The meaning of Allah

This quotation from "Beads of Dew from the Source of Life"1 by
Mawlana 'Ali ibn Husain Safi2:

“In his well-known treatise, Shaikh Najm ad-Din Kubra has this to say
about the breath:

‘The “h” in the Divine Name “Allah” is the very sound we make with every
breath. The other letters (in the Arabic spelling: /alif /and
reduplicated /lam/) represent an intensified definite article (serving
to emphasize the Uniqueness of Allah). The essential part of the Divine
Name is therefore that “h”, which automatically accompanies our every
breath. All life depends on the constant utterance of that noble Name.
As for the seeker of intimate knowledge, it is incumbent upon him to
recognize this subtle fact, and to maintain, with every breath, the
consciousness of being with Allah.'”
"God's name 'Allah' encompasses God's ninety-nine Names and Attributes and consists of four letters, 'Alif,' 'Lam,' 'Lam' and 'Hah' (Allah). The people of Sufism express that the absolute unseen Essence of God, Glorious and Exalted, is expressed by the letter 'Hah' which represents the Absolute Unseen which is the same letter 'Hah' which is used in the name 'Allah' which encompasses the ninety-nine Names and Attributes. That name, as we said, consists of four letters: the letter 'Ha' which is 'Ha' and 'Alif', and it represents the Absolute Unseen of Allah. The first 'Lam' is for the sake of identification and the second 'Lam' is for the sake of emphasis. "3
The Breath
Mushtaq Ali Ansari ( sufi studies list)
The Sufis of Central Asia were well known for their longevity and good health. The all attributed this to Breath Work. Breath work is also essential for bringing the Nafs under control and bringing the individual to a state of true consciousness.

The problem here is that by in large, the true understanding of Sufi Breath disciplines have been lost or hidden away from public scrutiny. I suspect that this was mostly done as a defense against the rising tide of fundamentalism, which makes any spiritual practice dangerous.

When we breathe normally (“Reflexively”), hemoglobin, the principle carrier of oxygen in the body, remains about 98% oxygen (O2) saturated. When we breathe more, we increase O2 saturation negligibly but lose the CO2 that is essential for O2 utilization. If the level of CO2 in the body decreases our hemoglobin does not release O2 to the tissues, which in turn causes O2 starvation. As a result, the more you breathe the less oxygen the tissues of your body might receive! This explains the light-headedness associated with many breathing practices such as "re-birthing", it is oxygen starvation.

So breathing is much more about maintaining the correct balance of blood gases than it is about taking in a "nutrient" and expelling a "waste by-product".

So let's take a quick look at pathological breathing.


SIX DYSFUNCTIONAL BREATHING PATTERNS
(excerpted from a paper by Scott Sonnon)


Hyperventilatory:

This rapid-breath pattern (averaging 20 breaths/minute) uses accessory muscles and restricts diaphragmatic movement being predominantly Thoracic (see below) in nature. Produced from poorly managed anxiety, this pattern manifests as very shallow, very rapid, and compounded by sputtered sighs (periodic) and gasps (clavicular). Panic, anxiety, and shock habituate this common phenomenon. Trainees exhibiting this pattern immediately imperil their health.

Clavicular:

Those conditioned with this pattern exhibit chest-raising that elevates the collarbones while drawing in the abdomen and raising up the diaphragm. Trainees who are “open-mouth breathers” attempt to increase intake through oral inhalation, but this provides minimal pulmonary ventilation. Worse still, the accessory muscles used in this pattern consume more oxygen than it provides. In training, these individuals fatigue quickly.

Thoracic:

These “chest-breathers” typify aggressive individuals. This pattern lacks significant abdominal movement, being shallow and costal. Enlarging thoracic cavity creates a partial vacuum by lifting the rib cage up and out through external intercostals muscles. Although the lungs do manage to be expanded by negative pressure, it is not enough to ventilate the lower lobes. This reduces pulmonary ventilation, since the lower lobes receive the greatest blood volume due to gravity.

Paradoxical:

Often called “Reverse” Breathing, this pattern abdominally contracts during inhalation and expands on exhalation (using the muscles for the opposite purpose for which they were intended.) Paradoxical breathing associates with the expectation of exertion, sustained effort, resistance to flow, and stress. We see this most prominently in new trainees, who require intense pattern deconditioning. Through stress, shock and fear, they have conditioned themselves to inhale (often married to Clavicular and Thoracic patterns), followed by Hypoxic breath-retention and Periodic sighs. As a result, this pattern causes very rapid fatigue.




Periodic:

This pattern demonstrates rapid-shallow breathing, followed by a holding of breath, followed by a heavy sigh. It is an over-responsiveness to CO2 concentrations in the bloodstream. This “airy” panting “blows off” or flushes out the CO from the bloodstream, which causes the brain’s autonomic system to shutdown respiration until the CO2 level raises to appropriate gas mixture. In the Periodic pattern, this cycle perpetuates. This is not to be confused with true Apnea, and can be diagnosed by witnessing that the pattern does not cause a change in color – no blueness of the lips – and the individual resumes shallow, rapid breathing without intervention, following the sigh. This pattern can be created through sustained anxiety, or by post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Naqshahbandi Principle Hosh Dar Dam
Abd al khaliq Ghujduwani gave the world a set of aphorisms that outlined the essence of the Path.

The first of the Aphorisms is

Hosh dar damHosh means "mind." Dar means "in." Dam means "breath."

It means, according to Master Abdul Khaliq al-Ghudjdawani "for the wise seeker to safeguard his breath from heedlessness which makes the heart always in the Divine Presence. And to revive his breath with worship and servitude and to dispatch this worship to His Lord full of life. Because every breath which is inhaled and exhaled with Presence is alive and connected with the Divine Presence, and every breath inhaled and exhaled with heedlessness is dead, disconnected from the Divine Presence."

It was suggested that conscious breath provides the "nourishment" that builds a real "soul".

The practice, Hosh dar Dam, is the single essential practice for bringing the whole person into an Awake state. This is accomplished by moving awareness away from the "objects of conditioned sleep" and back "into" the body.

Your body is your main tool for awakening. This is why exoteric religion is so often anti-physical and works to deny the experience of being as body-consciousness continuum. Without this inital connection of body and spirt through the medieation of breath, true self development (the kind that breaks through the deep conditioning and waking sleep of everyday life) is nearlly impossable.

Shaikh Abul Janaab Najmuddin al-Kubra said in his book Fawatih ul-Jamaal said, "Dhikr is flowing in the body of creatures by the necessity of their breath, because through their breathing, the letter 'Ha' of the Divine Name 'Allah,' is the very sound made with every exhalation and inhalation and it is a sign of the Unseen Essence serving to emphasize the Uniqueness of God. Therefore it is necessary to be present with that breathing, in order to realize the Essence of the Creator.

footnotes

1Author: Shaykh Ali Ibn Husain Safi
ISBN: 9781882216215
Pages: 391 pages

2 Author: Shaykh Ali Ibn Husain Safi
Ali ibn Husain Safi , the author of the Rashahat, lived in the beginning of the 10th Century AH. He was brother-in-law of the famous mystic and poet Jami who gave him the name 'Safi'. In the Rashahat 'Ain al-Hayat, Safi gives an account of the lives and teachings of a group of Sufi mystics known as the Khwajagan - the Masters of Wisdom. The Khwajagan lived in Central Asia between the 4th and the 9th centuries Hijri. The ranks of the Khwajagan include the great sufis 'Abd al-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani and Baha' al-Din Naqshband, who gave his name to the Naqshbandi order, though he did not found it. The many branches of the Naqshbandiyya survive to this day. This book is the first translation of the Rashahat into English and provides the present generation with clear and precise biographies of the great and genuine sufis who emerged in Turkestan at a most significant period.

3Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani