‣ 🗓 Yogi Dhruvaji's Diary

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

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

That forgetting changes everything. It feels as though the inner GPS of thought has been switched off. The mind loses the reference point from which it keeps locating, naming, and producing the next thought. This happens for me during both holds, especially if the pauses are naturally longer.

This not remembering where I am is not always easy for me, and it does not happen fully every time. But it has become more natural with time. Even when I remain partly aware of where I am, mentally repeating "Where am I?" still loosens my usual sense of location and thus partly silences the mind. The question itself begins to interrupt the mind’s habit of constantly piling on thoughts due to the strong sense of location.

Even one such round of 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 pauses: the moment when “Where am I?” no longer receives an answer—it takes one into profound silence, balance, and self-empowerment.