems to be a systematically developed category capable
of defining the whole physiological, psychological and spiritual range
of human life. Nevertheless, how far the physiological descriptions of
100 In Search of Breath
E. Practicing Svara-Udaya
poses, the epitome of which is the Dancing NatarƗj. Shiva the dancer
is the most popular and elegant, representing the cosmic dance of
Shiva while witnessing the dissolution of the universe and its fusion in
him. On the other hand, it is rather an iconic representation of a deeper
Indian cosmic vision, which also considers the performative nature of
cognition in terms of time, space and movement. My intention in this
section is to demonstrate the key concepts and practices of a breath-
related tradition in South India, an offshoot of the Indian Saivite
tradition.
This particular tradition is said to have been established by
eighteen Siddhas, enlightened beings, in the Tamil language whose
origin can be dated back to between 3000 BC and 100 AD. It is,
therefore, difficult to calculate the exact period in which the texts were
written. The South Indian Siddha tradition is part of a larger, pan-
Indian tantric-Yoga movement that spread throughout South Asia,
from Sri Lanka in the South to Tibet in the North, between the seventh
and eleventh centuries. The most significant aspect of the South
Indian Siddha tradition lies in its consideration of the human body as
the locus of philosophical discourse. Medical treatises as well as
spiritual treatises in the Siddha tradition thus share one basic
understanding of the crucial relationship between body, breath and
consciousness. Siddha Yoga is a non-sectarian spiritual tradition that
incorporates various body-related disciplines like martial arts,
physiotherapy, Yoga and tantric rituals, as part of its whole structure
of practice. According to Douglas Renfrew Brooks, Siddha Yoga
cannot be reduced to a canon of textual or oral resources, or a fixed set
of religious teachings but it is based on certain practices related to
breathing. 47 The distinctive element that makes Siddha Yoga different
from other schools of Yoga is its focus on breath-related practice.
Hence, rather than repeating Siddha Yoga’s theoretical understanding
of the relation between the body, breath and consciousness, I intend to
explain the spectrum of its practice.
Three major texts represent almost the entire South Indian Siddha
school of thought. Those three seminal texts are: 1) The MarmasƗstra
SamƗhƗram 48 of the sage Agastiya 2) the Thirumandiram 49 of Siddhar
Thirumoolar and 3) Siddha Veda 50 of Swami Sivananda
In Search of Breath 103
knowing individual self, the jiva, is activated through PrƗna, the life
force, through nostril operations. Breath causes the emergence of the
knowing self. It also functions as the reason for the unawareness of
the relations between unconditioned universal reality and individual
existence. Agastiya further explains that through the union of para
and apara, the union of jiva and brahman, the union of breath and
consciousness, the fundamental ignorance involved in the nature of
individual being can be eliminated (M.S: I: II: 1-4). 54 Agastiya
suggests a breath-related practice in order to eliminate this ignorance
and to achieve that state of human consciousness that is known as the
highest state of Samadhi in various Shaivite traditions. It is also
known as the unified state according to the Vedanta model of
consciousness.
various planes situated between the anus and the crown at the top of
the head. Concentration on and control of one or many of these
centres bestows enormous psychophysical powers. According to most
of the yogic systems, the aim of practising Yoga is to train the mind to
concentrate upon and penetrate through all these centres in order to
achieve a complete mastery over the physical and the psychic body.
The aim is also said to be to attain freedom from the limited
perception of mind and matter. However, this structure of the
psychophysical body has nine doors according to the Marmasastra:
two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two inner throats and one mouth. In
this house lives the person who records each perception, sound, smell,
touch and experience and there also lives another person on a higher
level who witnesses the person who is recording all the accounts.
Even from this initial observation, the body, mind and the
consciousness of human embodiment, as illustrated by the
Marmasastra are inseparably interconnected and the role of breath
connecting all these physiological, psychological and metaphysical
elements is clearly established in its therapeutic discourse. The
Marmasastra shows the body as a labyrinth: the labyrinth of breath.
coriander seed and finally, on the seventh day, the size of a small
lemon (MS: IV:12-13). 58 Interestingly, the movement of the male
sperm is mentioned in MarmasƗstra in relation to the entrance of a
certain length of breath in the uterus.
2. The quality and the mode of operation of the male and female
breath determine the health and destiny of the foetus.
What is Marma? How many Marma points are there in the body?
What are their effects in the body? As Agastiya explains, marmas are
the junctions, knots and ends of Nadis where prana, the life force, is
present. Any serious pressure or blow at these points will seriously
affect the life span of the system (MS:II: 30). 64 MarmasƗstra offers
treatments and medicines for any fatal afflictions of the body through
a systematic practice relating to the Marma points. Marma points are
categorised into two sections:
position, keeping your left leg in front, and then use your stretched
and focused right palm to hit the Marma spot. The pressure should be
calculated properly in order to create the full effect that is possible in
relation to this particular Marma point. The middle finger of the right
palm is pushed one inch (ira) inside on the Marma spot and then
dragged downwards with appropriate pressure. This is the proper
direction of attack on that Marma. Both the hands and the legs of the
enemy will be paralysed as a result of hitting this particular Marma in
this particular way.
Summary
5. The link between the nostril operations and the shift of the
sense of time is the most important idea derived from this
chapter because both the philosophy and practice of the
nostrils similarly indicate the element of temporality involved
in nostril operations.
Notes
1
Aristotle, Aristotle on the Soul: Prava Naturalia, On breath, tr: Hett. W.S, (London:
William Heinemann Ltd & Harvard University Press, 1936), pp. 484-517.
2
Ibid., p. 484.
3
Ibid., p. 485.
4
Ibid., p. 503.
5
Ibid., p. 401.
6
Ibid., p. 489.
7
Ibid., p. 29.
8
Paul Wildish., The Book of Ch’i, ( Boston: Journey Editions, 2000), p. 22 .
9
Ibid., p. 23.
10
Ibid., p. 24.
11
Ibid., p. 32-33.
12
Gerald James Larson and Ram Shankar Bhattacharya, (ed.), SƗmkhya: A Dualist
Tradition in Indian Philosophy, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 51.
13
Wilhelm Halbfass, “Space or Matter: The Concept of AkƗsa in Indian Thought”,
Rabindranath Tagore Lecture, Centre for Philosophy and Foundations of Science,
New Delhi, 1999.
14
See footnote 45 below for further details on Saivism.
15
Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 5 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1955), 81.
16
Pulinbihari Chakravarti, Origin and Development of the SƗmkhya System of
Thought, (London: Luzac & Co, Ltd, 1975) p. 255.
17
Ibid., p. 256.
18
Ibid., p. 256.
19
Ibid., p. 120.
20
Ibid., p. 257.
21
See for details. Ibid., p. 265-66. The enumeration of the five breaths seems to be
different in South Indian Siddha tradition because Agastiya and Thirumular listed ten
breaths instead of five.
22
Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester, The Upanishads: Breath of the
Eternal, (California: Vedanta Press, 1971) p. xvii.
23
Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, (London: Fontana/Collins, 1981) p. 93-96.
24
Ibid., p. 95.
25
Ralph Yarrow, Indian Theatre: Theatre of Origin, Theatre of Freedom, (London:
Curzon, 2001), p. 9-10.
26
Ibid., p. 9-10.
27
Daniel Meyer Dinkgräfe, Approaches to Acting: Past and Present, (London & New
York: Continuum, 2001), p. 95.
28
Ibid., p. 95.
29
Sir John Woodroffe, The Garland of Letters, (Madras: Ganesh & Co, 2001), p. 228
30
Ibid., p. 232.
31
Mircea Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, (tr. Willard R. Trask), (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1969), p. 3.
32
Ibid., p. 7.
In Search of Breath 117
33
Ibid., p. 47.
34
B.S.K Iyengar, Light on Yoga, (New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2000) p. 37.
35
Yogi Ramacharaka, Science of Breath, (London: Fowler, 1960) p. 28-32.
36
Dhirendra Brahmachari, Yogic Suksma Vyayama, (New Delhi: Dhirendra Yoga
Publications, 1956), p. xxii.
37
R. K. Shringy and Prem Lata Sharma, Sangitaratnakara of Sarngadeva, (tr.) vol. 1,
( New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1991), p. 85-6.
38
See for details. Sir John Woodroffe, The Garland of Letters, (Madras: Genesh & co,
2001), p. 276.
39
R. K. Shringy and Prem Lata Sharma, Sangitaratnakara of Sarngadeva, (tr.) vol. 1,
(New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1991), p. 99.
40
Swami Sivapriyananda, Secret Power of Tantrik Breathing, ( New Delhi: Abhinav
Publications, 1996) p. 3.
41
Harish Johari, Breath, Mind and Consciousness,(Rochester & Vermont: Destiny
Books, 1989), p. 2-3.
42
Ibid., p. 11-15.
43
Ibid., p. 14-16.
44
Ibid., p. 17.
45
Swami Sivapriyananda, Secret Power of Tantrik Breathing, (New Delhi: Abhinav
Publications, 1996) p. 24.
46
In An outline of history of Saiva Philosophy, Kanti Chandra Pandey briefly
discusses the deep and extensive influence of Shivaism to various other philosophical
and religious systems. As he points out, in Rigveda, there are verses, which refer to
Rudra, another name of Shiva. In SƗmaveda, there are also hymns addressed to
Rudra. Whereas in Yajurveda, the name of Rudra is mentioned among other names of
the Gods in the Section XVI of the VƗjasaneya SamhitƗ and in the Taittiriya SamhitƗ
of Yajurveda section IV, 5. In the Atharvaveda, for instance, there are many
collections of hymns worshipping Shiva mainly in VI, XI and XV sections and
therefore, K.C. Pandey argues that Shivaism as a philosophical system has deeply
influenced Vedic and post-Vedic systems of thought and spiritual practice though it
never shows an unbroken continuity in the Indian religio-philosophic traditions.
Buddha refers to Shivaism in his own way as Shiva VijjƗ, which is later on interpreted
as Bhnjta VijjƗ, or exorcism by BuddhaghoɁa a 5th A. D commentator of Buddhism
(K.C. Pandey, 1999: 1-3). K.C. Pandey illustrates briefly the debates between
Buddhism and monistic Shivaism of Kashmir while explaining Abhinavagupta’s
refutation of Buddha’s negation of the unified Subject proposed by Shaivite School.
Buddha does not admit the existence of any kind of permanent subject, individual or
universal but being for Buddha is rather a series of momentary being. UtpalƗcƗrya and
Abhinavagupta reassess this Buddhist notion of momentary being against the
philosophical background of non-dualist Shivaism as the synthesis of experience is
not possible on the basis of Buddha’s views of momentariness of subject. Besides
underpinning the most predominant limitation in Buddhist epistemology in terms of
cognition and the objective relationship of the knower, monistic Shaivite School
explores the epistemic basis of Shiva metaphysics while explaining the foundational
inter relations of memory and differentiation in cognition (K.C. Pandey, 1999: 195-
206)
118 In Search of Breath
47
Douglas Renfrew Brooks, Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the
Siddha Yoga Lineage, (ed.), (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2000), p. xxiv.
48
KanjiramKulam K. Kochukrishnan Nadar, Marmasastra SamƗhƗram, Deshabhi-
vardhini Publishing House, Trivandrum: 1968.
49
Thiruvallam Bhaskaran Nair, Thirumandiram Moovariram (Mal.), Kerala Vidya
Peth, Trivandrum: 1976.
50
Swami Shivananda Paramahamsar, Siddha Veda (Mal), Siddha Samagam,
Vadakara (Kerala): 1922.
51
My understanding of this secret system of knowledge related to the secret points of
the body is largely derived initially from my own family tradition through the practice
of martial arts, physiotherapy. Secondly, it derives from textual sources. Apparently,
the information about this knowledge has mainly resided in palm leaf manuscripts and
preserved by individual families who are traditionally authorised to practice. Most of
these families are situated in the extreme Southern regions of old Travancore, which
is a district, called Kanyakumari, of Tamil Nadu. I myself posess couple of palm leaf
manuscripts as part of my family tradition.
52
KanjiramKulam K. Kochukrishnan Nadar, Marmasastra SamƗhƗram, (Trivandrum:
Deshabhivardhini Publishing House, 1968), p. 1-4.
53
Ibid., p.1-4.
54
Ibid., p. 1-4.
55
Ibid., p. 4.
56
Ibid., p. 4 –5.
57
Thiruvallam Balakrishnan Nair, Thirumantram Moovayiram, (Trivandrum:
Vijnana-bhavan Printers, 1976), p. 219. A translation of Thirumantiram appeared in
Malayam, the regional language of Kerala and I use this edition for my references.
58
KanjiramKulam K. Kochukrishnan Nadar, Marmasastra SamƗhƗram, (Trivandrum:
Deshabhivardhini Publishing House, 1968), p. 148.
59
Ibid., p. 148.
60
Ibid., pp. 148-149.
61
Ibid., p. 4 -6.
62
It is an ancient unit of measure, which is no longer in use.
63
Thiruvallam Balakrishnan Nair, Thirumantram Moovayiram, (Trivandrum:
Vijnanabhavan Printers, 1976) p. 76.
64
KanjiramKulam K. Kochukrishnan Nadar, Marmasastra SamƗhƗram, (Trivandrum:
Deshabhivardhini Publishing House, 1968), p. 20.
65
Ibid., p. 22.
66
Kaimanam Karunakaran Vaidyar, Marmasastra Patangal, (Trivandrum: Published
by the author, 2002), p. 49.
67
KanjiramKulam K. Kochukrishnan Nadar, Marmasastra SamƗhƗram, (Trivandrum:
Deshabhivardhini Publishing House, 1968), p. 2.
68
Ibid., p. 51-52.
69
Thiruvallam Balakrishnan Nair, Thirumantram Moovayiram, (Trivandrum:
Vijnanabhavan Printers, 1976) p. 181.
70
Swami Shivananda Paramahamsar, Siddha Veda (Mal), Siddha Samagam,
Vadakara (Kerala): 1922. p. 95.
Chapter Three
Breath: Training and Performance
deal with the relation of breath and voice in the work of Cecily Berry
and Catherine Fitzmaurice, and theoretical understanding of breath
presented by Malekin, Yarrow and Meyer-Dinkgräfe in their various
critical writings that consider breath as a potential ingredient in actor
training in the context of consciousness in training and performance.
movements and also the ways in which the body is prepared and
nourished through systematic approaches. The physical training
methods are equally informed by these native medical systems as are
the performances themselves. One aspect of training is regular oil
massage as prescribed in Ayurveda. The oil is prepared using a
selection of herbs combined depending on the physical nature of the
actor’s body.
When the student gets rather well trained in these movements, the rest
of the eye training involving breath (vayu) in the pupil of the eyes
depends entirely on the skill and practice of the teacher. While doing
this complicated ‘vayu exercises’ special care should be taken to avoid
squint-eye. The training should make the student bring 3 vayus in his
[her] eyes. Only after the completion of this training does the actor
become capable of expressing adequate rasa in his [her] acting. 8 TPD DPT
rely upon breath because unless the actor applies vayu in the eyes
when the mountain Himalaya is shown, the actor’s mere imagination
of the mountain would leave it devoid of any ‘greatness’. 10 The word
TPD DPT
The breathing patterns described for each rasa are different from
one another and each one operates by using specific body regions. We
can see a general pattern emerging out of this practice: breath is taken
mostly either from the lower abdomen or from the lower tip of the
vertebral column, and then arrested, compressed and released through
different body regions depending on the nature of the rasa. Nangyar
adds that breath does not have an independent status in acting: rather
it always goes alongside emotions. In other words, breath naturally
moves along with emotions and knowing the basic source and
movements of breathing will give the performer perfect control over
the emotions: specific emotions can be highlighted through
controlling and redirecting breath. This process requires hard working
and long-term creative involvement. Regarding the movement of
breath in each rasa, Nangyar uses yogic metaphors to explain the
movement of breath starting from the lower tip of the vertebral
column and terminating in the crown of the head. While Nangyar
provides such detailed descriptions of the links between emotions and
breathing, which she learnt from her guru, she does not know
anything about the origins or development of this technique. I will
address the missing link, the relation between performance and
meditation techniques, particularly, yogic methods, in Chapter four.
Breath: Training and Performance 129
Stage I
Stage II
Stage III
2. To develop this further, imagine that the air enters the body
through the navel and exits through the pores.
4. When you breathe in, imagine that you are saying ‘aaaah’ and
that when you breathe out you use the sound ‘aawm’ (or
‘ohm’). You can reverse the sounds, ‘aaaah’ on the out-breath,
and ‘aawm’ as you inhale.
6. Breathe in through the left nostril and out through the right.
Then reverse the process. This can be done by pressing your
finger against the opposite nostril in order to hold it shut.
Oida suggests more breathing exercises that are derived from Noh
drama and T’ai Ch’i in which breathing is explored through
imagination, use of the voiced sounds and specific bodily zones. He
used these techniques to train the actors in Brook’s production of The
Mahabharata. In my analysis, the use of left and right nostril
breathing, the voiced sound, the exploration of bodily zones like the
navel region all are similar to the practice proposed by Yoga. In his
book, The Invisible Actor, Oida has included these breathing
techniques in the section of speaking by giving much emphasis on
voice training. The knowledge of the East on breath, and Eastern
breathing practice, found in several forms of spiritual and physical
traditions such as meditation, martial arts, and performance have
served as sources of reference and inspiration for contemporary
Western actor training.
Breath: Training and Performance 137
two reasons: the ancient methods of training are not fully known and
actor training as a systematic discipline developed in Europe and
America in the 20th century.
P P
breath and the actor’s neutral state of mind. As John Rudlin observes,
in today’s world, we are more informed by disciplines like Yoga and
T’ai Ch’i about how breath works in neutrality and relaxation by
exploring the dynamics between breathing and movement: Copeau’s
understanding of actor’s breathing, therefore, is elementary. 22
TPD DPT
that in every exhalation we send rays out into the environment and
with every inhalation we receive energy back into our bodies. Non-
verbal communication, for Stanislavski, is the firm grounding for the
actor’s use of words as the element of communication. He believed
that non-verbal expression can be controlled through systematic
application of the rays of energy. He taught actors the ways to
recognise and manipulate the rays of energy in order to enhance their
non-verbal communication. The following are the exercises suggested
by Stanislavski (p.22):
1. Close your eyes, relax, and feel your breath moving through
your body. Visualise the breath as warm, yellow sunlight,
energising you. As you inhale, the light is travelling from the
top of your head down to your toes; as you exhale, reverse the
direction of the breath.
2. Close your eyes, relax, and feel your breath moving through
your body. As you inhale, breathe the energy in from the
surrounding room; as you exhale, send the energy back out
into the furthest corner.
Breath: Training and Performance 139
3. Stand apart from the group, hands held with palms outward.
Radiate energy from your hands to someone else in the room.
Does anyone in the room feel a transmission?
4. Actors stand in a single file, one behind the other. The person
behind concentrates on a simple command (open the door, sit
down, shake my hand), then radiates it to the person in front,
who carries out the command.
everyone, nor for all physical and psychic situations. As he puts it:
x Inspiration: 4 seconds
x Expiration 8 seconds”
Breath: Training and Performance 141
3. If you do the opposite, raising the arm on the out breath, and
letting it fall as you breathe in, the dramatic state becomes a
negative: I do not want to say goodbye, but I am obliged to do
so.
naturally and there is a subtle gap in between the two: this gap is said
to be the centre because it is neutral, neither active nor passive—
potential and neutral. One gap occurs after the breath has come in and
before it goes out again, and another gap after the breath has gone out
Breath: Training and Performance 145
in his body. Apart from these few references of breathing, he does not
offer a training method or a theatre concept based on breath.
In their discussion of the actor’s pre-expressive level, Malekin and
Yarrow reinvestigate the role of breath in training and performance,
arguing theoretically that “breath is also a key factor” in
understanding the pre-expressive level of actor’s consciousness. 38 TPD DPT
“…we are not just talking about control, but about a centring of the
breath from the solar plexus area. The crucial factor is the ability to
return breath to utter stillness and channel its outflow from there. In
passing from the quietest level of breathing to the vital cessation of
breath characteristic of turiya, Samadhi, etc… 39 TPD DPT
of the ritual act Malekin argues that ritual is not a symbolic action, an
externalised signal of an intended meaning, but rather “it is
consecration and integration of external action within ultimate unity
in keeping with core meaning of ‘rite’…and this integration certainly
involves the quality of breath…” 41 From a similar point of view,
TPD DPT
strikes against the vocal cords in the larynx and makes them vibrate.
Sound waves resonate in the chest, the pharynx or hollow space above
the larynx in the mouth and nose and bones of the face, and the hollow
space in the head, the sinuses. In a chapter called Relaxation and
Breathing, 44 Berry suggests many exercises helping actors relax the
TPD DPT
Let us also look at few examples of how breath has been excluded
by major practitioners. The exclusion of breathing is very much
evident in Meyerhold and Joseph Chaikin. For instance, Shooting from
the Bow, one of the best known exercises in biomechanics is a series
of slow moving body stances including a careful use of various body
parts like arms, legs and spine followed by sequential pauses. What is
not mentioned in this exercise is actor’s breathing which runs parallel
to all the body movements and pauses mentioned through out in this
exercise. Joseph Chaikin’s Sound and Movement Exercise, as he
explains, is a series of movements aiming to “taking a sound and
movement out into the space and allowing its form to alter …until the
actor recognises or discovers some kind of associative connection
with it.” 47 There are at least two levels of associative connections at
TPD DPT
work in this exercise: between the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’ of the
actor, and between the body and the mind. According to Dorinda
Hulton, what is more important in this is “the flow between the
two,” 48 between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ and between the body and
TPD DPT
Brecht’s approach does not seem concerned with the actor’s breathing.
Peter Brook is predominantly working with well-trained actors from
all over the world so, there is no need for Brook developing a training
method of his own. Neither Barba nor Richard Schechner seems to
have developed any breath-related training. Interestingly, in the entire
discussion of ‘presence’ and ‘pre-expressivity’, Barba does not
mention breath at any stages. This is perhaps the limitation of the
anthropological methodology he derived from comparing the physical
nature of performance around the world.
Summary
What we see in Western 20th and 21st century actor training are
P P P P
Notes
1
TPDaniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Approaches to Acting: Past and Present, London & New
PT
3
TPIbid., p. 7.
PT
4
TPIbid., p. 164.
PT
5
TPSuresh Awasthi, Performance Tradition in India, (New Delhi: National Book Trust,
PT
2001). p. 64.
6
TPIbid., p. 64.
PT
7
TPMani Madhava Chakyar, “The Training Methods of Kudiyattam”, in Sangeet Natak,
PT
9
TPD. Appukuttan Nair, “Kudiyattam and Bhasa” in Sangeet Natak, (Special issue), no.
PT
111-114, p. 191.
10
TP Interview taken by myself in June 2003.
PT
11
TP Interview with the author, June 2003.
PT
12
TP Abhinavagupta, the 9th century commentator of the Natyasastra, introduced
PT P P
15
TP This Svara-vayu method in Kudiyattam does not have any direct connections to the
PT
17
TP Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, “My Training, My Gurus” in Sangeet Natak,
PT
20
TP Yoshi, Oida, The Invisible Actor, (London: Methuen, 1997), p. 89-92.
PT
21
TP Alison Hodge, Twentieth Century Actor Training, (ed.), (London & New York:
PT
23
TP Ibid., p. 22.
PT
24
TP Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor Theatre, (London: Methuen, 1991), p. 175.
PT
25
TP Ibid., p. 176.
PT
26
TP Ibid., p. 176
PT
27
TP Ibid., p. 117-18.
PT
28
TP See Grotowski’s comparison, which is elementary and can not expect from a
PT
serious researcher. It seems that he is familiar with some breathing exercises in Hatha
Yoga but not aware of the deeper understaning and practice of breath in Yoga. See
Chapter 2 for more details.
29
TP Jacques Lecoq, The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theatre, (London: Methuen,
PT
2000)p. 76.
Breath: Training and Performance 153
30
TP John Martin, The Intercultural Performance Handbook, (London: Routledge,
PT
2004), p. 19-27.
31
TP Ibid., p. 34.
PT
32
TP I gathered this information in my field research in Kerala from an Yogi whom I
PT
contacted for Siddha Yoga practice. His name is Rajendra Siddha Yogi who did not
allow me to talk more about him. As he said, Osho also mentioned it in one of his
speeches.
33
TP Phillip Zarrilli, “ On the Edge of A Breath, Looking”, in Phillip Zarrilli, (ed.),
PT
35
TP Ibid., p. 191.
PT
36
TP Ibid., p. 191.
PT
37
TP Nicolas Núñez, Anthropocosmic Theatre,(Amsterdam: Harwood, 1996), p. 131.
PT
38
TP Peter Malekin & Ralph Yarrow, Consciousness, Literature and Theatre: Theory
PT
40
TP Ibid., p. 136.
PT
41
TP Peter Malekin (1999), “Performance and Consciousness as Freedom”, in
PT
p. 154.
43
TP Cicely Berry, Voice and the Actor,(London: Virgin Books, 2000), p. 7
PT
44
TP Ibid., p. 18-42.
PT
45
TP <http://kh.bu.edu/artwithbraininmind-1/1736.html> (consulted July 12, 2007.
PT HTU UTH
46
TP Ibid., p. 76-77.
PT
47
TP Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Consciousness and the Actor, (Frankfurt: Peter Lang,
PT
1996). p. 160.
48
TP Alison Hodge, Twentieth Century Actor Training, (ed.), (London & New York:
PT
And do you not know also that although they make use of the visible
forms and reason about them, they are thinking not of these, but of the
ideals which they resemble; not of the figures which they draw, but of
the absolute square and the absolute diameter, and so on—the forms
which they draw or make, and which have shadows and reflections in
water of their own, are converted by them into images, but they are
really seeking to behold the things themselves, which can only be seen
with the eye of the mind? (Republic: vi)
I understand you to say that knowledge and being, which the science
of dialectic contemplates, are clearer than the notions of the arts, as
they are termed, which proceed from hypotheses only: these are also
contemplated by the understanding, and not by the senses: yet,
because they start from hypotheses and do not ascend to a principle,
those who contemplate them appear to you not to exercise the higher
reason upon them, although when a first principle is added to them
they are cognizable by the higher reason (Republic: vi)
Modern physics… pictures matter not at all as passive and inert, but as
being in a continuous dancing and vibrating motion whose rhythmic
patterns are determined by the molecular, atomic and nuclear
structures. This is also the way in which the Eastern mystics see the
material world. They all emphasise that the universe has to be grasped
dynamically, as it moves, vibrates and dances; the nature is not in a
static, but a dynamic equilibrium. (Capra, 1976, 205) 9
the mind and the body. In addition to this, Yarrow further establishes
the links between quantum physics and consciousness, arguing that
altered consciousness suggests “a merging of one state …into a more
expanded version.” 23 Quantum theory recognizes that particles
manifest themselves as distinct quanta of energy at different
frequencies and there are non-localized waves, which themselves can
be derived from the “plenum” or vacuum state, which contains
potential energy. According to Yarrow, to apply this to consciousness
clearly suggests that a neutral or potential state of consciousness is
categorically parallel to non-localized waves emerging from the
vacuum, which is characteristically distinct from the already known
modes of consciousness modes like waking and dreaming. 24
opposite of what Plato had meant by it.” 38 Aristotle defines the new
function of mimesis with the concepts of mythos and praxis in the
sixth chapter of the Poetics as “an imitation of an action”. It is
primarily the mythos, the plot, which is the imitation of the action.
Mythos is the “structure of events” that Aristotle calls “the soul of the
tragic art” (50 a 38/39). Praxis is rather one event that is “serious,
complete and has bulk” (47b 25). In addition, in the seventh chapter
we get the famous definition of praxis as an action “which is complete
and a whole and has a certain magnitude”. It is an action, furthermore,
with “beginning, middle and end” (50b 24-27). Melberg provides a
concise summary of this argument as follows: 39
Foucault examines the nature of event and says that “event is not
a concept” but strictly a “temporal force” which only exists in the
present time. The occurrence of an event cannot be controlled or
defined by any methodological programmes. An event might occur
without our being able to define the nature or consequences of what is
taking place. An event can be narrated only after its occurrence. An
event therefore, is an active process that takes place in the structural
dimensions of space and temporality. In his reassessment of the
philosophical methodologies of the recent past, Foucault argues that
neither neo-positivism nor classical phenomenology can explain this
dynamics of temporalization involved in an event. According to
Foucault, Deleuze’s contribution to contemporary philosophy is a
methodology, a methodology which helps to understand the nature of
temporality involved in our understandings of meaning and
consciousness. This methodology is called repetition; it is a state of
always being in the “present infinitive”. So, each moment of being is
the being continuously in the present time.
that air is the invisible other, which is irreducible and without which
there is no movement between perception and cognition. The flow of
air is the passage of time, and therefore, the producer of
consciousness. The flow of air is the flow of the language, and
therefore, the producer of meaning.
What Artaud was trying to explain was what Yoga identifies as the
three pathways of human respiration, left, middle and right. These
three nostril modes are further categorised according to the qualities
that Artaud identifies as well: left – feminine, middle – neuter and
right – masculine. 54 Artaud proposes the existence of a seventh state
of breath, which is higher than the remaining six modes of breathing.
That seventh state unites “the revealed and the unrevealed through the
portals of a higher guna, the state of sattva.” 55 Guna means the quality
and Sattva suggests an extended level of experience, which is beyond
our daily senses of the world. Meyer-Dinkgräfe offers a clear
demonstration of these two terms from the perspective of Vedic
psychology:
174 Breath and Consciousness
The entire creation consists of the interplay of the three gunas (…)
born of prakriti or nature. The process of evolution is carried on by
these three gunas. Evolution means creation and its progressive
development, and at its basis lies activity. Activity needs rajo-guna to
create a spur, and it needs sato-guna and tamo-guna to uphold the
direction of the movement....For any process to continue, there have to
be steps in that process, and each stage, however small in time and
space, needs a force to maintain it and another force to develop it into
a new shape. 56
Thus the creation and dissolution of the world are dependent on the
vital energy, which in its turn depends on consciousness, and pure
consciousness without an object is the…Supreme. 62
The fourth and the final set also includes six patterns of breathing,
however, they can only be carried out along with movements. This is
called nadanam or the dance, also known as the dance of Shiva in
delight in which breathing co-exists with movements. According to
Guru Rajendra Siddha Yogi, this is a state of absolute ‘solitude’ with
the ‘delight’ of ‘dancing’ united in a single thread of awareness in
which the bodily activities are profoundly focused and breath is
properly internalised, which eventually alters level of consciousness.
184 Breath and Consciousness
Bharata’s idea of Shiva as the first dancer and Brahma as the creator
of the art of acting suggests the co-existence of meditation and
performance as aspects of a single awareness which is the unity of
consciousness. Nadanam, the dance, the fourth set, has to be practiced
at the end of each set of patterns from one to three at 4am, 1pm and
8.30pm. Siddha Yoga strongly suggests that the internalisation of
breathing through the restoration of breath is the fundamental
technique to achieve highest form of human consciousness.
Middle path breathing refers to a shift in time. The left and right
path breathing suggest a conventional pattern of human respiration
and a conventional sense of daily time. The middle path breathing,
however, creates a shift in our daily perception and experience of
time, through creating an infinite cosmic space and a different sense of
time within. The daily modes of consciousness can be altered through
middle path breathing by altering the mode of perceiving time.
Restoration of breath is a movement upward and downward through
the middle path which incorporates or unifies the other two modes,
left and right, to create a timeless sense of infinitude and a field of
vital energy within. This act of internalisation creates a shift in the
individual perception of ordinary time by incorporating left and right
nostril modes. In other words, the disappearance of left and right
Breath and Consciousness 185
Santa, which has sama for its sthayibhava, leads to moksha, arises
from vibhavs such as knowledge of the truth, detachment, purity of
mind etc. It should be acted out by the anubhava such as yama and
niyama, meditation on the Self, concentration of the mind on the self
(dharana), devotion (upasana), compassion towards all creatures, and
the wearing of religious paraphernalia (lingagrahana). …Santarasa
has been taught as a means to the highest happiness. It arises from a
desire to secure the liberation of the Self and leads to knowledge of
the truth. ..Santarasa is that state wherein one feels the same towards
all creatures, wherein there is no pain, no happiness, no hatred and no
envy. Santa is one’s natural state of mind (prakrti). Other emotions
such as love etc. are deformations of that original state. 72
Summary
Notes
1
<http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Consciousness_studies:_The_description_of_
consciousness> (consulted September 5, 2007)
2
Ibid., p. 1.
3
Peter Malekin and Ralph Yarrow, Consciousness, Literature and Theatre:
Theory and Beyond, (London: Macmillan, 1997) p. 34.
4
Peter Malekin, “ Performance and Consciousness as Freedom” in
Performing Arts International, vol.1, part, 4. p. 93-94.
5
<http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Consciousness_studies:_The_description_of_
consciousness> (consulted September 5, 2007)
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ralph Yarrow, Indian Theatre: Theatre of Origin, Theatre of Freedom, (London:
Curzon, 2001), p. 5
10
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jane_Roberts> (consulted September 5, 2007).
11
Peter Malekin and Ralph Yarrow, Consciousness, Literature and Theatre:
Theory and Beyond, (London: Macmillan, 1997) p. 37.
12
Ibid., p. 38.
13
Ibid., p. 38.
14
Ibid., p. 38.
15
Peter Malekin, “Performance and Consciousness as Freedom” in Performing Arts
International, vol.1, part, 4. p. 97.
16
Ibid., p. 97.
17
K.P. Narayana Pisharoti, (tr.), Bharatamuniyude Natyasastram, vol.1, (Trichur:
Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1987) p. 79. This edition of the book is only available in
Malayalam, the regional language of Kerala and I use this for my references for the
entire thesis. The author has translated the book directly from the various available
Sanskrit manuscripts to the regional language. Since the author can not read or write
English, he was not influenced by other editions translated in English. So, this edition
is an authentic version of The Natyasastra available in Sanskrit.
18
Peter Malekin, “Performance and Consciousness as Freedom” in Performing Arts
International, vol.1, part, 4. p. 98. What Malekin explains here is the concepts of
Nada and Bindu presented elaborately in various classical Indian texts of spirituality
and mysticism. Nada, the sound emerges from Bindu, the static infinitude, and space
and time are born out of this subtle exploration. See ch.2 for further details.
19
Ralph Yarrow, “Neutral Consciousness in the experience of Theatre” in Mosaic
(Summer 1986) p. 2.
20
Ibid., p. 3.
21
Ibid., p. 8.
22
Ibid., p. 8.
23
Ibid., p. 9.
24
Ibid., p. 9.
25
Ibid., p. 10.
26
Ibid., p. 11.
Breath and Consciousness 191
27
Ibid., p. 11.
28
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Consciousness and The Actor, (Frankfurt: Peter Lang,
1996) p. 125-134.
29
Ibid., p. 127.
30
Alexander: 1986, p. 295, in Meyer-Dinkgräfe, 1996, p. 30
31
Alexander, 1989, p. 355, in Ibid., p. 30.
32
Ibid., p. 133.
33
Ibid., p. 133.
34
Quoted in Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Ibid., 1996, p. 133.
35
Ibid., p. 126.
36
Arne Melberg, Theories of Memesis, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1995), p. 141.
37
Ibid., p. 23.
38
Gerald F. Else, Plato and Aristotle on Poetry, (Chapel Hill: NC, 1986), p. 74.
39
Arne Melberg, Theories of Mimesis, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1995), p. 44-45.
40
Paul Ricoeur, Time and Narrative, tr. K. McLaughlin & D. Pellaure, (Chicago
University Press, 1984), vol. 1, p. 31.
41
Ibid, p. 3.
42
Kierkegaard, Repetition: An Essay in Experimental Psychology, tr. Walter Lowrie,
(New York: Evanston & London: Harper & Row, 1964), p. 33.
43
Michael Foucault, “Theatrum Philosophicum” in Timothy Murray, (ed.) Mimesis,
Masochism and Mime: The Politics of Theatricality in Contemporary French
Thought, (Michigan University Press, 1997), p. 216-238.
44
Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, ( London: Continuum, 2001), p. 8-16.
45
Ibid., p. 16.
46
Luce Irigaray, The forgetting of Air in Martin Heidegger, (London: Athlone, 1999),
p. 164.
47
Martin Heidegger, An Introduction to Metaphysics,(tr.) Ralph Manheim, (New
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999), p,4.
48
Luce Irigaray, The forgetting of Air in Martin Heidegger, (London: Athlone, 1999),
p. 8-9
49
Ibid., p. 11.
50
Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double, (London: Calder, 1989), p. 93.
51
Ibid., p. 89.
52
Ibid., p. 93.
53
Ibid., p. 92.
54
See Chapter two for further details.
55
Ibid., p. 92.
56
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, c.f. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Consciousness and the
Actor, ( Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996), p. 153
57
Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double, (London: Calder, 1989), p. 95.
58
See Chapter three for more details.
59
Bettina Bäumer, “Sun, Consciousness and Time: The way of Time and the Timeless
in Kashmir Saivism” in Kapila Vatsyayan, ed. Concept of Time Ancient and Modern,
(New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1996) p. 73-77.
60
Tantraloka: VII. 62-63
192 Breath and Consciousness
61
Ibid., p. 73.
62
TAI, VI. 179-180.
63
L. Silburn, Hymnes aux Kali, Paris, 1975, p. 50.
64
Bettina Bäumer, p. 75
65
Tantraloka: VII.21-25
66
See Chapter two for more details
67
K.R. Shringy and Prem Lata Sharma, (tr.), Sangitaratnakara of Sarngadevs, vol.1,
(New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1991), p. 102.
68
Ibid., p. 102.
69
See Chapter 2.5.3 for the detailed description of the practice
70
See Chapter two section 2.5 for more details.
71
Haresh V. Dehejia, Makarand Paranjape, (ed.) Saundarya: The Perception
and Practice of Beauty in India. New Delhi: Samvad India Foundation,
2003. p. 9.
72
quoted in Meyer-Dinkgräfe, 1996. p. 145.
Conclusion
The point of departure for my argument in this book was the desire
to explore the role of breath in relation to acting and actor training. I
identified the need for this discussion from the insight that while many
philosophers and theatre artists note the importance of the human body
for life in general and in the contexts of performativity, theatricality,
performance and theatre in particular, only very few note the relevance
of one particular aspect of the body: breath. Related to that insight is
my unique access, through my family, to specific aspects of Indian
traditional knowledge that are explicitly related to breath. In Chapter
one I demonstrated how the related concepts of performativity and
theatricality are bound to notions of embodiment, but predominantly
without reference to breath. The writings of Irigaray and Artaud are the
exceptions. Chapter one concluded that breath in relation to theatre
needs further attention. In Chapter two I described in detail how
selected and relevant schools of thought in the West and in the East
understand, describe and define breath. In Chapter three I analysed to
what extent, if at all, different Western and Eastern approaches to actor
training integrate breath-related techniques and how breath has been
excluded in the major system of actor training in contemporary theatre.
In Chapter four, I finally related techniques of breath to states and
levels of consciousness and discussed how breath related techniques in
the context of theatre can serve to develop altered states of
consciousness. Below I will now summarise my findings.
Websites:
http://kh.bu.edu/artwithbraininmind-1/1736.html (consulted July 12, 2007)
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/4 (consulted March 12, 2005)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Consciousness_studies:_The_description_of_
consciousness (consulted September 5, 2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jane_Roberts (consulted September 5, 2007)