In the practice of yoga and meditation,
Understanding and reaching the state of samadhi is a worthwhile goal,
Which is full of satisfaction and energy.
There are two aspects of the yoga practice.
The first is external,
Which includes ethical principles,
Daily disciplines,
Asana practice and pranayama.
Those are the first four limbs of yoga.
The limb after pranayama is called pratyahara.
Pratyahara flows into concentration,
Which flows into meditation,
Which flows into the state of samadhi.
Those four limbs of yoga are known as the inner limbs of yoga.
This meditation is designed to give you a feeling for the experience of samadhi.
Begin with conscious relaxation.
As you breathe in,
Become aware of the muscles in your forehead and around your eyes.
As you exhale,
Allow those muscles to release and relax.
As you breathe in,
Feel and imagine that you're drawing breath directly into your spiritual heart,
Into the center of your chest,
Filling yourself with that energy,
That color,
That light.
As you exhale,
Allow that feeling of lightness,
Of beauty to flow downward from your heart into and through your solar plexus,
Your navel region,
All the way into the base of your body.
Now bring awareness solely to your breathing.
Breathing in and out as slowly as you can.
As you breathe in,
Feel that you're drawing energy breath once again into your heart.
And then as you exhale,
Maintain awareness on your spiritual heart.
Use a color,
An uplifting,
Inspiring color,
And imagery for your spiritual heart.
Could be an orb of light,
A scene from nature.
So the inhale is drawing energy into that imagery.
Exhale is letting the breath move out but holding awareness on your heart.
If your mind drifts or roams,
Simply bring it back to your heart awareness.
Now as you concentrate on your heart,
Go even more deeply into the awareness of your heart and visualize,
Imagine,
And feel that deep inside your heart there is a realm where there is no wanting.
In our day-to-day life,
We have so many unfulfilled desires,
So many things we want.
But feel,
Visualize,
Imagine that deep inside your spiritual heart there is a realm of being,
A realm of existence where everything is complete.
Where there's no more desiring,
There's just the pure joy of being.
This feeling of completeness,
Of abiding satisfaction is one of the hallmarks of the state of samadhi.
Continue to focus in on this feeling deep inside yourself of completeness.
And as you exhale,
Allow that feeling to permeate your body,
Your mind,
So that with time you can bring this awareness into your day-to-day life.
Continue to focus on this awareness of completeness within our hearts for two minutes,
Linking breath,
Imagery,
Feeling,
The sound of beautiful music.
This completes our meditation on samadhi.
By focusing in on the key attributes of this state of consciousness and awareness,
We can begin to get a glimpse and a feeling for this state which lies deep within us.
Namaste.
