I want to try meditating. How to get started?🔗

Meditation is usually associated with sitting quietly with eyes closed and concentrating on something. Dynamic meditation is quite the opposite, involving intense physical activity. Usually we make the body still (by sitting still with eyes closed), but our mind continues to run, jumping very rapidly from one thought to another. Becoming a witness seems almost impossible as there is no perceptible gap between you and your thoughts.

In dynamic meditation, we do the reverse process. We make the body run in order to make the mind still. Here the body will be put through physical activity, and asked to stop suddenly – in the middle of whatever you are doing! You must not be aware that you are going to stop. When you suddenly stop an action that you are totally involved in, you are shocked into silence. In that instant your mind stops and you experience the silence within you. At that instant, when there are no thoughts, when you are in the gap between thoughts, you are in the present moment!

Existence of Cerebral Layer in Modern Man

In today's world, there is a lot of importance given to the intellect, IQ, brain and logic. This is at the cost of the heart, EQ, emotions and feelings.

A small story: One 90-year old man used to sit every day at the beach from morning to evening, watching the people going by.

Another man who noticed this went up to him and asked him, 'What do you actually do sitting here everyday?'

The old man replied, 'I am searching for a woman to be my wife.'

The man was shocked at this reply and asked him, 'Why did you not search in your youth?'

The old man replied, 'I have been searching since I was 30 years old.'

The man was even more surprised and asked him, 'What sort of a woman are you searching for?'

He replied, 'I am searching for a perfect woman.'

'And you haven't found one?' the man asked. ‘I found one woman who matched what I had in mind but it didn’t work out well with her,’ replied the old man.

The man asked why.

The old man replied, ‘She was searching for a perfect man!’

This is what happens when we try to get a perfect match for the image that we carry inside us.

We are bombarded by images from the media about everything ranging from the definition of beauty and intelligence to the lifestyle we should be living. These fantasies thrown on us continuously, have an undertone of the perceived ‘ideal’ in them. Consciously or unconsciously, this stands as a screen in front of our eyes and colors whatever we see in life. So, reality becomes difficult to accept.

This disconnect between what ‘is’ and what ‘should be’ directly results in tension and dis-ease.

To know what you really want in life, you need to remove the cobweb of ideals and imagination that you have collected so far. This is the ‘cerebral layer’ that stands between you and your life, which needs to be cleared.

Need for catharsis

Because we are stuck in the cerebral layer, first a catharsis is needed.

The catharsis needs to first clear all that you have suppressed over so many years due to various reasons.

A true story: Albert Einstein, the great physicist was on his deathbed. There were some close people sitting around him. One of them asked him what he would like to be reborn as if given a chance.

Everyone expected him to say that he would like to be reborn as an even greater scientist or something like that. Einstein replied, ‘If ever I would be reborn, I would like to be reborn as a plumber.’

Einstein felt that he had achieved all that was to be achieved, but what for he achieved, he had not achieved.

Most of us are so busy catching up with life that we do not have time to see what we really want to do. We are all the time thinking and doing things to fulfill our duties or desires. We put on a mask to be socially proper and pleasing.

You can live in freedom and heartily enjoy everything from laughing to working if you know the trick of flowing with life. Experiencing life, while being centered in the heart, can reveal so many wonderful dimensions of life.

The head always looks to analyze and dissect. To break that pattern and experience from the heart, we do the dynamic meditation.

The catharsis helps to throw off suppressions and to make the heart open.

Freedom and expressing yourself

The dynamic meditation puts you in touch with the real ‘you’ that lies hidden under years of social conditioning you have been living with so far.

A small story: In a clubhouse, one man had finished his round of playing cards and was leaving. He went to the coat stand and was putting on his coat, when suddenly a meek voice spoke behind him, ‘Sir, are you Mr. Philippe?’ The man turned around and replied, ‘No, I am not.’ The voice said, ‘Thank God. I am Philippe and that coat is mine.’

We are so afraid that we might make a mistake and hurt ourselves, our ego. So we work with such cordiality and seriousness thinking that we are humble and what not. These are nothing but passive forms of ego.

You are so terrified of your ego getting hurt and so you behave in these ways. Drop all your guard of your ego and move about freely. Drop the big identity you have been carrying around.

Have a glimpse of the most wonderful thing in this universe – You.

Your body is filled with toxins. Your mind is filled with fantasies. The body needs to be detoxified. The mind needs to be intoxicated with bliss. Dukkha harana does both.

Meditation strengthens your new system and removes body pain and mental suffering.

Instructions:

1. Rhythmic breathing a. Stand with your eyes closed. Breathe deeply and rhythmically from the depths of your body, always through your nose with your mouth closed.

b. Move your hands, flex your knees and bend to a semi-squatting position and then rise up. Move as if you are a bird in flight, up and down, knees moving up and down, arms moving up and down, all rhythmic in line with your breathing.

c. Do the movements gently and synchronise your inhalation with upward movement and exhalation with downwards movement.

d. If you have a heart problem, do only as much as you can. Similarly, pregnant women and others with physical ailments - do only as much as you can. Do this for 10 minutes.

2. Tensing the body a. For the next 10 minutes, keep your eyes closed and tense each part of your body, part by part, limb by limb, then let it relax; tense and relax one limb and then move to the next.

b. Start with your feet; move to legs; then move to thighs; next to the hips; then to stomach and lower back; than to chest and upper back; then to your arms from finger tips to shoulder; next to the neck and shoulders; next to your face, and finally to the top of the head.

c. Relax each part of your entire body before you move to the next part. This is like an isometric exercise with each part of your body.

3. At the end of these 10 minutes, you will become vacant inside; you will become cool, calm and composed.

4. For the next 10 minutes, sit down keeping your eyes closed and chant the 'hoo' kara sound, just the word 'hoo'. There is no need to chant it deeply and loudly. Just chant it in a relaxed manner. As you chant, simply witness whatever happens inside or outside your Being. 5. Remain in this relaxed state with a smiling face and blissful mood. During this time, there may be many experiences; just watch them as you would watch the television. Watch your mind thought by thought. Don’t focus on the Muladhara at any time during the meditation, as this will create fantasies, which you are trying to remove.

The first two parts of this technique are actually a preparation for this third part that is the actual meditation. When you come to the third part, you will see that the mind becomes silent effortlessly, by itself. Silence cannot be forced upon you; it can only happen by itself.

There is no good garbage and bad garbage. Garbage is garbage. Mind is like a dustbin. There is no classification called good thoughts and bad thoughts. Whether good or bad, thoughts are garbage. Words are garbage. Mind has to be emptied from the overflowing words. These words are the ones that irritate us, they are like blisters in our inner space. Words and thoughts will never allow you to relax even if you are on a vacation. Gibberish is a nice technique where you will empty all this garbage.

Instructions:

1. This technique should be done on an empty stomach, or at least 2 hours after a major meal; otherwise you might throw up.

2. Stand with your eyes closed. Go deep into your Manipuraka and feel how heavy the area feels. It is filled with all your worries. Focus on your Manipuraka chakra for a minute. Just try to feel all the pent up anger and worry inside you due to various reasons.

3. Now, just start making nonsensical sounds from the navel area, as loudly as you can. Do not use words to shout. If you use words, only familiar and recent emotions will surface and also words will give rise to only more words without actually working on the emotions behind them.

4. Shout absolute gibberish; only this will open out the Unconscious in you, only this will open out the deeply hidden emotions. Wave your hands, shout, scream; if tears flow, let them flow.

5. Do it with all your might, to vomit out all your negative feelings. Recall the painful incidents. Visualise the persons involved and feel the emotions involved in those incidents. Bring out all the emotions. Become completely immersed in them. Be aware of nothing else.

6. At the end of twenty minutes, stop. With your eyes closed, sit down in silence for the next 10 minutes. Just be a witness to your thoughts. Feel the lightness in your Manipuraka area. You will find that it is so light and blissful. Your whole Being will be so light and free.

In our body, we have about 75000 nadis. Most people don't use more than 5% of these nadis. If we use the nadis just a little more, we can reach the state of perfect health. If we start using the nadis further more, we can travel from outer wealth, arogya to inner wealth, bliss.

Precautions: People with spinal problems, sever knee pain, cervical problems, those who have undergone surgery in the recent three months and pregnant women are advised not to do this meditation. Please consult your physician about doing this meditation.

Instructions:

After the catharsis, you can become sensitive to a new space, a silent core inside your being that is just bubbling with energy and life.

This energy is the life energy that is flowing is every one of us every moment and gushing as a fountain of bliss 24x7. We are not sensitive to this in the mundane life that we lead far away from reality. When the catharsis opens the door to the real you, the next step is to simply soak in the experience and sink into the bliss through the silent meditation.

Your energies are always focused outward. When you look at something, your consciousness flows towards it. Your focus is never on yourself, it is always on the object of attention.

In awareness, one is aware not only of the object, but also the subject. Youy become aware not only of what you are looking at, but of the one who is looking – You.

Instructions

1. Stand before a full-length mirror and look at yourself. Take a good length at yourself from outside. You are the subject and the reflection in the mirror is the object of your attention. You will feel your energy flowing towards the object.

2. Look at your eyes from the outside. You are looking and the reflection is being looked at.

3. Now visualize a reversal of roles. Try to imagine that the reflection is looking at you. This can be uncomfortable at first. You are not used to thinking of your reflection in that way as something that can observe you.

4. In just a few moments, you will feel a great change. You will feel the energy start to flow from your reflection, towards you. To suddenly experience the energy flow towards you instead of from you can be a shock.

5. You will feel the flow because you have closed the circuit. By closing the energy circuit, you have ensured that the energy is not wasted, it is flowing back towards you.

6. Practise this technique for a few days. You will feel more energetic, more vital. You will feel more centered, more at peace. 7. You can practice this technique not just with yourself, but with anything you focus on, including inanimate objects. When you have passed your energy to something, visualize it as returning the energy to you.

This is a technique to empty out whatever is inside you, so that you can receive the energy of the cosmos into yourself.

Instructions:

1. Sit still in a calm, silent place. Just become aware of your body. Feel completely at ease with the your body.

2. Imagine that your body ahs become a bamboo. Become a hollow bamboo.

3. Inside this space, there is nothing but emptiness, hollowness, silence.

4. Let even your mind be passive. Don't wait for any experience, just be.

5. You will find energy pouring into you. When you make yourself hollow, when you no longer resist, Divine energy starts flowing into you. You become a flute for the music of the Divine.

The Ajna chakra is considered to be the master of all chakras, subtle energy centers in the body. There are 7 major chakras in the body. Ajna chakra is the chakra concerned with the pituitary gland which regulates the whole body growth.

The ajna chakra gets locked by seriousness and ego. When we realize the simplicity of life, the drama of life as it unfolds, we drop all our seriousness of life, worries, expectations. The Ajna chakra meditation is a beautiful meditation technique to show us how to drop the connection with false 'i', the ego and realize the true 'I', to connect with the Cosmic intelligence.

This technique has two parts - one to cleanse the Ajna chakra and the other to energize it. The Ajna chakra or the third eye is known as the destroyer of illusion and lust. It helps open the super-consciousness in you.

Instructions:

Step 1 (Duration: 5 minutes)

a. Light a prayer lamp and keep it in front of you so that the wick is at the level of your eyes. The prayer lamp should have vegetable oil or clarified butter from cow's milk. b. Sit cross-legged on the floor with your eyes closed. Those who cannot sit on the floor may sit on a chair. c. Focus on your Ajna chakra as if to penetrate it. Step 2 (Duration: 5 minutes)

Open your eyes and look at the flame of the lamp through your third eye between your eyebrows. Your eyes may blink or burn or tears may flow; just allow it to happen.

Step 3 (Duration: 5 minutes):

Close your eyes and again focus on your Ajna chakra. Penetrate it deeply.

Step 4 (Duration: 5 minutes)

Open your eyes and look at the flame of the lamp through your third eye between your eyebrows.

Step 5 (Duration: 5 minutes)

Close your eyes; do not focus on your Ajna chakra; just relax.