You have already begun your practice, you just may not be aware of that. It starts as a soft quiet whisper within you that says “yoga” recognize and be aware of this.
DEDICATE YOURSELF TO YOUR PRACTICE OF YOGA MEDITATION See that you are getting together with your best friend and lover, the One who knows you best and who has been waiting for you to come to your yoga, your union. Know that positive actions are being set in motion and that positive reactions will come back to you.
LAY DOWN ON YOUR BACK, Relax…let go of your body, let it sink into your mat, allow “letting goness’ to happen, the process of letting go and opening up. When you are open you are creating spaciousness and this brings a quality of lightness.
WITNESSING…your thoughts go by without being carried away by them. Visualize that you are sitting by a stream watching the water flow by. You are stepping out of your thought stream that is very powerful and keeps you moving from thought to thought. This is part of the human mental process and that is part of our nature. In yoga meditation we step out of the mental flow and “watch” our thoughts float by just like watching the clouds float by in the sky. We concentrate on the sky of the mind and not the clouds that pass by.
BREATH CYCLE…bring your attention onto your breath. Watch your lungs fill smoothly to the top and empty smoothly to the bottom. This is called your breath cycle. Establish yourself in your breath cycle and when the thoughts come by to capture your attention, with practice you will be able to let them go and come back to your breath cycle, your breath awareness. Meditate on your breath so that wherever you are in your breath cycle whether moving up or down you are centered in your breath. With practice you will make your breath very smooth and subtle. This will take you deeper into yourself.
SITTING…after you have laid out and centered on your breath you are ready to begin. Come into any comfortable sitting posture. make your head, neck and spine in a straight line. Visualize that your spine is growing out of its base within the pelvis like a stem growing out of the earth. You may find sitting on a pillow, cushion or rolled up blanket will make sitting easier.
FOCUSING…bring your attention to a point. You may center on your heart center and bring the breath into your heart. You may focus on your minds eye located at the Ajna or sixth chakra slightly above and in between the eyes. Concentrate your attention at this point to keep the eyes or mind from wandering and to see and look within hence the term “minds eye”. When we meditate we use our minds eye to look within and “see,” thus intuition develops.
BREATH…meditate on the breath, practice pranayam, know that when you meditate on your breath you are meditating on life, that breath is life. Listen to the sound of your breath, the vibration and rhythm, this is called nad. You are moving from waking state consciousness to a deeper state of consciousness. This will feel very comfortable.
VISUALIZE PRANA…your breath, life force, your vital energy moving through you. Channel the prana from the air, sun, sky, wind, earth and space that is all around you through your breath and into your being and consciousness. Visualize the prana, energy, life force moving through your nerves, veins , arteries to all parts of your body, bathing all organs, cells, nerves, fluids, with positive energy cleansing and charging your physical, mental and subtle bodies.
POSTURES… listen to your body, its talking to you and will tell you exactly what it needs. There is nothing to memorize. Your body has an intelligence and knows exactly what to do to take care of itself to bring it into balance. Don’t try to “think” of what postures you should do. Just witness and watch the process unfold. You already have knowledge of a wide variety of postures and movements , bandhas and kriyas and pranayam to bring about the desired result. Listen, watch and let go… Postures are like icebergs… we can only see the part that is above the surface, which is about 10%, the rest which we can not “see” will rise to the surface with practice. There is always more than meets the eye in an asana as many competing and conflicting actions are set in motion. Thus balance develops. Postures have two parts… first is the asana, the posture itself which is the cause. When you practice a posture practice it correctly. Do not be sloppy in your asana. An asana should be steady and comfortable. Practice to hold the posture and be smooth and steady in your breath. This is the first part. The second part is the real exercise and that is coming out of the asana and letting go, practicing deep relaxation with awareness, allowing the quality of “letting goness” to happen. make your breath very smooth and subtle.
TRANSFORMATION… results from your practice when you are open and let go. It requires an effort and a concentration to do your practice and the rewards are indescribable. This is the transcendent quality of yoga that will take you into your SAMADHI… the end result of yoga and the beginning… OM SHANTI