James McCrae is an award-winning strategist and author at the intersection of business, creativity, and consciousness. His book, "Sh#t Your Ego Says", is available through Hay House.
Hi, this is James McCrae, author of Sh#t Your Ego Says. Love it or hate it, everyone has an opinion on religion. But where does religion come from? When we peel away the traditions, and leaders, and dogma, what are we left with? Some of the earliest texts known to man were the religious texts known as the The Vedas, including the Upanishads from which the word yoga is originated. The word yoga actually predates the word religion by thousands of years, and originally meant union between mankind and the divine. One of the central tenants of this yoga practice from the beginning was the focus on prana which is the divine energy source that exists all around us. Breathing is what connects our bodies with the prana around us. Since prana was regarded as this divine energy source, you could make it the argument that breathing is the most fundamental religious practice that we have. Kundalini yoga is known as the yoga of awareness. It is also known as the yoga of breathing. According to Kundalini yoga, how we breathe is a reflection of how we live. When we breathe rushed, we are living rushed. But when we breathe steady and conscious, it means we are living steady and conscious. So always, always, always, always, always, breathe deeply.
Last Updated: September 10, 2021
