This program is not one which you will find in a quick meditation guide. This program has been studied and thoroughly experimented with by the tradition of the sages.
If you really want to obtain the highest states of meditation, you should commit yourself to following it. Many people fail after trying a few times, and God bless them, but the ones who make it through will achieve the highest states of being.
The process is simple!
FIRST MONTH
The goals for the two first months are as follows:
- To learn to sit every day at the same time. Make it a habit.
- To develop a good sitting posture.
We previously described the different sitting postures. Choose one! The best one for meditation is the easy pose. During the first month you may choose to sit against a wall for support, but soon you will have to learn to sit independently from any external support.
Being steady means that you can keep your spine in perfect alignment with the neck. As mentioned before, the surface shouldn't be too soft, too firm, or too high. A good meditation surface could be a wooden plank and a couple of blankets folded into quarters.
In the beginning, you will encounter different challenges such as numbness of the extremities, perspiration, shakes, twitching in the eyes and also dry throat or excess of saliva in the mouth which are both a sign of improper nutrition. If you experience a dry throat, you may want to get a sip of water.
Don't try to sit for too long. Start with 15 to 20 minutes. Every three days you can increase your time by 3 minutes. You want to go slowly and progressively so it will be a pleasant experience and you will look forward to meditating again the next day.
Once you are sitting down, do a mental check from head to toes.
- No tension in the forehead.
- The eyes should be closed. As a help to focus the mind, most people use the dristhi. Dristhi are specific points in the body, and when the eyes are directed towards them it will help you to focus the mind. Some of these points are the third eye, tip of the nose, top of the head, and so on. The eyes can be directed to the dristhi you choose but not so intensely that you develop a headache. You can direct the eyes in a gentle way. Some meditations have a specific given dristhi.
- The lips should be sealed. The teeth are touching (gently). No tension in the jaw.
- No tension in the neck.
- No tension in the shoulders.
- No tension in the arms and fingers. The hands are placed on the knees, or as close to the knees as the length of your arms allows you to bring them without bending the spine.
- No tension in the chest.
- No tension in the pelvic area.
- No tension in the legs, knees, and feet.
- Then start over again from the toes to the head.
- Take 10 long, deep breaths in and out while you allow the body to relax deeply. If you feel there is still a point of tension, mentally ask your body to let it go. The mind has the ability to heal the body.
Getting to know the mind
It's through the senses that we perceive the world. The conscious mind relies on ten senses to obtain information. Five of those are cognitive senses and include sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. The other five are active senses and include the hands, feet, power of speech, organs of reproduction, and elimination. The mind stores impressions in the unconscious and reuses them when needed.
All sadhanas have the same goal, which is to train the mind. Once your mind is a single, pointed focus, you become aware of the immortal soul beyond the mind.
Through the daily practice, or sadhana, we can discipline and clear our minds. A clear mind is capable of conscious healing and the prevention of disease. Never doubt this!
Sadhanas also allow you to accurately perceive and assess the exterior world, to clearly collect data as it is.
There are 4 functions of the mind:
MANAS- lower mind-interaction with the outside world-takes sensory impressions, data, doubts and questions. (If this tendency is prominent, it may cause problems.)
BUDDHI- higher mind-inner wisdom-decisions, judgments, cognitive discriminations. Decides the wiser action between two courses of actions if MANAS accept its guidance.
AHAMKARA- individual ego-provides sense of identity, and also feelings of separation.
CHITTA- memory bank-stores experiences and impressions. Sometimes helpful, sometimes not.
Through meditation, we start to be conscious of the different functions of the mind. We observe the mind and watch it through our actions and speech.
Once you are able to meditate in a perfect, still meditative pose, where the body doesn't move, shake, or twitch, you can start to pay attention to the breath. This is fundamental in meditation. The breath should be comfortable and full. You want to take care of the four most common problems with the breath which are jerkiness, shallowness, noise, and extended pauses.
SECOND MONTH
After doing your yoga asanas and breathing exercises, deeply relax the muscles as well as the subtle muscles and the nervous system.
Alternate breathing can be beneficial, but during meditation you are only going to practice "breath awareness". There is a fine relationship between the mind and the breath, which is why we focus on the breath.
- Sit in a cross-legged position.
- Inhale through the base of the spine to the crown of the head, and exhale from the crown of the head to the base of the spine. It can be very helpful to visualize the three nadis in the spine: ida, pingala, and the central channel sushumna. Inhale and exhale through the central channel, sushumna. This channel is a milky white tube. Feel the energy as it goes up and down through the spine from the pelvic plexus to the medulla oblongata.
- Observe how many times the mind gets distracted. The distraction is always followed by an irregularity in the breath.
- When breathing, focus your attention on the breath as it goes in and out. You will notice that one nostril is more open than the other. This is normal and it can be changed by paying attention to the closed nostril for just a few moments. This will give you control over the flow of breath. Breathing through the right side brings a warming effect and breathing through the left side brings a cooling effect. Depending on what side is in charge, disturbances in the mind can occur, making it important that we gain control over the disturbances of the tattvas.
- AWAKENING SUSHUMNA. By focusing the attention in between the two nostrils, you can make both nostrils flow equally. This doesn't mean that you direct the eyes to the tip of the nose. The focus should be on the awareness of the breath just above the upper lip, which is the union between ida and pingala. This state where there are no fears or negative thoughts can help to distract the mind and is delightful, but it doesn't last long. If you practice regularly in the morning and evening, it can be easy to obtain.
- Once you can hold this state for 5 minutes, you have overcome a major obstacle and have developed a one-pointed mind. Keep practicing this for 3 to 4 more months.
- The point now is to witness your own thought process and to be able to remain undisturbed by the different mental scenes, emotions, memories, concepts, etc., something that is unthinkable to most people. Practice this for 3 to 4 months.
There are different levels of the mind and the unknown unconscious mind is one of them. This is where impressions of our actions, desires, and emotions are stored. This level of the mind corresponds with the deepest level of the mind, still a mystery, but a single memory can create a disturbance. Be patient. Contemplate and analyze your fears. You will gradually be able to inspect your thinking without disturbing the mind. This state is called Samadhi. There are 4 stages of Samadhi and when you can focus the mind for 10 minutes without disturbance, you have come close to achieving this state. The final step is to be in silence. This silence is regarded as indescribable, the opener of intuitive knowledge of all times. Silence is the goal. From silence comes happiness, bliss, and peace.
