Good evening,
This is Jody and I'm here in Los Angeles and I'm really happy to be hosting this meditation with you on non-dual practices of consciousness.
And we're going to use techniques from the Manual for Self-Realization,
Which are 112 sections of the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra published by the Lakshmanju Academy with the teachings of Swami Lakshmanju.
And we're going to meditate today,
We're going to practice a meditation that connects us to fundamental grounding.
And so the question I always ask is sort of where is home base in myself?
While all of these external objects of perception are spinning around as well as internal objects of perception,
Where do I rest?
Where is my grounding?
And so I'm going to teach you a meditation today,
It's Dharana number 2 of the Vigyana Bhairava and it's just this beautiful kind of experience of presence and the following of our breath.
And so our breath,
Our internally or outwardly moving breath is sort of like a magnet to our consciousness.
And of course at the end of each breath there's a pause,
There's a void,
And the practice is to focus one's own awareness on the movement of the actual breath as it moves up and at the pause and then the movement of the breath as it moves down and then the pause.
And the beauty of it is to think of one's own breath as sort of like this golden sparkling thread of awareness so you can follow your breath down as though it was crystal,
Thin little crystal thread of awareness and at the bottom you'll pause and then you'll follow that breath up like a crystal thread of awareness all the way to the top and then you'll pause.
And so we're going to practice this and to do that why don't you get into a very comfortable position and turn off all sounds and I recommend sitting where your knees are lower than your buttocks so on a meditation pillow or if you're sitting in a chair make sure that your back is straight so that your head isn't pressured.
You want to be able to have your head just rest really comfortably on your neck,
Your feet relaxed,
Your hands relaxed and so close your eyes and pull right in and I'm going to invite you just to bring your awareness to your forehead and bring a golden light of awareness to the center of your forehead and move that light across your forehead and down into your eye sockets and let them relax down into your sinus cavity in your nose.
Feel that golden light just melt your face and your muscles let them become a little limp.
Let your tongue fall back in your mouth and your teeth separate a little bit.
Let your jaw drop,
Even your ears drop back,
Your throat,
Your tongue,
Everything becomes really relaxed.
Your neck muscles and your busy shoulders,
Your arms,
Let them really relax and your fingers just fall apart a little.
With your awareness bring that beautiful golden light back up from your fingers and your arms into your chest and feel your heart that beautiful pumping precious heart of yours.
With that golden light just let it invite it to work a little less rigorously and with your awareness invite your lungs to calm down and let your belly drop,
Your pelvis,
All of the muscles in your pelvis area into your legs,
Your upper thighs,
Your knees,
All the way down to your toes and let the space between your toes breathe a little more.
Giving your awareness back up your legs I invite you to bring your awareness and that beautiful golden light to the base of your spine and with your awareness you're going to move that light all the way up your spine vertebra by vertebra relaxing the lower back,
The middle back,
Up into your neck,
Vertebrae,
Into the skull of your head,
Even your neurons I want you to relax all that movement and bring your awareness back to the center of your forehead.
Now with your awareness I want to invite you to be awareness,
Just be present awareness and follow your breath down and pause and follow your breath up and pause.
This practice is called Shaktopaya because you're not practicing with a match or a sound you're just awareness at the turning point.
So we're going to begin our meditation now and I will sing a mantra to bring you out of it in about 10 minutes.
Bringing your awareness down,
Pause,
Bringing your awareness up,
Pause,
Pause,
Pause,
Pause,
Pause,
Pause,
Keep your mind distracted into thoughts,
Just bow to that and bring your Practice back to your breath at the bottom pause,
At the top pause.
The way I practice is at the bottom,
I subtly bow to that emptiness,
That space in between,
That pause because slipping through that is the vastness of consciousness itself.
So at that moment of pause,
It is the peak hole,
The little sliver into consciousness everywhere.
And so as you practice,
Just be aware of that,
The preciousness of that pause.
You will find that your pulse is calming down.
Your nervous system is calming down.
Your spinning mind and thoughts are all calming down.
This is the sign of good practice.
So continue now in silence.
If your mind wanders,
I invite you to come back to that sterling crystal thread of breath and pause in a moment of awareness of the magnitude of that space and just be present that is firm,
Fulfilment.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
