Before You Meditate — You Need to Know This

10:07

Before You Meditate — You Need to Know This

Rated

5

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Beginners

Plays

6

Most beginners jump straight into meditation — and wonder why the mind refuses to cooperate. In this talk, Suvvidhi Muni offers a different approach — rooted in the eight-limb system of Ashtanga Yoga, where meditation is not a starting point but a natural destination. The journey begins with actions — the visible expression of the mind. Yama and Niyama bring conscious awareness to behavior. Asana and Pranayama discipline the body and breath. Pratyahara withdraws attention from the senses. Only then does the practitioner move toward Dharana and Dhyana — true meditation. When this foundation is built, the higher limbs of yoga stop feeling like struggle. They become a natural unfolding — stable, deep, and capable of leading to Samadhi. This talk offers a clear roadmap for beginners, explaining why preparation makes deeper practice possible, the logic behind the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, and where to actually begin. You don't jump into the middle of the ocean. You learn to swim first.

Meditation Yoga Mindfulness Beginner Preparation Mind Body Connection Pratyahara Dhyana

Meet your Teacher

Galle, Sri Lanka

Meet your Teacher

Galle, Sri Lanka

Transcript

This is the common question. That how to start meditation and it's a very basic question those who are interested in meditation and spirituality for them it's a very basic question and very first question. First, We need to understand that. Rather than diving into them. Middle of the ocean. We should begin near the source. That is important. Most of the time what happened. We start to meditate. With our mind. Means we start to work with our mind. But generally we forget. We should first start. With our action. Because we cannot. Seeda mind directly. We need to first see the mind which is manifested through our action. So first, See your action. Because the more and more you will watch your action. It means you have started to understand your mind. What your mind is doing. Which is invisible. So, First bring your attention to the visible form of mind and that visible form of mind is your action. So don't go directly into the invisible. Mind. First, Look at the visible portion of your mind. And that visible portion is action. So first, Look at your action, Whatever action. It may be action, Like walking. It may be. . . Your speech, It may be your body language. So just observe each and every action, Each and every posture, Each and every movement. And understand them. And then relate them with the mind. So first understand the visible part of your invisible mind. And then? Come to your body. Then understand your body. Not action, But this time your body. Just observe your body. Then. . . Come to the outer layer of your body. Mind. And then go into the center of your body. So first, Observing your action is Yama-Niyama in Ashtang Yoga. Shyam Neel. And then. . . Observing your body. It is Asana Pranayama. Observing the periphery of your mind. That is dharana. And then. . . Observing the center of your mind. That is Dhyan. Pratyahara is observing your five senses and that is already included in our body. So these are the steps. How we should start? Our meditation. So don't directly go into the middle start it sequentially. Second body. Third, Periphery of your mind. 4. Center of your mind 5. Samadhi observing each and everything without any sequence. At once. See them at once. All the action in one line. It means just like sunlight. Now sunlight is a combination of seven light seven color of light And when you bring them together, It's a sunlight. So Samadhi is just like sunlight. And these all other things part of this Samadhi. So when you are observing your body, Observing the action of your body, Observing the periphery of your mind, Observing the center of your mind, It means you are observing sequentially each and every part of Samadhi. And when you reach at the Samadhi, It means you are observing all of them together. First, We need to start our meditation. With observing the action. Than observing your body. Then observing the boundary of your mind than observing the center of your mind. So first, Yamnayam, Second, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Third, Dharana, Fourth dhyana, And then samadhi. Observing them all together. Better? That we should start in this sequence rather than directly focusing on our mind. Yama Niyama means bringing discipline in your action. What posture should I choose for sitting? How to sleep. How to walk, How to eat. These all are the external actions. So we need to bring all our action into the discipline. We should not do anything. Unconsciously. Everything should be under our consciousness. And that is Yama Niyama. The more and more we understand our action. And our action in discipline. Gives us a huge control over our mind. So first, Yama Niyama means disciplinary action that you will not do anything wrong to anybody by your action. You will not. Harm anybody. You will not tell lie. You will not. Do. Something which is good for somebody but harmful for other. Or you will not do anything which is right. Good for you but not good for somebody. So first bring all your action into discipline. That is Yama and Ying. And this is. First step of meditation. Focus on your body. Observe your body. That is Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara. That you will not harm your body and somebody else's body. You will not do something. Which will harm your body. So, Be very disciplined with. Your eating habit, That I will not consume anything which is harmful for my body. I will not. Do anything. Which cause some disease to my health. So be very aware of your body just observe each and everything understand your body what kind of food, What kind of how much sleep. How much walking, How much exercise. Which kind of breadth, Short, Long. So just observe each and everything and bring them all into discipline. That I will breath longer. I will eat healthy food. I will not watch. Screen for long time because it's harming my eyes. I will not do anything. Which is not good for my health. Second level that is be aware of your body and then come to the periphery of your mind that is dharana here we auto suggest ourselves that i want to go deep into the meditation means here you need to bring the flow flow is very important. That you are completely. Completely absorbed. Mentally which you want to do it. Means if you want to study then you are preparing your mind for the study and when you start to study your mind is completely in the study. So, This is preparation stage. So, Here you have to. Suggest yourself that I want to do this. And I want to deeply enter into this. So here it is preparation of your mind. Because when you do something so many thoughts come so many emotions come and so many distractions you feel when you are trying to go deep. It means your mind is not ready for that. So prepare your mind. It's a preparation stage of your mind. Fourth, When your mind. . . Is ready means now your action is in discipline, Your body is in discipline, Your mind is in discipline, Now you are ready to jump into the middle of the ocean. Into the center of your mind. Here it is. Meditation dhyana. Then. . . You achieve the peak of your meditation, Dhyana. It means now your mind is completely in discipline. Now you are ready for the Samadhi. Nice. Here you are ready. Observe. Each and every action, All together. Now you don't need. Any kind of suggestion, Any kind of guidance, Any kind of discipline. Everything is already in discipline. This is the level of Samadhi. So, These are the 4 steps. And by these four steps, We can reach to the level of Samadhi.