Cleansing

"Refining" means to cleanse-- a process that filters out impurities. Impurities are the negative emotions that impede our progress.

The main obstacles to our mental and physical evolution are the emotional granthis or knots that have formed in the astral body. The astral body is ‘a body of fine energies or pranas which have the quality of emotions, and that is why negative emotions can create blocks.’

These granthis have been formed by the accumulation of negative emotions and their memory patterns over very long periods of time (not only this life, but birth after birth after birth).

Granthi means ‘a deeply embedded negative pattern which keeps on repeating in our actions, just as a block in the physical body leads to blockage in the circulation of blood.’

To remove damaging emotional debris brought on by the granthis—as well as- improve blood circulation, ease tension, and more—the following six simple breathing exercises are recommended daily. They are designed to work towards clearing the residue of undigested experiences from within the system.

These six refining exercises tone the nerves, correct respiration and speech, give strength and energy, improve circulation and digestion, remove tension, and reduce joint pain.

In short, they help in preventing bodily disability and mental inertia, the primary obstacles to . Later, an increase in their intensity will affect regeneration of the Vagus nerve.

These practices are not normal, ordinary physical exercises, and as a by-product they give benefits that almost all other physical exercises do not. What is required here, and in the lessons to follow, is total involvement. These exercises are designed for a higher purpose. If that purpose is not kept in mind or drawn before one's eyes, the real benefits- internal purification- will not accrue, just as rote prayers, however often recited, yield nothing.

Ideally, the exercises are to be performed soundlessly and with minimal movement of head, torso, and knees; it is breath that drives the muscles and organs, not vice versa. Correct performance ensures awareness and control of breath all through inhalation and exhalation.

Each exercise is done to focus on a particular area of the physical body, and the organ in turn is connected to the granthis and plexuses (chakras) at the astral level. As a result, when the granthi and emotional debris are cleared in a particular area, only then will the emotional energies relevant to that area become renewed.