Impregnating Breath

["emcshadow" <emcshadow@...>]

Hi David and all!

Some thoughts on impregnating breath... I offer these notes not as 
instruction, but as experience of a fellow explorer, there may be 
something you can use and, worst case, perhaps you may profit from my 
mistakes. 

One thing that continues to unfold for me through Bardon's work is 
the fundamental difference between what we think we know 
intellectually and what we discover experientially. I've given up on 
trying to ascertain, with much stock in veracity, what my 
mind "thinks" a practice may reveal -vs- what the actual practice 
will uncover. I also appreciate your insight David; each step itself 
can confer a set of powerful tools for the magician, rather than 
being stepping stones toward some illusion of future achievement; I 
believe achievement is something always available in the now. 

I didn't really understand impregnating breath at first; I was 
working with it abstractly for quite sometime until a few things 
started to gel :-) Once of my first progressions in the technique 
came when I started realizing it had something to do with "binding." 
How does one bind intent x with substance y? How do thoughts merge 
with things, connect with things in a different way than simple 
reflections of what we perceive? I discovered my typical thoughts 
were mostly reactive rather than projective; they responded to 
perceptions and other thoughts but they functioned more along the 
lines of those inert ingredients you see on product labels. This 
reversal of polarity (subjective tag, not a magical definition) 
became an important key to future exercises, and a way of cracking 
the code with impregnation. As a bridging technique I explored 
imagining a gas with particular effects or particles of nano-tech 
that could be programmed when a focused link was established; while 
valuable at the time, I found these could also be dispensed with as 
practice progressed.

The second discovery was the importance of sustaining an 
unadulterated thought-stream; the more effective I became at thought 
control #2 the more effective this link in the chain became. That 
wily Bardon. Not much of an issue with 7 breaths, but as the duration 
extended to 5, 10 and 15 minutes I found it useful to combine these 
two exercises. This tweak became more effective when used with a 
third. 

The difference between wanting something and the experience of having 
something is characterized by how we represent differences in time. A 
subtlety that bit me on more than one occasion was the distinction in 
what happens when you project an intent based on desire -vs- an 
intent based on accomplishment. If you project the "desire for x" 
with your impregnation it may very well manifest successfully as 
simply the "desire for x." You may be projecting the manifestation of 
a *need* rather than its fulfillment. So the third discovery was the 
importance of invoking what you would *feel* like if you have what 
you intend; it is already accomplished, what do you feel? Not what do 
you desire. This can be a major shift. Exploring the many goals we 
have in life from the perspective of what specifically we expect to 
gain in terms of how it impacts our being has a side benefit; it can 
sort through a myriad of external priorities and refine them to a set 
of internal values. It can also teach quite a bit about "state 
control." This building block of impregnation had me experimenting 
with techniques that actors use to fabricate states and, in 
particular, to the work of Constantine Stanislavsky and his use of 
psycho-physical action and "atmospheres." Like discovering the inert 
activity of thought, this pointed out an inertia in my imaginative 
faculties; given a chance to experience any state you wanted, what 
state would you pick? 

The last relevant discovery, in order to wrap this up with some 
semblance of brevity, was the powerful metaphorical action that the 
physical step brings to the equation; impregnating something that is 
assimilated into one's being. (A reason why you may want to be 
careful about watching the news while you are eating.) We assimilate 
things on many levels and linking to this process creates a powerful, 
resonant ritual in ways other parts of our mind understand. Like many 
magical practices, we are doing this all the time; we project our 
beliefs, assumptions and values out into the world and with our 
perception we then reabsorb them as evidence which creates and 
sustains our realities. This process can lock us into a conditioned 
reality; the 4rth way schools, mentioned recently, believe there are 
three "octaves" that can serve as "shock points" for changing this; 
interestingly enough, they are the conscious use of food, air and 
impressions :-)

I hope something here may assist in some small way in your practice. 

-emc