The event
Time: During the day
Date: February 2005
Place: At work, 22nd floor of the A-Tower in the VIC, IAEA, Vienna
I was 48 years old. I was having an appraisal meeting with my boss. He said something of a personal nature. I had a moment of distress and began to breathe deeply and evenly, saying to myself, “Be calm! Be calm!” This took all my focus.
In the next moment, I experienced “Nirvana”, if that’s the right word. I transcended the physical, so to speak, and was in a heavenly state. It was over after about five seconds.
My boss didn’t seem to share this transcendental moment with me. It’s the fourth spiritual event, or moment, that I had because of the presence of another person, but the only one where the moment wasn’t shared.
Background
Six months earlier, I had done that same deep breathing exercise, repeatedly telling myself to be calm, while on a great adventure — quad-biking in Mauritius, which we were doing thanks to my sister. So that prepared me for this challenging moment that came up in February 2005.
Thoughts and theories
I’m not sure that I’m using the right word, “Nirvana”, but you’ll know what I mean. There are some interesting texts on Quora about it.
Afterword
A few months later I did the Art-of-Living (AOL) course, which teaches the Sudarshan Kriya method of breathing. Our course instructor shared with us that he had had a moment of Nirvana (I believe he used that word), as a result of doing these breathing exercises.
