Spiritual growth takes a lot of energy. The yogi is trying to conserve energy, create more energy, and direct life force towards higher goals. Meditation can make us much more efficient. The time we devote to meditation is paid back many times over. The importance of being aware enough to see what is really going on can’t be overstated. A lot of time and effort can be squandered when viewing reality from a diminished perspective.
weight loss through yoga
You are being let in on a big secret. This shouldn’t be a secret, but it is: ‘enlightened’ and ‘relaxed’ mean the same thing. They are synonymous. We are easing into liberation of the full expression of ‘Self’. If you had the capacity to fully let go, you would literally fall into the full perfect expression of your being. Since enlightenment is so infrequent, the ability to completely relax appears to be very rare.
Asana is helping us to be at ease in our bodies so the body is no longer a distraction. Pranayama is helping create the necessary energy and balance. Now we can start to relax. We can meditate.
MEDITATION —weight loss through yoga, page 101
Awareness is amplified. Meditation allows us to bathe in the growing awareness. It allows us to relax enough to feel the body, to
yoga meditation — weight loss through yoga
observe the workings of the mind, and be aware of the increasing joy immersing our spirit. The opportunity to meditate should be anticipated with gladness. It is a chance to place everything in proper perspective. Not only is the chatter of the mind stilled, the issues which capture your attention are appreciated for their real significance. It is like reshuffling a deck of cards to deal yourself the perfect hand.
The natural result of the meditation suggested with this teaching is that the total being comes into a healthy balance and obstructions to the flow of life force energy are cleared. As a result, the body is able to correct irregularities such as excess weight, as it is no longer obstructed from its optimum expression.
weight loss through yoga
When this happens, the natural result is spiritual growth. There are no distinct borders where the body ends and the mind starts, the mind ends and the spirit begins. For the approach to work, it must be holistic, working at all levels at the same time.
Meditation can take many forms. Indeed, each time you meditate it is original, even if you employ a technique again and again. As we practice meditation, our meditation evolves. There are many ways to meditate. The technique employed with this teaching is an efficient method of accomplishing the goals set forth in the teaching. You are encouraged to try other techniques and experience what they have to offer.
weight loss through yoga
The natural result ot the meditation suggested with this teaching is that the total being comes into healthy balance and obstructions to the flow of life force energy are cleared. As a result, the body is able to correct irregularities such as excess weight, as it is no longer obstructed from its optimum expression.
Our Meditation starts with focusing on the perineum, that part of the body between the legs, from the anus to one’s sex. This has a stimulating effect and can be very pleasurable. It is the beginning of the arousal of apana. The meditator is asked to envision, seeing with the mind’s eye, or third eye, the area as a deep dark brown, almost black, like rich fertile top soil. With our focus on the perineum, we are being grounded. Feel through the bottoms of he legs and buttocks to the ground below.
GROUNDED
The meditator is being grounded to the earth, one of the five material elements that combine to structure reality on the physical plane: earth, water, fire, air, and space. Grounding links one with the core of the mother planet, Earth. This grounding is everything that supports the meditator, and all that composes him or her at this precise moment in time. Past incarnations, family and cultural history, genetic makeup, environment, and life experience are all realized in this point of focus. This isn’t a thought process. It just is.
LOTUS
From the conclusion of the meditation with the Morning Ritual presented as a way to start each day to receive the benefits offered in the introductory chapters of Weight loss Through Yoga, Jewel in the Lotus:
After eight exhales, inhales and pauses, consciousness floats above the head and the attention is focused on a beautiful THOUSAND PETAL LOTUS (water lilly) that is so strikingly pure white, it radiates all the colors of the spectrum.
Do a final eight cycles of pranayama. Realize the lotus starts in the mud at the bottom of the pond, grows up through the muddy water to the surface and opens, a beautiful unblemished white, basking in the sun.
A Thousand White Petal Lotus so pure and brilliant-it shines with all the colors of the spectrum-Weight Loss Through Yoga, Jewel in the Lotus
Breathe normally and swing the arms overhead in a wide arc.
Bring the palms together capturing the purity. [Photo 22] Capture the radiant white in your palms.
Then slowly pull your hands down to rest on the crown of the head. [Photo 23] The radiant white mixes with the ultra violet. The elbows extend wide.
To have instruction on completing the entire Morning Ritual, see Weight Loss Through Yoga, Jewel in the Lotus. Chapter 3, pages 37 through 42.
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