Downward Facing Blog

How and where meditation fits inside of the eight limbs of yoga practice

Meditation builds upon the preceding 6 limbs of yoga as a simple, natural state of mind.

1. Adherence to social disciplines (yama)
2. Following personal discipline (niyama)
3. Yoga posture (asana)
4. Yogic breathing (pranayama)
5. Pulling the mind inwards (pratyahara)
6. Concentration at a single point (dharana)
7. Keep that single point of concentration for an extended period of time (12 breaths) (meditation/dhyana) (the 8th and final stage is Samadhi, but that’s for later)

Being the rebellious sort that I am, I always used to bristle when religion or social mores dictated “thou shalts” such as the yamas and niyamas. Although it took a few years, I see that the function they serve is really for your own evolution. This isn’t a discussion of the eight limbs of yoga per se, but to reach higher states of mind without morality as a foundation is, as yoga researcher Georg Feurstein said, “an impossibility”.

Briefly put; if you harm others through violence, telling lies, or stealing (there’s more infractions of course) your deep mind registers it, and it becomes a piece of luggage you haul around throughout your lives. You know how we talk about “emotional baggage”? Think of that on a cosmic scale, that is, luggage that you carry from the last life to this one and to the next and so on.

Are you tired yet?

Lighter is better.

Here’s the good news. Dosing yourself in Samadhi burns up the luggage. You get lighter, and lighter every time you meditate. Instead of being bound by limitations, ie; karma, you have choice and lightness of being.

Starting right away though is perfectly acceptable however. There’s a great video about the application of Vipassana meditation in Indian prisons and the overall effectiveness it has in creating positive transformation in the most hardened of criminals.
(if you do yoga with me in Bangkok, let me know and I’ll loan you the original)
So let’s start with yoga posture (asana) as your beginning point for meditation. THAT is the original point for doing yoga asana, to make it possible for the body to sit properly. There are so many examples in art to copy from, just like Lord Shiva:

Once you are in a suitable seated yoga posture, begin your pranayama technique, like the prana vidya exercises, or nadi shodana, or one of many others. Keep the practice for about 15 minutes, you’ll notice that the mind has a swirling luminous quality which is likely to be prana circulating in the headspace.

Then withdraw the mind from the limbs, and the senses pulling the mind to the roof of your mouth to practice Shambhavi Mudra- a technique to pull the mind inwards (Pratyahara).

Once the mind is introverted, bring up something to concentrate upon, say a mantra or a color, or a shape (yantra), or simply, your natural flow of inhalation and exhalation. Train your mind to continually come to that object again and again and again… until you feel your consciousness has merged with whatever it is you are focusing upon. A good place to start is with a short bija mantra such as OM or HREEM.

That is meditation. Built from the bottom up with the right foundations.

Om, OM on the range… Adrian Cox

PS: I’m teaching these very subjects at yoga elements studio in bangkok in focus classes at elements in March,
as well as Peter Seidler teaching Shamata meditation (Sundays at 11:30AM)
and Maxim is teaching Kashmir Shaivism(Fridays 5:45PM)- which are all the way to go if you want to learn more and more about yoga and meditation. I look forward to seeing you! Namaste