Hi! Namaskar Sensing as a Prelude to Meditation To develop the mind requires a scientific technique with a spiritual outlook and this is what meditation will develop in you. What is meditation? Meditation establishes a connection with the consciousness pervading everything, and tunes a person into recognising that Universal Consciousness everywhere. Inevitably, it also makes a person more aware of the world around them. This sense of yoga (union) is at the most subtlest level - and meditation reaches that level - of recognising that one's own self is akin to, and has an intimate relationship with, the whole Consciousness and the forces of this universe. This means a movement away from seeing one's existence merely on the ego level and of transcending basic instincts. Close association with ego can pose a barrier to understanding the process of meditation as one adopts a broad and expansive ideative approach. What the mind focuses on is crucial to what the mind becomes and to where the mind is being directed. Feeling connectedness means that whatever exists in the universe exists in your small structure as well. The approach is to reconnect the mind and feelings to enable living life fully in the spiritual sense but with application of the rational mind in the practical world. More on that to come. A number of people may find any rigour about keeping exact breathing, concentration on breathing and the like, somewhat too technical at first. Rhythm has its place, but experiencing an internal flow and getting inspiration is the first step and there are many techniques such as visualisations that can give that sense. As we move towards learning more formal meditation techniques, we need initially to SENSE, IMAGINE and FEEL what it is about. That does not require too much technical knowledge, but requires an internal realisation. The guided process that follows, and through the audio files at the links, helps you get that initial sense, image and feeling. Please try it, as step by step we move towards learning more about meditation. The technique has been developed by Dada Pranakrsnananda who has taught meditation for over 35 years. Dada Pranakrsnananda has over 30 years experience in teaching meditation and giving workshops. Listen to the MP3 file (FocusMeditation.MP3) in a nice quite place that goes with the technique to get additional benefits. The file can be downloaded (they are all the same content, just different bit rates) at: http://dadaprana.com/sound/wma-32cbr/guided-meditation.wma (3.7 Mb) http://dadaprana.com/sound/mp3-48m/guided-meditation.mp3 (5.5 Mb) http://www.ways-ahead.net/meditation/005-1-Focus_Meditation.wma 3.7M http://www.ways-ahead.net/meditation/005-1-Focus_Meditation_16.mp3 1.8M (small) http://www.ways-ahead.net/meditation/005-1-Focus_Meditation_24.mp3 2.7M (average) http://www.ways-ahead.net/meditation/005-1-Focus_Meditation_48.mp3 5.4M (big) Instructions are also available in the following PDF file. Also, following is another Baba Nam Kevalam tune. That mantra can be used for basic meditation as well. This simple exercise is designed to allow you to focus in on parts of your body and any particular emotion. Then, in order to advance the mind and the body association and any particular emotion in a way that connects with a higher transcendental view, the mantra is applied. This gives the idea of a higher spiritual thought in the body, mind and emotional existence. It is a good way to start to focus the mind. That focus will ultimately be on a spiritual feeling and more of that will be explained later. Let's start. Regards Dharmadeva ---