Reading Israel Regardie's The Art of True Healing - Part 2

I am working from the Helios Books edition 1970. The original was first published in 1937 and has been through many editions since, so yours may be slightly different to mine, but not in its overall ideas. There is a pdf copy available for free here which will do the job. It is a deceptively simple book which can be read through in no time at all. Full digestion and appreciation of it takes much longer though.

The opening of the Art of True Healing can be summarised like this.

“The first step toward freedom and health is a conscious realisation of the vast spiritual reservoir in which we live and move and have our being. Repeated intellectual effort to make this part and parcel of one’s mental outlook automatically breaks down or dissolves something of the hard inflexible shell of the mind. Health spontaneously arises...”

The point here is that there needs to be an act of will, a deliberate and conscious reprogramming of the mind until you totally accept, without question, that you are swimming in a sea of energy which is available for you to use at any time. This is not to deny the reality of darkness (our own, or others) but much of that darkness stems from, and is strengthened by, our own resistance, which Regardie says, we can re-programme ourselves out of.

But how do we do that?

Easy. The process begins with RHYTHM.

Sound with rhythm is music, but sound without rhythm is just noise. Consider that for a moment.

Then consider that rhythm, steady repetition in line with a pattern, is the rule of life. Rhythm promotes balance, and is a protector against chaos. The planets move around the sun to a rhythm, and the moon moves around the earth to a different rhythm. Rhythm is ordered movement. Rhythm is absent wherever things move suddenly, randomly, unexpectedly or chaotically.

Rhythm occurs in our personal, daily life in the most mundane and fundamental way, through breathing. Or at least it should. In reality many of us, much of the time, are not breathing rhythmically, but are instead snatching breaths, almost gasping for air. Either we are not breathing deeply enough, or slowly enough, or regularly enough. And if we aren’t breathing correctly then our entire system becomes disordered and chaotic, eventually resulting in illness and poverty.

When we are young, or if we are relatively healthy without trying to be, then little attention might be paid to the breath. It is only when things start to become disordered within us that we begin to consider that the very thing we have doing automatically and have been giving no attention to, might be the cause of many of our problems. Only then might we begin to regulate our breathing, to become more conscious of it.

“During this practice of rhythmic breathing, at fixed periods of the day, there should be no strenuous forcing of the mind, no over-taxing of the will. All effort must be gentle and easy...”

Nothing fancy is required here. It is simply a case of getting into a routine of letting the breath flow in while slowly counting to four, and then exhaling while counting the same again. This is even simpler than the Four-Fold Breath exercise which is explained elsewhere in the Hub.

Now, it doesn’t actually matter whether you breathe in and out to a count of four, or five, or ten, so long as it is slow, sustained and rhythmic. No alternating between nostrils! The simplicity of the in/out rhythm, its total and complete naturalness is the very thing that re-connects us back to the infinite amazingness all around us.

Do this at set times a day, for set periods of time. Lie on the floor while you do it, mentally instructing the different parts of your body to relax. Imagine that your blood is circulating this new rhythm and sense of order and balance throughout your body.

Of course, some might wonder if this preliminary practice is so important, really. Well, Regardie has something to say about that.

“It would be impossible to overestimate its importance or efficacy.”

The point is that the whole body knows that rhythm produces order which in turn produces health, and it wants to return to that state. Now the mind might be another matter. The mind, with all its bullshit beliefs and stories about self, life and the world, might crave constant stimulation, and as a result might find the simplicity, speed and steadiness of this practice too much to bear. But that is why we talk about the need to exert an act of will in order to do the exercise. The body is ahead of the mind here; it knows what it needs. The mind needs to shut the f up and reconnect with the natural order, through rhythmic breathing, instructing the toes, the feet, the legs, the trunk, the arms and hands and everything else in between to relax. Only you can make this happen.

“Just as a stone thrown into a pond sends out widely expanding ripples and concentric circles of motion, so does the motion of the lungs. In a few minutes the whole body will be vibrating with their movement. Every cell seems to vibrate sympathetically. And very soon the whole organism comes to feel as if it were an inexhaustible storage battery of power.”

Last thing: this whole thing is not, repeat NOT, a mental exercise, it must become a feeling, experienced in the body, not just in the mind as a idea. It is not expected that you would attain a slow and rhythmic, super relaxed mode of breathing 24/7 in your daily life. But mastery of this stage occurs when you can slip into the required state swiftly, and when you can do this regularly. Everything that follows depends upon your ability to will yourself to do this, to instruct the body to relax, part by part, and to align your breathing with a slow and steady rhythm. When this can be done alongside the conscious realisation that you are constantly in the presence of the Divine, whose energy and force are everywhere and in everything, then you are ready to proceed to the next stage. All we are doing is re-aligning ourselves with nature, with the pre-existing flow, for that is where all answers and solutions rest. Our resistance to this fact is the only obstacle.

More in 2-3 weeks time. Your ongoing homework is to consider what is being said here as deeply as you can. Reach out with questions in the comments below please so everyone can share in the process. Please excuse any typos. Read ahead in the book itself if you wish, but understand that the firm foundations described here will have to be laid down if you want avoid trouble later on.