Meditation

[Guest guest]

I'm fairly new to Ashtanga and was wondering if

there are specific meditation and pranayama techniques

used in this system. I haven't seen any mention of

them in Yoga Mala or Power Yoga. What about puja, or

other practices?

[Guest guest]

the father of ashtangayoga, sri patanajali offers

many meditation seeds and one pranayama techinque. in

his analysis of the practical aspect of the yogfa, ie

the eight limbs, he devotes most sapce to yama and

niyama and then to pranayama, just a sutra each for the

three aspects of meditation, three for asana, and five

for pranayama. pranayama is the key practice in

ashtangayoga, which leads directly and seamlessly to

meditation, and must be prepared for by asana which in

establishing "joyful steadiness in the body free from tension

embodies the infinite beyond duality". this, obviously,

takes time as the body is so full of tensions that

uphold the dualistic presentiments of leftright

frontback topbottom centreperipehry outsideinside

idapingala hatha etc. when these dualities in the body are

transcended the duality of the breath can be transcended.

when the duality of the breath is transcended the

duality of the mind begins to be undermined. by paying

attention to the dualistic activity of the mind (not trying

to block its activity and hold it still) its

projective mechanisms are revealed and transcended. this is

meditation as defined by patanjali in sutras III: 1 - III:4.

pratyaya (III.2) is the impulse that triggers projective

fluctuations. samyama III.4 is meditation. dhyana is then

further explained in III:12, and samadhi in III.10&11 and

also the aspects of samadhi in I.41-46. III.10

describes the key state of surrender. ashtangayoga is the

way of surrender. not control or manipulation. the

sanskrit word for surrender is nirodah. this is made up of

the stem rodah meaning restrain and the prefix ni

signifying absence or negation ie. not restraining, in an

active sense being surrendering. this has been

perennialy misunderstood by academics and practitioners

alike having nothing other than their dualistic minds

to project onto patanjalis transcendentalawarness

(khyati.viveka) (IV.29) with. the methodology of surrender is

yama and niyama. the arena of surrender is asana and

pranayama, the process of surrender is pratyahara, dharana,

dhyana and samadhi. the state of being surrendered is

kaivalya which occurs in the lucidity beyond the most

subtle (I.47-I.51) projections of the mind that have

been seen through and disempowered in samadhi. !

[Guest guest]

patanajalis definition of prahayama

reads<br>within asana, pranayama is<br>exhaustive

interpenetration of<br>inhalation, exhalation and

transition<br>which become unhindered and subtle <br>until the

duality of the breath is transcended <br>dispersing the

veils of obscurity<br>and readying the mind for

meditativeconcentration<br><br>what then arises into the readied mind

constitutes the

meditative seed of ashtangayoga. this is the triggering

impulses (pratyaya) of karmic residues (samskaras) that

ordinarily trigger unconscious reactions of thinking,

feeling, acting that generate more karma. the internalised

stillness of the mind generated by pranayama permits this

reactive tendency to be supreseeded by revealtion of the

projective mechansims whereby karma, attachment,

identification and dissatisfaction are

sustained.<br><br>exhaustive interpenetration of the breath is the practice

that brings this dissolution of projective impurities

about. this means becoming one with the inhalation,

exhalation and transition, till they become free of all

unconsciously upheld and habitually maintained imposition,

thereby becoming subtle meaning smooth, soft, fine,

consistent and almost imperceptible. <br><br>they first key

to doing this is releasing the exhalation from the

inhalation so that it can spontaneoulsy fulfil itself. this

requires the joyful, nondual steadiness of the body that

the practice of asana generates. when you are ready

you will start to do it. the call is strong, and when

your surface resolves itself down to that depth you

will hear it, respond and....

[Guest guest]

i'm probably not the best at advice here, except

that i can probably tell you what not to do. i am not

the best at clearing my mind in savasana, much less

full on meditation. sometimes, though, one of the

instructors here will end the class with a mini pranayama

session which does seem to help me get to a more

internally focused state. given that experience, i think

that the old saw of "do your breathing" would be a

good place to start. if you can focus on the rhythm of

your breath, gradually extending the duration of both

the inhale and exhale, it is probably not a great

leap from there to a more meditative state. the other

advice, probably unneeded, would be to not try to get

there immediately. just like in vinyasa practice, be

satisfied with what you can do now and work on gradual

progression with your meditation.<br>tell me about rainier

sometime. one of my closet fantasies is to go up it

someday, despite my risk aversion

[Guest guest]

You might try "The Miracle of Mindfulness, A Manual of Meditation" by Thich Nhat

Hanh.<br><br>Good Luck!

[Guest guest]

Dear Bandawoman,<br>See what happens if you allow yourself to 'meditate wrong'

since you say that you get 'caught up in doing it right'.<br>Yours,<br>T.

[Guest guest]

I'm curious, have you found the mental side of your yoga practice affected or

informed by the meditation retreat? What kind of meditation was it?

[Guest guest]

Yes, I'm curious as well. I'm about to go on a

ten day retreat myself. Not looking forward to such a

long time without asanas, but I was also reassured

that the practice comes back and in fact one might be

even more flexible. And, it's a great way to really

practice the nonattachment to the physical side of yoga.

<br><br>G

[Guest guest]

<a href=http://www.vri.dhamma.org/

target=new>http://www.vri.dhamma.org/</a><br><br>They have free, non-sectarian

Buddhist meditation courses offered all over the world.