River of Guidance Library

Week 1 Optional Practices

quotes-teachings-for-participants-week-1.pdf

Ya-Raqib-explanation.pdf

Here are some of the practices that we did during our first session. You're welcome to take up this suggested

list of practices for the week, either daily or as you have time. Or you can pick one that calls to you.

The Sufi Invocation in English or in your own language

vocally 3 times, bringing your attention to the words and feeling their meanings

taking it a bit deeper each time.

Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty

United with All the Illuminated Souls, who form the Embodiment of the Master

The Spirit of Guidance.

The Garment of Light and Empowerment (Breathing the Invocation)

3 times, or more if you feel that it resonates

1. Breathe up through the feet, up the body and out the crown

2. Exhale down from above, down through the crown, down through the body ... like putting on a

Garment of Light, of Empowerment

3. On the inhalation, breathing in the 1st half of the Invocation

a. "Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, the Only Being"

4. On the exhalation, breathing out the 2nd half of the Invocation

a. "United with All the Illuminated Souls, who form the Embodiment of the Master, the

Spirit of Guidance"

5. Feeling this connection with Oneness,

a. with the Perfection of Love Harmony and Beauty,

b. with the Only Being,

c. with the Illuminated Souls,

d. with the Spirit of Guidance

e. Drawing this Garment of Light and Empowerment down through the body, and through

the aura,

6. After you complete the number of repetitions, finish up in this way

a. Expand this feeling of connection, this Oneness, this Garment of Light and

Empowerment

b. Reach out with your "hands of breath", with your "hands of heart"

c. and take hands with your loved ones, and your larger heart family,

d. and EXTEND this breath of coming into Oneness with the circle of people who were

with you in the Zoom session, and with the larger caravan of travelers on the Path to

Awakening,

i. allowing our own sense of this expansion to extend vertically, as well as

horizontally

ii. a sphere of Light and Empowerment

e. Gradually feeling it expand to all our connections in the Great Web of Life

Ya Raqib – Loving Awareness

(See the separate Ya Raqib explanation for expanded meaning and context)

11 or 33 times vocally

Then another 3, or 7 times very slowly

Intone it on the out breath, vibrating it in your heart and body, and outwards

and then inhale it silently, like an echo coming back to you, deeper and deeper

Then sit in the silence for a few breaths, feeling the Quality of Loving Awareness

Watching the Breath Meditation

10 min or 11 breaths in each stage

Stage 1

1. Just notice condition of your breath

2. Establish a rhythm

3. Notice and follow your inhale, and exhale,

4. Allow it to slow down, become longer, more refined

5. Become aware of small natural pauses at top of the inhalation, and at the bottom of the

exhalation

6. Consider that this Breath is really a part of you, it is you

Stage 2

1. Begin to open to and feel the magnetism that is carried by the breath, the prana, the

Livingness.

2. Be aware of drawing it in from the All-Pervading Life in Space, and breathing it back out

to that container of Silence

3. Notice the connection between the ease and refinement of the breath and the prana, the

magnetism

4. Center awareness in the heart in the center of the chest

5. Consciously begin to draw the prana, the life force into your heart as you inhale, and

radiate it outwards as you exhale

6. Let it permeate and fill your whole body

7. And then radiate it out beyond the body, to the whole room, and beyond

NOTE: as you move through the stages, stay attentive to the flow of the breath ... long, refined,

rhythmical. It if begins to stray, gently bring it back.

Purification Breaths & the Prayer Nayaz tuning in to the 3 Powers

Carry the radiant breath, from the previous meditation, filled with prana, with magnetism, with Life

Force, into these Purification Breaths,

1. Gentle, refined, breathing, 4-counts in, 4-counts out

2. Ya Shafiy while inhaling (God is the Only Healer)

3. Ya Kafiy while exhaling (God is Sufficient to Every Need)

4. 5x in and out through the nose

5. 5x in nose, out the mouth

6. 5x in mouth, out the nose

7. 5x in and out the mouth

8. Prayer Nayaz

a. Beloved Lord, Almighty God

b. Through the Rays of the Sun

i. Pause and inhale the power of the Rays of the Sun, and exhale the power of

the Rays of the Sun

c. Through the Waves of the Air

i. Pause and inhale the power of the Waves of the Air, and exhale the power

of the Waves of the Air

d. Through the All-Pervading Life in Space

i. Pause and inhale the power of the All-Pervading Life in Space, and exhale

the power of the All-Pervading Life in Space

e. Purify and revivify me.

f. And I pray, heal my body, heart, and soul.

g. Amen.

teachings-for-week-2.pdf

Week 2 Optional Practices

Here are some of the practices that we did during our second session. Some are the same as from Week 1, and some are new.

And the explanations for the practices from Week 1 can be found in the "Week 1 Optional Practices" PDF.

You're welcome to take up this suggested list of practices for the week, either daily or as you have time. Or you

can pick one or more that call to you.

And please remember: some is better than none; and try to stay out of judgement and blaming if you fall short

of your ideal or your intentions.

The Sufi Invocation in English or in your own language

vocally 3 times, bringing your attention to the words and feeling their meanings

taking it a bit deeper each time.

The Garment of Light and Empowerment (Breathing the Invocation)

3 times, or more if you feel that it resonates

Ya Raqib – Loving Awareness (See the separate Ya Raqib explanation, with the Week 1 resources, for

expanded meaning and context)

11 or 33 times vocally

Then another 3, or 7 times very slowly

Intone it on the out breath, vibrating it in your heart and body, and outwards

and then inhale it silently, like an echo coming back to you, deeper and deeper

Then sit in the silence for a few breaths, feeling the Quality of Loving Awareness

Watching the Breath Meditation

(10 min or 11 breaths in each stage, or longer, as you feel engaged)

Stage 1

Stage 2

NEW - STAGE 3:

1. Link the breath and the prana you're drawing in and radiating out with your feelings of Love from

the depth of your heart

a. Then include the Love you have for your loving connections: family, friends, fellow

travelers in our Caravan of Heart on the path to Awakening

b. Then as All Love and Desire

c. Then reaching deeper find the One Love,

i. God’s love, the container of all that desire and love

ii. The One Desire behind all desires,

iii. The desire for Wholeness to overcome our experience and feelings of separation

and disconnection

2. Now, using the rhythm that has been established in your breath

a. Begin slowly intoning in your thought, "Al-lah, Al-lah"

i. or if you prefer Towards the One,

ii. whichever you can put the most feeling into

b. So that the repetition takes the full length of the breath,

c. Letting it naturally fill the heart and breath

i. With the joy of the Divine Presence

ii. And the longing for Unity with the One.

As you proceed in the practice stay attentive to flow of the breath, long, refined, rhythmical. If it begins

to stray from this, gently bring it back.

Purification Breaths & the Prayer Nayaz tuning in to the 3 Powers

NEW - The Descent of the Dove, and Writing the Name of God/Goddess/Allah on your Heart (Irfan)

3 or 7 or 11 times

SYMBOL of the DOVE as a Messenger from God/Goddess/Allah, The Spirit of Guidance, the Holy

Spirit

Inhale Hu, from above downwards through the Crown

Visualize the Dove descending from the heavens into the Crown center

Connect your breath with the Divine Spirit, the Spirit of Guidance,

the Holy Spirit (from the Christian Tradition),

descending from the Inner World, from the Highest Heaven, from the Throne of the

Creator,

Bring it all the way down into your Heart

And feel it embodied within you as Presence, as Love, as Blessing

In the Pause between Inhale and Exhale, Irfan

Visualize writing Allah, God, or Goddess in Light in your Heart center,

in Arabic, or English, or in your own language) in letters of Light

It may help to use your finger to trace out the letters as you visualize

As you move more deeply into the practice, you can do Irfan in the other centers as well

Exhale Allah out through the Heart in all directions

Radiating this Light, this Love, this Presence outwards from your heart

Feel your connection in your Breath with Source, with the Divine Spirit, within and without

Radiate the Essence, share the Bliss of your connection, with your inner family, with all your

connections in the outer world, with the World as a whole.

Week 2: Murshid Wali Ali's Answer to a Question

(This is Murshid Wali Ali's response to a question asked in the video recording of Class 10 of the God is

Breath course, about losing connection to the meaning of the words, and just saying them anyway)

1. What I do if I'm saying words over and over

a. and they don't mean anything to me,

i. I try and find a way to change what I'm saying

ii. Because [otherwise] there's no point in it.

2. and if I'm working with "Toward the One",

a. and it becomes totally stale

b. and I could be saying, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

c. You know, whatever,

d. I think about, what is this thing supposed to do?

e. What am I supposed to get by doing this?

3. And what I get is,

a. oh, I'm supposed to remember.

b. I'm not separate from the One.

c. I'm not making this up. This has happened to me, you know?

4. So then instead of when I'm out there breathing, Toward the One,

a. and not knowing what I'm saying,

b. I'm breathing, thinking, with each breath

i. oh, remembering the One,

ii. remembering that I'm not separate from the One

iii. remembering that Oneness,

iv. remembering, Non-separated Oneness,

v. which is what you're saying, you know,

c. I mean, you are That, but you forget it.

5. So, if you emphasize where you've forgotten that you're a part of it

a. You're saying I need to go toward it.

b. Then that's the spiritual path, you know,

c. to overcome limitation and become awakened,

d. so take it where it means something.

e. Take the words to where it means something,

6. the words are just where you begin.

a. and then you go to the essence of the words,

b. then you have the fikr using the words.

c. I mean you have you say them aloud,

d. then you say them, on the breath, with the fikr,

e. and then you just go into what it means.

f. it means, with each breath, remembering.

i. I'm the One

ii. I am in the One

iii. there is only the One,

iv. I'm an aspect of the One.

v. The One is overcoming my idea that I am separate

g. that's what you're doing.

7. So, you don't have to put it into concepts,

a. Just do it. Just do it with each breath,

b. Just be with it, be with Oneness in this breath,

c. And then be with Oneness in this breath

d. You take it instead of saying I'm not doing it right.

i. You're taking it to a higher level. basically,

ii. because you're taking it right into the secret of the fikr (fikr as-sirr)

iii. We don't want to get trapped by any concepts,

iv. No matter how good they may be or

v. How well we might be able to defend them in a debate, you know,

vi. Because Essence is beyond all that

Week 3: Optional Practices

Here are some of the practices that we did during our third and final session. Some are the same as from

Weeks 1 and 2, and some are new. The new practices are indicated in RED. And the explanations for the

practices from Week 1 can be found in the "Week 1 Optional Practices" PDF.

You're welcome to take up this suggested list of practices for the week, either daily or as you have time. Or you

can pick one or more that call to you.

And please remember: some is better than none; and try to stay out of judgement and blaming if you fall short

of your ideal or your intentions.

The Sufi Invocation in English or in your own language

vocally 3 times, bringing your attention to the words and feeling their meanings

taking it a bit deeper each time.

The Garment of Light and Empowerment (Breathing the Invocation)

3 times, or more if you feel that it resonates

Ya Raqib – Loving Awareness (See the separate Ya Raqib explanation, with the Week 1 resources, for

expanded meaning and context)

11 or 33 times vocally, 3 or 7 times intoned, and inhaling back from the space, taking it deeper

Then sit in the silence for a few breaths, feeling the Quality of Loving Awareness

Watching the Breath Meditation

(15 min or 11 breaths in each stage, or longer, as you feel engaged)

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

NEW - STAGE 4:

1. Feel your heart opening to a connection with one of the Illuminated Souls ... one who you may

feel drawn to in this moment, who may inspire you by their example...

a. Perhaps Murshid SAM, or Hazarat Inayat Khan,

b. perhaps a manifestation of the Divine Mother,

i. Quan Yin, Tara, Mother Mary, whomever...

2. Connect your breath, and the prana, and your heart's love with that being,

a. knowing that they can be an Idealization of Perfection for you,

b. to stimulate their Perfected Qualities to arise in you,

c. because they aren't really outside of you,

d. they aren't separate from you, in your depth

3. Perhaps considering how it might be to experience life in the world with their perspective

a. Seeing through their eyes, hearing through their ears, Walking with their walk

b. Acting in their manner, with their awareness, their Presence

4. And as you finish, gently relax into the Space you've opened to with gentle, loving Awareness

a. And in that delicate Raqib manner, just notice for several breaths

i. what your breath feels like

ii. what your body feels like

iii. what your inner experience is

Overall, as you proceed in the practice stay attentive to flow of the breath, long, refined, rhythmical. If

it begins to stray from this, gently bring it back, possibly even vocalizing Allah-Allah, or Toward the

One, for a bit to come to center again.

Purification Breaths & the Prayer Nayaz tuning in to the 3 Powers

(4-6 min) Separate Nostril Breathing

to allow you to begin becoming aware of what the breath feels like, what qualities it may have, when it is

predominately or only, in one nostril or the other, or in both

Classical attribution or mapping of qualities to the left and right nostrils and sides of the body

Jemal – literally Beauty, Mild, Yielding, Responsive, Moon, Lunar, Left Nostril

Jelal – literally Majesty, Strength or Power, Active, Directive, Sun, Solar, Right Nostril

Kemal – literally Perfection, Completion, Balance, Balanced or Chaotic or Destructive, Both Nostrils

Hazrat Inayat Khan "When the rhythm of breath is upset, Jemal and Jelal are in conflict with

each other, out of balance, and the effect of this type of Kemal breath is failure and destruction.

When the Jemal and Jelal currents are in balance then Kemal is balance and perfection."

5 or 10 long refined breaths in and out through the Left nostril,

holding the right nostril closed

being aware of the natural pause at the top and bottom

5 or 10 long refined breaths in and out through the Right nostril

holding the left nostril closed

being aware of the natural pause at the top and bottom

Attempt to breathe 5 or 10 long refined breaths evenly balanced in both nostrils

being aware of the natural pause at the top and bottom

Sit for a few more breaths, and reflect on what it felt like

breathing just through the left, just though the right, and balanced in both nostrils