“We have drunk Soma and become immortal. We have attained the light that the Gods discovered.

Now what may foe men’s malice do to harm us? Nothing. What, O Immortal, mortal man’s deception?” ~Rig Veda

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"There is very little reference to Soma in the modern day, even though it was such a big inspiration in the Rig Veda. In fact, the only reference we have to Soma today is that it’s the word for Monday in Hindi. “Somvar” means Monday because it is related to the cycles of the moon.

Soma is very connected to the moon and it gives you light, strength, wisdom, psychic abilities, beauty, and most importantly – ecstatic bliss. That was the promise of the Legend of Soma.

There’s an entire chapter – what they call a Mandala in the Rig Veda – that is dedicated to the processing and pressing of Soma. There are even songs dedicated to Soma!

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So, What Is Soma?

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To really understand Soma, we need to go back in time a little bit.

Until 40,000 years ago, we had primitive tools, primitive settlements, some burial rituals, but there was no flowering of creativity or expression. Suddenly, around 40,000 years ago, we started seeing this flowering of creativity around the world, from South Africa, to the caves of France – from animals to geometric forms and other beautiful things. Historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and theologians of recent decades have been working together to uncover the secrets of the Legend of Soma. They discovered was that the ancients were gathering together in some kind of visionary experience – they weren’t sure what it was composed of, but they were having visions. And then these visions were being expressed on cave walls.

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So, we know that in India during the Golden Age of the Vedic tradition, when the population was much smaller and resources were more abundant, communities would gather together to ingest a psychedelic concoction in order to explore and expand their consciousness.

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It is claimed to be a mysterious and magical ritual that would allow the Rishis to commune with the Gods and have direct divine downloads of wisdom that would aid the betterment of society. It is also thought to be the same ritual that would allow the Rishis to create superhuman powers, overcome death, and become immortal.

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The inspirational visions the communities would share went on to inspire the verses of the Rig Veda,

the ancient text that forms the origins of Yoga, Ayurveda, Tantra, Hinduism and Buddhism. This may sound far fetched, however the combined efforts of the researchers above is beginning to back up many of the claims held in our spiritual past.

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What is especially fascinating is that thanks to the collaboration of all these researchers, they’ve discovered that this sort of ritual was happening all across the globe, using the psychedelic plants native to their region.

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Basically, what we’re finding from this is that wherever our ancestors could get a hold of it, they did take the fruit of the Gods, and they did get stoned, and they did transform their consciousness. They did it everywhere. But, we also found that wherever they did that, they developed ritual and process and internal ways of doing it also.

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In the remains of the oldest temples discovered (so far), pots have been found and the residue remaining on them has been carefully analyzed. It showed that communities were combining multiple plants for psychedelic ceremonies. Just like the Ayahuasca blend in Latin America, they mix an inhibitor with the DMT, so the body can tolerate and process the experience for an extended time. So, these people knew some serious science about this stuff. It was true alchemy.

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When the Soma “Ran Out”

However, at some point, people were no longer able to drink the Sacred Soma. There are a few theories here. It is possible that the resources to create the drink ran out. They over-indulged! It is also suggested that Priests and religious leaders started limiting the Soma drink so that it was reserved exclusively for the rich and influential members of the community. People were suddenly forced to go inward in order to seek new ways to get to the same ecstatic states that allows connection to the divine.

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This lead to a massive revolution in thinking in India. In fact, we see a dramatic revolution in the psychology of the Indian mind occurring at this time. In a 400 year period, we see people like Kapila, the Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali, and Seers of The Upanishads. This was a revolutionary time, because they all shared the same message, which was basically this:

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“You can discover the Soma inside yourself. You don’t need a priest, you don’t need a plant, you can do it yourself. You can overcome all of this suffering and claiming and desire for Soma and immortality just by going inwards and finding it there.” 

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That triggered the dramatic speed up of a movement which already had been there in India:

the practices of Yoga. As of this point, Yoga was now beginning to be cultivated to a much

higher level, quite quickly.

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Breathwork is an incredibly powerful tool for connecting mind, body, and spirit, and the people realized this. They finally found a way to reach ecstatic peaks of bliss by tapping into their internal source of Soma! This is why Pranayama was developed to such an advanced level. When we breathe together in certain ways, some very interesting and positive occurrences arise; especially to your heart, feelings, and emotions. In fact breathing together may be the one thing that can solve the root cause of a lot of the problems of society – disconnection and social isolation, which create anxiety and depression on an epidemic scale.

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How is Soma released in the human body?

One theory is that it is DMT, or at least a molecule that is very similar to DMT. Dimethyltryptamine (DMT for short) is a naturally-existing chemical. It is the active component in Ayahuasca and it is found in other plants around the world. When consumed, DMT gives you an ecstatic experience, a profound spiritual experience, a connection to the Divine. Much like Soma!

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Discover The Soma Within

The amazing thing about learning how to connect to and release the Soma within, is that it is no longer an external experience. You are no longer relying on a temporary experience. It is continuous.

It is permanent. The knowledge of this connection to the infinite oneness of the world

is always with you.

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Your breath shall set you free

Do you know what the original meaning of “spiritual” is? It comes from the Latin, “spirare”, which means to breathe. Inspire means to breathe in. Conspire means to breathe together. Until 1386 the word “conspire” simply meant to breathe together. After the word “conspiracy” became known, the root word “conspire” took on a new meaning: to plot something wrong, evil, or illegal.

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Consider this theory: in the 1300s, the divide between rich and poor became more apparent than ever before. Those who took part in the breathwork rituals typically became the more prosperous and healthy members of society. The others? They were not as healthy, they were not as prosperous, they became separated from the rich and elite. At risk of becoming associated with the poor society, it is absolutely possible that these rejected members were envious and also scared of losing their status in the community. So what could they do? Paint a bad picture of the higher classes. Speak badly of them and spread lies about their apparently malicious tendencies. It would have been super effective because the lower societies would be jealous, they’d be looking to blame others for their suffering. And so conspiracy took on a whole new meaning.

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What do you think?

The power of breathing together as a group practice was hidden then for centuries due to the re-interpretation of a powerful word. Many cultures throughout history have breathed together in some ceremonial way, and sacred rituals involving breath are a common thread between

religious leaders of many religions."

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-Soma Breath- Niraj Naik