Weekend Two MIND SEGMENT MUDRAS A mudra is a hand gesture. The most familiar mudra is the image of a yogi with their legs crossed and their hands resting on their knees, their thumb and index finger touching. The hand gesture used is called Gyan Mudra. When using a mudra we direction the flow of energy into the body. Each of our fingers correlates with elements in our body. It is said our body consists of 5 elements: Fire, Air, Ether (space), Earth & Water. The body remains healthy if these 5 elements are in balance, if they go out of balance it cause disturbances and sickness in the body. The diagram on the left represents each of the corresponding energies with our finger tips. Mudras are most beneficial when meditating or practicing pranayam but can be done at any time: walking, standing and sitting. Initially practicing mudras for 10 minutes and if possible increasing to 35/40 minutes. Here are some of my favourite Mudras and their benefits. Gyan Mudra Mudra of knowledge Technique: Touch the tip of the thumb with the tip of the index finger, the other fingers remain as straight as possible. Benefits: Improves concentration and reducing negative thoughts Increases memory power Brain nerves become strong headaches, insomnia and stress are removed. Destroys anger
Helps insomnia Vayu Mudra Air Mudra Technique: Joining the index finger with the root of the thumb and putting slight pressure on it with the thumb. The remaining three fingers remain still. Benefits: Regular practice of this mudra improves gout, arthritis, joint pain, paralysis, Parkinsons, sciatica, knee pain and gas formation like diseases Relieves pain in the neck and spine Helps blood circulation disorders. Prithvi Mudra Mudra of the Earth Technique: Join the tips of ring finger and thumb. The remaining fingers remain straight. Benefits: Helps to cure weakness in the body, leanness(underweight) & obesity. Improves digestion and blood circulation throughout the body Increases patience & tolerance Develops vitality Removes the deficiency of vitamins Makes the body active, bright & glowing Varuna Mudra Mudra of Water (Aka the beautiful face Mudra!!) Technique: Join the tips of little finger and thumb. The remaining fingers remain straight. Benefits:
Removes dryness of the body, making the skin soft and smooth Helps to cure blood disorders. Relieves and prevents any muscle pains that you may suffer from. Helps to cure skin diseases, pimples and diseases arising out of deficiency of the water element, making the skin & face beautiful! Surya Mudra Sun Mudra Technique: Bend the ring finger and press it with the thumb. The remaining fingers remain straight. Benefits: It sharpens and activates the energetic centre relating to the thyroid gland. Reduces cholesterol Assists in weight loss and maintaining a healthy balanced weight. Reduces anxiety Soothes digestion issues
A METTA MEDITATION PRACTICE source: http://www.bemindful.org/metta.htm To practice Metta, we simply repeat phrases to ourselves over and over at a comfortable pace while holding the image of the receiver of our Loving kindness in our mind. Don t worry if you don t get a clear picture, the strong intention to do so will be enough. Try to send the metta from your heart area; just imagine the thoughts coming from within your chest. Avoid the tendency to rush the words, like when you say them a hundred times you can stop. Find a pace that s not so fast that you lose the meaning of the words nor so slow that you lose interest and drift off task. Hold the person you re focusing on gently in the mind, like holding a fragile object: too tight and it will break, too loose and you will drop it. We begin by developing and deepening our Self Love, no one is closer to us than we are to ourselves, if we don t love ourselves, we have little hope of loving another. We then focus our attention on sending Lovingkindness to a benefactor, someone who has been helpful to us, a teacher, a mentor. In each of these meditations, we are to focus on someone who is alive and toward whom we have no physical attraction as that may lead to craving and to a desire to possess... lust and the rest. Take some time to find an appropriate recipient for your meditations. This may become clear as you are practicing: leaving one object for another as the mind finds someone more suitable. Once you ve settled on someone, stay with this person for the 20 minutes we ll be focusing on them. Drifting about will water down the experience. Use the touch sensation of the breath as a centering device if you find you have drifted off the exercise; gather your concentration and begin again. Stay with it, make an effort to remain alert. We will go from self to benefactor to friend to a neutral person and then to someone who is difficult or someone we consider an enemy. This is the tough stage and one that some of us may not get to in this abbreviated Metta practice. As I said before, we will need to move into forgiveness. We end the exercise by sending Metta to All Beings Difficulties: If you find you are simply unable to hold the person who came to mind while sending Metta, let them go and go back to neutral person for a bit and try again. If you still can t stay with the person chosen, go back to what you were doing just before and stay with that practice for the remainder of the time. If the process becomes too tiresome or difficult, simply shift into following your breath or go back to the concentration exercises. You can always do walking meditation as long as it s in a location where it won t disturb those who are sitting or you can sit in your room.
A Metta Meditation From Peter Carlson, Orlando Insight May I be safe May I be happy May I be healthy May I be content May I love myself completely And with great kindness Just as I am now No matter what happens May you be safe May you be happy May you be healthy May you be content May you love yourself completely And with great kindness Just as you are now No matter what happens May we be safe May we be happy May we be healthy May we be content May we love ourselves completely And with great kindness Just as we are now No matter what happens May all beings be safe May all beings be happy May all beings be healthy May all beings be content May all beings love themselves completely And with great kindness Just as they are now No matter what happens
SPIRIT SEGMENT
Parasympathetic Nervous System
CHANTING Chanting is about opening your heart. Sing along, abandon your thoughts, become a child, leave the ego behind, and let your rhythm flow Om Ah Oo Mmm (Silence) Om is not a word, but rather an intonation, which, like music transcends the barriers of age, race, culture, and even species. If repeated with the correct intonation, it can resonate throughout the body so that the sound penetrates to the center of one s being, the atman of the soul. Om is a sacred symbol and sound. Om is the primordial sound, the first breath of creation, the vibration of existence. Many religions indicate that creation began with sound. Om is used to recreate within ourselves a vibration that attunes sympathy with the universal vibration of all living beings. Om is uttered at the opening and closing of all proceedings. Om can be physically invigorating when spoken out loud. OM is a guide to meditation connecting Man, God and the Universe It is the equivalent of the English Trinity (A U M) Brahma, The Creator Vishnu, The Preserver Shiva, The Destroyer It has been said that the three portions (AUM) represent the the states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep/meditation In the Vedic texts, AUM is the sound of the Sun, the sound of Light. It is the sound of assent (affirmation) and ascent (it has an upward movements and uplifts the soul, as the sound of the divine) Shiva Shambho Jaya Jaya Shiva Shambho Jaya Jaya Shiva Shambho Hara Hara Shiva Shambho Hara Hara Shiva Shambho Mahadeva Shambho Mahadeva Shambho Mahadeva Shambho Mahadeva Shambho Victory to the supreme Lord, the benevolent one who brings happiness and joy. Shiva is responsible for the creation and dissolution of the universe. He is the eternal yogi, blissfully unaffected by maya (illusion). He destroys our attachments and delusions and brings our liberation
Om Namo Bhagavate Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya Om, I bow in reverence to the supreme Lord Vasudevaya. The all pervading essence of all beings and the sustainer of creation. Bhagavate literally means One who possesses great wealth. The title Bhagavan is used to mean Lord or Great God. Vasudevaya refers to Lord Vishnu, (one of the trinity of Gods: Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva). Vishnu also known as Narayana, is the supreme being or Ultimate Reality for Vaishnavas (devotees of Lord Krishna) and a manifestation of Brahman (God) in the Advaita tradition of Hinduism. Vishnu incarnated on the earth as Lord Krishna.The Vishnu Sahasranama describes Vishnu as the All Pervading Essence of all beings. He is not limited by space, time or substance, Vishnu supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within. In the Trimurti, (Hindu Trinity) Vishnu is responsible for the maintenance or 'preservation' of the Universe, with the other roles of creation and desolation being under the care of Brahma and Shiva, respectively. Meaning of mantra: Om Namah Shivaya Namaḥ Śivāya is dedicated to Lord Śiva (Shiva), the Destroyer or the Transformer. Shiva is one of the three major Gods in Hinduism; he is part of the Trimurti (three forms) that is the Hindu Trinity, that explains that the cosmic energies manifest in three forms: creation, maintenance, and destruction, and they are personified as Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva. Om Namah Shivaya is an ancient formula for invocation that is at the heart of the Vedas. Na is the Lord's grace, Ma is the world, Śi stands for Śiva, Va is His revealing grace, Ya is the soul. The five elements are also embodied in this mantra. Na is earth, Ma is water, Śi is fire, Vā is air, and Ya is ether. Om Mani Padme Hum The mantra OM is the name of God. Written as A U M, it represents the divine energy united in its three aspects: Brahma (creation), Vishnu (preservation) and Shiva (destruction); or Buddhists will relate it to holy body, holy speech and holy mind of Buddha MANI means Jewel. Pure Jewel stands for love and compassion and it also symbolizes the intention to become enlightened. Jewel within the manifested world could be seen as Maya, the appearance of: desires, samsara, nirvana... PADME is Lotus symbolizing wisdom. Just as a lotus grows forth from mud, wisdom has to fight its way through the human conditioning to get realised as a divine quality. The main of all wisdoms is the wisdom of silence and emptiness. PADME signifies emptiness. HUM unifies spiritual methods with wisdom. It is the indivisibility, the immovable, that which cannot be disturbed. It represents the spirit of enlightenment. HUM destroys the suffering. It is an imperative: May your holy mind, and your great compassion enter my heart! MANI signifies appearance, PADME signifies emptiness, HUM unifies the two. MANI is the illusion, PADME is the light, and HUM unifies the two.
Gayatri Mantra Om Bhur Buvah svaha Thath savithur varenyam Bhargo devasya dhimahi Dhiyo yonah prachodayat It is believed that reciting this mantra bestows wisdom and enlightenment. In traditional Brahmin practice the Gayatri Mantra is often devotionally offered to God at sunrise and sunset. It is a prayer to God, as the divine life giver, symbolized by Savitr (the sun), to inspire within us His Divinity and His Light to guide our Wisdom towards Righteousness so that we might choose the right path. '"Let us meditate on Isvara and His Glory who has created the Universe, who is fit to be worshipped, who is the remover of all sins and ignorance. May he enlighten our intellect. " Swami Sivananda The Gayatri is the 'Blessed Mother' of Vedas. One who meditates on Gayatri, meditates on Lord Vishnu. There is special, mysterious spiritual force or wonderful magnetic power at Sandhi or junction of the time, sunrise and sunset. The mind will be elevated quickly. Concentration will come by itself without any effort at this time. So Hum When used for meditation, "Soham" acts as a natural mantra to control one's breathing pattern, to help achieve deep breath, and to gain concentration. Sooooo... is the sound of inhalation, and is remembered in the mind along with that inhalation. Hummmm... is the sound of exhalation, and is remembered in the mind along with that exhalation. Soham is also considered a mantra in Tantrism and Kriya Yoga, known also as Ajapa mantra, Ajapa Gayatri, Hamsa Gayatri, Hamsa mantra, prana mantra, Shri Paraprasada mantra, paramatma mantra, and as such used notably on its own in meditation practice. The mantra is also inverted from so 'ham (the sandhi of saḥ + aham ) to ham + sa. The combination of so 'haṃ haṃsaḥ has also been interpreted as "I myself am the Swan ", where the swan symbolizes the Atman. [4] An etymology of haṃsa "swan, goose" (in fact cognate with English goose ) as from ahaṃ sa "I am that" is found in the 14th century commentary on the Vedas by Sayana (14th century). [5] Lokha Somastah Sukynomya Bhavantu May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.
A closer look at the meaning of each word of this invocational mantra: lokah: location, realm, all universes existing now samastah: all beings sharing that same location sukhino: centered in happiness and joy, free from suffering bhav: the divine mood or state of unified existence antu: may it be so, it must be so (antu used as an ending here transforms this mantra into a powerful pledge) This is a prayer each one of us can practice every day. It reminds us that our relationships with all beings and things should be mutually beneficial if we ourselves desire happiness and liberation from suffering. No true or lasting happiness can come from causing unhappiness to others. No true or lasting freedom can come from depriving others of their freedom. If we say we want every being to be happy and free, than we have to question everything that we do how we live, how we eat, what we buy, how we speak, and even how we think.
BODY SEGMENT
DIAGNOSE THIS!