Transformation und Atem

My interest in the “big questions“ of human existence was awakened in 1955 when I was 14 years old. I started to read esoteric and philosophical literature, took lessons in Hatha Yoga and practiced everyday for at least two hours. In the years 1955 to 1958 as a result, I underwent far-reaching visions and experiences which demonstrated to me that there is more to existence than the material world. I experienced the fundamental difference between human love and the consciousness of love on the spiritual level. “Out of body” experiences at that time still termed “extra-bodily experiences” showed me that my consciousness was also available outside of my body. Only years later did I read books on this topic.

My yoga teacher informed me that a purging of the ego  (in the classical yoga style) would be required so that one would not suffer damage on the path and in order to make progress; as a result in 1958 I decided to exit from that path. I dedicated myself then entirely to the “outer”, became a construction engineer with a diploma, and a technician at the Wasserbau Institut (Institute for Hydraulic engineering) of the Technical university in Berlin.

At the end of the 1960s I commenced once more to read philosophical literature. The book by Satprem, ‘Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness’ was a turning point. After I had read some 20 pages I knew intuitively and with complete certainty “This is it!”

In 1971 I experienced the so-called Kundalini energy which ascends in a steady wave form from the sacrum, and unfolds itself through the head whereby I felt myself to be “one with everything, where I was 

able to experience the importance of the “Leib” “Leib” : a term describing the total body “imbued with soul” too, in – depth.”

Then in October 1972 I had the decisive key experience (see the chapter 3.3.3) which revealed to me the meaning of the Perceptible Breath for the evolution of humanity and showed me a “new breath”and “new body”. Following that I took part in the breathing training under the direction of Ilse Middendorf at the Berlin Institute where I was able to learn in depth about the importance of the body.

Although countless periods of residence in the years 1976 to 1988 in Pondicherry brought me closer to the work of Sri Aurobindo as well as The Mother and her goals, it was, nevertheless, Mother’s Agenda which first gave me decisive information about the “how”. It was through her that my intuitive hunches over many years were confirmed that the new consciousness had to be brought through the body (and only through it) into this our world.

Although Ilse Middendorf was at first skeptical – “Who needs gurus from the East?” – her interest in this theme grew as a result of my intensive pre-occupation with it, and the conversations that arose as a result. Since then she has become the person who of everybody I know works most intensively at a practical level, and we remain in  continual contact concerning these questions in order that we exchange experiences and intuitive insights.

The following publication of my 30 years involvement with this theme I summarized in May 2001 in the isolation of Greek forests and the strands of Sithonia (Mount Athos before my eyes).