Simple Yoga Techniques

1) Watch your Thoughts (Mind control)

2) Watch your Breadth (Improves health and memory)

3) Tratak (Improves concentration and will power)

Lay the foundation of right conduct, postures, regulation of breath and abstraction to start with. The superstructure of concentration and meditation will be successful then only.

AWARENESS PRACTICE

steady sitting posture.

close your eyes or gaze softly downwards

BREATHING PRACTICE

Inhale through both the nostrils slowly and gently (as long as you can do it with comfort). Do not retain the breath. Then exhale slowly. Do 12 times. This will constitute one round. 

You can do 2 or 3 rounds according to your capacity and strength and time at your disposal. Take rest for few minutes when one round is over. 

Instructions : Inhale and exhale slowly as much as you can do. Awareness on breadth

Do not make any sound when you inhale and exhale. Remember that correct breathing is noiseless.

In the beginning, do not retain the breath after inhalation. When the process of inhalation is over begin exhalation at once. When you have sufficiently advanced in your practice, you can slowly retain the breath from five seconds to one minute according to your capacity.

you can take a little rest, 'Respiratory pause'-by taking a few normal breaths when needed. 

WATCH YOUR BREADTH (IMPROVES HEALTH, MEMORY, CONCENTRATION )

• Sit calm without thinking for a minute
• Close your eyes or gaze softly downwards
• Focus your entire attention on stomach movement *(rising and falling) label or make mental note as "raising" and "falling"
• you can also keep your hand on the stomach to feel the stomach movement if needed
• Dont try to control, change or regulate  just watch

focus the mind on the abdominal movement and observe the outward movement and inward movement of the body, making a mental note: rising, falling. When the abdomen rises you note rising; when the abdomen falls you notice falling. You must not pay any attention to the form of the abdomen. What you should perceive is the pressure of the rising movement and the falling movement. Whenever the rising movement is distinct you should note it rising. When the falling is pronounced you note it falling. In the beginning of the practise you need to label such as rising, falling, sitting, touching and so on. You have to make a mental note. Because for the beginner labeling or mental noting helps him to focus the mind on the object very precisely and closely. So in the beginning of the practise you need to label or make a mental note such as rising, falling, rising, falling.

As you have meditated say about four or five days then the rise and fall of the abdominal movement will become clearer and clearer, more and more distinct to your mind. So in the beginning of this practise, not satisfied with your noting of the abdominal movement, you must not breathe in deeply or vigorously or quickly. Breathing must be normal. Note as much as it is distinct to your mind.

WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS (CONTROLLING MIND)

Sit alone and watch the Vrittis (thought-waves) of the mind. Be indifferent. Remain as a Sakshi (witness). Don't identify yourself with the Vrittis. The mind will then be under your control.

TRATAK (steady gazing)

Trataka is steady gazing. Write the word OM in black on the wall. Sit in front of the drawing. Concentrate on it with open eyes till tears come in the eyes. Then close the eyes. Visualise the picture of OM. Then open the eyes and again gaze till lachrymation manifests. Gradually increase the period.

You can do Trataka on any picture of the Lord either of Krishna, Rama or Siva or on Saligram. You can sit in the chair and gaze at the picture on the wall in front of your eyes. Trataka is the alphabet of concentration. It is the first exercise for Yogic students in concentration.

Trataka with open eyes is followed by visualisation. Visualisation is calling up of a clear mental image of anything. Trataka and visualisation do help a lot in concentration.

Practise Trataka for one minute on the first day. Then gradually increase the period every week. Do not strain the eyes. Do it gently with ease and comfort, as long as you can conveniently do. Repeat your Ishta Mantra, Hari Om, Sri Rama or Gayatri during Trataka. In some people who have weak capillaries, the eyes may become red. They need not be alarmed unnecessarily. The redness of the eyes will pass off quickly. Practise Trataka for six months. Then you can take up advanced lessons in concentration and meditation. Be regular and systematic in your Sadhana. If there is a break, take up the deficiency or loss on the next day. Trataka removes many eye-diseases and ultimately brings in Siddhis.

Gaze steadily without winking with a concentrated mind at any small object, until tears begin to flow. By this practice all diseases of the eye are removed. Unsteadiness of the mind vanishes. Sambhavi Siddhi is obtained. Will-power is developed. Clairvoyance is induced.

NASAL GAZE (Develops Concentration)

Sit in lotus-pose (Padmasana) with crossed legs. Fix the gaze on the tip of the nose. This is called the nasal gaze. Do not make any violent effort. Gently look at the tip of the nose. Practise for one minute in the beginning. Gradually increase the time to half an hour or more. This practice steadies the mind. It develops the power of concentration. 

JAPA

Japa of any Mantra and Upasana (worship of God) destroy the impurities of the mind, makes the mind inwards, induce Vairagya, help concentration and eventually lead to control of mind and attainment of God-consciousness.

Destroy evil habits by establishing new good habits. Control the lower instinctive mind through the higher Sattvic mind.

Constant selfless service with Atma-Bhava is highly efficacious in purifying and controlling the mind.

Don't wrestle or struggle with the mind. Be regular in your concentration and meditation.

Deerga Ajaba Japa with Beeja Mantra - 

Focus on your normal breathing as you inhale and exhale or while normal breathing 

you can also focus on the word Om in your mind during inhale.

you can also focus on the word Hreem in your mind during exhale.

Rhythmical Breathing - 

If the units of exhalation and inhalation are the same, you will have rhythmical breathing. If you inhale till you count 6 OMs, exhale also till you count 6 OMs. This is breathing in and out in a measured manner. This will harmonise the whole system. This will harmonise the physical body, mind, Indriyas and will soothe the tired nerves. You will experience full repose and calmness. All the bubbling emotions will subside and the surging impulses will calm down.

If you always look into the faults of others, you will actually imbibe those faults byconstantly thinking of them. Always look into the bright side of a man. Ignore hisdefects. Hatred will vanish. Love will increase.

Faultfinding, cavilling and scandalmongering are defects. Defects and weaknesses aretwo distinct qualities. Anger is a defect. Tea-habit is a weakness. To be over-sentimentalis a weakness. Both defects and weaknesses should be removed by substituting the oppositevirtues.

The prana usually moves towards objects, and therefore, we feel weak in our system. This is why people with strong sense desires cannot be successful in the practice of pranayama. Where the mind is, there the prana also is. And where is the mind? You can yourself imagine. The mind is always outside somewhere, in some object, in some person, in some thing, some problem, and some business that is to be executed outside in the world. The prana is immediately jetted forth, splashed out by the force of the mind in the direction of the object that the mind contemplates

If you are careless in getting down through the steps of a stair-case, you will fall down and break your bones. If you are careless when you walk in the busy parts of a city, you will be crushed by the motor-car. If you are careless when you purchase a ticket at the Railway Station, you will lose your money-purse. If you are careless in dispensing mixtures you will kill the patients by giving a poison or a wrong medicine or administering a medicine in overdoses. Even so, when you practise Pranayama and other Yogic exercises you will have to be careful about your diet. You should avoid overeating; you should take light, easily digestible and nutritious food. You should not go beyond your capacity in retaining the breath, you should first practise inhalation and exhalation only (without retention of breath) for one or two months. You should gradually increase the ratio from 1:4:2 to 16:64:32, You should exhale very very slowly. If these rules are observed, there will be no danger at all in the practice of Pranayama and other Yogic exercises.

Deep breathing is the foundation of breath focus, which is quite simple to do.

Find a comfortable, quiet place to sit or lie down. Start by noting the difference between breathing normally and breathing deeply. First take a normal breath. Now try a deep, slow breath. The air coming in through your nose should move downward into your lower belly. Let your abdomen expand fully. Now breathe out through your mouth (or your nose, if that feels more natural). Alternate normal and deep breaths several times. Pay attention to how you feel when you inhale and exhale normally and when you breathe deeply. Shallow breathing often feels tense and constricted, while deep breathing produces relaxation.

===============================

If you are not powerful to protect yourself, vicious thoughts of others will affect you, when

you live with them in the same room. Create a protective magnetic aura around you. Feel and

imagine that a protective shell has been actually formed around your body. Practise Pranayama and

meditation regularly. No wrong vibrations from without can affect you. Your body and mind will

be proof against undesirable vibrations.

This is the way to develop a protecting auric shell: Sit at ease. Retain the breath for a half or

one minute. Imagine that you are surrounded by a shell of thought-aura to a distance of 2 or 3 feet

from the body on all sides. Form a clear mental image. Repeat this process 10 to 15 times. Repeat

OM mentally, when you retain the breath.