Yoga With Rob Chambers

Preparation

Sit in a comfortable position, please use a block or sit on chair if necessary.

Shut your eyes. Rest your hands in your lap or on your
knees. Check to see if there are any points of tension in the body, the
shoulders, the neck, around the eyes. Relax them.

The most important thing in preparing for meditation is
to keep your spine straight. Your ears and your shoulders should be on
one line.

Relax your shoulders, and push up towards the ceiling with the back of your head. Gently pull your chin in.

When your chin is tilted up, you have no strength in your posture; you are more probably to become distracted.

To gain strength in your posture, press your diaphragm down towards your Hara, or lower abdomen.

This will help you maintain your physical and mental balance.

When you try to keep this posture, as first you may find
some difficulty breathing naturally, but when you get accustomed to it
you will be able to breath naturally and deeply.

Your hands should form the ?cosmic mudra?. If you put
your left hand on top of your right, middle joints of your middle
fingers together, and touch your thumbs lightly together (as if you
held a piece of paper between them), your hands will make a beautiful
oval.

You should keep this universal mudra with great care, as
if you were holding something very precious in your hand. Your hands
should be held against your body, with your thumbs at about the height
of your navel. Hold your arms freely and easily, and slightly away from
your body, as if you held an egg under each arm without breaking it.

Become aware now of your bodily contact with the ground.
Make sure that you are ready and balanced.
You should not be tilted sideways, backwards or forwards.
You should be sitting straight up as if you were supporting the sky
with your head.
Don?t slump or you will lose yourself and your mind will find it easier
to wander.
Notice the subtle polyphony of sounds around you, take note of any
sensations in the body, be conscious of your mood at the moment.
Don?t judge these things or seek to change them: accept them for what
they are.

Meditation - The Practice

Now take three long, slow, deep breaths.
Don't imagine the breath as some invisible stuff entering and leaving
your nostrils: notice the bodily sensations (even the trivial ones like
the shifting contact of your skin against your clothes) that make up
the act of breathing.
Now let the breathing resume its own rhythm, without interfering with
or controlling it.
Just stay with it, letting the mind settle into the swell of the
breath, like a small boat at anchor, gently rising and falling with the
sea.
Visualisation on right concentration

Now visualise a silver bird, Flying over an autumn lake.

Notice that when it has passed, the lake's surface does
not try to hold on to the image of the bird.
As the bird flies over the lake, its reflection is lucid. After it is
gone, the lake reflects the clouds and the sky just as clearly.

Begin the practice of active concentration and welcome whatever comes along.

Don?t think about or long for anything else.

Just dwell in the present moment with all your being.

Whatever comes, comes.

When the object of your concentration has passed, your mind remains clear, like the calm lake.

Commentary - When we practice selective concentration we
choose one object and hold onto it. During sitting or walking
meditation whether alone or with others, we practice. We know the sky
and the birds are there, but our attention is focused on our object. If
the object of our concentration is a maths problem, we don?t watch the
TV or talk on the phone. We abandon everything else and focus on the
object
We don?t use concentration to run away from our problems. We
concentrate to make ourselves deeply present. Living each moment
deeply, sustained concentration comes naturally, and that, in turn,
gives rise to insight.
Continue to follow your breath, breathing into the present moment,
viewing anything that arises as a detached witness, you focus is your
breath and the stillness of the calm lake.

Meditation - Finishing the Practice

Start now to become aware again of the physical body and
return to the subtle polyphony of sounds around you.
Take note of sensations in the body, be conscious again of your mood as
we begin to leave this meditation practice.
Start to bring some movement into the body and bring the palms of your
hands together and rub briskly. Place your warm palms over your closed
eyes and gently let the light through your fingers.
Place your hands down on lap and blink a few times.
This ends the practice.