Still Body - Still Mind

Sometimes we keep busy moving from one thing to another and believe this will keep us from thinking too much. However, we are only creating a distracted mind, the part that is overdeveloped to start with, and all this busy-ness keeps feeding this part of the mind that is processing sensory information and tries to make sense of the world. We need to develop the part of the mind that connects us with our higher self.  When we go to bed at night, we become still and gradually the mind slows down and we fall asleep. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to slow down the mind at any point during the day? Today you will learn a yoga practice that will help you still the mind through the mechanism of body stillness. The practice will take about 10 minutes. After the practice I will explain more about how this works. You will be asked to sit with the eyes closed, so if you are driving, stop the recording and save it for another time. Now, come into a comfortable sitting position. You can sit in a chair with the feet on the floor and the back straight, or you can sit in a meditation posture on the floor or on a meditation cushion. I will now guide you through the process. Outline of practice – details will be instructed Sit with the back straightScan through the body making any adjustments to align the bodyFind stillness through movementTake 5 slow deep breathsBecome aware of the posture of the bodyBe aware of the various triangles of the body systematically from the feet to the headBegin to visualize the body as though looking in a mirrorSee the body from the front, the back, the right, the left and aboveVisualize a second time, then see the whole body from all sidesFeel the stillness of the body and how the mind is more stillBreath awareness, body awarenessBody supported, deep breath and open eyes when ready How do you feel? Good? Calmer? Maybe some of you don’t really want to move at this point. This practice is called Kaya Sthairyam, meaning body steadiness, and you have just practiced the first 3 stages of the complete practice which is 12 stages.  Stage 1 is called “finding stillness through movement.” If I simply told you to sit still, you would do so for a short time, but then start adjusting, something would itch, or something would be uncomfortable, and you would move. So, in this stage, you are guided through movements that will hopefully saturate the mind with adjustments until it gets a bit bored and settles into the position. Stage 2 is “awareness of the posture of the body.” Again, we are saturating the mind with awareness of different aspects of the body. In this recording, I guided your awareness through a variety of triangles made by the awareness moving along the different angles of the body. Sometimes I guide students to feel the inner space of the body as though hollow inside. There are several ways of doing this stage. The purpose is to capture that part of the mind that is interpreting the senses and trying to make sense of the world. It’s giving the mind something to do through the capture and it then follows along, minimizing distractions.  Stage 3 is “visualizing the body.” This recording utilized the idea of seeing the different parts of the body as though looking in a mirror, but it can also be done as though you were outside your body looking at the body from this perspective. This continues to keep the mind focused on the body, but it also creates a “space” between the part of the mind that “sees” the world without judgement and the part of the mind that interacts with world. This is a vital part of managing the mind and connecting with your higher self – this concept of witnessing – the space between “seeing” and “taking action.” As this concept develops, it allows us to cultivate the ability to act with intention rather than react without awareness. After stage 3, I guided you to be more externalized before moving and opening the eyes. This is an important part of any meditation practice so that you leave the practice with more mental clarity and don’t feel spacey. As I mentioned earlier, the complete practice of Kaya Sthairyam is 12 stages and it’s a much more advanced practice that takes 40-60 minutes to do correctly. The next stages continue with different ways of experiencing the body and its sensations, then creating a sense of profound immobility. With immobility, the awareness is moved to how slow and subtle the breath has become, and ultimately to a state of pure awareness, separate from the stillness of the body, the stillness of the mind, and even the breath becomes barely perceptible. It’s a very powerful practice that guides the mind into a state of one-pointedness. However, I want to emphasize two things.  You are meant to practice these first 3 stages consistently for a period of weeks before trying to advance.Notice how the rest of your day goes after doing this short, simple practice. Overall, the practice of Kaya ...