On a course in California in 2006 I had a profound experience. The course fee was $15,000 and it was the most expensive course I’ve ever taken. I definitely could not afford it, but something deep within me said that I just had to take it. I had no choice. Period. It was an intense 7-day course, 16 hours a day, where we sat in a sound proof chamber and had a computer screen in front of us, while listening to our brain waves.

It reminded of a flight simulator, especially since the course took place next to an airport and the control room was made up of loads of technical devices and there were more staff than participants on the course.

I had a number of electrodes attached to my head which in turn was connected to a computer. Via the electrodes the computer analyzed my brain waves and based on my brain patterns different sounds was sent back to the surround speakers in the chamber. At the end of each 2 minute session I got different scores. The higher the scores, the more my brain waves were synched, in other words the different parts of my brain was cooperating in a good way. So the sound that was playing was a direct reflection of how my brain was operating.

We had different tasks to work with in the chamber and one of the main thing we focused on was to forgive – our family and friends, people that have hurt us, ourselves for hurting other people etc. The more I was able to forgive and get in touch with my inner core, the higher the scores and the more harmonious the sound became, giving me immediate feedback if I was on the right track or not. In the beginning I found it very hard, since I’ve lived most of my life up in my head, but the more I practiced the more I was able to forgive whole heartily, not only in my head.

“You are Peter – you shall follow me and help me”

At one point when I was sitting there in the chamber I suddenly found myself in a large theater. I was sitting at the balcony looking down at the stage. The curtains were closed, but there were someone behind the curtains, hesitating if he or she should dare to withdraw the curtains and come out on the stage or not. This went on for some time until suddenly, just like when letting out the genie from the bottle in a Disney movie, a huge figure appeared filling the whole stage, reaching all the way to the balcony where I was sitting. The experience was so powerful it felt like I had been struck by a lightning bolt. The figure was Jesus, and he had an important message to share with me. He said “You are Peter. You shall follow me and help me.”

Even though it was a very powerful experience I didn’t understand that much of what had just happened. One reason was that Jesus spoke English and said Peter, but in Sweden we call him Petrus. Another reason was probably because I didn’t want to understand, since I intiuitively realized that it would have a big impact and may even change my life. But later when I shared my experience with the course leader, Professor Jim Hardt, he explained that according to the bible Jesus had said to his disciple Peter “You are Peter, the rock. Upon this rock I shall build my church.” Jim continued by saying that maybe I was about to start a new spiritual lineage.

I remember thinking to myself that I didn’t have the slightest idea of how this new spiritual lineage would come about, but I still felt that he was probably right. Since I’ve always felt that my life has an important purpose, it kind of made sense. On a side note, the name of the company I had founded a year earlier, Sorena, actually means tribal leader (in the Persian language), something I wasn’t aware of when I created the name. The name Sorena is a wordplay of the two first letters in mine and my sons names – Anders, Eric and Oscar, which gives Aneros. Spell it backwards and you get Sorena.

A couple of years later, in 2009, I had discovered the immense power inherited in our breath. It was then I decided to become the worlds leading expert on breathing and formed the Conscious Breathing concept.

My inner wisdom that was talking to me

So what does the experience from the sound proof chamber mean to me? Well, to start with I’m not religious in the sense that I subscribe to any specific religion. I do not consider myself to be a christian, protestant, buddhist, muslim, hindu etc. To me Jesus is just like Buddha, Muhammed and other spiritual leaders, a historical figure representing the frequency of love and the ability to be kind and forgiving and inspire others to good actions.

I believe that my experience was my inner wisdom talking to me, helping me to set out on the path of creating the Conscious Breathing concept. It provided me with a foundation of trust and inner strength that I could lean towards when in doubt, which has happened more than once, during the long journey of forming the concept. For example I worked without salary for six years, between 2010 and 2016. I had to sell my house in 2010 and live on savings in order to be able to continue to develop Conscious Breathing. I don’t regret this, sometimes a bit tough, journey, not a single bit, on the contrary, but my point is that the experience in the chamber was profound and made a deep impression.

The reason why the figure appeared in the form of Jesus is probably because I grew up in a somewhat christian home and I went to Sunday school as a child. Since our experiences as a child affects us deeply, if I would have been raised within another religion the figure appearing would probably have been from that religion.