Lifting Awareness To A Higher State Of Divine Consciousness

This track is suitable for everyone but if you are beginning to practice meditation or if you wish to deepen your practice, you will find some very important pre-requisites that prepare you for an experience of inner stillness and peace. Life Force Energy is explained in the introduction and how the withdrawal of the senses can help to still the mind and deepen your meditation. There are helpful techniques given to prepare for meditation including right posture, relaxation with body scan, pranayama and guidance toward and into a silent space.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

The title of this talk and meditation practice is Lifting Awareness to a Higher State of Divine Consciousness.

In the introduction to this meditation practice I'd like to talk briefly about life force energy.

You may or may not be familiar with that term.

So what is life force?

The science of yoga is based on the truth that life force,

Sometimes referred to as cosmic energy or prana,

Is the missing link between consciousness and matter.

As long as one is alive and breathing consciousness along with the life force is flowing into the body.

Life force flows into the nerves,

The muscles,

Organs and sensory mechanisms of the physical body.

It is said that by this very process the life force and the breath bind the consciousness to the physical form.

That certainly does not mean that the goal is to cease breathing.

Of course not.

But you may ask how does that happen and what does that mean?

These are perfectly perfectly reasonable questions to have in your mind.

So meditation helps us to be able to naturally slow the breath down.

In slowing the breath we settle into that divine inner stillness.

It's an enormous subject of course but I would like you to experience in this meditation that follows some clarity as to how the life force in our body can be understood.

Taking a spiritual approach to meditation and I say that because we often these days have clumped the term meditation into practices that are purely about relaxation and stress relief.

And that is fine.

It doesn't really matter what you call it but there is a difference from a deep relaxation practice and a deep meditation practice.

So we can get into that as we go along.

So taking a spiritual approach to meditation we ultimately want to raise our consciousness to a higher state of divine perception.

And after all that is what meditation is all about.

Pratyahara which is the fifth limb as given by Patanjali in the eight limbs of yoga suggests that one can withdraw the flow of life force that enters and stimulates the five senses.

Thus being able to experience meditation at a deeper level without the disturbances of the senses.

Again one must not try to experience this too quickly but rather go about it patiently and peacefully as I'll direct you with the meditation.

Pratyahara is part of the entire system of yoga,

Raja Yoga as it is called and this is given by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.

It does take time and practice but as a result of this awareness we can be less attached to what we refer to as our likes and dislikes which are driven by the senses.

Being slaves to our senses means exercising no discrimination in what we eat,

What we say or what we basically desire.

And when that happens we lose touch with our divine nature soul and find that we are identified only with the body and the material world.

One could say we lose ourselves in the world.

Meditation on the other hand allows us to find ourselves,

Our true self soul.

Identification and attachment to the body and the material world is an obstacle that holds us back on our spiritual journey and is often the cause of a restless body and mind and restlessness with life in general.

Have you ever experienced the occasion when you're wanting to relax and meditate and the mind is just so busy?

That's normal.

So we need some scientific techniques to help us past those restless times.

Taking action is important.

So now in sharing with you a meditation you may begin to experience what I have raised to manage the pull of the senses that we experience in living day to day.

We practice this awareness and it helps to move more easily toward meditation.

It is very subtle and as you begin to feel this withdrawal of the senses in meditation you open the way to feel the deep inner stillness and the sublime peace of the soul.

We do this of course very gently and always with peace and remember if you feel it doesn't work the first time try again always gently and with peace.

We have our good days and our not so good days with this as well.

So the thing is don't give up,

Keep on keeping on.

There is quite a bit of resistance from the ego at times also causing the restlessness but that's what makes it all the more interesting.

We don't fight with the ego,

We rather make friends with the ego so it knows who is boss.

So let's get ready now for the meditation practice.

Make yourself comfortable in a sitting position and I'll give you some further instructions as to the correct posture for meditation.

Now Paramahansa Yogananda whom I draw most of these teachings from he said that life force is the body's creative life sustaining and life activating energy.

Without it we would not be motivated to live and move and express our creativity in various ways.

Therefore it is a very important aspect of our being.

In our meditation practice we want to use that life force energy and willpower to direct our attention and awareness away from the restlessness of the body and the mind and become aware of the unique presence of stillness within.

Now the sitting posture is most important and relevant to the flow of energy in our body.

Therefore we want to sit upright with the spine straight,

Not rigid or strained but supported.

Head square to the shoulders and the chin drawn slightly in.

Place the back of your hands on the top of your thighs.

These are suggestions of course.

Draw back your hands towards the abdomen.

You may experiment with this hand position,

Perhaps a little lower if it's more comfortable.

Drawing your hands back as I suggested helps to just lower your shoulders a bit and open the chest.

If you're not used to sitting in this position please persevere and you will get used to it as it is entirely suitable for meditation.

So you may also of course be sitting cross-legged on a mat or a cushion.

That's entirely up to you.

All the rest of these instructions remain the same.

It is also now important to allow your body to relax.

Relaxation is the key.

It is the key to moving toward meditation and we all need relaxation.

The body is a very complex machine or mechanism and it is inclined at times to just hold on to tension.

You don't want to have that bodily physical tension coming into your meditation practice because as I said it is an obstacle.

So it is important to allow your body to relax.

This breathing exercise helps to release tension from deep within the muscles.

I'll explain it first.

We breathe in through the nose,

Clench the fists and tense the whole body.

Pause for a few seconds and then exhale through the mouth with a double exhalation.

Nice and easy.

So we'll practice this together three times.

Breathing in through the nostrils,

Clenching the fists,

Tense the whole body,

Hold the breath and release.

And again,

Inhaling through the nose,

Clench and tense the body,

Hold the breath and release.

Making sure that that exhalation allows your body to release tension.

So one more time,

Breathe in through your nose,

Hold and tense the body and release.

And now feel that sensation in your body,

That interoceptive awareness that you're aware of now.

Perhaps your body is a little bit more relaxed than you were.

So let's take one more deep breath without tension,

Hold and a double breath out.

Feel that exhalation is nice and long.

Now be aware of the whole body and perhaps feel that the muscles are genuinely moving towards a feeling of deeper relaxation.

So we enhance that feeling of relaxation in your body as I give you suggestions to be aware of various parts of the body with the intention of feeling a deeper sensation of relaxation.

Be aware of your shoulders dropping,

Just letting go of any burden or worry that you may be carrying,

Any situation that could be a potential disturbance to your peace.

Feel your shoulders drop and feel your arms,

Hands and fingers relax.

Your arms,

Hands and fingers relax.

And be aware of your spine,

Your whole back,

Just release if there's any rigidity there in the sitting posture,

Just relax a little bit without dropping your position.

Just feel there's a little less tension happening there in your spine.

And then feel your whole chest relax,

Your breathing is natural,

Your heart is calm.

Be aware of the abdominal muscles relaxing,

The abdominal muscles relax.

And be aware of your legs,

Your thighs,

Your knees,

The lower legs,

Your feet and toes.

The whole body is relaxed,

Just feel that lightness within your body.

And then just check your face,

That you're not pinching the eyebrows together as in a frown.

You're concentrating but you're not forcing anything,

So let that eyebrow center relax.

Feel your eyebrows spreading and your forehead is soft and smooth,

No lines of worry.

And then allow your lower jaw to drop.

The lower jaw drops gently,

The teeth part a little and your tongue spreads softly in the mouth.

Be aware of your throat and so now your whole body from the top of the head down through your neck and shoulders,

Your arms,

Hands and fingers.

Just check again,

Completely relaxed.

The whole torso,

Your legs,

Your feet and toes.

So your body is relaxed now.

Not a sleepy kind of relaxation of course but rather a relaxation that you feel present,

Alert and aware.

Now we turn our focus towards the breath.

Notice the breath just flows as the body demands for a few moments.

And on the next inhalation,

Breathe in very gently and slowly.

Don't force it.

Now pause without breath for a moment and then slowly exhale very gently.

So we inhale slowly,

Pause and exhale slowly.

This is one of the techniques that assists us in slowing down and becoming centered within.

So please repeat this a few times.

This is a gentle practice of pranayama,

The fourth of the eight limbs of yoga.

You will find as you practice this that it is helping to quieten the body and the mind.

Please continue.

As you practice this technique,

Let the mind follow the breath.

Slowly in,

Pausing comfortably,

Slowly out.

Concentrating on what you're doing.

When the mind perhaps slips onto something else,

Just bring it back to the breath.

This can happen any amount of times.

Remember you're training the mind away from the restless thoughts.

Slowly in,

Gently pausing,

Slowly out.

When the mind is restless,

The life force is restless.

Allow the breath and the life force to automatically become calm.

Thus one begins to feel a stability within oneself.

Please continue for another few moments.

Now leave the effort of concentrating on the breath and enjoy the calm,

Quiet feeling that has arisen within.

Allow your mind to rest on the thought and quality of peace,

Of love,

On calmness.

Feel that you're not disturbed now by the pull of the senses.

That deep relaxation takes the mind away from the senses a little.

Your sense of sight is withdrawn beneath your closed eyelids,

As is the sense of taste withdrawn gently,

The sense of touch,

Smell and your sense of sound is limited only to the awareness of the suggestions I am giving you now.

Feel that you are in a temple of quietness.

There is no sensorial stimulation from outside.

You have not forced the withdrawal of the senses.

Simply in the stillness that you feel,

All that you are aware of is the presence of peace.

Again in the words of Paramahansa Yogananda he says,

Peace emanates from the soul and is the sacred inner environment from which true happiness unfolds.

And he continues to say peace is not something that you can acquire from outside yourself.

We must learn to discover it within.

In meditation we learn to become centered in the stillness and joy of our own essential nature,

The soul,

And thus partake of that divine peace which is the actual presence of the divine.

The peace that transcends all our understanding.

Now rest in that inner stillness and peace until I call you back now.

Now gently coming back.

That was a short space of stillness,

Approximately three minutes.

Of course you can stay much longer if you are inclined and I trust that you were able to feel at least a glimpse of that inner stillness that's available to us whenever we take the time to be still,

To practice those techniques and to allow ourself to relax and feel that divine peace.

So I finish with the words once again of Paramahansa Yogananda,

Peace emanates from the soul and is the sacred inner environment from which true happiness unfolds.

Peace is not something that you can acquire from outside.

We must learn to discover it within.

In meditation we learn to become centered in the stillness and joy of our own essential nature,

The soul,

And thus partake of that divine peace which is the actual presence of the divine.

The peace that transcends all understanding.

And with regular practice one can revisit that feeling of peace within anywhere,

Anytime,

For it is always there.

Thank you for tuning in.

Have a lovely day or night and please revisit this again.

I encourage you to.

Or listen to some of my other meditations on Insight Timer.

Many blessings and thank you for tuning in again.

Reviews

Thank you so much for sharing your precious wisdom and wonderful heartfelt touching voice your are so radiant ✨️ with love
Thank you for all your Meditations I love them all

This was so good. I learned a lot and felt deeply peaceful after it was finished. I loved all the Paramahansa quotes. Thank you Namaste