Hello and welcome to this meditation practice.
My name is Mark Persa.
I am a teacher in the yogic meditation tradition.
This practice we're going to explore together is a practice of breath work,
Pranayama,
As it's called in the yoga tradition,
Learning how to control prana,
The body's energy system through the use of breath,
And a guided meditation practice where we're using a number of techniques.
The technique of anthamona,
Which is a mindfulness practice used for settling and exploring the internal conditioning of the mind,
And a practice of ajapa-japa,
The internal mantra practice.
If these practices are familiar to you,
You can of course join along in your own way and add embellishments if that's suitable to you.
If it's new to you,
Just perhaps go along with it.
There's a lot of benefit from repetition here with these practices.
Maybe doing this sequence a number of times so you get a feel of what's possible.
The first and really important part of this practice,
This session today,
It will take about half an hour,
So it's really important that we find a comfortable position.
Ideally sitting up,
You could be sitting in a chair or sitting on a cushion,
Supporting your knees,
Either in an easy cross-legged position or in Siddhasana with your shins upon the floor.
Whatever position you're in,
Do make yourself comfortable in a position where you know you'll be able to hold for the next 30 minutes or so.
If you do need to change position,
That of course is also fine,
But do it in as much as possible doing it in a conscious way.
Stop the practice,
Just consciously reset a new position and then return to the practice.
Just taking that time now,
Maybe grabbing an extra cushion if you need it or perhaps creating a little bit of support underneath your knees.
Whatever you feel like you will need for the next 30 minutes in time as we explore this sequence of quietening the mind,
Using breath work to settle the body's energy system so we can explore deeper into our quiet space.
Begin to know better the conditionings of the mind,
These viceners,
Our patterns of behaviour which we become more aware of through settling the energy system and sensitising our awareness to the patterns of behaviour that exist,
The patternings of the mind.
So if you're ready we'll prepare to begin now,
Just taking a comfortable seated position,
Sitting upright as much as possible.
If you're sitting cross-legged,
Perhaps having your hands upon your thighs,
Perhaps adopting a hand mudra,
Gyan mudra would be appropriate with the index finger tucked into the thumb or another comfortable hand position of your choice.
Tucking in the chin and then lifting the crown of the head just slightly towards the roof,
Just lengthening through the spine,
Allowing your shoulders to be soft,
The chest can come open,
Lots of space for the neck.
Importantly we're lifting the rib cage here,
Creating space for our diaphragm to expand,
So we're not slumping through the lumbar spine.
It's really important for this next practice,
The first breath practice we're going to do is called Kapobati,
Which the literal translation of Kapobati is the skull shining or skull polishing breath.
We'll find out why in a moment.
Kapobati is an abdominal breath where you can start just by bringing your hands onto your abdomen,
Perhaps placing the fingertips just either side of your abdominal wall,
The rectus abdominus,
The big sheet of muscle that sits across your abdomen,
Even if we've got a little bit of padding,
It's still in there.
Just sensitizing yourself to the abdomen now.
Just focusing on a gentle inhale,
Noticing the abdomen expanding,
And on the exhale the abdomen contracts back to the spine.
Just focus on that for a moment,
A couple of breaths in this way.
As much as possible activating your abdominal wall to push back on the exhalation,
Back in towards the spine.
I should note,
We can practice this technique quite gently,
It only needs to be very gentle,
Particularly if you perhaps are pregnant or you're menstruating at the moment.
We have any concerns in that abdominal area,
Do go very gentle here.
You can perhaps still practice just with a gentle breath,
But the full technique which we'll explore in a moment can be quite strong.
Using your awareness,
Don't go any further and be safe and comfortable.
If you feel any discomfort in the abdominal area,
Just step it back.
We begin Kapalbhati with more of a dynamic exhale and an easy inhale.
So it's a strong exhalation out,
Easy inhale,
Using that abdominal wall to push the diaphragm up and it's going to push the air out.
Let's just practice that for a little moment.
Strong exhalation,
Easy inhalation.
You should have a handle on that now,
That practice of forcing the air out using the abdominal muscles,
Pushing the diaphragm out,
Forcing the air out and then allowing the inhalation to be soft and gentle.
Another really important part of this technique of Kapalbhati is the awareness is actually placed behind the closed eyes,
So into the nasal cavity or the space we call Chitakash,
The sky of the mind.
So as we exhale,
We can often feel this air pushing into the nasal cavity.
It's like it's dusting it out,
Blowing it out,
Hence the name skull polishing or skull shining breath.
So we're going to do a couple of rounds of this practice.
We'll do about a minute for each round and then we'll do two full rounds.
So when you're ready,
Just bringing awareness into the eyebrow centre,
We'll do 60 seconds of Kapalbhati starting now.
We're going to go for a counter,
Good,
The more you use the hand infrared.
And then just gently,
Gently rest between rounds.
Keeping the eyes closed,
If that's comfortable.
Keeping the gaze into the space behind the closed eyes,
The space of Chitakas.
Just watching the effects of the practice.
Quite specifically designed to just settle the mind,
Which is blowing out all of the disruptive thoughts.
It's a wonderful practice,
A precursor for meditation,
Or a practice just for any reason,
If the mind feels busy.
We'll move on to our next round.
Again,
When you're ready,
Awareness behind the closed eyes.
We'll do a couple of seconds of Kapobhati starting now.
Okay.
And then again,
When you're ready,
Just resting,
Keeping the attention there behind the closed eyes.
Allowing the awareness to settle,
And just rest.
Observing the subtle effects of the practice.
Meditation practice to follow,
We're going to be using this space of Chitakas.
So it's an important technique to literally just cleanse it before we begin our meditation practice.
The next technique we're going to explore is Nadi Shodhana,
Or our breath balancing pranayama.
We do this practice with the index finger and middle finger of the right hand.
Taking the index finger,
The first finger,
And the second finger of the right hand,
Placing them between your eyebrows in the eyebrow center.
Again,
At this point of Chitakas.
And then we use the thumb to block the right nostril.
We inhale through the left nostril.
And then we use the ring finger to block the left nostril as we exhale through the right.
We inhale back up through the right.
We block again the right nostril,
We exhale through the left.
Again,
Inhaling left nostril,
Exhaling right.
Inhaling right nostril,
Exhaling left.
Again,
Inhaling left nostril,
Exhaling right.
Inhaling right nostril,
Exhaling left.
Just continuing on in this way,
A couple more rounds,
Inhaling through one nostril,
Exhaling through the other.
In your own pace,
At your own time.
Just tuning full presence,
Your full awareness to this subtle experience of inhale and exhale.
And the next time that you exhale through your left nostril,
You can release the hand,
Release the practice.
And again,
Taking a few moments to watch into this space of Chittakas behind the closed eyes.
Next breath technique we're going to do is called Brahmari,
Which is the humming bee breath.
It's literally a hum.
We keep our eyes closed.
Ideally we're going to block our ears,
So using the index finger or the middle finger to block the ears.
Some of you actually might like to use the thumbs to block the ears,
Which would allow you to place your fingertips over the eyes.
Completely internalize the practice.
And then the next part of the practice is just this humming sound,
A hum.
And importantly,
We focus this humming sound at the center of the midbrain.
It's a practice for stabilizing Agnya chakra.
And the third eye center,
Which is the seat of our higher mind,
So it helps to stabilize the pituitary gland,
Bringing an experience of sattva balance into the mind space.
So we'll do about a minute of this practice starting now.
Hum.
Hum.
Hum.
Hum.
And now when you're done,
You can release the hands.
Again,
Steady the attention behind the closed eyes.
Allowing the awareness just to rest in this space.
Not really doing anything,
Just rest.
At this point,
We begin this transition into the practice of Ajapa japa,
Which is Ajapa.
Ajapa means mantra.
Ajapa is the internal use of mantra.
Importantly,
In this practice,
We use an Ujjayi breath.
So it's another pranayama.
Done very subtly,
We just create a little constriction through the base of the neck,
The epiglottis.
And slow our exhalation,
Creates a tiny whispering sound and a little bit of a sensation there at the nape of the neck.
It's a really tiny whisper.
Loud enough only that you yourself can hear it.
Sensitizing your awareness to that point.
Just a subtle touch,
The sensation of that exhalation at the nape of your neck.
Allow this to be a point of dharana,
Steady focus.
This next series of techniques,
We're working to cultivate this experience of the witness,
The attitude of the witness.
As you watch this Ujjayi breath,
This whispering breath,
Feeling this sense of spaciousness.
There is the sensation of the breath,
There is the sound of the breath,
And there is the one who is watching that.
So you're watching it play out in front of you.
Going to go further with this technique of a japa-japa.
The next point of reference is the belly button.
If you're new to this practice,
Sometimes it's actually nice just to put a finger,
Either the middle finger or the index finger.
Just gently place it on top of the belly button,
Moving inside the belly button.
And then take your other finger,
The index finger,
The middle finger of the other hand,
And place it in the nape of your neck.
So right at the point where you feel your Ujjayi breath.
It's just for a reference,
Just as we begin.
With the next inhalation,
Feel that inhalation moving up the front line of the body,
As though it was entering at that point of the belly button,
And traveling up a tube just underneath the skin to the nape of the neck.
And then as we exhale,
The breath moves from the nape of the neck back down to the belly button.
Again,
We're inhaling up the front line of the body.
We're exhaling down the front line of the body.
Visualizing the breath as a bead of light,
Visualizing with the inhalation a bead of light moving just underneath the skin,
Up the front line of the body to the nape of the neck.
And as you exhale,
A bead of light traveling down the front line of the body to the belly button.
If you're familiar with the practice of mantra,
You'd like to take this technique a little deeper.
We have a traditional mantra here,
Often referred to as the mantra of the breath,
The Soham mantra.
Often this meditation practice is called Soham meditation.
We can use this mantra here,
And perhaps wherever you are,
We'll just exhale so we can begin this next stage together.
And the next inhalation again,
The awareness moves from the belly button up to the throat pit.
And we're looking for the sound of the mantra,
Soh.
And then with the exhalation from the throat pit back down to the belly button,
We're looking for the sound of the mantra,
Hum.
And using this whispering breath,
Inhaling,
Belly button to throat pit,
Soh.
Exhaling,
Throat pit to belly button,
Hum.
Say that the sound of Soh is contained within the whisper of the inhalation.
And the sound of Hum is contained within the whisper of the exhalation.
And as we practice,
All we're looking to do is uncover that,
Discover it there.
It's already there.
Soh,
Hum.
The literal translation is,
I am that,
That which is beyond breath.
We're using this practice of fine tuning breath awareness to discover that which is beyond breath.
Continuing in this way,
Soh,
The inhalation,
Hum within the whisper of the exhalation.
Just one more round here.
Next time you exhale,
Release the mantra.
Release any effort with the breath.
Just sit steadily for a moment,
Keeping the awareness in your inner space.
Now begin our practice of anthamona,
Our inner silence meditation.
Begin this practice by tuning our attention to sensations,
To the senses.
Begin with the sense of touch,
Mostly feeling the weight of your body on the floor,
Looking for the more obvious feelings.
Feeling the weight of your buttocks on the floor,
Whatever you're sitting on,
Feeling that weight of your body resting,
Gravity.
Maybe it's your feet,
Your legs,
Whatever is touching the ground,
The seat or the cushion,
Whatever you're sitting on.
Perhaps we'll look for some more subtle experiences of touch.
Perhaps the touch of any clothing or coverings that are upon you.
Find any points where clothing or covering is touching the skin.
Perhaps you can feel the touch of air upon the exposed parts of the skin.
Hands,
Your arms,
Feet,
Whatever is uncovered.
Find where the air is touching the exposed parts of the skin.
Perhaps your face,
Back of your neck,
Notice that subtle touch of air upon the skin.
Perhaps if your mouth is closed you can notice the delicate sensation of the lips touching.
The point where the lips touch.
Observe that subtle sensation of the lips touching each other.
Noticing the touch of the air upon your nostrils,
That really subtle touch right at the tip of the nostrils.
Now we're going to let go of the sense of touch.
And shift our attention to your sense of hearing.
Attune yourself to the dimension of sound.
Hear what you can hear.
Allow your awareness to roam outwards into the day.
Hear what you can hear.
In this technique we're not getting caught up with sounds,
We're just listening.
It's a practice of pure listening.
You don't need to decide if it's a pleasant or an unpleasant sound,
We just hear the sound,
Whatever it is.
And then gently let that sound go.
Find another sound.
Moving your attention,
Your awareness through the external space,
Wherever you are.
Hearing the sounds that surround you.
Coming a little bit closer now,
Perhaps.
Come a little bit closer to yourself.
See if you can hear the sounds within the room that you're in.
Coming closer still.
Finding the sound of your breath.
See if you can hear the sound of your breath.
Maybe you can hear the sound of any ringing in your ears,
Gentle ringing in your ears.
Perhaps the sound of your heart beating.
Imagine the sound of your heart beating.
Let's bring awareness again into this space of Chittakas.
Sky of the mind we prepared before with our practice of Pranayama.
Just resting the awareness behind the closed eyes.
Into this space allow thoughts to arise.
Perhaps it's a thought that's something that's been on your mind.
Freely allowing whatever thought to arise.
As though you're watching that play out upon a TV screen behind your closed eyes.
Don't make any effort to manipulate it.
Just allow whatever thoughts,
Spontaneous thoughts to arise.
Whatever thought is there,
Just consciously let it go.
Just cleanse again that space.
Allow it to be blank.
Tune your attention once more to the external world of sound.
Again,
Shifting the awareness outside.
The focus is now again on the dimension of sound,
Hearing sounds.
Maintain a sense of discipline here.
If you can,
Keep focused upon sounds.
Don't let the awareness return to thoughts until you say it's time.
Focus now just on listening sounds.
Perhaps there's some new sounds you didn't hear before.
Tuning into some different sounds.
And again coming when you're ready back closer.
Looking for sounds closer to yourself.
Again,
Perhaps there's the sound of gentle ringing in your ears.
Again,
Perhaps the sound of the heart beating.
Again,
Perhaps the sound of your breath.
Now returning once more to Chittagash,
Behind the closed eyes.
This time find a thought,
Consciously find a thought,
Something that's been on your mind this week.
Just pick it up as though you were walking on the beach perhaps and you found an interesting shell.
You're picking it up,
You're holding it at arm's length.
Not particularly affected by it.
Just roll it over,
Examine it from every side.
Find whatever that thought is and just see where it takes you.
Allow it to play out.
If it leads into another thought,
Just follow it there.
Whatever that is,
Just let it go.
Again,
Imagine it was a shell,
You're just placing it back on the beach.
Cast it away.
Return once again to the dimension of sound.
Just for a few moments consciously direct your awareness out once more.
Listen to sounds.
Find a sound.
Bear witness for a moment and then just let that go.
Find another sound.
And again,
One more time we'll come back behind the closed eyes.
Again,
Directing attention to this space of Chitakash.
Again,
Find another thought,
Consciously seek out something that again has been on your mind.
Consciously bring it up and again examining it from a distance,
Feeling into this space between the observer,
The witness and the thought object,
Whatever it is.
Allow it to play out.
And then into another thought,
Just follow it there,
Keeping the attention internalized into this dimension of thought.
Gently but distinctly just let it go and let it pass.
It's always a puff of mist,
It just fades away.
Again,
We just keep our attention steady in this space of Chitakash,
Allowing this internal space to be clear.
Any thoughts arise,
Just gently push them away.
This is a meditation practice with the mantra Om.
We'll chant one Om together,
You can join in or just listen if that's more comfortable for you.
Begin with a full exhalation.
Deep inhalation.
Meditation practice is now complete,
Just taking some time to reintegrate,
Feel into the space around you,
Where your body is connected to the floor,
Maybe making some movements.
Gently moving the body.
Giving yourself perhaps a practice of palming,
Rubbing the hands together,
Rubbing some heat into your palms and then placing those warmed palms over your closed eyes,
Bringing some heat into the eyes.
Doing that a number of times,
Just bringing the heat back into the eyes before you open.
Taking as long as you need to reintegrate.
Got any questions about the practice,
Please do ask.
Hari Om Tatsa.
