Swami Rama

October 11, 2007

Eight Steps of the Inward Journey - Taken from Splendour - October

2007 monthly issue

1. REGULAR PRACTICE

Practice sitting in meditation at the same time every day to create

additional patterns, new grooves or habits in the mind.

2. INTERNAL DIALOGUE

Learn to have " internal dialogue " with yourself within your mind,

making a friend of your own mind.

3. POSTURE

Develop a still, stady, yet comfortable posture for meditation.

4. BREATH

Develop a pattern of serene breath.

5. DETERMINATION

The next step is cultivating sankalpa, or determination; that is,

establishing your willpower. Before you do something, you have to

determine that you will do it, that you have to do it, and that you

can do it. That is determination.

6. LETTING GO

Learn to let go of any distracting thought that comes into your

mind. It should not remain there. You shoudl not brood on any

particular thought, no matter how wonderful or bad it is.

7. INTROSPECTION

The seventh step is a process of inspecting yoru thoughts, called

introspection, which means seeing which thoughts are worthwhile to

cultivate. The yoga manuals talk about two types of thoughts, KLISTA

and AKLISTA. The first is helpful and the latter is harmful and

injurious. Helpful thoughts are those that inspire you or encourage

your effort. Injurious thoughts involve thinking, for example, that

you are good-for-nothing or inferior. These are negative thoughts.

You need to inspect your thoughts to determine which help you and

which should be eliminated.

8. WITNESSING

After introspection, the next step is to learn another wonderful

process, called " witnessing. " When you have learned to witness the

things of the world, when you are not identifying with the things of

the world, then you have become a seer.

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