Ray’s most popular and fulfilling teachings are based on body meditation, which Ray encourages as an experiential practice. This practice has a long history, and has developed over the course of centuries as a way to connect with the body during meditation, rather than the more esoteric practice of meditation as a mental exercise. As Ray points out, indigenous peoples have always been more in tune with the natural world—including the natural body—than those of us in the modern world. The traditional wisdom and spiritual ideas held by those ancients has been neglected to our own detriment, and in this time of worldwide transition, we are beginning to realize that "the body... has all the intuitive capacities that people have always had."

In this course, Ray elaborates on the need for and the path to recovering "the ways of knowing" that we have abandoned. The session in which Ray discusses The Four Noble Truths of Buddhist belief is, perhaps, the single most important talk in this enormously valuable course, whether or not the listener chooses to participate in the 12-fold belly breathing exercise that follows. Understanding the elements of the Four Noble Truths—the truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to fulfillment—creates a solid foundation for progressing on a path toward wholeness.

Other sections of the course lead us through earth-belly breathing, cellular breathing, skull breathing, and exploring the chakras. In the final session, Ray addresses practical issues such as ways of deepening your practice, trusting in your unfolding process, when it is useful to "shop around" for a spiritual practice, and the all-important question "Do you need a teacher and a spiritual community to go further?"

Ray’s first volume of audio teaching on the Breathing Body (Your Breathing Body, Volume 1), which is reviewed elsewhere on this site, serves as an introduction to this ancient practice. Your Breathing Body, Volume 2, offers ‘Advanced Practices for Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Fulfillment.’ In Ray’s words, this course addresses "subtle, sophisticated" breathing meditation techniques that are built upon the earlier foundation taught in Volume 1. I don’t want to imply, however, that only dedicated listeners can benefit from this audio course. Each of the ten CDs concludes with a guided practice, but Ray’s talks prior to each exercise are thought-provoking and based on the knowing that he has acquired through four decades of study and practice.

Your Breathing Body is an excellent investment for anyone seeking a deeper spiritual and life experience. Ray presents so much information that this course will provide a surprising and enlightening study time after time, and the guided practices themselves are good for a lifetime of meditation.