And so it begins...
This blog is my gift to all those who want to find or enhance their sense of wellbeing. I'm brimming over with tips, tools, techniques and experience from the world of Yoga and Meditation so it's time to share some of my learning. I hope soon to have my website re-energised.com back up and running in all its glory where there's more content to share and I hope to take the plunge into video media soon and present some short vlogs for the yoga work. I have already recorded a number of podcasts on yoga and meditation so hang onto your digital hats for a multi-platform feast of learning.
It is my deepest wish that you will find things here that can make a difference in your life. All I ask is that you share what works for you with others so that someone else can stumble upon a way into wellbeing and spiritual wholeness.
As per my tweet@om_sian here's a totally portable yoga technique that you can use on the train, standing in a queue, in a traffic jam or, of course, sitting quietly on a yoga mat or meditation cushion. As with most yoga, it follows the Less is More rule, and while being simple in concept is often quite tricky to perform.
The stripped down, simplest version is as follows:
COUNTING DOWN TO SILENCE - Layer 1
Sit quietly and away from distractions. I recommend keeping the eyes closed.
Starting at 27 count down to zero counting the same number on the inhalation and the exhalation. Sounds easy doesn't it? Well here's the catch. If you find your mind wandering off, or thinking other thoughts you start back at 27 again. Be honest with yourself: this is about quieting the egoic mind and tuning into your spiritual self, the part of you that has no need to think and react, review the past, future-trip into what has not yet been. Your inner self simply needs to be and the only place it can be is in the moment, right here right now. Only the continuous present moment exists, as what is in the future has not yet come into existence and what is in the past is no longer in existence, moreover, every time you try to recall it your memory changes the description slightly - you can never have the whole experience again. Just be gentle with yourself: it's like riding a bike - if you fall off you just get back on and try again.
Here's a little more of the practical guidance
Breathe in, mentally say 27. Breathe out, mentally say 27.
Breathe in, mentally say 26. Breathe out, mentally say 26.
Breathe in, mentally say 25 and so on remembering to start again at 27 if you sense your mind wandering.
Admittedly sometimes I find myself getting irritated with the way my mind kept chattering or following a noise in the environment and I found it helpful to make the mental voicing of the number big - loud if you will - but soft and gentle and inviting. So inviting in fact that it was like having a hug with silence itself. I found that by looking forward to that huge hug with silence helped calm my mind and keep focussed for longer.
Got that? Now step it up a gear...
COUNTING DOWN TO SILENCE Layer 2
The two developments in this layer are the 'drishti' or gaze, and the physical focus. That's right, this layer is all about getting more focused, more tuned in and purposeful. This time you are on the bike with somewhere to go and a load to balance on the way.
In some Hatha yoga practices, the gaze is dictated for the posture in question. In many forms of meditation it's also recommended that the eyes are rolled inwards and upwards to the so called third eye. The same is true in hypnotherapy. If you know about NLP you will appreciate that eye position is indicative of the thought type, so looking down to one side indicates physical feelings, looking to the side connotes a sound memory and up suggests the person is thinking or processing a visual memory. So the eyes wander with the mind and by focusing the eyes we can anchor our minds and still the mental chatter.
Practice with the eyes open, just look cross eyed and look up. Now with the eyes closed do the same, focus each eye towards the other then up to the centre of the forehead. The pituitary gland that you are aiming for is far back in the mind, not on the skin of the forehead, so go deep!
The second focus is a physical one, and is the prerequisite to doing any pranayama or yoga breathing practice. All you need to do is focus on the rise and fall of the abdomen with the breath. If your abdomen is not moving then you are probably very stressed and tight around the lower ribs. If so, then relax. Repeat the word Relax to yourself three times slowly allowing yourself to melt a little. Deep, full breathing relies on the free movement of the diaphragm, a curved sheet of muscle below the lungs. As you breathe in it draws downwards. It works like a syringe pulling in liquid - as it moves down air moves into the vacuum created in the lungs. Deep breathing will use the action of the diaphragm and won't rely so heavily on the more energy-expensive use of the ribs and sternum.
So now try focusing on the sensation of the belly or abdomen rising on the in-breath as the diaphragm draws down, and falling on the out-breath. To step it up another gear, picture prana or life force coming into your solar plexus or 'Manipura Chakra'. Air comes in through the nose, and in parallel prana is drawn in through this energy centre. Here all the vital airs or 'Prana Vayus meet and intersect. This is your body's Heathrow Airport. It is also where the balancing air, 'Samana Vayu' has its seat. Samana Vayu is associated with the metabolism and the digestive fire, and not only does it govern assimilation of nutrients from food during digestion: it also governs the assimilation of oxygen from air. It also separates out the toxins from food and other gases from air. That's pretty fundamental to your physical existence - breathing is the sacred act of taking in and creating life - your existence and your present moment in the body. Get the breathing right and you're heading for a good 'now' moment. So do what you need to to relax and breathe normally and comfortably. Awareness of the breath is used in countless meditation techniques for many good reasons including those mentioned above. And guess what? Meditation is where we're going from here.
Time to take it into the realms of the awesome.. step it up to layer 3.
COUNTING BACKWARDS TO SILENCE - Layer 3
If you've mastered Layer 1, then well done. I bet it was a humbling experience and the ego fought hard to keep you distracted from the silence and focus that you are. The truth is that you are NOT that chattering monkey mind that's forever future tripping or diving off after some impulse out of desire or loathing. The real you is the spirit of you, or rather the spirit IN you. It never judges and never needs to chase after some craving or desire out of fear for its survival and ability to rise above the pack. It never needs to run away from things in some way by judging them as not OK in some way. The true you just is. And the beauty of finding that silence is that you feel whole, calm and dare I say it - at peace.
That is not to say that you didn't get to zero and then allow the mental chatter right in again. Silence and peace are cumulative. Just keep practicing and the space between reaching zero and the next intrusive thought will expand. Rest in that silence and treasure it and before you know it, congratulations you are a meditator.
So layer 3 is about expanding into the silence, swim in the pool of still water when you reach the bottom step at breath zero. If you feel yourself sinking just repeat the process you have just undergone, that of focusing on the breath and a sound - only this time just use a word or syllable. You could try 'peace' or 'tranquility' or 'love' or silence or pick a bija or seed mantra. If in doubt, use OM. Actually it's three phases of sound, A+U+M and the "A" sound resonates in the abdomen at the foot of that in-breath, rises to the heart on the 'or/U" sound and blossoms through the heart to the forehead on the 'M' having been given voice or expression by the throat chakra. The good news is that inwardly voiced - that is unspoken but thought mantras are more powerful than those actually voiced to create audible sound.
That is because before the spoken AUM is the thought that created the direction to the body to make the AUM. Energy follows thought and thought precedes action, so inwardly voice mantras have an original creative purity about them where they are given existence in the real world - no, not the bricks and mortar world, the real world of the spirit - the reality of who you are. By mentally voicing or inwardly chanting AUM you are giving it existence to the spirit or essence of who you are. In fact you are sharing the AUM with the rest of existence. Aum or 'pranava' is so important in Yoga because it is the original sound from which the universe arose. It is the sound of Creation. Your spirit exists forever, eternally, and was there at the Creation and will be there or is there eternally, even when you forget the physical form you have taken in this lifetime.
This does not mean you have to believe in reincarnation - you just have to realise that you are spirit not mind and therefore you can only be in the 'now', which is timeless. Now is the forever unfolding moment and the illusion of time and space is a creation of mind. Great work mind, you've helped us split infinity down to milliseconds, to the smallest possible conceptual unit. However, we can still remember that we now is not the drop in the ocean, it IS the ocean.
So when I say expand into the silence I really mean stay tuned to who you really are and let that busy mind have a well deserved rest. It's the best purification there is and I promise you will have a better day and better sleep if you give yourself the gift of silence (or silence with a mentally voiced AUM in it!).
COUNTING BACKWARDS TO SILENCE Layer 4
The final development is going to add more focus and help you draw down the nectar of bliss 'amrita'. You do this by adopting a certain position of the tongue. This tongue position is used in pranayama, in Pranic Healing and Reiki and in NLP and Hypnotherapy as well as meditation. Simply plug in to the divine nectar and hold it. It has the benefit of stilling the tongue - which you could read as a metaphor for keeping you quiet and that's after all what you are aiming for.
To do this, curl the tip of the tongue back and up to touch the roof of the mouth. First find the hard palate and then go back further to the soft palate. Be comfortable. Now you have your tongue and eyes pointing to the centre of your mind and your top two chakras. Think of it as plugging into the universal energy.
Now you are not just feeling and being in the silence, you are positively bringing it down.
That's it. Add the tongue position and it may help you get to and stay in meditation for longer.
Enjoy this and drop me a line to share your experience.
Go get that delicious silence: it's sweet!
This blog is my gift to all those who want to find or enhance their sense of wellbeing. I'm brimming over with tips, tools, techniques and experience from the world of Yoga and Meditation so it's time to share some of my learning. I hope soon to have my website re-energised.com back up and running in all its glory where there's more content to share and I hope to take the plunge into video media soon and present some short vlogs for the yoga work. I have already recorded a number of podcasts on yoga and meditation so hang onto your digital hats for a multi-platform feast of learning.
It is my deepest wish that you will find things here that can make a difference in your life. All I ask is that you share what works for you with others so that someone else can stumble upon a way into wellbeing and spiritual wholeness.
As per my tweet@om_sian here's a totally portable yoga technique that you can use on the train, standing in a queue, in a traffic jam or, of course, sitting quietly on a yoga mat or meditation cushion. As with most yoga, it follows the Less is More rule, and while being simple in concept is often quite tricky to perform.
The stripped down, simplest version is as follows:
COUNTING DOWN TO SILENCE - Layer 1
Sit quietly and away from distractions. I recommend keeping the eyes closed.
Starting at 27 count down to zero counting the same number on the inhalation and the exhalation. Sounds easy doesn't it? Well here's the catch. If you find your mind wandering off, or thinking other thoughts you start back at 27 again. Be honest with yourself: this is about quieting the egoic mind and tuning into your spiritual self, the part of you that has no need to think and react, review the past, future-trip into what has not yet been. Your inner self simply needs to be and the only place it can be is in the moment, right here right now. Only the continuous present moment exists, as what is in the future has not yet come into existence and what is in the past is no longer in existence, moreover, every time you try to recall it your memory changes the description slightly - you can never have the whole experience again. Just be gentle with yourself: it's like riding a bike - if you fall off you just get back on and try again.
Here's a little more of the practical guidance
Breathe in, mentally say 27. Breathe out, mentally say 27.
Breathe in, mentally say 26. Breathe out, mentally say 26.
Breathe in, mentally say 25 and so on remembering to start again at 27 if you sense your mind wandering.
Admittedly sometimes I find myself getting irritated with the way my mind kept chattering or following a noise in the environment and I found it helpful to make the mental voicing of the number big - loud if you will - but soft and gentle and inviting. So inviting in fact that it was like having a hug with silence itself. I found that by looking forward to that huge hug with silence helped calm my mind and keep focussed for longer.
Got that? Now step it up a gear...
COUNTING DOWN TO SILENCE Layer 2
The two developments in this layer are the 'drishti' or gaze, and the physical focus. That's right, this layer is all about getting more focused, more tuned in and purposeful. This time you are on the bike with somewhere to go and a load to balance on the way.
In some Hatha yoga practices, the gaze is dictated for the posture in question. In many forms of meditation it's also recommended that the eyes are rolled inwards and upwards to the so called third eye. The same is true in hypnotherapy. If you know about NLP you will appreciate that eye position is indicative of the thought type, so looking down to one side indicates physical feelings, looking to the side connotes a sound memory and up suggests the person is thinking or processing a visual memory. So the eyes wander with the mind and by focusing the eyes we can anchor our minds and still the mental chatter.
Practice with the eyes open, just look cross eyed and look up. Now with the eyes closed do the same, focus each eye towards the other then up to the centre of the forehead. The pituitary gland that you are aiming for is far back in the mind, not on the skin of the forehead, so go deep!
The second focus is a physical one, and is the prerequisite to doing any pranayama or yoga breathing practice. All you need to do is focus on the rise and fall of the abdomen with the breath. If your abdomen is not moving then you are probably very stressed and tight around the lower ribs. If so, then relax. Repeat the word Relax to yourself three times slowly allowing yourself to melt a little. Deep, full breathing relies on the free movement of the diaphragm, a curved sheet of muscle below the lungs. As you breathe in it draws downwards. It works like a syringe pulling in liquid - as it moves down air moves into the vacuum created in the lungs. Deep breathing will use the action of the diaphragm and won't rely so heavily on the more energy-expensive use of the ribs and sternum.
So now try focusing on the sensation of the belly or abdomen rising on the in-breath as the diaphragm draws down, and falling on the out-breath. To step it up another gear, picture prana or life force coming into your solar plexus or 'Manipura Chakra'. Air comes in through the nose, and in parallel prana is drawn in through this energy centre. Here all the vital airs or 'Prana Vayus meet and intersect. This is your body's Heathrow Airport. It is also where the balancing air, 'Samana Vayu' has its seat. Samana Vayu is associated with the metabolism and the digestive fire, and not only does it govern assimilation of nutrients from food during digestion: it also governs the assimilation of oxygen from air. It also separates out the toxins from food and other gases from air. That's pretty fundamental to your physical existence - breathing is the sacred act of taking in and creating life - your existence and your present moment in the body. Get the breathing right and you're heading for a good 'now' moment. So do what you need to to relax and breathe normally and comfortably. Awareness of the breath is used in countless meditation techniques for many good reasons including those mentioned above. And guess what? Meditation is where we're going from here.
Time to take it into the realms of the awesome.. step it up to layer 3.
COUNTING BACKWARDS TO SILENCE - Layer 3
If you've mastered Layer 1, then well done. I bet it was a humbling experience and the ego fought hard to keep you distracted from the silence and focus that you are. The truth is that you are NOT that chattering monkey mind that's forever future tripping or diving off after some impulse out of desire or loathing. The real you is the spirit of you, or rather the spirit IN you. It never judges and never needs to chase after some craving or desire out of fear for its survival and ability to rise above the pack. It never needs to run away from things in some way by judging them as not OK in some way. The true you just is. And the beauty of finding that silence is that you feel whole, calm and dare I say it - at peace.
That is not to say that you didn't get to zero and then allow the mental chatter right in again. Silence and peace are cumulative. Just keep practicing and the space between reaching zero and the next intrusive thought will expand. Rest in that silence and treasure it and before you know it, congratulations you are a meditator.
So layer 3 is about expanding into the silence, swim in the pool of still water when you reach the bottom step at breath zero. If you feel yourself sinking just repeat the process you have just undergone, that of focusing on the breath and a sound - only this time just use a word or syllable. You could try 'peace' or 'tranquility' or 'love' or silence or pick a bija or seed mantra. If in doubt, use OM. Actually it's three phases of sound, A+U+M and the "A" sound resonates in the abdomen at the foot of that in-breath, rises to the heart on the 'or/U" sound and blossoms through the heart to the forehead on the 'M' having been given voice or expression by the throat chakra. The good news is that inwardly voiced - that is unspoken but thought mantras are more powerful than those actually voiced to create audible sound.
That is because before the spoken AUM is the thought that created the direction to the body to make the AUM. Energy follows thought and thought precedes action, so inwardly voice mantras have an original creative purity about them where they are given existence in the real world - no, not the bricks and mortar world, the real world of the spirit - the reality of who you are. By mentally voicing or inwardly chanting AUM you are giving it existence to the spirit or essence of who you are. In fact you are sharing the AUM with the rest of existence. Aum or 'pranava' is so important in Yoga because it is the original sound from which the universe arose. It is the sound of Creation. Your spirit exists forever, eternally, and was there at the Creation and will be there or is there eternally, even when you forget the physical form you have taken in this lifetime.
This does not mean you have to believe in reincarnation - you just have to realise that you are spirit not mind and therefore you can only be in the 'now', which is timeless. Now is the forever unfolding moment and the illusion of time and space is a creation of mind. Great work mind, you've helped us split infinity down to milliseconds, to the smallest possible conceptual unit. However, we can still remember that we now is not the drop in the ocean, it IS the ocean.
So when I say expand into the silence I really mean stay tuned to who you really are and let that busy mind have a well deserved rest. It's the best purification there is and I promise you will have a better day and better sleep if you give yourself the gift of silence (or silence with a mentally voiced AUM in it!).
COUNTING BACKWARDS TO SILENCE Layer 4
The final development is going to add more focus and help you draw down the nectar of bliss 'amrita'. You do this by adopting a certain position of the tongue. This tongue position is used in pranayama, in Pranic Healing and Reiki and in NLP and Hypnotherapy as well as meditation. Simply plug in to the divine nectar and hold it. It has the benefit of stilling the tongue - which you could read as a metaphor for keeping you quiet and that's after all what you are aiming for.
To do this, curl the tip of the tongue back and up to touch the roof of the mouth. First find the hard palate and then go back further to the soft palate. Be comfortable. Now you have your tongue and eyes pointing to the centre of your mind and your top two chakras. Think of it as plugging into the universal energy.
Now you are not just feeling and being in the silence, you are positively bringing it down.
That's it. Add the tongue position and it may help you get to and stay in meditation for longer.
Enjoy this and drop me a line to share your experience.
Go get that delicious silence: it's sweet!