Trataka – Candle Gazing
A yogic and tantric form of meditation. Trataka improves the memory, and increases awareness, attention, focus and concentration. It calms the mind and improves the eyes. It activates Ajna, the third eye, stimulating the pineal gland and develops psychic abilities.
Place a candle at arm’s length and eye height and close your eyes to quieten the mind, relax the body. Open the eyes and gaze into the middle of the flame of a candle, ideally at the red wick which is still and doesn’t waver in a drought. Gaze for as long as possible without blinking and without straining the eyes, when they begin to water or tire close your eyes, focus on the after image of the flame in your “Mind’s eye”. It will still be bright and alter in colour. When the image fades, open the eyes to gaze into the flame again.
Continue for 5 to 10 minutes.
This is a wonderful practice to begin the day with, it ‘washes the eyes’ so you will see clearly all day. It is done with the eyes open, and with the eyes closed to train both the concentration and visualization powers of the mind.
Sound Meditation
Listening to sounds with eyes closed, being aware of sounds but without labelling sounds. They are just a sound, here for a moment, gone the next, a vibration through the air. Don’t give the sound a name, just let it be a noise.
This can become a very deep and difficult meditation as you progresss with your practice. When you reach a space where everything exists without a name, you are in a space before time, before we recognized anything and labled it. You are in a zone of non-judgement. Once something is named, we have a preconcieved idea of what that item is. That colours our perception. If you can reach a state of clarity where you can let go of names, you realize that everything comes from one source. If everything comes from the source, everything essentially is all made from the same particles. It is the essence of reality that we all come from the same source and we all need prana to keep us living. The essential life source is prana. Everything lives and breaths prana. Even crystals and rocks have prana, life energy. Crystals vibrate at frequencies that is in their molecular structure, that is their prana or where their energy comes from.
When I was learning to meditate, the master I was following at the time, used to say to go back to the source. To keep going back to the source. I started by going back to the source of the thought. When I noticed I had started thinking, I would stop the thought and notice it. Then I would trace the path of the thought back to where it come from. It had usually come on a journey. I would trace the story of the thought back in my mind to the first thought, then try to meditate again by keeping my mind still and focusing on my breath.
Another beautiful sound meditation is a sound bath. You can do this yourself by resting on your back and being absorbed by healing music. The solfeggio scales are harmonies that heal you at a cellular level They heal trauma through thier vibration.
It is wonderful to go to someone else who gives sound baths, I went to some above the ocean under some trees on the grass. The lady had soft gongs and drums and bells and healing bowls. and she hummed and sang. It was really amazing.
Bumble Bee Breath
Close your eyes and ears with your fingers and hum.
The Origin of the breath and the Turning of the breath
(technique below) are two of my favorite ways to meditate. It gives the mind a platform that allows it to focus easily and consciousness connects quickly with the universal oneness of mind.
Deep meditation – The Origin of the Breath
It is easier to quieten the mind by focusing on something than by not concentrating on anything, the breath is one of the easiest ways to still the mind. You don’t need to alter or hold your breath, just breath naturally.
There is a gap between our inbreath and our out breath. There is another gap between our outbreath and our inbreath. The breath originates from this pause. Focus your attention on these two gaps.
At the centre of the gap, we are completely still, we are not even breathing. By being aware of that middle state, that stillness, our thoughts disappear. Our body is still, and our mind becomes still as we focus on that stillness.
Sit in a comfortable posture and close your eyes. Focus your attention on the gap between two breaths, just observe it, maintaining continuous awareness. Don’t only concentrate on the gaps, concentrate on the full breathing cycle with increased focus on the gap between the breaths.
The mind may calm down and as you continue you will feel a sense of peace, then joy.
Deep meditation – The Turning of the Breath
Concentrate on the two places where the breath turns from inside to outside and outside to inside.
Instead of focusing on the origin of the inbreath and the outbreath, focus on the turning of the breath. As you breathe in, the breath gradually dies out. Then there is a small pause and then you breathe out. Turning of the breath is the area where the inbreath is ending. The gap then the outbreath starts. The focus is larger than just the gap, focusing on either side of the gap.
In a complete breathing cycle, the breath turns twice. From inside to outside and outside to inside.