Getting to the Root of Meditation

Breath is life. Breath takes us to the higher essence of practice - to deep meditative states. 

Meditation is now becoming better understand and taught in yoga classes, it's on Netflix and is being popularized.  From TM in the 60s and 70s, to mindfulness and now to yoga meditation. 

In lineage-based systems, you work with time-tested meditations. In my lineage, we use mantra as our system of meditation - the repetition of sacred sounds. Your guru provides a meditation to you. 

To be successful at meditation keep it simple: 

• get still
• sit tall - head over the base of the spine (use the wall or chair as necessary)
• the chin may drop a bit
• the eyes are closed
• begin to focus on the breath for a few minutes, breathing through the nostrils (concentration, dharana)
• focus on the breath at the nostrils moving in and out
• a single-pointed focus is established (more focused concentration - the object of meditation or dhyana)
• at some point, there is a union of the subject (you) and the object  which may only last for a second or two initially (samadhi)

Set a timer for 3-minutes to start. Build up a little more each week to a comfortable length for you.

Before taking your seat, start with a bit of gentle physical movement. Then sit and begin to focus on the breath, perhaps a bit of a deeper nostril breathing initially, controlling the flow of the breath. Then let the breath go and focus on the smooth and gentle flow at the nostrils.

It is recommended that you do your meditation at the same time every day ideally.

Commit to 7-days initially; you'll be able to quickly realize the positive effects.