Conscious breathing is a tool that can revive the tired, the calm, and the nervous; it can set convicted criminals on the right path. Swami Jaataveda, who teaches meditation and breathing techniques around the world tells Paulina Wilk how it works.
Swami in Sanskrit means “a person who controls the senses.” It is also an honorary title in Hinduism. Swami Jaataveda has been traveling around the world for twenty years, teaching yoga, meditation, and conscious breathing, and he proves that the path to achieving inner peace, balance, and relief from stress is available to everyone, at any time. He explains why it is worth controlling your breath, what the self is and what happens when the mind stops racing.
When you do nothing, he says, many things can happen.
Paulina Wilk: We live in a very demanding world and juggle a lot of pressures every day. And we often receive the advice “Just take a breath.” But is it really that simple to take a breath?
Swami Jaataveda: Life is simple, but over time we have come to think of it as very complex. Things like breath, joy, and life itself are given to us by God. Look at little children—they’re full of joy and enthusiasm. You don’t have to teach a child to let go. It’s a natural instinct they have because a child’s level of energy and enthusiasm is so high. A child will play with his friend till late in the evening and in the morning he will run over to his friend and say, “let’s play more!” This enthusiasm is something we’re born with but as we grow up, we tend to lose it and instead we are gripped by negative emotions like stress and anxiety. This is where the role of our breath comes in.
And what role is that?
Our breath is like a vehicle that helps us find the way to our source. The moment we find it, we reach a place of ultimate joy and peace. It is also a matter of practice and study, so breathing once or twice a day for two minutes is enough to regain our natural breathing abilities. It’s good to sit back, to breathe in and out several times and immediately you’ll see a change.
Human beings breathe all the time, but involuntarily. The neurological system sends the required signals to the muscles and does the job. What is the difference between this kind of automatic breathing and the conscious act of taking breaths?
Involuntary breathing is necessary for us to live and it will continue whether we think about it or not. It is another thing to handle our brain and emotions through our breath, as they are connected. To have much-needed life-force energy, it’s worth learning certain breathing techniques, for example pranayama. This controlled method of breathing includes taking a slow breath in, holding it, and gently letting it out. There are many forms of breathing techniques. Once we complete the technique we’ve chosen, we will feel as that life-force energy increases and each and every cell in our bodies gets rejuvenated—you just feel energized. And it is that state that allows you to feel joy, happiness, and enthusiasm. First, that kind of breathing releases stress from your system. Second, our emotional regulation improves as our emotions are connected to our patterns of breathing.
You mean emotions cause a certain kind of breathing?
They all coincide with different breaths. When we are angry, we breathe very quickly. When we are sad, our exhalations are long. When we hike in mountains, enjoy the views with excitement, our breaths are very deep. So when we change the way we breathe, we can influence our feelings and our emotions. And this particular way is called the Sudarshan Kriya. The Art of Living Foundation has been teaching it in 182 courses over the past forty-four years. And now there are more than fifty thousand teachers, reaching out to all parts of human society; people all over the world are feeling the benefits.
Is any time in life a good time to learn? Can you teach conscious breathing to old people, or to very small kids?
Just like food is an essential source of energy, whether for a five-year-old child or a sixty-five-year-old adult, breath is similarly one of our main sources of energy. Generally, starting from the age of six or seven, children begin feeling the impacts of stress from their homes, schools, environment, social media, and friends. And they start to learn special breathing techniques, taught to them through games and acts of play. As a result, they get used to patterns of breathing very early on and instantly learn that if they concentrate on their breathing, they can find peace.
Even kids need calmness. Very often we see them agitated, running around, angry, throwing things. They are unable to control these emotions and often don’t know what has caused them. But once they discover they can regulate these emotional states through breathing, a seed is planted in their minds, and they often return to that breath when they need help later in life. We have special programs for teenagers because at their age, they have their own problems which they cannot really share with their parents, and their friends are unable to mentor them as they are gripped by similar challenges. So, we created a collection of youth empowerment seminars called the YES+ program. It’s not just about breathing and meditation—teenagers also learn how to harness deep relaxation, a tool they need as they navigate various pressing issues of puberty and teenhood, often without proper guidance and education.
Do you think that learning breathing techniques is easier for young people than talking with a therapist about what’s bothering them? And maybe it’s even better to find help without words?
We always need to search for the tools within us. Talking can help bring a person some solace, but we also need something concrete for our bodies to work on. And the first thing is energy. If you don’t have it, mere motivation will not do. I can watch a motivational speaker but if I’m tired, I will not follow his advice. When I feel energized, I can go for a run in the forest, go for a swim; I feel like coming home and preparing good food. That is how you bring Satvva—balance—into your life. All aspects of this balance are connected. When you are full of energy, you tend to eat better food. Positivity attracts positivity. Take a moment to think of those days when you are full of power and joy. You are much more likely to eat a nice salad then, instead of buying chips and coke. But when you undergo emotional turbulence, that is exactly the state when you go for chocolate, coffee, and junk food because you are hungry for a rush of energy. We call it emotional eating, and it gives the body which the a little boost, but of course it does not last.
When we go to therapy, we’re seeking relation-based help and in doing so, we reach out to others, to outside perspectives to work on our own problems. But it is interesting that you point to our own source of power, do we all really have this source within us?
When you are connected to yourself, you feel connected to others and to the whole universe. Loneliness arises when one is not connected to the self. And the more we try to find it outside ourselves, the more miserable we feel. Once you are connected to the self, you feel peace. And you become like a radiator, emanating peace all around you. Peace, love, joy—they all radiate from you like heatwaves.
But all those negative feelings we get come from outside ourselves: like stress from work, from social media. The disruptive things just keep coming at us—so how do we shield ourselves and stay calm?
The stressful environment is inevitable—we start experiencing it from the moment we open our eyes in the morning. It’s not like you take a shower today and then you can take the next one in a year. You need to cleanse yourself regularly, just like you wash away the sweat and dust that you pick up every day during your activities. One level of stress comes from our deep past, like childhood trauma, but the other level is current. And that is why it is so important to do a little practice every day. A bit of meditation and breathing is like a refreshing shower.
Do you get stressed? Or does your practice safeguard you from that? We all dream of a stress-free life and I wonder if that goal is even possible?
With practice you develop a heightened awareness, you immediately recognize when stress is affecting you. Awareness works like a filter, with all your five senses: you know what is happening, how you are behaving, and how you are reacting. You are in witness mode, you notice everything and thus, you are in control. You don’t let the stress get into you and you don’t let it take hold of your feelings.
And anyone can develop this awareness?
Of course.
How do I get there?
Through regularly practicing meditation. A few minutes of meditation. A few minutes of doing nothing. Because when you do nothing, many things happen.
That is a beautiful sentiment. But I know another one—that acting is the enemy of being. In the modern world we are all about acting: making decisions, performing, fixing things, rushing around, talking. Hence, the very notion of being still and doing nothing seems extremely difficult.
Both are necessary in life. It is like being asleep and being awake. You need to sleep for around eight hours and then you need to work and act for twelve hours. You cannot stay in one of these states completely. The purpose of sleeping is to enable you to work, think, and focus properly. And working hard enables good deep sleep. You cannot keep your life devoid of actions, you have to do something and that is very much part in parcel of life.
But to do things you need to be energized. And meditation gives the deepest kind of rest which fuels you. You can drive your car at 120 km per hour the whole day, but that does not mean you don’t take breaks and stop to refuel at the gas station for ten minutes here and there, right? You have to stop for ten, fifteen minutes. Your purpose is not to stay at the station permanently, but to hit the road again.
Is there a common misconception that meditation is only for chosen people? And that achieving awareness is difficult?
I think meditation is just like sleep—it’s there for everybody. The only thing is that we were never taught these values. We are taught about brushing our teeth in the morning, or taking a shower and making the bed, so why not breathing? We know that once our bodies feel tired, we need to lay down and sleep. But how do you sleep with an unquiet mind? This piece was missing. And because this knowledge was not available to our parents and grandparents, it didn’t become a part of our daily routines. So breathing and meditating is not just for the chosen ones or for those willing to attend liberation through moksha. It is for everybody. I like to think of it as a mechanism of the body. When you are active, you need to rest.
With sleeping it might be a little easier because there is a biological mechanism that forces us to do it every night. But are the numbers of people with depression, anxiety, and many other forms of psychiatric or emotional distress a clear indication that we live without sufficient energy?
Yes, and that is why many people take up meditation as a reactive method. Once you are in a state of anxiety, your doctor or therapist might suggest meditating.
Like you go on a diet when you are overweight?
Correct. But if you maintain a good diet, you generally do not gain too much weight. And when you create a habit of meditation, you learn it’s not something you have to toil about. Once you get on that path and slowly acquire new techniques, you will soon find them so easy. Like eating and sleeping. After practicing for some time, if you stop, you will clearly feel like you’re missing something. That proper dose of energy is easy to get used to.
Maybe meditation seems difficult to some of us because we don’t really know what it is. How would you describe the state of meditating?
If someone has never slept before, how can I describe sleeping to that person?
Actually we do not know what sleeping is like. We just wake up remembering important dreams occasionally, or we wake up tired or we wake up and feel well rested, energized. So we really only know what sleep has done to us.
Meditation is almost like being asleep, but with a little awareness that stays awake. After meditation you feel super energetic and refreshed. All those things you get from a very good sleep. Consciously we are allowing the mind to settle down and the conscious aspect makes the rest much deeper. You are there but it’s like all other things cease to exist.
Why is sitting and being still the best position to meditate?
Because the very purpose of meditation is to stay conscious and awake. If you fall asleep then you find yourself in another state. There is a very fine line between these states. Sitting makes you feel a little awake. And being still for a while helps the mind settle down. If you give a toy to a child, they will keep playing with it. Take it away and leave them in an empty room and see what happens. They will wander around, play with their fingers, and after a while they will fall asleep. As long as your body is on the move, your brain and mind needs to take notice in order to control many processes. But if you keep still for a few minutes, your mind gets the message: I am doing nothing now.
Is breathing the best way to center our meditation?
It is crucial to breathe for a few minutes before meditating because our breath is so strongly connected with the inner workings of our brain. Our minds are always oscillating between the past and the future. They are so busy with contemplation, desire, listening, and acknowledging all kinds of stimulus. During conscious breathing, the mind comes into the present moment, with each breath you send energy to all of your cells which helps to quiet all the restlessness in your body. I always tell my students to do bit of stretching or a short walk, then come back to a quiet pace and sit comfortably—this can be in a chair or on a sofa, you don’t have to sit like a yogi right away—and do some breathing. Do some Pranayama practice or Sudarshan Kriya, which is great because it harmonizes the seven layers of our existence.
What are they? At least name them!
They are: body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego, and the self. Most of us nurture just some of the layers—by taking walks or listening to music, but to move beyond that you need to harmonize all of the layers. I mentioned trauma before. How can you deal with trauma if you don’t reach deep into your memories? Susarshan Kriya is extremely helpful with this. Even in war zones we’ve observed its calming effects. Or in jails in Denmark.
The Art of Living works all over the world. Can you tell us what you’ve learned working with children in conflict zones, with inmates? How does breathing help in the toughest challenges that people face?
Stress is the main cause of all problems. Even if we work with gang members or terrorists, we need to see them as victims of severe stress. That helps us both to open up, to create a safe area in which we can gain mutual respect and trust. They feel recognized and understood and only then can we introduce them to the techniques that will aid in combatting that stress. And believe me, they need it! Inmates, soldiers—they do not sleep well, they are stressed and traumatized. Even during the very first sessions of Pranayama people cry out of gratitude because they experience deep rest that they haven’t known before.
Where are some places that you’ve held these courses?
The Art of Living has run programs in Polish prisons, for example. Personally, I have worked in Indian prisons and in Ukraine, where we’re still working with victims of war. And we are in constant communication with trainers and beneficiaries there.
When a prisoner goes through a course like that, what behavioral changes do you see?
We’ve been working with extreme groups, including with organizations that are designated as terrorist in northeast India, a very fragile part of the country. If you ask me about the effects—they have given up their arms, they have stopped fighting. Terrorists in Kashmir told us that if they knew meditation before, they would never have picked up a gun. Through practice they have realized life does not need to be a path of violence and killing—life is much more than that. They go back to the self without needing inspiration or incentives from outside.
How would you describe the self? There are so many definitions.
The self is the very beat of our life. It’s not just the consciousness found inside our body, like our mind. It is the understanding that we’re connected to something larger—we exist within a vast field of consciousness. You cannot see radio waves but they are here in this room. If you have a transmitter and a receiver you can read them. It’s like that with the self.
So it’s more of a sphere or a network than a singular identity?
All identities are all connected. The self is within you and in God. Once you connect to yourself, you reach out to other dimensions and other selves also.
So that is what you mean when you say, “All is one.”
Yes.
This is a difficult idea for many Westerners to grasp. Do you think cultural differences play an important role in learning breathing techniques? Maybe meditation comes more easily to an Indian prisoner than to a Polish one.
Honestly, I have never faced such difficulties. As human beings we all have the same basic requirements. We all want love, peace, and joy. Once you start receiving these needs, prejudice vanishes. It’s so easy to adapt to feelings of enthusiasm and calm, and once you are there, you’ll find there’s no room or place for negativity. Let’s say there is a nice and technologically advanced car produced in Germany which is sold all over the world. Being Polish, you may have negative feelings about Germany, rooted in the atrocities of WWII. But that doesn’t mean you refuse to use the nice German car on your roads. Once you know something is working and you have a good experience with it, you’ll also see it has nothing to do with nationality, history, religion, or prejudice. You just do it because it’s good for you.
What about children who are traumatized by violence or war early on. Do they also pick up breathing methods easily?
Kids are generally open to receiving knowledge. In our center in Taraska each year we welcome hundreds of children. Of course they have their problems, but that is exactly why they search for a peaceful state, even if they don’t refer to it as such (yet). Once they try breathing techniques and embrace them, they keep returning to our programs even in their teenage years.
Young climate activists are on the front lines of a major existential threat. Already in their twenties they’re facing burnout. Their thoughts are constantly focused on an issue that is so huge, so complex, that it becomes overwhelming. But it’s really what we all face—too much information from a too-complicated reality. And our minds are like the kids you mentioned—they keep playing with thoughts. How do you put them at rest?
One of the helpful techniques we teach is called Sahed Samadi. It is the easiest way of entering into the deepest rest. In it we use a personalized mantra, a sound that keeps you a little aware, but it cuts through the thoughts that keep rising to the surface of your mind. And when there are no thoughts in your mind what does it do? It rests effortlessly. Remember the last time you rang a bell in a temple—for a few seconds of the sound, your mind went quiet, it just happens naturally. Maybe that is why bells are prominent in churches and all sacred places. The sound vibrations clear our minds. It is a common misconception that meditation is a complete lack of thoughts. See, it is more like the surface of the lake—a little murky or covered with small waves. Once it calms down, you see the plants and stones hidden beneath the surface. So when you sit still and calm your mind, you are able to notice how many thoughts are actually there all the time.
Here’s a practical question, then. How do I learn to breathe and meditate through your workshop. And is it possible to fail?
The abstract knowledge of meditation has been given a shape and designed so that anybody and everybody can learn. It has been made very simple and arranged in accordance with our modern way of life and its pace. So our programs are presented in parts: the first one you can learn in nine hours over a course of three days and includes all of the basics of the art of breathing. It is that easy. If you consider learning meditation with Sahed Samadi, it is just an additional three days and six hours. Then the practice becomes your own, you can meditate in your living room, on a plane, in a meadow, at the office. It’s a tool that stays with you for life.
What happens when people get together to meditate?
When we get together, we create a universal consciousness and the effects of the medication are stronger. It also helps individuals in their journey toward meditation: because of our modern lifestyles, we may have problems sitting still for longer periods of time, but when a lot of people around you are doing it, you get pulled in and you find it easier. So, being in a group can also be a source of inspiration. During the 2023 World Culture Festival organized by the Art of Living in Washington, D.C., over one million people gathered together and felt the power of meditating together. There was so much peace and calmness that seemed to radiate throughout the city. There were no thefts recorded at that event, no littering. The whole environment was a place of peace.
You make it all sound effortless and accessible, but I know yoga and meditation are very complex spiritual and philosophical systems. I wonder how this accessible knowledge is rooted in the ancient scriptures.
It’s all in the Vedas, in Patanjali’s yoga sutras and other scriptures—Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar compiled this knowledge into a process that is practical and powerful. He has prepared it so we don’t have to go through all these ancient writings and spend years understanding and studying the nuances of of them. This would truly be inaccessible to most of us—you wouldn’t just need to know Sanskrit, you would also have to spend years of your life dedicated to the study.
And that’s where we get the notion that meditation must be difficult.
That is also why we need guidance. It’s like taking a new route through the mountains. You will need a kind of guide who has traveled that path to take you higher and walk you through life.
What are the effects of breathing on our health?
There are many studies being conducted right now—in Norway, in the US, and in other countries – tracking this in detail. But what we know is that meditation is influencing our bodies in very holistic way. Our cortisol comes down, our blood pressure comes down, our insulin levels get regulated, kidneys and muscular systems begin working properly. Even the hippocampus gets cleared and functions better. Meditation is not just about reaching a space of peaceful energy but also about attaining a lot of healthful benefits. That is why I say that when you do nothing, many things actually happen.
So, Western scientists are finally catching up?
It’s not a question of a Western or Eastern science, but a question of perception. If you discover an exotic fruit, it doesn’t mean it just grew today. Plants and other creatures have been all around long before we started to learn about their value.
And a final question—what are you up to now?
Soon, I’ll travel to Ukraine to run a silence course, including meditation sessions, for people who are the civilian victims of war. Right now, this is a time in which we need calmness and peace even more.
Swami Jaataveda:
A member of the Art of Living, founded by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. He has been actively involved in promoting the principles of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness as a means of promoting well-being, inner peace, and stress relief.
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