Unforgettable Love Story

I find that there are some very interesting common components between ALL of the practices I have been taught.

*Deep breathing – Called Pranayama in Yoga training.
*Creative visualization.
*Repetition of a phrase or word.
*Focused concentration on a specific part of the body.

Some might call repetition of phrases a mantra, but the teachings I have read put greater emphasis of mantras being a specific sound that came from some deep Samadhi meditative state and is imbued with magical powers, I as of yet do not have such experience and choose not to relate mantra’s to English phrases or words. But it is quite possible they are indeed one and the same.

For each of those components of meditation there are many different varieties of practices. For advanced students, I suggest a proper teacher or the books I mentioned earlier. But for the average person I would recommend the following practices.

Start by sitting in a comfortable way. It does not need to be cross legged on the floor. It can be in a chair. Find the most comfortable way to sit for you and your body. Meditation can even be done lying down, but in most cases this is not advisable as it tends to induce sleep. However I find that I can easily go into a deep meditative state and remain consciously meditating when I have just woken from sleep. So you might want to try meditating right after a nap for five to fifteen, or when you have insomnia lie in bed and meditate until you do fall back asleep or decide to get up and do other things.

Deep Breathing – Start by emptying your lungs completely. Then begin to fill your lungs in a progressive way, and do it the same way every time. Some recommend filling from the bottom of the stomach up and others recommend the reverse, filling the chest first and working your way down. And the same is true with the exhalation, do it in the same way each time.

All the masters say, and my experience confirms, that deep breathing exercises are responsible for energizing the body and even healing the body. It will certainly heal many stress related disorders and even asthma. Since I began doing Pranayama exercises my need for sleep and food both have been drastically reduced, and this is spoken of often in Yoga texts. If you have any sort of illness, daily deep breathing exercises will proved noticeable relief if not complete relief from the disease. You should try it, what do you have to lose?

Notice that you are taking conscious control of a normally unconscious process. Swami Rama gives credit to the various Pranayama exercises for his COMPLETE CONTROL of his AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM. This is how he was able to perform feats such as speeding his heart up so fast as to make it stop for sixteen seconds and how he was able to produce cancers on his body and remove them at will. He also claims in his book “The Path of Fire and Light” that one can learn to retain the breath for hours at a time and he did prove this as well in a live performance at the Menninger society.

Do your deep breathing exercises prior to your meditation time it will relax you and move you into a deeper state. One practice bleeds into the other. You are also preparing yourself for the day when you choose to advance your practice and reach for more advanced goals.

Creative Visualization – There are a lot of techniques under this category. I suggest you read those two books I mentioned earlier if you wish to try more than the few techniques I will offer here. Visualization is best done while doing the deep breathing exercises. You may have to focus on the deep breathing by itself the first few times you do them, but soon enough your body learns how to do them and then you need something else to focus on. Visualizations are perfect for this.

I believe one of the reasons visualization is powerful is that while you are focused on your visualizations the normally destructive thought processes in your mind are stopped. Thoughts such as worry, or thinking about what you should have said to that rotten person who is spreading lies about you for example. Abraham (as channeled by Ester Hicks) tells us that it is simply enough to cease negative thinking in order to allow our good to enter our experience. It is our negative thought processes that choke off the flow of inspiration, intuition, and life giving energies.

What will you actually see? That will differ from person to person. Most people will see blackness with the occasional spark of light or briefly see forms come and go. So why is it called visualization then? Because you involve your mind in a thought process that is creating forms, even though you may or may not actually see them. These exercises work even if you do not actually see what it is that you are visualizing!

If you are fortunate enough to leave the body, enter the psychic worlds, and vividly see these forms you are visualizing and other objects of those dimensions, count yourself lucky indeed. Most likely this is a skill you have developed in past lifetimes. And you should probably add something of value from your experience in the form of a comment on this blog to help other people understand this experience.

You can visualize a fire, like a candle flame, in the heart chakra of the body or at the third eye position. You can visualize white light filling up a hollow version of your own body. Start at the toes and feel this light as it slowly moves up your body and fills you up with white light, until your entire body is full of light and holds the form of your body.

Also you can concentrate with eyes open on a real object, something simple like a candle and its flame or a lemon, and take it all into your memory. Then close your eyes and use that object to focus on during your creative visualization time.

You can visualize flying around the state, country or entire world and spreading light and love as you pass over the area. You can visualize white light, or other healing colors that you are aware of, surrounding the body of someone with an illness with the intention of assisting them in their healing process.

It may be difficult to do these visualizations at first, but that is normal. Just continue your practice and when you notice that you mind has slipped off onto another topic or worry bring it back. Don’t judge yourself. Just resume the visualization wherever it was you left off. You should also notice what topic your mind went to and later contemplate why it seemed so important as to disturb your short period of practice. Remind yourself that you have put aside only fifteen or thirty minutes or so for your practice, and for that short period of time these other thoughts will just have to wait, you can think about them later if they really do require your attention.

This is something you are doing to help yourself, those other thoughts can wait!

Repetition of a Phrase or Word – By repeating a phrase or a word you can lift your energy and quickly build a deep grove of thought in your mind. It also occupies your mind such that other negative thoughts are pushed out.

To help with stilling the mind and stopping all thought repeat, “Release. Let go.” Every time a stray thought or worry enters in, just go back to your phrase, “Release. Let go.” Do not judge the slip in concentration or worry that it ruined your practice. This can take you very deep and give you moments of a completely still mind. This is best done during the meditation phase of your practice and not the deep breathing phase. These other suggestions are intended for the deep breathing phase…

“I am One with God, I am One with All People Everywhere” This phrase is good for self-esteem and for reminding yourself that those others you look at and judge are really yourself.

For moving past road rage the phrase, “There is something I don’t understand about their driving, if I did I would have compassion instead of anger.” Or “Everyone has the right to use this road just the same as me.”

For safety and protection, “I am alert and aware of all hazards that come my way and easily move around them.” Or “I am safe and protected by an angel that guides me. My intuition tells me where to go and I am safe.”

To generate a feeling of love, “I love myself just the way I am. I love others just the way they are.”

So the point is to repeat these or other useful phrases over and over again until they become automatic, until you find yourself repeating them at other times during the day. Repeat them during your five to ten minutes of deep breathing exercises to keep your mind focused in a positive way.

Focused Concentration on a Specific Part of Your Body – By concentrating on a specific part of your own body you send extra energy to it. Also you occupy your mind such that other negative thoughts are pushed out.

Along with your focused attention on your body, you can repeat a healing phrase, or you can visualize white light or another healing color.

Focus on your heart chakra or your third eye chakra during the meditation phase of your practice while you attempt to still your mind and repeat the phrase, “Release. Let go.”

Putting it all Together as a Practice

Start with five to ten minutes of deep breathing exercises while doing one specific visualization or while repeating a one specific phrase. This will cause you to gather energy and do significant healing work on your own body. This will also cause you to go deeper in preparation for a deep meditation.

Then for another five to fifteen minutes attempt to still your mind. Cease the deep breathing during this time and let your breath become calm, shallow and regular. Focus your attention on either your heart chakra or your third eye chakra and repeat the phrase, “Release. Let go.”

I have given you many suggestions for each part of the practice. Choose only one way of doing it for one meditation session. Rotate these suggestions and try different techniques. It is ideal to do two sessions each day. One in the morning before beginning your day is essential. A second session later in the day will help too. It is not necessary to do these exercises for long periods of time unless you are feeling really into it and enjoying it so much that you do not want to stop. But do them daily and you will receive results.

Clarifying Comments are Welcome

Comments from your own experience will help others who read this blog so please feel free to comment! Also ask specific questions if you don’t understand something. I and my other enlightened friends are happy to answer them.

Good luck and happy practicing!

Love and Blessings,
Michael Skowronski
Author of Unforgettable: A Love and Spiritual Growth Story

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