Getting ready for the practice of antarmona,
Inner silence meditation.
Kindly find a comfortable cross-legged position or any other comfortable meditative asana.
Ensure that the legs are relaxed,
The back is upright,
Shoulders are away from the ears and the chin is parallel to the ground with the top of the head parallel to the ceiling.
Hands are on the knees or in the lap in a mudra,
A gesture of your choice.
Take a few moments to adjust your position making sure that the body is as comfortable and as steady as possible gradually bringing it into a complete state of stillness.
And once you are in the final asana and the final position,
Start to feel the contact between the legs and the ground.
Feel the contact between both legs together,
Between the hands and the knees or the hands on each other.
Feel the contact between the tips of the fingers,
The different fabrics on your skin.
Much of the awareness to the face.
Feel the line between the lips,
The contact between the eyelashes and the eyelids.
Take the awareness up to the crown of the head and mentally locate the center of the crown.
From this very center visualize a silver thread of light connecting your head with the ceiling,
Pulling your energy upwards.
The legs are deeply rooted into earth and the head is pointing up towards the sky and everything in between is perfectly centered,
Steady and balanced.
The whole body is completely steady,
Comfortable and still.
In the practice of antarmona inner silence,
You work on developing and maintaining the attitude of a witness of a drashta.
In this practice you witness,
You observe the different sensorial experiences without any reaction to them.
Now start to observe the different sounds around you.
Allow your awareness to move from one sound to another,
Catching faraway sounds and nearby sounds.
You pick a sound,
You stay with it for a few moments and then you move to another sound and you say to yourself,
I'm hearing this,
I'm hearing that.
Some sounds will be pleasant,
Other sounds might be annoying,
But you're now witnessing them with no reaction.
You're a silent drashta,
A silent observer.
Stay with the sounds and whenever the mind wanders,
Whenever thoughts arise,
Consciously bring the awareness back to the sense of hearing.
Remain aware and alert,
Staying with the sounds just for a little while longer.
Complete awareness of the sense of hearing.
Slowly let go of the observation of the sounds and shift your awareness to the sense of touch.
From this moment,
Become aware of any physical sensation that you are experiencing right now.
Become aware of each and every physical sensation that you are experiencing,
Like the contact of the body with the ground,
The contact between the different body parts.
Try to catch every point of contact between the fabrics and any accessories that you have with your skin,
As well as any tension,
Itching,
Discomfort that you are feeling on the physical level.
Just allow your awareness to move from one physical sensation to another without any reaction,
Without any movement.
Full awareness of the body and its sensations.
Slowly let go of the sense of touch and move your awareness to your mental space in front of the closed eyes.
This space is called Chidakash,
Mental space.
And start to observe this space as if you're watching a movie.
Be aware of any colors,
Any shapes or patterns.
Witnessing the space without any analysis,
Without any intellectualization.
If the space is dark and empty,
Just allow yourself to dive into the void,
Into the emptiness.
You're now aware of your Chidakash,
Your mental space in front of the closed eyes,
Where you see dreams at night.
Letting go of the space observation.
Now imagine that you are sitting in your own head,
Watching the thoughts passing by.
From this moment,
Become aware of each and every spontaneous thought.
And say to yourself,
I'm thinking of this,
I'm thinking of that.
Without any judgment and without any repression,
Do not repress any negative or black thought.
Allow them to surface and just observe them passing by.
You're not consciously creating any thought.
You're just observing,
Witnessing the arising thoughts.
Some of these thoughts are related to the past,
Some of them to the future.
And you will have thoughts related to a present experience.
Accept them and observe them.
You're not repressing the thoughts,
At the same time you're not entertaining them.
Just observe the thought as it is.
Don't let a single thought pass without your awareness of it.
Catch each and every thought.
Between the thoughts,
You will find a short gap of silence.
A very small gap of silence.
Try to catch these gaps,
Allowing yourself to be aware of the inner noise and the inner silence.
The thoughts and the silence between the thoughts.
And be aware that you are aware of the thoughts.
You are not the thoughts.
You're the observer and the witness of the thoughts.
Next time you find a gap of silence,
Try to lengthen it,
Extend its duration by really focusing on it and diving into it.
Diving into your inner silence.
Trying to experience a state of thoughtlessness without repressing the thoughts.
Keep going with this observation of the thoughts and the gaps just for a little while longer.
And slowly let go,
Let go of any observation,
Of any witnessing.
And shift the awareness to the natural and spontaneous breath.
When the body is steady,
The breath becomes subtle that you can barely feel it.
Become aware of the subtle breath.
Become aware of every inhalation and every exhalation.
Without letting a single breath pass without your awareness of it.
And as you follow the natural breath,
Notice the gaps between the breaths.
After the inhalation,
There's a gap.
After the exhalation,
There's another gap.
And with every gap,
You experience complete stillness.
Both physically and mentally.
The breath is always there for you.
Always with you.
Always present.
Consciously start to deepen it.
Breathing in,
Expanding the belly,
Expanding the chest.
And breathing out,
You're emptying the chest and emptying the belly.
Breathing in deeply.
Breathing out slowly,
Slowly and completely.
Allow the breath to reconnect you with your physical body.
Be aware of the sensations in your body.
The space that you are in and the location of the body in the space.
And whenever you feel ready,
Slowly bring the hands together in prayer pose and namaskar mudra in front of the heart center.
Slowly tuck your chin in and gently open your eyes.
Haryam,
That's it.
The practice of antarmona has now ended.
