Empty Force Practice: “Conscious Involuntary Breathing”
The practice I would like to suggest for this is incredibly simple. I discovered it first in an ancient yogic text called Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, which is framed as a dialogue between the divine couple, Bhairava (an aspect of Shiva) and Devi (the Goddess, sometimes referred to as Parvati or Shakti).
In the text, Devi approaches Bhairava with a deep and essential question:
“How can one move beyond the limitations of the mind and enter into the vast, ultimate reality that you exist within? How can one live in that infinite state of being?”
Rather than responding with philosophical arguments, intellectual analysis, or religious doctrine, Bhairava offers a series of 112 direct meditation techniques. Each method is designed to provide an immediate gateway into expanded consciousness — simple yet profound doorways to awaken the vastness already latent within us.
The first four methods that Bhairava offers point to something that is both deceptively simple and extraordinarily powerful: that at the point of transition between inhalation and exhalation, we can experience something beyond ourselves.
In other words, by bringing awareness to the subtle space between breaths — the moment when inhalation ends and exhalation begins, and again when exhalation finishes and inhalation commences — we can access a silent, timeless reality.
The words that the text uses are the following:
- Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out)— the beneficence.
- As breath turns from down to up, and again as breath curves from up to down—through both these turns, realize.
- Or, whenever in-breath and out-breath fuse, at this instant touch the energy-less, energy-filled center.
- Or, when breath is all out (up) and stopped of itself, or all in (down) and stopped— in such universal pause, one’s small self vanishes. This is difficult only for the impure.
These are presented in the text as 4 distinct methods, but to me they each point to the same secret: that in the pause between breaths, the doorway to the Infinite is always open.
This “gap” is not just a physiological pause; it is a doorway into what I have experienced as an incredible reservoir of energy and blissfulness. I believe that this is what Taoists have referred to as “Empty Force” – it certainly feels both “empty” and “powerful” to me.
In Taoist language, this could be likened to touching the space between Yin and Yang — the still point where all polarities dissolve into the Tao.
Practicing this technique gradually refines our sensitivity to the internal field of energy, allowing the hidden reservoir of vitality to reveal itself effortlessly, without force or strain. It invites us to move beyond doing, and into pure being — where the most profound energies of life naturally unfold.
Practice Guide
Please watch the video below for an explanation of, and guidance to, this practice.
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A written description of the practice is provided at the Exercise Files tab.
After you have completed the exercise, please note your experience in your Course Journal.
