Ajapa Japa Meditation ~ Psychic Awareness

Ajapa Japa (spontaneous mantra repetition) is a tantric meditation that focuses on three different psychic elements: psychic breath (ujjayi breath), psychic passage awareness and psychic sound (the mantra So Ham), all these elements eventually merge becoming one object of concentration, leading the mind to the experience of one-pointedness.

Transcript

Haryon,

Preparing yourself for the practice of Ajapa Japa,

Assume a comfortable cross-legged position,

Making sure that the back is upright,

Shoulders relaxed away from the ears,

And that the chin is parallel to the ground with the top of the head parallel to the ceiling.

If you need to use the support of a cushion,

You can go ahead and place the edge of the cushion under the buttocks to lift the hips,

And if you need to lean back against the wall,

Find the closest wall to you and use it for support.

Take a few moments to adjust your position,

Making sure that the legs are as comfortable as possible,

And that the spine is upright in one line with the neck and with the head.

Arms are relaxed and the hands are on the knees or in the lap in a mudra,

In a gesture of your choice.

Softly close the eyes and the lips,

Relax the facial muscles,

And bring your full awareness to the body and the posture that you're in.

Scan the body from the top of the head down to the toes,

And if you feel that there is any area of tension or discomfort that might distract you throughout the meditation,

Take this moment to make any final and necessary adjustment,

Allowing the body to be as comfortable and as steady as possible.

Then once you are in the final position,

Shift the awareness to the mental space in front of the closed eyes,

And visualize the body in one glimpse and one thought,

Mentally see the body sitting in a meditative asana,

Getting ready for meditation.

See the position that you're in,

The clothing,

The face,

The whole body in one glimpse.

Letting go of the image,

Shift your awareness to the legs and feel the points of contact between the legs and the ground.

Feel the points of contact between both legs,

Become aware of the hands,

The contact between the tips of the fingers.

Then shift the awareness to the different fabrics on your skin,

Any accessories that you have,

Taking this awareness to the face,

Feel the line between the lips,

The contact between the eyelashes and the eyelids,

And become aware of the whole body as one unit,

The whole body as one unit,

Sitting in complete stillness and steadiness,

Like a beautiful golden statue.

Within the stillness of the body the breath is moving,

Become aware of the breath in the throat area,

Imagine that you're breathing in and out through the throat,

There's a slight contraction in the throat,

And it's producing a sound,

A subtle sound that only your ears can hear.

It's like the sound that babies make when they sleep,

Or the sound of an ocean wave.

Full awareness on the breath in the throat,

With the inhalation the belly is naturally rising,

And with the exhalation the belly is naturally falling.

Start to feel this movement as you follow the natural breath,

Inhaling,

Belly rises,

Exhaling,

Belly falls.

The breath is the object of your concentration,

You're following each and every breath,

And at the same time you're feeling the movement in your belly.

You will now imagine a psychic passage connecting the navel with the throat.

This passage can be visualized as a transparent tube,

You can visualize it inside the body or in front of it.

This transparent tube is connecting the navel with the throat,

It's a psychic passage,

And within this passage the prana,

The life force or the energy,

Is flowing up and down with the breath.

The prana is usually visualized as white particles of light,

Or a stream of white light.

With every inhalation visualize the prana ascending from navel to throat,

And then descending with the exhalation from throat to navel.

You breathe in,

The prana ascends navel to throat,

You breathe out,

It descends throat to navel.

You are now aware of the breath in the throat and the psychic passage,

Visualizing the prana as white particles of light flowing up and down with the breath through the passage,

Within the body or in front of it.

Complete awareness of the breath and the passage.

Whenever the mind wanders,

Whenever thoughts arise,

Shift the awareness gently back to the practice,

The breath and the passage,

And keep focusing on the sound of your breath,

The subtle sound of the breath.

You will now add a third and final component to your meditation.

You will mentally repeat the mantra SO with the inhalation and HUM with the exhalation.

SO energy flows up,

Belly to throat,

HUM energy flows down,

Throat to belly.

Repeat it mentally with each and every breath.

If you focus on the sound of the breath,

You will notice that the sound itself is SO HUM.

Stay with the breath,

The passage and the mantra,

And allow them to merge together.

Allow them to become one object of concentration.

Inhaling SO energy flows up,

Exhaling HUM energy flows down.

Keep the mind one-pointed.

Whenever the mind wanders,

Notice it and bring it back to the practice.

SO stay with the mantra,

The passage and the breath just for a little while longer.

And now gently let go of the mantra.

Let go of the passage and shift your awareness to your Chidakash,

To the mental space in front of the closed eyes,

And maintaining the complete physical stillness,

Start to observe what's happening in your Chidakash right now,

Right here.

If the space is empty,

Allow yourself to dive into the void.

And if any colors,

Shapes or patterns appear,

Observe them,

Notice them and then let them go,

With no analysis,

No intellectualization.

Remain an observer,

An observer of your internal experiences.

Observing the space silently,

With no judgment,

No analysis.

And as you notice this space,

This infinite space,

Start to feel the subtle breath in your nostrils.

When the body is steady,

The breath becomes very subtle that you can barely feel it.

Be aware of the natural and spontaneous breath in your nose.

And next time you breathe in,

Imagine,

Visualize two golden streams of light,

Entering the nostrils,

Meeting at the eyebrow center,

Creating a golden point of light between the eyebrows.

With awareness on this light,

We will be chanting the universal mantra OM three times together.

If you can't chant it loudly with me,

You can chant it mentally.

Keep your awareness and your inner gaze fixed at the eyebrow center.

Gently bring the hands together in prayer pose,

And namaskar mudra in front of the heart.

Allow the sides of the thumbs to touch your heart center.

Gently tuck your chin in and notice the mental state that you're in right now.

Notice the effect of this meditation technique on your mind and your emotions.

Thank yourself for meditating.

And whenever you're ready,

Open the eyes and release your posture.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Reviews

This was such a profound and empowering meditation. I'm putting this one in my Kryia Meditation Folder. Thanks again and namaste!

An honest-to-goodness formal yogic meditation complete with harmonium. Reminiscent of Paramahansa Yogananda's Self Realization Fellowship taught practices. A must experience for anyone interested in Kriya or other foundational meditative practices.