"I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
"But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.
"Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my Soul!
"Thy God is like the cold emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou radiatest thy little light.
"When Thou shalt know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in thy great N.O.X."
— Liber Lapidis Lazuli. I. 36-40.
It is essential that the spine be vertical.
By this means thou wilt become conscious of the spine, feeling each vertebra as a separate entity. This must be achieved most fully and perfectly before the further practice is begun.
And if thou hast experience of the Eucharist in both kinds, it shall aid thine imagination herein.
Let this be exceedingly slow and subtle; and though it be accompanied with pleasure, resist; and though it be accompanied with pain, resist.
[1] Regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises
[2] Also spelled "Kumbhaka", this is the pause between inhalation and exhalation.
[3] Revelation 14:13, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."