Yoga Report

There are two ways of doing a relaxed meditation. I will walk you through both of the examples. The student is laying on his back and this is the instruction he will be given

“saying to yourself ‘I feel the tension flowing out of my leg…my leg feels relaxed, warm, heavy… completely relaxed’ “

this is also called auto-suggestion and this is classified by wikipedia as:

“Autosuggestion (or the related autogenic training) is a process by which an individual trains the subconscious mind to believe something, or systematically schematizes the person’s own mental associations, usually for a given purpose. “

the other type of instruction is a little bit more open ended:

“become aware of your leg from the inside. feel it with all your awareness”

this will lead the student to the leg but the rest is up to the student.

the first version can calm the mind but to really find the reason for the disturbed state one needs to go with the second method.

“In a broader sense, vipassanā has been used as one of two poles for the categorization of types of Buddhist meditation, the other being samatha (Pāli; Sanskrit: śamatha). Samatha is a focusing, pacifying and calming meditation, common to many traditions in the world, notably yoga. It is used as a preparation for vipassanā, pacifying the mind and strengthening the concentration in order to allow the work of insight. ” wikipedia

You can practice on the concentration but meditation and deeper insights comes spontaneously. You can have a deeper insight when you have sex as well as you can have a major depression in a church. Spiritual life does not stop when you leave the yoga hall or leave the meditation room.