stillpoint yoga

yoga meditation and philosophy with Lynn Fraser
in the Himalayan Tradition of H.H. Sri Swami Rama

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The Systematic Process of Meditation

The inner journey is a systematic process which can be summarized as follows:

Learn how to do specific practices:

Learning specific techniques for the inner journey, such as internal dialogue, self-observation, stretches, sitting postures, breathing practices, meditation, yoga nidra, and agni sara.

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Put those methods into practice by:

1)     Systematically following the five step sequence of preparation, stretches, relaxation, breathing, and meditation on a regular, daily basis, as described in Meditation and Its Practice

2)     Integrating and implementing the Program for Progress in Meditation, as described in Chapter 6 of Meditation and Its Practice, and the eight step program as described in Chapters 6 through 8 of Path of Fire and Light, Vol. II

3)     Incorporating other compatible written or oral instructions.

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From which you acquire certain skills (as outlined in Meditation and Its Practice):

1)     How to relax the body

2)     How to sit in a comfortable, steady position for meditation

3)     How to make your breathing process serene

4)     How to witness the objects traveling in the train of the mind

5)     How to inspect the quality of thoughts and learn to promote or strengthen those which are positive and helpful

6)     How not to allow yourself to become disturbed in any situation, whether you judge it to be either bad or good

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By which you move through three levels (as described in Freedom from the Bondage of Karma ):

1)     Calming the conscious mind

2)     Remaining undisturbed by the flood of images from the unconscious mind

3)     Going beyond both the conscious and unconscious mind

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Which finally lead to: attaining the direct experience of the Center of Consciousness within (which is commented on in numerous places by Swami Rama)

Though all of Swami Rama’s books are instructive, you may find these particularly useful in understanding the systematic process of the inner journey: Meditation and Its Practice, Path of Fire and Light, Vol. II, The Art of Joyful Living, Freedom from the Bondage of Karma, Enlightenment Without God. Also very useful are the four audio tapes: Guided Meditation for Beginners, A Guide to Intermediate Meditation, First Step Toward Advanced Meditation, and Meditation for Initiates.

 

The Systematic Process of Meditation

(The specific practices listed, their order, and the boundaries between stages should be seen as approximate guidelines.)

Beginning Meditation

Intermediate Meditation

Advanced Meditation

Foundation, lifestyle, meditation in action

·       Regulating lifestyle, including the four primitive fountains of food, sleep, sex, and self-preservation

·       Practicing the yamas and niyamas

·       Developing the practice of internal dialogue, making a friend of the mind

·       Cultivating mindfulness; observing the interaction of the four functions of mind, the ten senses, the streams of emotion, and the primitive fountains of food, sleep, sex and self-preservation

·       Observing actions, speech, and thoughts; observing gestures and body language

Establishing the practice of meditation

·       Having a regular practice time and place

·       Developing a steady, comfortable posture

·       Relaxing the body, using attention and breathing, not suggestion or hypnosis

·       Breath awareness, diaphragmatic breathing, removal of jerks, pauses, noise, unevenness, (focusing on this for 1 month)

·       Corpse and crocodile postures; use of sandbag; two-to-one breathing; nadi shodhana

·       Following the practice sequence of:
1) preparation, 2) stretches, 3) relaxation,
4) breathing, and 5)meditation

 

Stabilizing your practices

·       Continue internal dialogue, mindfulness, relaxation, breathing and other practices started in the beginning level

·       Acquiring flexibility in doing the five step practice sequence, so as to do the series of steps in a few minutes or a few hours

·       Learning the breathing practices: complete breath, kapalabhati, bhastrika

·       Allowing the breathing practices to flow together like music, into meditation

·       Meditating with breath along the spinal column, (focusing on this for 1 month)

Dealing with the Conscious mind

·       Sushumna awakening, using breath awareness at the bridge of the nostrils; allowing thoughts to come, (2-3 more months)

·       Mentally opening a blocked nostril; doing nadi shodhana without fingers

·       Developing determination, sankalpa shakti to deal with the thoughts

·       Letting go of the trains of thoughts; dealing with the conscious mind, (3-4 more months)

·       Meditation in the space between the eyebrows, letting thoughts flow without interruption

Exploring the Unconscious mind

·       Continue practices from the previous levels

·       Feeling of not breathing is encouraging sign

·       Introspection, attending to all the thousands of awaiting thoughts; discriminating useful and unuseful thoughts

·       Examining all fears, one by one; eliminating samskaras; purifying or clearing the conscious and unconscious mind

·       Learning to witness all thoughts

·       Allowing the thoughts and the process of introspection and witnessing to quicken

Going beyond the mind

·       Ajapa japa; mantra goes from the level of word to that of feeling, to constant awareness, and then to soundless sound, silence

·       Meditation on internal objects, such as the tiny circle at ajna chakra, in which there is an unflinching, milky white flame

·       Meditation between the breasts or between the eyebrows, depending on one’s tendency

·       Meditation on either light or sound; merging of mantra, light and sound

·       Meditation on bindu; piercing the bindu

·       Feeling of entering a tunnel; traveling to sahasrara, the crown chakra

·       Expansion to that which is beyond

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