Beautiful meditation practices

Mooladhara Chakra Meditation

Sit quietly. Eyes and mouth closed. Body comfortable.
Focus the awareness into that point inside the body, just below the tailbone, where the body connects with the floor or chair. This is where you will find mooladhara chakra.

Imagine mooladhara chakra as a vortex of golden light. It is of divine essence, imagine it that way.
Take your awareness right into the heart of the mooladhara vortex - hold it there for the entire meditation - and draw the breath in and out there, quietly and unhurried, for 2 - 3 minutes.

Mentally speak to the chakra saying its name "mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara, mooladhara" (pronounced 'moole-udharra').

Keeping the eyes closed chant the mantra LAM (pronounced lum) aloud, softly, over and over again for 3-5 minutes.
Feel lam as a very gentle explosion in the centre of mooladhara, in the same way that waves break gently on the shore. A wave, softly crashing ... and flowing; over and over again.
keep the awareness deep inside mooladhara so that the vibration from lam reverberates there, awakening potential and continuing chanting lam, but now do it mentally; subtle but powerful and steady.
Do this for 3 – 30 minutes.

Mooladhara is the earth-related stabilizing force. Lam not only helps to calm you, but actively awakens the earth essence within you, actively helps to ground you, actively awakens stabilisation of the mind. If you are grounded you cannot be tipped over. You are solid. Balanced. Earthed. This is Yoga. Beautiful Beautiful yoga.

There are layers of potential within each and everyone of us, and absolute stability of mind is one of them.

 Mooladhara Chakra Insights

‘Charged’ emotional reactions whenever something goes wrong indicates being trapped in a strand of insecurity. It is a display of fear and powerlessness which is related to mooladhara chakra – the first chakra in human evolution whose pranic seat is at the perineum - its potential is Absolute Security.

We must pass through the 365 days of any year to enter into the next year - and in the same way we must pass through the experiences of insecurity until we enter into the experiences of security.

Insecurity can take the dark form which contains violence and/or depression, or the bright form which contains reactiing and anxiety. When we are ruled in any way by the dark form or the bright form we do not trust that the flow of life will serve us; our understanding or working knowledge of cosmic law is minimal, or non-existent; we have little or no faith in ourselves or others. Ruled by the bright or dark forms of unsecurity causes us to operate from a magnified, linear lense, seeing densely, and only seeing the mundane details of life around us.

However at some point in our evolution there comes a time when we question our insecurity, when we ask ourselves where the insecurity originates, why we are maintaining it, how we will get out of it. How we will become trust, faith and safety, personified?

When the mind starts questioning one’s own behaviour, when an urge for more inspired ways of being appears, we are on the cusp of real change. This is deeply spiritual business.

We need not operate from the dark form nor the bright form of security. There is a third choice. We can operate from the luminous form where there is calm, happy wisdom, where difficult experiences are viewed with a Cosmic Eye - and a Cosmic Heart. Effort is made to bring a positive resolution to all concerned and to see the Hand of the Divine in each difficult experience.

In difficult experiences the one who is secure offers thanks to the Divine, seeing the Divine in all things. The one is truly secure feels equally blessed in difficult and wonderful circumstances.

You can fake it till you make it. That works surprisingly quickly.

You can easily transcend charged emotional behaviour in favour of wise and happy behaviour. All you have to do is STOP the charged behaviour! Once you stop it, tiny increments of peace and wisdom will flow through the thick cloud of fear. Little by little insecurity will subside and security will become the prevailing force, until, eventually we are Absolute Security Personnified.

When that day comes you will feel SO much better physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

 Trataka Meditation

Trataka Meditation is meditation on a single object, usually a candle-flame, for the purpose of steadying and concentrating the mind. If trataka is practiced on a candle-flame it is recommended that it not be practiced for more than 30 days straight, because the intense light of the flame is too strong for the eyes.

However, this caution is in place for those who gaze at the actual flame for a long time -  this is where the problem lies. Ideally, the trataka practitioner only gazes at the flame for 2-3 minutes  and then closes the eyes and remains with the eyes closed whilst trying to concentrate the mind by pulling the after-image to the eyebrow centre for 20 - 30 minutes.

Practiced this way the eyes are not subjected to burning light and the mind is subjected to concentration with the eyes closed.  The aim of trataka is to train the practitioner to steady the mind and help to strengthen it. This is done by making the after-image steady, still, unwavering and crystal clear, at the eyebrow centre.

To train the mind to concentrate like this one can also practice trataka on a coloured or black dot, or a picture of a flower with a dot in the centre of it, or the Transcendental Divine Soul (with a dot at their eyebrow centre).

Trataka for awakening Beauty and Inspiration

If one needs Beauty and Inspiration in their mind then gazing at a candle flame will certainly awaken this, in which case practice trataka by gazing at the flame for 2 minutes, then focusing on steadying it at the eyebrow centre for 5 minutes. In this way practice 4 rounds to uplift the heart and the mind.

If you wish to keep this practice in your life long-term, for the purpose of awakening Inspiration and Beauty, you could practice it twice a week without any problems.

Vishuddhi Meditation

 Vishuddhi Dhyana - focused awareness at vishuddhi chakra.

This version is a simplified practice from the technique in the Sureways to Self-Realization text .

There are many techniques and discussions in Sureways to Self-Realization – here is one for vishuddhi chakra. The following practice is called Vishuddhi Dharana.  Vishuddhi is the centre for purification and transformation and dhyana means unwavering concentration on one thing, one space, one object, one point. Non-oscillating, uninterrupted-stream-of-consciousness on that chosen focus. Vishuddhi is truly a bridge from the mundane to the transcendental. It is known as the transformer because it transmutes poison into purity. Poisonous thoughts are transmuted and dissolved when vishuddhi is strongly awakened. When awakened it acts like a spiritual conscience – every reaction, idea, action, etc which passes through the mind is purified - only the highest, is good enough.  Here is a simplified, but still effective, version of the practice.

Vishuddhi Dhyana

Choose a comfortable seated meditation position, close the mouth and eyes and become quiet and still.

Take the awareness to the base of the throat, vishuddhi kshetram, and draw the inhalation in an imaginary line from the base of the throat, through the throat to inside the spinal cord, into vishuddhi chakra.

Then exhale from vishuddhi chakra, chanting the mantra ham (hum) continuously and passing this mantra through the throat into the vishuddhi kshetram.

Focus on the ham mantra vibration… intensify awareness and experience of it. Continue this for  5-10 minutes.

Then visualize the full moon, a pure white full moon at chidakasaha. Hold the image of a pure white circle. This is the yantra for vishuddhi and for the element, ether. It is the symbol of purity and silence. The bringer of tranquillity.

Hold onto this image with one-pointed, uninterrupted, non-oscillating awareness for as long as you can. You can increase the length of time you can meditate by slowing the breath, softening the mind and becoming so utterly focused that you become tranquil and timeless.

When you feel ready to end the meditation, mentally check through all the major parts of the body and ‘earth’ the psyche … then chant AUM 3-7 times.

Hari Om Tat Sat. So ends Vishuddhi Dhyana.

The Satyananda Text, Sureways to Self-Realization contains the following chapters: 
Tools of Meditation
Mechanical Aids to Meditation
The Yogic Way of Meditation
Meditation - a Worldwide Culture
Moving Meditation, Further Meditation Techniques and the Goal of Meditation.
This text is available from the www.satyananda.net  shop.