Kriya as Preparation
One way in which asana and kriya are preparation for meditation is that we use the exercises in their multifarious aspects to concentrate on them while we do them. Mainly we want to avoid to do them “mindlessly” while thinking, worrying, or fantasising about something else. Instead, we want to summon ourselves, our concentration and awareness, into presence, here and now, we want to be present with what we do.
We can use the body sensations, gentle and subtle or challenging and vigorous, as one object of concentration, movement and rhythm, the trance of repetition as another, the active and conscious effort and flow of the breath as a third, and the mental, silent recitation of the mantra (if applicable), “sat” with the inhalation and “naam” wit the exhalation as a fourth. This in itself can already be very transformative and can make all the difference in your yoga practice.
Focus of Attention
When we move on to more explicit “meditation” exercises, we apply the same strategy. Meditation is a state of minimum mental activity but maximum presence, observation, awareness and consciousness which we may attain after some time of continued concentration on one object. Our ability to focus our attention can be compared to the ability to direct and hold a spotlight in an otherwise dark room. This focus of attention can be called “surat.” We potentially have a freedom of choice about what to concentrate on and what to ignore. However, the power of keeping our attention exclusively on one and the same consciously chosen object for any given length of time is difficult and needs to be trained. We will discuss the reasons for this in more detail in a later post.
This process can use or involve any or several of the five senses. There is no fundamental technical difference in this effort whether you use your voice as the object of meditation (sense of listening) or your breath (sense of touch), any visual object or even the taste of your food. It always comes back to training the stability of your attention and concentration.
Meditation Strategy
When sitting down for meditation try to apply this strategy:
Follow the instructions and concentrate on whatever the focus of the meditation is: mantra (voice, sound, audible or mental), breath, body part, posture, mudra, visual object, self, soul; observe what happens as you continue
Sooner or later, you will become distracted, usually by thoughts or sensations; you find yourself concentrating on something other than the original focus of the meditation; your focus of attention shifted, most probably without your decision or awareness
Realise that you are distracted (and, possibly, for how long you have already been distracted or for how long you were unaware that you were distracted)
Let go of the distraction, do not judge yourself but appreciate positively and joyfully that you have woken up from being distracted, and, without further ado, go back to the focus of the meditation
Go through this cycle as often as you have to, don’t give up, don’t be discouraged, stay relaxed, kind, neutral, playful and joyful
Observe Yourself
Whenever you feel you are in a relatively stable state of concentration, become explicitly aware of that fact, observe yourself concentrating or meditating. This will further stabilise and strengthen your state of meditation.
You will likely experience various states of challenge and frustration, emotional reactions, judgements, temporarily increased mental activity. You will perceive or even judge yourself to be incapable of meditating. This is very normal. It is to be expected that the “success” of our effort fluctuates from practice to practice, session to session, and that we go through various intermediate phases. The most promising times to meditate (or train to meditate) are the hours around sunrise and sunset because the tendencies of activity of the mind in general are following a circadian rhythm.
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