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S
 AHAJA 
 Y 
OGA 
 
T 
URYA 
C 
OURSE 
S 
ESSION 
T 
WO 
 
Enhancing our meditation
 
Meditation is not easy to master, but persevere and it mayturn out to be the most rewarding thing you ever do. It takes practice to achieve a peaceful state of being, and there is noquestion that patience is a key component of our progressthrough Sahaja Yoga. There are, however, a number of techniques we can use to help us go deeper and experiencemore when we sit down to meditate.
Balance
As we go about our day to day lives, we are constantly being buffeted by our environment on many different levels- emotionally, mentally and even in some cases physically.This turmoil can often lead to stress or even physicalailments, but it also has a direct affect on our meditation practice. We want to go silent inside, and that silence comesfrom balance, from existing in the here and now. So whenwe sit down to meditate it helps if we can balance ourselves by trying a few simple techniques during the meditation.* After we have settled down, raised our Kundalini and putourselves in Bandhan, we can allow both arms to drop byour sides and point towards the floor. As we do so we caninhale deeply and exhale slowly three times. This simple practice can help to relieve the immediate stress of aworking day in preparation for going deeper into the peaceof a meditation.After we have been sitting for a few minutes in this way, wecan slowly bring our arms back to our laps and place the palms upwards on our laps as normal.a) If we start to feel drowsy, we can try clearing the left sideas described in the Balancing Techniques sheet which isattached. This should help to make us feel a little more alert. b) If we continue to feel overly stressed with a flood of thoughts, we can try clearing the right side again using theBalancing Technique sheet, which should help to slow theflow of thoughts and help us quieten down at the beginningof the meditation.
Patience
Do not become frustrated or angry if these techniques donot seem to be working immediately, they are very subtleand will work very gently and almost imperceptibly at first.Also try them for only a couple of minutes each time beforegoing back to the traditional position. The maximum benefitwe receive from the Kundalini energy working on our system, comes as we quieten down the mind and so thatshould be our over riding goal. It may seem hard to believeat first, but this really is a spontaneous and autonomous process, all we really have to do is to devote those fewminutes a day to the process for it to work out beautifully.Have patience with yourself and your exquisitely madesubtle system.
Thoughts
* If we have thoughts continually racing around our head, just sit calmly with the eyes closed and allow the patterns toflow in and out of the mind. Do not dwell on these thoughtsif possible, but instead say quietly ‘not this [thought]’ ‘notthis’ a few times. This is an ancient mantra brought up todate for the modern world (‘neti, neti’ in Sanskrit).Thoughts come directly from the interaction of our ego, themind and our Agnya Chakra. For this reason it can be veryhelpful to press the palm of the right hand across theforehead for a few moments whilst saying ‘I forgive’ a fewtimes, from the heart. This is another powerful mantra.* In the early days it can also help to say the Self Realisation affirmations quietly to ourselves as a prelude tothe silent meditation (see the Techniques sheet from SessionOne). However, this is purely a personal choice and some people may find it more soothing simply to sit quietlywithout action of any sort.
Going deeper.
After a few moments of sitting quietly we may notice that acertain stillness has settled over our immediatesurroundings. We will still be aware of external sounds likedoors closing and cars passing, but we may sense an aura of quiet stillness blanketing us. This shows that our Kundaliniis in full flow, and we can rest assured that we are benefiting from the gentle process. We may also feeltingling or coolness on the hands or face or around the bodyin general. This also is also evidence of the system workingas it should.On the other hand we shouldn’t worry if in the first fewdays we feel little or nothing. Everyone has a differentsubtle make up will feel different responses in the earlydays. Again patience is the most essential virtue, that andthe confidence to know that there is something profoundhappening to your whole being during every meditationsession.
Frequency and Duration.
Every single time we sit down to meditate, a little more of the Kundalini energy is activated and travels up the Centralchannel, cleansing and nourishing the Chakra system. For this reason it is really important that we try and meditateevery day, even if for a few minutes or so, rather than leavegaps in the practice. The fact is that our meditation growsstronger with repetition and every time we complete the process the effects become more potent. Little and often isthe key word here. Ten to fifteen minutes in the morningand the same in the evening is a small price to pay for thekind of powerful benefits that accrue from our Yoga.
 
Know Thyself 
 
 – 
 
what are we
?
 Before we can be fully comfortable with where we’re going,we need to be sure of where we are now, to understand our subtle make-up in order to make the most of our meditation.
The Material Being
On one level, of course, we are all material beings. We existin a physical world with objects and subjects and we operate by the laws of nature and physics.On a personal level we also have needs and desires.The Need Machine: We all have needs, whether for food,security, shelter or even happiness. We seek to satisfy thoseneeds by taking action of some sort and once the need isfilled, we move on to the next cycle. We can describe it as: Need – Action – Fulfillment – Dissipation of satisfaction –  Need – Action – and so on.This cycle is constant and gives us no rest. It is remorselessin its demands with an engine driven by the fuel of fear,desire and consumption. In many ways it is this cycle thatcauses much of our modern day stress. Meditation breaksthis cycle and gives us the time and space to enjoy lifewithout constantly searching for that elusive sense of material satisfaction.
The Spiritual Being
 We are also Spiritual beings. We are equipped with a Souland with a subtle system which lies more or less dormantuntil awakened by our spiritual flowering.Recognising our Spiritual TypeWe may recognise in us one of two types of personality:a) Left sided spiritual personality. We may be quiteemotional, prone more to lethargy and inaction, attracted tosadness or emotional entertainment or even subject tosudden bouts of depression for no reason. In this case wecan be said to have a left sided tendency. This is the moonside or channel. The side which more accurately reflects thefeminine inside all of us. b) Right sided spiritual personality. We may be more actionoriented. Always on the go, planning for this, organisingthat. Never a moment’s peace or rest, happy only whendoing. We like action in all its forms and can never sit still.For us a moment wasted is a moment lost forever. At theextremes we can even become stressed and ill from toomuch worry that we are not achieving enough. This is aright sided tendency, coming from the sun channel. This isthe masculine side of us all, the futuristic planner.c) Balanced personality. Of course there must always be ahappy medium in everything, and that is where the balanced personality comes in. This person is calm at all times,whether in crisis or everyday action. They possessseemingly inexhaustible levels of energy, seldom complainand possess a continually cheery disposition. These luckyfolk have a balanced outlook. In their purest form they arereal Yogis, who are living very much in the present, andwho utilise the energy of the Central channel, the balanced path.
Examples of our tendencies.
 We need to understand our spiritual tendency in order tomake the most of our meditation and search for balance.
Left side:
We are prone to taking a negative view of everything. Anysituation, even the most trivial, which goes against our desires and hopes can affect us deeply. Eventually we canslump into a deep depression over the slightest thing,convinced that we are a victim of life.Relationships: We may suffer through relationships as thevictim of a lack of understanding, or so it seems. For us theslightest action has the potential to leave a deep scar, towound our fragile dependency.
Right side:
 We never take no for an answer, nor can we allow ourselvesto show any form of weakness. The result is that we live alife full of stress, often in danger of collapsing under theweight of an intolerable load.Relationships: We are the dominant, maybe even insensitive partner. For us the world has to keep up, fit in with our timetable, even if sometimes that means we have to rideroughshod over other people’s needs and desires.
The effect of meditation
Meditation gives us balance. It offers us a focussed yetrelaxed viewpoint on life which is dynamic and alsocompassionate.The Power of silence. In the silence of our meditation wecan make sense of the turmoil we may be experiencing. For the left sided personality, we can use the balancingtechniques to warm up our cool moon channel, and giveourselves more energy, more optimism and moreassertiveness to face ourselves and our lives in general.Those with a right side tendency can tap into the growingcalm in their lives to gather the strength to say no, to taketime out to face whatever they may be running from. Their  peace is all the more powerful for bringing with it thecompassion of understanding.The Power of Attention. Our Attention is constantly under attack. We are assailed by a world which demands our attention, it wants to sell, cajole and scare us in order tomanipulate our lives and desires. By meditating we break the cycle of needs, we become detached and gain controlover our Attention so that it remains focussed on theimportant things in life rather than the frivolous. We losethe fear and the neediness that subvert our true selves.The Power of the Spirit. As we go deeper in our meditation,we learn the true beauty of the Spirit. We learn that materialneeds can never compensate for the peace and the timelessenjoyment of a satisfied Soul. We begin to live in a universewhere we can recognise the power of love.
 
 
Clearing the left side
 
The left channel is our moon side, the feminine side of uswhich represents our desires, emotions and past. As suchit is considered to be the cool side and can affect us bymaking us feel depressed, lethargic, introverted and self  pitying.
Symptoms
of an over exhausted left side:Feelings of loneliness.Exhaustion and lethargyExcessive focus on past events.Depression and over emotional feelings
Treatment
:Practice the Clearing technique (Fig 1 above) for a fewminutes during the early part of the meditation.Light and heat are the two most effective means of combating the problems of a weak left side.Sit in the sun or a bright space for as long as possible eachday.Use additional candles arranged around the left side of the body when meditating.|Place a candle near to the outstretched left hand whenmeditating.Slowly and carefully move a lit candle up and down theleft side of the body during the early part of the meditationusing the right hand. This will gently and subtly heat upthe channel and restore balance to that side.Try to avoid excessive daydreaming about the past.Try and eat more protein, and avoid carbohydrates asmuch as possible without being over zealous.Be aware that the problems of the left side are verycommon and can be overcome by gradually warming upthe channel as described above. The result should be thatwe start to recover confidence, feel less moody and areable to face our lives in a much more dynamic way.
Clearing the right side
The right channel is the sun side, the masculine side of uswhich represents our action, planning and the future. It istherefore very susceptible to over heating, which caneasily throw us off balance. If we find that we have become more aggressive, unsympathetic, and stressedthen we may be suffering from an over heated rightchannel.
Symptoms
of an over exhausted right side:Unusual aggressiveness and anger General over activityExcessive planning and future watchingDomineering attitude.
Treatment
:Practice the Clearing technique (Fig 2 above) for a fewminutes during the early part of the meditationCooling is needed, so we should avoid hot temperaturesand situations and bright sunlight for a time. Enjoy a littletime spent in the moonlight at night time if possible.Place both feet in a bowl of cold water with a sprinklingof household cooking salt during the evening meditation.Eat less protein and try to increase the intake of carbohydrates. Cane sugar is a very effective coolant for the right side, as is yoghurt in the summer. For seriouscases consider trying the Liver Diet (ask your centre for details).Try to avoid excessive planning and other futuristicactions.If possible have a short rest at least once a day.The liver is a physical correspondent of the right side andis adversely affected by over heating. A good method of cooling the liver is to place a cloth covered plastic ice pack (or ice cubes wrapped in a dish towel) onto the liver area on the right hand side of the body (just under theribs) during the meditation. It should be cold enough tofeel without being uncomfortable.
 
Clearing the Left Side - Fig 1
 
Clearing the Right Side - Fig 2
 Hold left hand out (palm upwards) Hold out right hand (palm up)Place right hand on the earth, or Point the left hand upwards, with the palm facing towards the earth if you palm facing backwards.are sitting on a chair.
Sahaja YogaTechniques
Session Two
 
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