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Practice Meditation, The Art Of Being Centered

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Yoga has been one of the foremost way of making the lives of the people better by bringing them face-to-face with the truth that they are looking for. Yoga is a tradition that has existed since the last 5 thousand years and so the exercises that constitute Yoga, such as Kundalini Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Asthanga Yoga are some of the time-tested formulas to well-being. The benefits of Yoga last even after the routine. Yoga is done by people to better their health without risking any injury to their body. The meaning of the word ‘Yoga’ is union – the union of the body, the mind and the soul, which is very essential for the day-to-day life. The initial benefit that a person experiences is a tremendous emancipation of the physical aspect. The mental benefits are far more subtle and when they are experienced, a person becomes much more conscious of his well-being. Physical benefits from practicing Yoga of any form, be it Kundalini Yoga, Hatha Yoga or Asthanga Yoga are immense. Yoga improves flexibility, it improves balance, it reduces pain, it helps in toning muscles, it immensely helps in relaxation. When Yoga is practiced with various Yoga music being played in the background, the over-all benefits are magnified and the entire routine of Yoga is much more an effective affair. Spirit Voyage, a renowned Music company, offers a host of Yoga Music CDs and DVDs which can be equally effective in making a Yoga session really fruitful. Music by prominent artists like Snatam Kaur, Nirinjan K. Khalsa and Gurmukh, make the entire experience surrounding Yoga a much more blessed affair. Music, thus becomes an indispensable part of Yoga because we all know that it has the power to heal both the body and the mind of the person who listens to it. Meditation makes up the basis of Yoga. Each and every Yoga routine begins and ends with meditation. Meditation helps in calming the body and thus in a way, helps in preparing it for the Yoga routine. The post-Yoga meditation brings the body back to the normal state and in a way, prepares it for the challenges of the day ahead. Meditation is the sure shot way of connecting to one’s soul and so teaches the human body to be centered around itself. This makes the individual feel contended with himself or herself and so helps the same person deal with the problems more effectively. A meditation routine can be best accompanied by meditation music. Spirit Voyage offers a huge range of meditation music CDs that will immensely help the entire process of meditation. There a host of Yoga DVDs and meditation music CDs that will come to the aid of various practitioners. 1000 Years and Beyond is one such Yoga DVD which will easily satiate the thirst of knowledge of every Yoga student. Another Yoga DVD that will help the person to carry out Yoga routine successfully is Peace of mind in stressful times. If you are looking out for a music CD for meditation, then Sound Peace and Liquid Mind complete music collection are just apt for the purpose. An important aspect of meditation are the meditation malas. These malas help in the entire process of meditation by calming the mind by being the anchor during such routine. Meditation has made the lives of many people throughout the world, a much more healthier and fitter affair.

The author writes for Spirit Voyage which is engaged in offering various kinds of yoga music and meditation music. The company offers different CDs and DVDs for practicing kundalini Yoga and other yoga forms.

www.encognitive.com Buddhism Meditation has always been central to Buddhism. The historical Buddha himself was said to have achieved enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree. Most forms of Buddhism distinguish between two classes of meditation practices, shamatha and vipassana, both of which are necessary for attaining enlightenment. The former consists of practices aimed at developing the ability to focus the attention single-pointedly; the latter includes practices aimed at developing insight and wisdom through seeing the true nature of reality. The differentiation between the two types of meditation practices is not always clear cut, which is made obvious when studying practices such as Anapanasati which could be said to start off as a shamatha practice but that goes through a number of stages and ends up as a vipassana practice. Theravada Buddhism emphasizes the meditative development of mindfulness (sati, see for example the Satipatthana Sutta) and concentration (samadhi, see kammatthana), as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, in the pursuit of Nibbana (Nirvana). Traditional popular meditation subjects include the breath (anapana) and loving-kindness (mettā). Zen Buddhist meditation or zazen Zen Buddhist meditation or zazen In Japanese Mahayana schools, Tendai (Tien-tai), concentration is cultivated through highly structured ritual. Especially in the Chinese Chán Buddhism school (which branched out into the Japanese Zen, and Korean Seon schools), ts’o ch’an …

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A New Meditation

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A New Meditation

So, being a thoroughly modern person you have decided that you want to find a meditation and you are thinking of starting your search on the Internet.

Well you are in for a big surprise. Key in the word ‘meditation’ or ‘yoga’ and you are going to be overwhelmed by a multiplicity of choice. Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga, Hatha Yoga, The Kabbalah, Tibetan Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga, Krishnamurti’s Choiceless Awareness, Zen, Vippasana meditation, the Ramana Maharshi meditation or perhaps Sahaja Yoga. There are many more.

Well help is at hand. Daniel Goleman has written a book called “Meditative Mind” in which he classifies all the different meditations in terms of the Vissudhimagga that was taught by the Lord Buddha. The Vissushimagga means the path of purification. There are two basic types of meditation: the path of concentration and the path of insight.

Thoughts enter your mind in a random manner. There is no pattern to their entry. The path of concentration has you direct the flow of your thoughts, fixing them onto the object chosen for the meditation. By forcing your wandering thoughts back on to the object your mind will eventually become absorbed in it and your awareness will experience a feeling of oneness with it. This is called the “point of entry.”

The start of insight meditation is the practice of mindfulness. You are required to pay attention to your thoughts and senses as they arise and to merely register or note your observation of the thought or sense impression without further comment, reflection or judgement. You simply pay attention to what is happening in and to you. In the beginning as in the path of concentration your mind will wander until you reach the point of bare insight where your mind develops the ability to observe all that is registering in your mind without the interference of wandering thoughts. With the achievement of bare insight you realise that your awareness is different from the object of your awareness.

Once you have reached the point of entry or of bare insight you then continue to achieve higher and higher levels of awareness until eventually you reach the highest state possible, which is variously called Nirvana, Nirodh, Moksha and various other names. This state indicates that you have achieved the point whereby you have acquired total self-knowledge and are freed from the perpetual cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

What actually happens here is that your kundalini awakens and rises up the central subtle spiritual channel called the Sushumna. The kundalini is the dormant spiritual power within each one of us, which resides in our pelvic bone. The disadvantage with either of the two paths of the Vissuddimagga is that normally it takes a very long time to get your self-realisation. More than one lifetime is not unusual. Remember that the Vissuddimagga means the ‘Path of Purification’. This refers to the fact that in addition to meditation the seeker has to purify his spiritual centres called chakras one by one. This is why the Indian yogis go to the Himalayan Mountains or the forests. They isolate themselves in order to concentrate on their spirit and not be interrupted by mundane life.

In the modern world it is well nigh impossible for the ordinary seeker to achieve their self-realisation using the paths of the Vissuddhimagga. There has however been a change in the firmament and it is now possible to achieve your self-realisation through taking to Sahaja Yoga. As impossible as it seems you can now get your self-realisation simply by asking for it. Any Sahaja yogi can give self-realisation. It is like one candle lighting another. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi developed Sahaja Yoga. She is a very high spiritual personality and can be described as a messenger from God.

With the Vissuddimagga you have to be spiritually perfect before you can get your self-realisation. With the Sahaja Yoga you are not perfect but you can work on trying to become spiritually perfect. The point is that your kundalini does the work for you. All that you have to do is to introspect on your self during meditation. What’s wrong with me? The path of Sahaja Yoga is a much faster and easier method of achieving spiritual perfection than the two Vissuddimagga paths. It’s like putting the roof on the house first and then building up the walls and windows etc rather than the conventional way around.

The methods used by the Vissuddimargga meditation work by trying to subdue the mind. Sahaja Yoga says that instead of trying to subdue or control the mind, which is almost impossible anyway, why not ignore it and simply go beyond it. The Sahaja Yoga meditation is described as thoughtless awareness. Normally it is virtually impossible to do this but in Sahaja Yoga your kundalini simply takes you straight into thoughtless awareness.

In their book ‘From Here to Nirvana’ Anne Cushman and Jerry Jones say that there are five types of yoga: Jhana, Bhakti, Karma, Raja and Hatha. Ramana Maharshi was a Jnana yogi who taught that thinking the thought ‘Who am I’ would eventually lead to self-realisation. This is the mind being used to distinguish between the real and the unreal. Bhakti yoga is the path of love, devotion, and worship. Karma yoga is the path of selfless service. The Karma yogi does not renounce the world but rather seeks to serve humanity in a detached, egoless manner. This leads to self-realisation. Raja yoga is the path taught by the saint Patanjali around the second and third centuries AD. It is a systematic eight-fold path, which works through the quietening of the mind. Raja yoga includes a moral code, positive breath control and a meditation akin to the ‘ path of concentration’ talked about above. Hatha yoga is the classic ‘exercise’ yoga well known to people in the west. Raja and Hatha yoga are usually associated together. Sahaja Yoga includes elements of all the different types of yoga except Hatha Yoga.

References.

(1) From Here to Nirvana. 1998. Anne Cushman and Jerry Jones. Rider Books, London. ISBN 0712670610.

(2) Meditative Mind. 1996. Daniel Goleman Harper Collins Publishers, London. ISBN 07225 347 2

Huntly Reid is an experienced Sahaja Yoga practitoner.

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Branches or Basics of Yoga

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Branches or Basics of Yoga

Ancient practitioners have likened yoga to a living tree with six branches coming from the trunk, with each branch having its own unique function relating to a particular lifestyle. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is one of the six darshanas of Hindu or Vedic schools and, alongside the Bhagvada Gita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika, is a milestone in the history of Yoga. Though brief, the Yoga Sutras are an enormously influential work, just as relevant for yoga philosophy and practice today, as when written many thousands of years ago.

The six branches of Yoga tend to have some aspects in common and familiarizing oneself with all six will certainly help in the selection of your own yoga programme that incorporates routines that appeal from any of the six branches. Asanas or postures, Pranayama or breath control, these two disciplines along with meditation and a strict moral code are the fundamentals of the practice of yoga.

Hatha Yoga

Introduced in the 15th century by an Indian sage as a preparatory stage of physical purification to enable the body to be fit for the practice of higher meditation as in Raja Yoga, Ha means sun and tha means moon, a reference to the energy channels of the body. Fully opened energy channels allow the body to become supple enough to attain the mental disciplines of Raja Yoga. In practice, both Hatha and Raja Yoga are inter-related and dependant upon each other. Western practitioners associate yoga with the hatha branch to attain mental and physical wellbeing.

Raja Yoga

Raja translates as ‘royal’ and meditation is central to this branch of yoga, which has eight side branches or limbs in an order that must be strictly followed. We start with Yama meaning ethical standards, Niyama – self discipline, asana – posture, pranayama – breathing control, pratyahara – sensory withdrawal, dharana – meditation, samadhi – ecstasy or final liberation. Those inclined to introspection or meditation are best suited to Raja yoga.

Though members of religious orders and spiritual communities devote themselves to this yoga branch, one does not have to embrace a monastic lifestyle to gain from the benefits of practicing Raja Yoga.

Karma Yoga

The fundamental principle of Karma Yoga is that what we experience now is created by our past actions, whether in this life or a previous one. Once we understand this principal, then we can ensure all our present actions help create a future free of negativity and selfishness. To practice Karma Yoga is to lead a life of selfless service to others.

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is yoga of the heart, a branch of devotion Bhakti is the Sanskrit term for selfless love of God and mankind. Bhakti principles are universal and common to many world religions. By following the path of bhakti we learn to channel our emotions, accept and have tolerance for all those that cross our path.

Jnana Yoga

This is the branch of knowledge, the yoga of the mind and is both the most difficult and the most direct of the six branches. It is yoga of the mind, of wisdom, the path of the sage or scholar. The practitioners of Jnana Yoga develop their intellects by intensive study, particularly but not confined to, the yoga tradition and other spiritual teachings. This is the path that most appeals to the intellectuals pursuing the practice of yoga. Within the context of our Western religious traditions, Kabalistic scholars, Jesuit priests, and Benedictine monks epitomise Jnana Yogis.

Tantra Yoga

Tantra, from the Sanskrit ‘to weave’ or ‘loom’, is the branch of yoga that practices ritual as a means of experiencing the divine in all our activities. Probably, the most misunderstood or misinterpreted of all the yogas, tantra, the sixth branch, is the pathway of ritual, an in tantric practice; we experience the Divine in everything we do. A reverential attitude is, therefore cultivated, encouraging a ritualistic approach to life. In essence, tantra is the most esoteric of the six major branches and appeals to those yogis who enjoy ceremony and relate to the feminine principle of the cosmos, which they call Shakti.

In the West, the tantric path of yoga has become associated almost entirely with sexual activity. It is because of this emphasis on only one aspect of this branch that it has become misinterpreted and misunderstood by so many. It is amusing to note that, although tantra has become associated exclusively with sexual ritual, most tantric schools actually recommend a celibate lifestyle. The ‘Kama Sutra’ an ancient Hindu book of sexual techniques is the best known example of the lack of understanding of the true objectives of tantra yoga.

A discipline that leads to a reverential attitude to even the most every day celebrations of giving and receiving, of birth and death, of achievements and of failure, and of relationships and understanding, this is a path that will appeal to westerners who enjoy being actively involved in celebrations, church going, clubs and associations and other types of ceremonies.

Combining the Paths

You do not have to limit yourself to one expression, but can practice hatha yoga, taking care of your physical body, while simultaneously cultivating the lifestyle of a Bhakti Yogi, expressing compassion for everyone you meet. Whichever, avenue of yogic expression draws your interest; it will probably be the right yoga path for you.

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What Is This Thing Called Yoga ?

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What Is This Thing Called Yoga ?

Yoga is a system of physical and mental practices that originates in India more than 5000 years ago. What is the purpose of yoga? The purpose of yoga is to help yourself and other people to achieve your highest potential and to experience a healthy and happy life. By using the practice of yoga you can extends your healthy and happy life for far beyond the accepted known. And more importantly improve the quality of your life.


There are different kinds yoga. The main focus of yoga is to benefit your physical and mental health. Yoga is a practice that will focus on the harmony between mind and body. Even though the philosophy of yoga comes from India, now it is practiced all the over the world.


The actual word yoga is a Sanskrit word. That means union or merger and the ultimate goal of the practice of yoga is to strike a balance between the mind and body. In order to achieve this balance between the mind and the body the practice of yoga will use movement, breath, posture, relaxation and meditation in order to establish this balance. This in order to live a healthy, lively and balanced life.


There are many types of yoga, one of the most popular forms of yoga is called Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga deals mainly with physical postures and breathing exercises. Another form of yoga is Karma Yoga which emphasizes the spiritual practices to help you unify your body mind and daily life through certain practices. The other form of yoga is called Bhakthi Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is a devotional form of yoga and generally includes chanting, reading scriptures and doing worship.


Most people have heard of the word yoga as yoga is a very popular practice that is practiced all over the world. The ancient yogis had the believe that in order for somebody to be in harmony with themselves and his environment he have to find a balance between the mind that the body and the spirit with in. Yoga was used to find a balance between those three. The yogis formulated the way to achieve this balance. And this is done through breathing techniques and meditation.


Lets look at the 5 different kinds of yoga.


Hatha yoga

Hatha yoga is a yoga of postures. Probably when you think of yoga you will be thinking of Hatha yoga. Hatha Yoga is the most popular form of yoga in the west. Hatha yoga uses physical postures or Asana and different breathing techniques and meditation. All of this is combined to achieve a better health as well as in understanding of spirituality.


Bhakthi Yoga

Bhakthi yoga is the yoga of devotion. It is yoga for the heart and devotion of the people. The practice over Bhakthi Yoga teaches a person to have devotion for his spiritual being or God and to develop this love and acceptance for all living things.


Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga is the yoga of self control. The word Raja actually means Royal. By using the practice of Raja Yoga one sees oneself as central. It means to respect oneself. To achieve this kind of self respect one has to gain control over oneself and the senses.


Jnana Yoga.

Jnana Yoga is the yoga of the mind. Jana yoga is a kind of yoga that will deal with the mind. It will focus on the persons wisdom and intellect with the aim to unify these two to surpasses limitations in life.


Karma Yoga

Karma yoga is the yoga of service. Karma yoga mainly uses the Law of Karma meaning that the present situation is based on your past actions. So by doing selfless service now you are choosing a future that is free from negativity.

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