This month our Moving into Meditation class continues study of the Yoga Ethic of Saucha. Saucha inspires us to cultivate clarity, light, purity and simplicity. Today we explored these qualities inspired by the beautiful poem, Core, written by Kerrie O’Brien and Yoga scholar, Rolf Sovik’s essay: The Gayatri Mantra: Awakening to the Sun.
You can find a tutorial that will help you learn the Gayatri mantra embedded in Rolf’s article.
Guided Relaxation
Welcome. . . . and relax. . . . sensing each passing moment . . . the state of mind, your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. Let your mind land on breathing . . . feeling breathing . . . . . . currents . . . pulses . . . glimmerings . . . expanding . . . relaxing . . .
. . . you need to be very still . . . to hear the concert of your body . . . . . .
. . . you need to be very still . . . to think about what you contain . . .
salt and water . . .
. . . salt and water . . . knows what it’s doing . . . renewing itself . . . back to earth
. . . renewing itself back to earth . . . it is a quiet thing . . . . . .
this is where our riches are . . . we are all red inside . . . brimming with love . . .
. . . brimming with love . . . all fluid and quiet and fire. . . . . [adapted from Kerrie O’Brien]
Let your being renew itself back to earth . . . In the quiet . . . experience riches of fluid and quiet and fire . . . brimming with love . . . Brimming love fueling the energy pulsating, vibrating your aliveness . . . its most subtle manifestations in emotion . . . in thought . . . in pure awareness . . . essential . . . primordial . . .
We come together in the practice of Sandhya the ancient meditation performed at the junctures of day and night. A time in which we infuse our lives with a sense of devotion . . . in this early morning light . . . illuminating like the sun shining for all . . . Like the yogic principle of Saucha Sandhya meditation purifies, enlightens and nourishes the mind . . . experience the light of your awareness . . .
The spark of inspiration that brings you to practice . . . that awakens you . . . again and again.
Yoga scholar, teacher and writer Rolf Sovik writes:
“. . . just as a first view of the ocean awakens in us a sense of wonder at the apparent limitlessness of the earth’s waters, so with every dawn and dusk, every birth and death, the mind overflows momentarily with wonder at the unseen whole.”
He explains how this practice has it’s origins in the Vedas – the oldest of sacred txts dating back somewhere between 1700-1100 BC. These texts use the sun as a symbol for the power of illumination and the light in the cosmos and intelligence within the human personality. Sandhya meditation is often practiced with the Gayatri mantra which is an invocation of the infinite light of pure consciousness.
The Gayatri as a prayer is a petition to tat (that) which is the infinite light of pure consciousness. Rolf explains:
“ . . . The Vedas tell us that pure consciousness, which dwells in the highest heaven (and thereby pervades all), is also that which dwells in every human being. Consciousness is the light of awareness:
Now, the light which shines above in heaven, pervading all the spaces, pervading everywhere, both below and in the farthest reaches of the worlds—this indeed is that same light which shines within man.
—(Chhandogya Upanishad 3.13.7)”
The Gayatri Mantra reads:
Om bhur, bhuvah, svah
tat savitur varenyam
bhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Let the earth, the entire world and the heavens be enlightened by the brilliant supreme light of the Sun. May that light inspire the innermost thoughts of our hearts.
We can reflect on how the light of life inspires our being – our bodies, hearts and minds . . . we can open our selves up to inner clarity and intuitive awareness . . . we can be able to recognize and willing to receive guidance . . .
With this orientation we can enter the experience of our day . . . fully meeting each moment as a friend . . . a teacher . . .
Sandhya Meditation
Let’s use energy of mantra to kindle this luminous goodness. Let’s bring ourselves upright. Return to feeling relaxed breathing . . . calm and focus your mind . . . Now visualize a golden, sunlike orb, and bring that golden light into yourself. Let it enter at the eyebrow center, and then have this light travel slowly down to the region at the center of the chest. There, feel the golden rays of the sun spreading out through your whole body and mind.
Now, at the center of this golden orb, which rests at the anahata chakra (heart center), feel your body, your heart and your mind illumined with light. Let if fill the space of your entire being.
May this light brighten our inner clarity . . . OM
May this light enable us to see the world more clearly . . . OM
May this light shine through our ignorance . . . OM
May this light deepen our compassion . . . OM
Pranayama
Alternate nostril breathing in the light. Focus on deepening compassion as you inhale through the left nostril (the Ida Nadi) and enhancing clarity as you inhale through the right nostril (the Pingala Nadi).
Sharing
One of our students shared the deeply meaningful experience she has while looking directly into another’s face in talking. My teacher, Michael Stone, once shared that one of the greatest gifts we make is “giving someone our face.” Thank you for bringing your faces to practice today!
Gassho