UNDERSTANDING YOGIC MEDITATION...

UNDERSTANDING YOGIC MEDITATION...

Yoga is an ancient science, the ultimate goal of which is to stop the thought waves of the mind so that we can attain absolute union or absorption with the source of life, that cosmic, conscious intelligence and love from which this universe expands.  Hatha yoga or, the yoga postures were practiced by yogis because they felt that the body must come to greater balance, ease, and comfort for one to be able to even sit.  Lets face it, if we can't physically sit still for more than a minute how can we even begin to control our thoughts.  How can we ever go to the next stage, or the next, or the next, if we can't even sit still, breath calmly, and focus.  It would be impossible to flow, impossible to be graced with a glimpse into the divine when our bodies, our minds are so loud and desperate for our attention.  It is extremely difficult when we cannot be quiet and subtle in our awareness enough.  The glimpse, that moment where one can taste the sweetness of that oneness and peace can be sooo fleeting.  Imagine however, a meditation that is deep, well-practiced, and journeyed numerous times in ones lifetime, each time you sit, treating each time as a journey in and of itself until that final journey, that final crossing from this life to the next.  How can one not want to prepare for that blessed time when we cross over.  Do we want to make that journey in fear, with distractions and chatter running through our minds, with attachments and desires filling our journey over with discontent?  I'll quote from one of my favorite movies: "What we do now, echoes in eternity..." (Gladiator) 

Our yoga class of postures, of "asanas," has always been for the main purpose of being able to transcend the physical body, its twitches, its tensions, discomforts, pain, etc. so that we can go into the laboratory of meditation and confront our minds...understand the nature of our mind and therefore transform and transcend the limitations of mind and body!!!! 

I understand this can cause much anxiety, frustration, anger, distress, and even deep pain.  Likewise it can cause many positive emotions to run through our body/mind complex too.  More important to understand is that it is our attachment or in some cases addiction to either that encourages the ceaseless running of thoughts, the endless chatter.    Over time, if one can't get a grip on the mental running around of,  as the Taoists say, "your monkey mind," then "your monkey mind" gets a hold of YOU...YOUR RELATIONSHIPS...YOUR LIFE...and how you experience all of these things!!!!   

1) PRACTICE:

DOWNLOAD YOUR EVERY THOUGHT

So as a first practice, take time out to write down every thought that runs its course in your mind for 10 minutes in the morning, middle of the day, and at night.  Nomatter what the thought is or how many times it is repeated in the mind, write it down.  Do this for the next 3 days at least and at the end of this downloading practice:

2) PRACTICE:

OBSERVE, REFLECT, & EVALUATE THE

 a) CONTENT OF THESE THOUGHTS

 b) QUALITY OF THESE THOUGHTS 

c) EFFECT OF THESE THOUGHTS

 ON YOU...YOUR BODY...YOUR EMOTIONS 

3) MANTRA PRACTICE:

Every day for the next three days look at all these thoughts with some detachment..more and more detachment and say in your mind: "I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS!"  "MY THOUGHTS DO NOT DEFINE WHO I TRULY AM!"  "I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS!"

Liberate yourself from your thoughts by understanding that your thoughts and how you have been thinking is conditioned to greater or lesser extent by the simple fact of not having a practice that clears your mind of thoughts, by the simple fact of not mindfully choosing and excluding certain thoughts... WE HAVE A CHOICE AND THE MORE WE CHOOSE RIGHT THOUGHTS, RIGHT INTENTION, RIGHT ACTION BASED ON PROPER UNDERSTANDING AND WISDOM, WE WILL GAIN MORE AND MORE CONTROL OVER OUR MONKEY MIND AND BE ABLE TO DIRECT OUR FOCUS and  OUR ENERGY TO ATTAIN HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, HEIGHTENED STATES OF WELL-BEING AND EXPERIENCE THE KIND OF JOY, PEACE, AND UNITY THAT COMES FROM THE MORE ETERNAL NATURE OF THINGS...

In yogic meditation we seek to tap into that that is eternal so that the lower pushes and pulls of our being, the struggles between this and that, light and dark, good and bad quiet down in the face of pure, illuminating light.  In the higher consciousness centers of the heart, throat, third eye, and crown nerve plexi we use yogic techniques to help in methodically transcending the drama of  having to secure, protect, defend, compare, judge, attack, ...transcend the drama of dual forces fighting one another, the feminine and the masculine, the right and the left, the extroverted and introverted...transcend the drama of the ego asserting itself and grasping for attention and preservation...

We transcend the drama by bringing balance to these things...HOW?

We keep grounded in our bodies and taking care of ourselves by increasing pranic flow.  Our yoga postures class and our breathing practices do this.  Then, we control sensory input into the mind by withdrawing from the five senses, turning awareness inward.  Then, we bring the energy up through concentration, visualization, and mantra or affirmations.  At this point if we can maintain this level of mindfulness and continue to detach from our thoughts allowing them to fade or wash away with breath, we can go further to the higher levels of meditation.  However, for our purpose here and at this beginning level, it is enough to end here as the previous stages must be started, developed, and practiced on a habitual basis.  This lays the necessary foundation and grounding for the higher states to even be glimpsed, let alone sustained.

Meditation is medicine for the mind!

With a regular practice that medicine changes you and empowers you, your highest self..."atman!"  The book UPANISHADS poetically sheds light on the glimpses into the higher states where ones sense of time, place, and space literally dissolves as the veil of "maya," of the illusion that we are separate, is lifted.  In the lifting of this veil one feels  eternally present, one with all things for all time.  We as spiritual beings experiencing life in our physical bodies, owe it to ourselves to remember from where we've come.  For many, meditation becomes the medicine for the mind, body, and spirit that enables us to remember, becomes a practice of returning home...

It is when we function from this higher vibration of knowing and experiencing where we've come and where we are going, that the life in between, comes into view from a proper perspective that alleviates much of the self-inflicted suffering of the mind...

EXCITED TO TALK MORE IN DEPTH ON YOGIC MEDITATION/PHILOSOPHY WITH YOU THIS SATURDAY FOR THOSE CONTINUING WITH OUR MEDITATION CLASS...TO THOSE WHO ARE COMING FIRST TIME...WELCOME!

Prema Devii

E-RYT 200, RYT 500, M.A. Education

808-269-2638

premayoga7@gmail.com