One of the ways we can achieve a state of equipoise and timelessness is to imagine progressively longer cycles of time as we breathe. The key to this practice lies in concentration and creative imagination: when we combine the cycle of incoming and outgoing breaths with a mental picture of a complete cycle of time, we experience, as Abhinavagupta explains in his Tantraloka, that "All the creations and dissolutions of the world are nothing but the natural vibration of Consciousness. Because of this, the breath can contain any period of time."

So, sit up straight and relax. Start by watching the flow of your breath without interfering with it. Just notice how long each in breath and out breath is.

Now imagine successively larger periods of time within each cycle of inhalation and exhalation. First, become aware of the number of seconds each takes. Then imagine that a full minute goes by for a completed breath. Gradually increase the time span you imagine with each cycle of breathing to an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime, a century, a millennium, the entire period of known history, and finally, the full cycle of time from creation to dissolution.

When your imagination fails to grasp such immense stretches of time, allow yourself to step outside time.

Let the breath slow down or even stop, and repose in the existing inner space of timelessness which is your pure awareness.

Om Namah Shivaya

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