‣ 🗓 Yogi Dhruvaji's Diary

🗓 17 Aug '26: When the Inner GPS Goes Quiet for a Longer Time

Today, in both the sixth and eighth steps of the Ten-Step Kumbhak—the half inner breath-hold and the full outer breath-hold—I stayed with the pause for many repetitions of the mantra, "MAUNENA SHĀNTIH". Not merely three or four, but sometimes ten, twelve, or even fifteen. Somewhere within those repetitions, I genuinely did not remember where I was.

Even one such round of such longer "MAUNENA SHĀNTIH" holds in the Ten-Step Kumbhak feels profoundly activating and balancing, and its grounding effect remains long afterward. Still, I never hold to my limit. It is just that my breath-holding limit has increased with the practice over time. Even when both the holds are long, I release them while plenty of breath and ease remain in reserve.

This is not something to imitate or force. Longer holds should arise gradually as breathing capacity develops, never through strain. I share it only as an expression of what may be waiting inside naturally lengthening then pauses: the moment when "MAUNENA SHĀNTIH” ensures silence is peace—it takes one into profound silence, balance and self-empowerment.