This subtle Tantra method, echoed in the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra and refined in Osho’s poetic guidance, invites you to rest where breath is not—at the vanishing points between inhalation and exhalation. Each in-breath is a quiet birth, each out-breath a gentle death; between them lies a still, unclaimed interval. You do not shape the breath or count it; you simply accompany it, moment by moment, until the breath and your awareness move as one.
As attention grows finer, the tiny pauses at the turning of the breath reveal themselves. In that stopping—before breath turns in or out—the ordinary stream of thought loosens, and a beneficent silence becomes palpable. This practice is simple in form yet profound in effect: by staying present to the breath’s natural rhythm, you discover the timeless gap it already conceals.
Phase Instructions
Preparation: Settle and Do Not Interfere
Sit comfortably with your spine naturally upright. Let the hands rest easily. Close your eyes or keep them softly lowered. Make no effort to control, count, lengthen, or shape the breath. Allow it to flow exactly as it is. Take a minute to feel the body’s weight and the natural rise and fall of the belly and chest. Resolve to be simple: only awareness of breathing, nothing to add and nothing to fix.
First Stage: Join the In-Breath
Place your attention where the breath first touches—at the rims of the nostrils. As the breath comes in, feel its coolness at the nostrils and let your awareness travel with it, down into the body. Do not move ahead of the breath and do not trail behind; keep exact company with it from the first touch at the nostrils all the way in. Let breath and awareness become simultaneous, as if they are one movement. If thoughts arise, gently return to the tactile feel of the in-breath entering.
Second Stage: Accompany the Out-Breath
From the same point at the nostrils, remain with the breath as it turns and moves out. Feel the warmth of the out-breath and accompany it fully to its natural completion. Again, do not anticipate or lag; stay exactly with what is happening. Sense the flavor of release in each exhalation—as if something completes, lets go, and passes.
Third Stage: Feel Both Movements as One Cycle
Continue riding the full cycle—breath coming in, breath going out—without interruption. Let the world recede until only this intimate arena remains: the breath touching the nostrils, entering, and leaving. Keep the attention steady, light, and continuous. If restlessness or dullness appears, refresh the contact at the nostrils and rejoin the exact flow of breathing.
Fourth Stage: Meet the Two Turnings
As awareness becomes clear and unhurried, begin to notice each turning point. After the in-breath completes, there is a tiny, natural suspension before exhalation begins. After the out-breath completes, there is another subtle pause before inhalation starts. Do not try to create or prolong these pauses. Simply recognize them when they occur. The moment you sense a turning, soften all effort and let awareness rest right there.
Fifth Stage: Abide in the Still Interval
Each time a pause reveals itself—neither in nor out—let attention settle in that unmoving space. There is nothing to do, nothing to follow; only a bare, luminous stillness. When breath resumes, rejoin it immediately and continue the cycle. Let the practice become: ride the breath; touch the interval; rest; ride again. If a desire to ‘get to the gap’ appears, release the goal and return to moving precisely with the breath; the interval discloses itself naturally.
Completion: Soften and Integrate
In the last few minutes, loosen all technique. Let the breath be as it is while you sit in open awareness. Notice how the body feels, the quiet in the mind, and the echo of the still interval. Gently open your eyes. Carry a trace of that stopping—simple presence—into your next activity.
Core Benefits
- Facilitates entering a state of still and unclaimed intervals between breaths.
- Loosens the ordinary stream of thought by focusing on breath pauses.
- Allows for experiencing beneficent silence that becomes palpable.
- Supports the union of breath and awareness, enhancing mindfulness.
- Reveals timeless gaps within the natural rhythm of breathing.
What Osho Said About This Technique
Sutras: shiva replies:
1. RADIANT ONE, THIS EXPERIENCE MAY DAWN BETWEEN TWO BREATHS. AFTER BREATH COMES IN (DOWN) AND JUST BEFORE TURNING UP (OUT) -- THE BENEFICENCE. 2. AS BREATH TURNS FROM DOWN TO UP, AND AGAIN AS BREATH CURVES FROM UP TO DOWN -- THROUGH BOTH THESE TURNS, REALIZE. 3. OR, WHENEVER IN-BREATH AND OUT-BREATH FUSE, AT THIS INSTANT TOUCH THE ENERGY-LESS, ENERGY-FILLED CENTER. 4. 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. You were afraid in the city. Everywhere there were others present and you were controlling. You could not scream, you could not laugh. What a misfortune! You could not sing on the street and dance. You were afraid -- a policeman was somewhere around the corner, or the priest or the judge or the…Read the full discourse →
Osho, in this verse the fourth and final yajna is called the Yoga Yajna. In the Gita Press translation it is called the Ashtanga Yoga Yajna. Please clarify this as well.
Now a lovely thing: Om has A, U, and M. If you emphasize M, vibration immediately occurs at the navel. Islam has the word Allah. Sufi fakirs use the word Allah as with Om. “Allah”—the H lands just where M lands. “Allahu”—the Hu lands exactly at the navel where Om lands. Allah and Om are entirely different words, but the intent is one, and the result is one; the meaning too is one. The Sufi begins with Allah—Allah, then Lah, then Lahu, and finally only Hu remains. And Hu’s blow lands on the navel; and at the navel the sleeping master begins to awaken. By a thousand methods yoga awakens the sleeping master. And as soon as that master awakens, integration arises in the personality—yoga happens. Fragments gather together. The marketplace disappears; soldiers in formation stand. Then the personality obeys command. In the market’s crowd no one obeys; there is…Read the full discourse →
As you go in, come out, you will become aware of two points. As you go in, there is a small, fragment of a moment when the breath stops before it starts moving outward. And the same happens outside: before it has moved outward, for a split second the breathing stops, before it again moves in. These two points are very significant, because as you become more and more aware, these points will become more and more clear, longer. One breath goes in and then there is a pause, breathing stops. And in that pause there is so much beauty, so much bliss. And the same happens outside; again the breathing stops. And these gaps go on becoming bigger and bigger, bigger and bigger.Read the full discourse →
And when the breathing is perfectly natural, goes on its own, comes on its own, and you are just a watcher, a moment comes when you suddenly feel that it is not you who is breathing. You are not doing anything, so how can you say 'I am breathing'? You simply feel as if you are breathed . That's what one sufi mystic, Mansoor, has said -- 'I suddenly saw that God is breathing me!' And after that he declared 'I am God' -- 'Ana-el-Haqq!' That became the crime, and he was murdered by mohammedans. But his experience was perfectly true... right, because when the doer disappears, you are not breathing -- you are breathed. 'That' is breathing you, or 'it' is breathing you. You are breathed through. You become just a vast space in which God breathes in and breathes out. And a total change happens.Read the full discourse →
Osho! You were just here, you were just here. The fragrance of your breath is in these breezes. The whisper of your lovely footsteps is in the air. The earth and sky that beheld you… you were just here, you were just here. When I saw you, my breath simply stopped, my Master! These eyes would not lower. The moment I came to my senses, where did you hide? You were just here, you were just here.
Meera! If you want to know the divine, to attain it, you must sustain a very paradoxical kind of awareness. Paradoxical because from one side it is awareness, and from the other it is a kind of unawareness too—an ecstasy, a divine drunkenness that is not stupor but awakening; in which within, a lamp of meditation is lit, a flame of alertness burns. Love knows this art of paradox. Love is the key that opens the lock on that door. Love knows how to sway and yet remain centered within. Love knows how to close the eyes and still come to vision. Love knows how to move not even an inch, and yet complete a journey of a thousand miles. Reason will not grasp it. For thought it is inaccessible. But for love it is natural and easy. What is needed is an awareness colored by ecstasy; and an ecstasy…Read the full discourse →
Common Questions
The aim is to rest in the still intervals between breaths, where mindfulness deepens and silence is experienced.
No, simply accompany the breath naturally without shaping or counting it.
As you focus on the pauses in breath, the ordinary stream of thoughts tends to loosen, allowing silence to become more palpable.
Over time, your awareness and breath move as one, enhancing mindfulness and presence.
No, the practice is simple in form yet profound in its effects on awareness and presence.