Kaya Sthariyium - Body Stillness

Kaya = Body
Sthariyium = Steadiness
• This practice can be utilised as a complete practice, or the early stages, utilised as a
preparation for Ajapa Japa or Antar Mouna.
• Kaya Sthariyium is a practice of of asana in the sense of Raj Yoga, inducing a steady
seat. It is also a practice that induces pratyahara and an experience of dharna.
• Commonly use Stages 1-3 or 1-6 as preparation of for Ajapa Japa & Antar Mouna.

How To Practice
Stage 1 - Preparation: Sit in a comfortable meditation posture, preferably siddhasana or
swastikasana. However if these postures are painful or just not accessible to you, then
please sit in a comfortable crossed legged meditation posture with your spine as straight
and erect as possible. Adjust your position so that you do not have to move any part of
the body during the practice. Make sure the spine is erect. Head, neck, and shoulders
should be slightly back. Place your hands on the knees in chin or jnana mudra. Close
your eyes. Become aware of slow deep breathing and count ve breaths mentally.
Stage 2 - Body Posture: Switch your awareness to the body. Concentrate on your
meditation posture. Feel your spine rising straight up from the oor, supporting the head.
Be aware of the synchronised and balanced position of the arms and legs. Total
awareness of the body. Be aware of the arising sensations of the body; vital energy.
Stage 3 - Visualisation of Body: Visualise your body externally as if you were seeing it in
a full length mirror. See your body in the meditation posture from the front, from the back,
from the right side, from the left side, from the top. See your body from all sides at one
time.
Stage 4 Body Mountain or Tree - Be aware of your whole body. Feel that you are a
mountain, rising up from and part of the earth. Notice how your body’s shape is like that
of a mountain. Feel the dense energy at the base, the lighter energy towards the top.
Alternately, you can envision yourself as a tree. You are rooted to the oor. Imagine that
your body is growing up from the oor like a tree. Your torso is the trunk, your arms and
head are the branches, and your legs are the roots. Your body is rooted to the oor and it
will not move.
Stage 5 - Sensations of the Body: Be aware of any physical sensations: cold, heat,
wind, itching, pain, uneasiness, tension, sti ness. Direct your awareness to these feelings.
Let them be a focus for your mind. If your mind starts to wander, bring it back to the
sensations in the body. [you can expand this stage to make it more tantric]
Stage 6 - Body Parts: Direct your awareness to the head. Be aware of the head and
nothing else. Feel any sensation in the head. Visualise the head. Shift your awareness to
the neck. Feel any sensations in the neck. Continue to be aware. Following the same
process, move your awareness to the shoulders, to the right arm, the left arm, the whole
of the back, the chest, the abdomen, the right leg, the left leg, and nally the whole body.
Be aware of the whole body. Do another round maintaining full awareness. [a mini yoga
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 Nidra; clearing away any energy that?s not in harmony or not in your conscious
awareness]
Stage 7 - Immobility of the Body: Make a resolve that, I will not move my body
throughout the whole practice. My body will not move or shake. I will remain steady and
motionless like a statue.? Even if you feel an impulse to move a nger or toe, to adjust
your clothing, or to scratch, try to overcome this urge. When you the urge to move you
must say to yourself, No, I will not move any part of my body until the end of the practice.
Stage 8 - Steadiness and Stillness: Be aware of your physical body, of your meditation
posture and of nothing else. There should be total uninterrupted awareness of the whole
body. The body is perfectly steady and motionless. Develop the feeling of steadiness. Be
aware of your body and steadiness. Be aware of your body and stillness. Your body is
absolutely steady and still. Be aware of steadiness. Be aware of your physical body. There
is no movement, no discomfort, only steadiness and stillness. [tip: at any point if you’re
not as deep as you want, go back to #5 and bring sensations up to bubble out so as not
to distract you; visualise all the molecules in your body stop vibrating in suspended
animation]
Stage 9 Psychic Rigidity: Feel the steadiness and stillness of the body. Gradually your
body will become rigid and sti like a statue, as though all the muscles have frozen. The
body should become so sti that you are unable to move any part, even if you try. Total
awareness of the body, of immobility, of psychic rigidity. Feel the locked position of the
body. Be aware of the body and of stillness.
Stage 10 - Breath Awareness: As the body becomes sti and rigid, you will begin to lose
physical awareness. At this time, shift your attention to the breath. Become aware of the
natural breath, without altering or modifying it in any way. Simply watch the breath as it
moves in and out of the body. The breath moves in and out in a rhythmic ow. Follow
each movement of the breath with your awareness. At the same time become aware of
the body. Let the awareness alternate from the breath to the body, then from body to
breath. As the body becomes sti er and sti er, the awareness will automatically shift
more and more to the breath. No e ort is required. When the body is absolutely still and
motionless the breath will become more and more subtle, until is seems that you are
hardly breathing at all. (If you attempt to control the breath, you will engage skeletal
muscles and lose the rigidity; when aware of the breath, be aware of the air rather than on
the organs of breathing; shift back and forth between breath and body 3 – 4 times, doing
so very subtly and naturally; when you shift from body to breath, it’s not that you have the
thought that you don’t have a body, it is simply “no body”)
Stage 11 - State of Concentration: As the breath becomes more and more
imperceptible, you will begin to experience the pure awareness which functions through
the un uctuating mind. The breathing is responsible for the movements of the mind and
body. When the breath becomes very subtle, the mind becomes one-pointed and still.
This is the state in which dharana must be practiced. [a layer below the thinking mind, not
the intellect; let the energy take over, you can?t understand consciousness/essence; this
is beginning of tapping into Essence]
Ending the practice: Get ready to end the practice. Gradually become aware of the
physical body, of the meditation posture. Feel the weight of the body resting against the
oor. Be aware of the hands resting on the knees. Be aware of the whole physical body.
Be aware of the breathing. Watch the breath as it ows in and out. Melt the glue.Bring on
sensation slowly, take your time, then externalise to sounds, etc. around you, taking in the
stimuli the environment.
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