14. Daily Meditation | Building A Habit

"Plant the seed of meditation and you will reap the fruit of the peace of mind." This series of meditations focus on building a habit of meditation. The practice we are following here is stillness meditation, where we almost force the mind to be aware of the body for an extended period. After practising this for a few minutes, you will find that the awareness spontaneously directs itself inwards and attention becomes focused.

Transcript

This is daily meditation.

Here every day we come together and meditate.

Idea behind this session is to build up a habit of meditation.

Before we begin with the actual practice,

Let's have a short internalization as usual.

Idea behind this internalization is to bring our attention to this session to the practice.

Coming into a comfortable seated posture where your spine is upright,

Head and neck in line to the spine.

We are going to have 3 times Om chanting followed by 3 kinds of Shanti.

If you are not very comfortable with chanting Om,

Just observe your breath for a while.

Now,

Take a deep breath here.

Upon exhalation gently close your eyes.

Keeping your eyes closed,

Become aware of your body's movement.

If you are not aware of your body's movement,

Then you can take a deep breath here.

Now,

Become aware of your body from within.

Notice the body from within.

Now bring your attention at this peace between divine rose.

Being here,

Let us chant Mantra Om 3 times followed by 3 kinds of Shanti together.

Inhaling deeply from chanting.

Gently open your eyes.

Namaste.

A practice which you are following here is the stillness practice.

Traditionally it is called Kaya istherium.

Kaya means body,

Istherium means stillness.

So,

Kaya istherium The idea behind this practice is to first bring the stillness to the body.

So,

Today is our 14th day actually.

For the first 10 days we practiced only the body's stillness.

Now,

From the 11th day,

We have introduced some observation of the sensory system also.

It is called Pratyahara traditionally.

In the Sanskrit it is called Pratyahara when you observe your senses,

They turn inwards.

Basically it is about our attention which is always going out along with the senses.

So,

As you start observing your senses,

Some distance is created between the sensory input and your attention.

What we are going to do with this attention?

We are going to use it to control,

To regulate our thoughts and our emotions.

So,

Yes,

That is about the session.

Now,

How long this practice will last?

Practice will last for at least 12 minutes.

It is highly important that throughout the practice your body remains still as well as comfortable.

It should not be very,

Like many times we become very stiff and then we are trying to,

That I am meditating now.

There should not be any discomfort in the body,

No stiffness.

A comfortable,

Stable is the posture.

So,

If you need to grab a cushion,

Grab a pillow,

Oh sorry,

Grab a,

You can grab a towel or something to sit upon.

You can use support of the wall,

You can use a chair.

In whichever way your body remains comfortable for next 12 minutes or so.

Make that adjustments,

Find that comfortable sitting position for yourself now.

Everybody prepare for the practice now.

Find the most comfortable,

Stable position for yourself.

Once you have found that comfortable sitting position for yourself,

Keep your hands on the knees or thighs with the palms facing up.

Tip of the index finger and thumb touching each other.

Other three fingers straight and relaxed,

Curled naturally.

This is called Chin Mudra.

More awareness is felt in this mudra,

In this gesture.

Being in this position,

This posture,

Take a deep breath here.

Exhale out completely,

And close your eyes.

Keeping the eyes closed,

Notice your body from within.

Be aware of your body from within.

Be aware of your body from within.

See that body is comfortable,

There are no discomfort,

Any contraction in any body part,

Your legs are relaxed,

Comfortable,

Spine is upright,

Head and neck in line to the spine,

Shoulders pushed away from the neck but relaxed,

Head and neck in line to the spine,

Face muscles are relaxed,

Your arms relaxed.

Just feel your entire body.

Be aware of the whole body from head to toe,

Making sure there are no discomfort or contractions in any body part.

Body is relaxed,

Still and steady,

Still and steady.

If you feel there is any discomfort in any body part,

Adjust your posture to make it comfortable,

To release this discomfort.

Now,

Keeping your eyes closed,

Create a mental image of your surroundings.

Imagine as if your body has turned into a stone statue.

The whole body has become a stone statue which is hollow from inside.

Your legs,

Torso,

Arms,

Head and neck,

Each body part has turned into this stone statue,

Hollow from inside.

The whole body has become a stone statue which is immobile,

Steady,

And steady.

You can feel your body immobile,

Steady,

Strong,

And still.

Let go of this imagination,

This visualization of a stone statue.

Continue to keep your body still and stable.

Now,

Bring your awareness inside the body,

Starting to feel your body from within.

Starting with feet,

Move your awareness up to the head,

Observing each body part minutely.

Feel the pressures,

Sensations.

See that how the body parts feel.

Observing each body part from head to toe,

And then again from toe to head,

As if scanning your whole body.

As you are observing the body,

Experience the complete stillness,

Steadiness,

Silence,

Pervading your whole body.

The whole body is still and steady like a statue.

Now,

Shift your focus on the sense of touch.

Be aware of temperature,

Observing touch of the air in this room,

The place where you are practicing,

On your exposed skin.

Be aware of the temperature here,

Try to feel touch of the air on your exposed skin.

Try to feel,

Try to notice touch of your cloths to your skin.

Notice the contact between your hips and the surface beneath it.

Your hands touching your legs.

Notice the thin line of contact between the upper and the lower lip.

Notice the eyelids,

The upper eyelids touching the lower eyelids.

Notice that.

Now shifting your focus on the sounds,

Observing all the different sounds present here,

Observe the sounds which are reaching to your ears.

Not thinking about the source of the sound,

Just observe one sound,

Notice it,

And then move your focus to second sound.

Notice it,

Stay with it,

And then to the third sound.

Like this keep on observing all the different sounds which are reaching to your ears.

Now let go the sound of awareness.

See that if there is any particular smell present in your surroundings,

Notice if there is any particular smell present here.

Now,

Now let go the awareness of smell.

Keep your awareness on the breath.

Notice flow of breath.

In this still and steady body,

Not controlling or regulating the flow of breath,

Just observing,

Just witnessing,

Observing the flow of breath in this still motionless body.

The whole body is still,

Steady,

Immobile,

The only movement of breath.

Blood is flowing,

Heart is beating.

You are the awareness of these subtle movements.

You are the awareness,

You are the witness to the steadiness and this still body.

Experience yourself as a pure life,

Pure awareness.

The witness to the steadiness,

Stillness,

Comfort or discomfort of the body.

Not only to the body,

You are the witness to the subtle movements which are happening in this still and steady body,

Like flow of blood,

Palpitation of heart,

Flow of breath.

Still,

You are also the witness to the thoughts,

Emotions,

Rising on the mental plane.

Experience yourself as a pure witness,

The silent,

Still,

Pure drishta,

The witness you are.

Now for the time being,

Relax all the efforts,

Relax any particular focus,

A total surrender to the stillness,

The peace,

Adjusting in each movement.

Surrender your awareness to movement,

To movement,

To each passing moment.

Now,

Come back to your breath,

Start to make your breath a little longer and deeper.

Now,

Connect with your body,

Letting go of deep breath.

Remember the place where you are seated right now.

Now bring your attention at middle of the chest,

At your anahata,

The heart center.

Think of a limitless sky,

A vast sky,

At your heart center.

Now we shall chant a mantra.

I will chant first,

Then we will chant together,

Followed by three om chanting and three kinds of shanti.

If you are not very comfortable with chanting,

Just be the witness to this vast space at your chest,

At your heart center.

Lukasamastah sukhino bhavantu Together lukasamastah sukhino bhavantu Om Om Shanti Gently bring your palms together,

Rub them to each other,

Generate some warmth,

Generate some heat between your palms.

Place this warmth over your closed eyes,

Observing the warmth through your face.

Slowly massaging your face,

Bring your hands down and open your eyes between your palms.

Namaste.

Sit back for a while,

Let the effects,

Let the experience of the practice sink in.

If you have any question on how was your experience,

Please put that in the comment section if you have any suggestion regarding the practice or any difficulty you have faced.

Take care,

Have a wonderful time ahead.

Namaste.

Reviews

Amazing practice! Some days I'm scattered but this day I was centered, calm and still as a stone statue. Much peace and the time flew. Many thanks. Namaste.☮️💖🙏🖖🪷

As always, there’s something new to learn about the practice and about myself. You continue to inspire, Sandeep. On a personal note, I felt a little distracted during today’s practice, but that had nothing to do with the practice itself. Not sure where it was coming from, but it happens to us all from time to time, I’d imagine. If you have any extra tips besides the usual for times like this, I’d be very grateful. Thank you 🙏🕊️

Wonderful guided meditation. Will definitely be listening to this again and again. Thanks Sandeep 🌟

😻🐾🙏🏽❤️*˚ ˛•˛•˚˚*
*.•´¸.•*´🌩🌩🌨🌧✶´ gratitude 🙏🏽🐾🐾💕*° ☆ ° ˛*˛☆*˚☆ love🪨🍁🪨🍁🍂🍃🌿🌱 💕🙏🏽❤️🐾