Hello my friends.
Today I'll be guiding you in a guided practice of Hong Sao,
An ancient mantra and technique brought to the West by Paramahansa Yogananda.
A little bit of information before we begin our practice.
On each inhale we'll mentally chant Hong and on the exhales we will mentally chant Sao.
And eventually in the practice there'll be a slight movement of the right index finger towards the palm and on the exhales a slight relaxation of that index finger away from the eyes.
Before we begin the practice,
Let's make sure we're sitting upright in the correct posture either in our chair or on the floor on our mat.
And make sure straight back,
Bring your hands with the palms facing upward in a receptive manner towards the junction of your abdomen on your thighs and let your shoulders relax back and down,
Letting the chest expand in front of you and then gently close your eyes.
Bring your attention and awareness to the point between your eyebrows.
Now we'll prepare for our meditation of Hong Sao with three rounds of equal count breathing.
I will count to a count of six for each inhale.
We'll hold for six,
Then we'll exhale for six.
We'll do that three times.
So beginning with the in-breath,
Inhale two three four five six.
Hold two three four five six.
Exhale two four three four five six.
Inhale two three four five six.
Hold two three four five six.
Exhale two three four five six.
Inhale two three four five six.
Hold two three four five six.
Exhale two three four five six.
Let the breath go in and out on its own accord.
Let the breath flow naturally in the nose,
Letting control of all the breath,
Letting it go as it wants to.
As you continue to let the breath flow naturally,
Start to bring your awareness to the point in the nose where you feel that breath most clearly.
Continue to let the breath flow naturally on both the inhale and exhale,
Bringing the awareness to the point in the nose where you feel it most clearly.
Now on your next in-breath,
Through the nose,
Gently curl the right index finger towards the palm,
And on the exhale,
Gently release it away from the palm.
If the mind wanders,
Just gently but firmly bring it back to the breath,
Bringing the awareness to the point in the nose where you feel it most clearly.
You might feel the nose,
The breath higher in the nose,
The ridge,
Or you might feel it closer to the tip.
Wherever you feel it,
Just bring that awareness there while keeping the eyes and the nose,
The gaze closed behind closed eyelids at the point between the eyebrows.
You might start to notice the breath starting to slow down.
Let them slow down if it wants to.
At the same time,
You might notice the mind starting to slow down,
Thoughts becoming less.
As we prepare to enter expansion state,
Begin to let go of all the techniques.
No longer repeat the mantra mentally.
No longer move the right index finger.
Just let the breath flow naturally.
And as we enter into the expansion stage,
We're gonna take an inhale through the nose,
Deep inhale,
And we're gonna hold and tense and throw the breath out with three rapid breaths outside the mouth.
I'll guide us through this.
So take a deep inhale through the nose,
Hold and tense the body,
And then exhale.
Let the body fully relax.
Enter into the expansion state by bringing your full awareness to the point between the eyebrows.
The breath flow as it wants to while maintaining full awareness of the point between the eyebrows.
It'll lead us in a practice of visualization in this expansion state.
While maintaining full awareness of the point between the eyebrows,
Visualize yourself sitting in front of a lake at nighttime,
Basking in the moonlight.
As you visualize this lake,
Notice the ripples running across the surface.
At first,
You might notice the ripples are quite large and rapid in movement,
Just like your thoughts might be disturbing the surface level.
Begin to visualize peace.
You might start to notice as you visualize peace that the ripples begin to slow down,
That the surface of the lake begins to become more calm,
Just like your mind mind is becoming more calm.
The breath is becoming more calm.
Those ripples become smaller and smaller and smaller until the surface of the lake is completely still.
Visualize that you are becoming still as the lake,
That you are merging into peace itself.
Feel that peace within you.
Let that peace flow over you and come into every single cell of your body.
As we prepare to end this meditation practice,
Feel into that peace.
Remember this feeling of deep stillness and deep peacefulness within you.
Remember that we take our practice with us out into the world so that this peace that we feel now might be felt out in the world as well.
Bring that peace.
Be an ambassador of that peace in your day to day.
How might you share that peace with your co-workers,
Your loved ones,
And begin to bring awareness back to your body,
Starting with your toes and your feet.
Gently move them around up through your legs,
Into your knees,
Into your thighs,
And feel your abdomen up through your chest,
Shoulders,
And your arms,
Out into your fingers,
Fingertips,
Up through your neck,
To the head,
Into the room that you're seated in right now,
To your outer environment.
Bring that awareness,
And when you are ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Thank you,
My friends.
Namaste.
