Week 1: Readings & Exercises
All readings and exercises are taken from Meditation: Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction, a collection of hundreds of extemporaneous talks and answers to questions by Sri Chinmoy, given over the past thirty-five years. Interspersed are some of his inspirational poems and aphorisms.
Meditation: Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction can also be obtained from Heart-Light Distributors, a leading source for the books and music of Sri Chinmoy.
Readings
- Read Chapters 1-3 from Meditation by Sri Chinmoy.
- Pay particular attention to Some basic techniques,
- Chapter 2, pages 12-13, and Chapter 3, pages 19-24.
Exercises
Keep your practice simple and focused on one or two key breathing exercises this week. With regular practice the qualities you at first imagine will become reality‚ - you will begin to feel more peace, more awareness, and more tranquility in your meditation and throughout the day.
Work with these simple exercises until you feel familiar with them. In the begin-ning it may seem like a struggle, but don't be discouraged! Like learning to ride a bicycle, you are bound to fall a few times in the beginning. But with regular practice, within a short while you will be able to meditate with ease.
Recommended Exercises
- Chapter 3, exercises 1-4, pages 22-24 (10-15 min)
- Ensure you won’t be disturbed, and then sit comfortably at your meditation place with your back straight. Light the candle and some incense, and play the meditation tape softly.
- Try to feel that for these few minutes, you have entered into a sacred space, a heart-haven where the worries of life cannot enter.
- (2 min) Practice breathing exercise 1.
- (5 min) Now try exercise 2, in which you focus on making your breath as calm and gentle as possible. Let the coming and going of the breath be your only reality; feel that nothing else is important or even exists. All of your awareness should be absorbed in your still, calm breath—let everything else fall away.
As your breath be-comes calm, you may notice that your mind becomes quiet and a feeling of peace and tranquility envelops your being.
- (5 min) Now move on to exercise 3. Breathe in the qualities of purity, peace, power, and joy. If you wish, breathe out the opposite qualities as well.
- (3 min) End your meditation by breathing in cosmic energy as described in exercise 4.
- Remember to log your meditation in the journal!
Do you want to be happy?
Then make your life as soulfully simple
As sleeplessly breathing.
- Sri Chinmoy
Optional Exercises
- Chapter 2, exercises 1-3, pages 14-16 (10-15 min)
- Towards the end of the week, you may want to add these exercises before the recommended breathing exercises.
- Chapter 3, exercises 5-7, pages 24-26 (10-15 min)
- If you are feeling good about your progress with the recommended exercises, you can explore a little further with exercises 5-7.