Rosicrucian Psychic Breathing

Faithfully described from the early AMORC neophyte work and Rosicrucian Manual (paraphrase; the monographs are members-only, so no long quotation):

1. Sit upright and at ease. Spine straight but not rigid, feet flat, hands resting. Lewis stressed an erect, balanced posture so the breath could move freely.
2. Breathe through the nose, low and full. Let the lower body of the breath fill first (the diaphragm), not the upper chest. The in-breath should be smooth, silent, and unhurried.
3. Form the triangle in three equal counts. A simple starting measure is inhale for 4 — hold for 4 — exhale for 4. Each side of the triangle is the same length. As it becomes easy you may lengthen to 5-5-5 or 6-6-6, always keeping the three sides equal and never straining.
4. Hold lightly, not tightly. The pause at the top is gentle suspension, not clamping the throat or forcing. Lewis held that during this pause the force is “retained” and settles through the body; physiologically it is the held, balanced breath that calms.
5. Release slowly and completely. Let the out-breath be as long and even as the in-breath, emptying without collapse. A natural still point follows before the next inhale.
6. Keep the rhythm steady for several rounds. Lewis emphasised regularity above force — an even, repeating measure, not deep gulps. Continue for a few minutes, the attention resting quietly on the count and the sensation of breathing.
7. Practise at set times. The order taught the rhythm as a daily discipline, characteristically morning and evening, so the pattern becomes habitual and the student returns to it deliberately when tense or scattered. (Sourcing note: AMORC’s lesson monographs are issued privately to members; the description above reflects the publicly known structure of the rhythmic/triangular breathing and the Rosicrucian “law of the triangle,” not a reproduction of the monographs.)

Harvey Spencer Lewis (1883-1939) founded the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC) in 1915 and packaged Rosicrucian esotericism into a correspondence-lesson format that reached a mass public. His breathing instruction drew on the same well of early-twentieth-century “scientific breathing” that fed Theosophy and the New Thought “yogi breathing” writers, recast in Rosicrucian symbol — most of all the triangle.

Slow, measured, hold-and-release breathing to gather and steady the “life force” is one of the most widely reinvented practices in the world; Lewis’s contribution is the explicitly triangular, equal-sided measure tied to Rosicrucian symbol: - Ramacharaka / “yogi” rhythmic breathing — the same early-century rhythmic-breath current Lewis drew from.

• The Fourfold Breath (Regardie / Golden Dawn) — a square four-count (inhale-hold-exhale-hold); Lewis’s is a three-cornered cousin.
• Box breathing — modern equal-count breathing for composure under stress.
• Coherent breathing — slow paced breathing (~6 breaths/min) for vagal tone.
• Pranayama — the parent yogic science of breath-control and retention.

Straining the hold. The pause is light suspension, not a clench. If you feel air-hunger, shorten the count.

• Unequal sides. The whole point is balance — keep inhale, hold, and exhale the same length rather than gulping in and dumping out.
• Forcing depth over rhythm. Lewis prized steady regularity, not big breaths. Smooth and even beats deep and forced.
• Over-lengthening too soon. Grow the count only when 4-4-4 is genuinely easy; lengthening into discomfort defeats the calming effect.
• Chasing “energy sensations.” Tingling or lightness usually signals mild over-breathing, not cosmic influx. Ease off.