In order to summarize the techniques of meditation one must first know that meditation cannot be taught, only practiced regularly and whole hearted-ly. The first step in maintaining a personal practice is creating a space and a regular time to sit quietly for at least 20 minutes each day.  Once a comfortable and peaceful space is found, sit straight, spine aligned both knees balanced, comfortably in any cross leg position, or in a chair.  Now breath deeply, inhaling for 3 or 4 counts. And exhaling rhythmically.  Next, focus energy on the heart center if your personality is one of the feeling nature, or if your an intellectual type, it's recommended that you focus on  space between the eyebrows. If your nature is very visual, you may find it easier to focus on an object like a candle or a mandala.  The important thing is to keep this practice constant.  Always use the same mantra.  Inhale Om. Exhale Om. Focus on the spaces between your thoughts, and the spaces at the bottom or the top of the breath.      The purpose of meditation is: to calm the mind, and clear so that the motives become peaceful ultimately leading to intuition, wisdom and peace. The Ultimate objective is to reach Samadhi: the super conscious state where the knower, knowledge and the known become one.

Pranayama  Pranayama is the practice of controlling your energy by controlling your breath.  Prana is the soul of yoga. These techniques helps to strengthen the lungs and balance the nervous and pranic system. The exercises also help to influence the flow of Prana (Chi/Ki Biplasmic) in the nadis (meridians), which purifies, regulates and thereby induces physical and mental stability. This releases trapped energy and induces feelings of creativity and well being. Kamala Devi teaches a Pranayama Workshop (3 hours) which focuses on the more advanced, controlled yogic breathing.  We discuss what Pranayama is, how it affects the energetic body, and then we will experiment with several Pranayamic breaths.  We control the breath in order to set it free.  We review the anatomy of breathing and learn the three phases of breathing.  We practice several types of Pranayama to discover how the breath links the body and the mind. We will also introduce the three bandhas. This workshop provides both theory and practice to teach you how to set up an invigorating and healing breathing routine.

ASHTANGA yoga- 8 limbs Patanjali, the father of yoga, organized the yoga sutras approximately 200 b. c  The goal of Raja yoga is to clean impurities of the mind and body so that the spirit can be realized. Raja Yogi's believe that the body is just a manifestation of mind.  The following 8 limbs are the systematic steps towards self realization called ashtanga     1. Yamas- restraints or ethics or abstinences which purify the mind/body/spirit when practiced in thought, speech and action.         a) Ashimsa: non-violence, practice love towards all beings.        b) Satya: truthfulness in word, thought and deed. Congruence in what you say and do.        c) Brahmacharya: moderation in all things. For non tantrikas this translates to sublimation of the sexual energy.       d) Asteya: non-stealing, no jellousy or covetessness       e) Aparigraha: non-possessiveness, not accepting gifts or bribes.

2. Niyamas-Observances         a) Saucha- purity, cleansing of outside as well as inside.              b) Santosha- contentment, being happy with what comes to you.          c)Tapas- austerity such as fasting, silence, sleeping on foor, etc.         d) Swadhyaya-study of all religious scriptures.         e) Ishwara-pranidhana- practice of surrender to constant divine presence 3. Asanas- Means steady poses. Patanjali says asana is mastered by releasing all effort and holding a posture for 3 hours and contemplating the infinite. On a more practical note he also says that through practicing steady pleasant postures your mind will stay balanced through pairs of opposites in daily life. Often Asanas are divided into two categories:      b) cultural poses like headstand, plough, fish etc.      c) meditative poses like lotus, yoga mudras. 4. Pranayama- practices to cleanse the nadis. Or subtle energy tubes.  Tuning mind inward and breathing moving prana with concentration, inhalation, exhalation and retention (see Below.) 5. Pratyhara- Sensory withdrawal from objects for meditation.  This should be practiced in a still space.  (Such as a floatation tank.) 6. Dharana- Un-broken flow of concentration towards god to the exclusion of everything else. Dharana is practiced when focus is held for at least 12 un-interupted seconds.  Aspirant can be focused on internal point like chakra or external point like candle. 7. Dhyana-meditiaon is unbroken concentration on the infinite for at least 144 seconds must be practiced regularly. 8. Samadhi- the goal of all yogic practices to reach this superconscious state where the knower, knowledge and known become one. . . in this state, the aspirant transcends the illusion of time and space.  This is absolute realization.

What is Mantra? Divine energy encased in a sound. Mantra is god's name. Rhythmical repetition is Japa. A Bija is seed mantra or a one syllable mantra with essence of Mantra encased in it. The most profound and universal bija is: OM  This is the sound of creation world and language are interrelated.  It is sounded in three parts: AUM. A is the gross material universe, U is the astral plane and M represents the experience above and beyond the mind. Where there is no duality.  Om can be used before you're initiated into a personalized mantra.   When we use a mantra it's a vehicle to the transcendantal state beyond the mind itself. Kamala Devi gives mantra initiation to sincere practitioners who are ready to take their meditation practice to the next level. Om Mani Padme Hum = The jewel within the lotus. May all beings be free from the cause of suffering.  For More details on tantric Gods and Goddesses click here.

Lady Kundalini Kundalini is a magical force of powerful energy laying dormant at the base of our spine.  It is the ever-abundant healing source of creativity & inspiration. It is directly linked to the sexual aspect of your being that makes you dance, sing & moves you to the point of orgasm.  It is a dynamic energy, an awesome & powerful expression of pure pleasure, that is always (I repeat) always, available.  It is the eternally fresh, new & wild source of Consciousness.  It is the one source that contains 100% Pure Love that energizes, excites & heals your body everyday.

"Kamala Devi is not simply a yoga instructor. She is a mentor and a motivator with an incredible practical and intuitive knowledge of the human body and spirit. Kamala customizes her teachings to her students to utilize yoga to improve strength, flexibility or as a way to relax and distress from life's pressures. Kamala connects with each student and treats each one of them as a prodigy. She teaches her students that yoga is not a series of poses or exercises. Rather, it is a pathway to allow your body and mind to express its full potential in unison and rhythm. I travel across the country for her instructions." --Professor John.

Other Mediations:  Never let go of a subtle sound      This practice is easy to do for short periods of about 1-2 minutes. But when done this way, it does nothing but increases clarity.  To break through delusion, strength must be held onto the sound.  But the key is not time, it is intensity.  The more intense this practice is done, the clearer & clearer sound will become. Until there is nothing but the sound.  In reality, there is not time, only change.  It is in our absence of reality that we perceive time.  This practice will helps to see this.     Find the place before sound begins      This is a good practice to help increase “short-burst” concentration. This practice should be done in 15 minute increments.   It requires strong determination. Conceptually speaking, all sound begins at a certain place and a certain time. There is a place where it has not yet begun.  The practice involves using a steady sound as a bridge to find the place before all sound.   And the best sound to utilize is trickling water.  Do not listen to the razor’s edge of when the trickling water hits the water pool, but find the place before that sound starts beginning.  This practice requires a lot of strength.   The trick is not letting go of concentration. Losing concentration for a billa-second, will interupt experience. There is no "knowing" of where sound begins, this can only be experienced. No one can "know" it, science cannot confirm it, and very few have witnessed it.     Never let go of the breath      Our breath is always with us.  It is a (hopefully) reliable constant. This practice will hold its hands out and show how the conceptual mind operates.  It is an indispensable practice that requires nothing but the breath.  The trick is to JUST FOCUS BREATH. The reason there's no "THE" in just focus breath is because "THE" is extraneous. This practice throws out ALL the extraneous! Even "JUST FOCUS" is too much, it really should only be "BREATH"... Saying it's too hard to do is not JUST FOCUSING BREATH. There is no "easy" or "hard" in this practice. Only the breath. What sorrow and strife does the breath have?     No-self      Some practices don’t utilize our minds.  Instead they are reality themselves.  This is a very “expert” practice.  Although it can be done at any level.  Of course without any insight, this practice is a waste.  This practice seeks nothing.  It is merely what the title implies. Dharma is Dharma     Label the thoughts      A very powerful practice.  It reveals inhabitions, thoughts, and ideas that even we do not recognize.  The trick is that EVERY thought that appears, repeat it.  There can be no missing of a thoughtS no place where they can hide.  Repeat them all.  For a while, thoughts will appear about labeling thoughts. Then thoughts may occur like “I can’t do this”.  But those thoughts cannot be retreated into. Persist on.  Repeat them and continue the practice.  The amount of reward is literally equivalent to the effort of practice.  This is also an easy practice to do in day-to-day life. Shikantaza Just Sitting.. Nothing else, nothing more could be. This is the great pinnacle of practice. There must be great strength aquired prior to beginning this practice. This practice is neither intense focus nor distraction. It is just being, however there is NO understanding that being. When practicing, the mind (attention) should be placed in the palm of your left hand and kept there. You WILL NOT aquire anything with this practice, and if you look for anything more than your attention being in the palm of your hand, you will not be practicing it. You will never know if you are practicing correctly. It requires great strength and faith. One thought about doing it right or wrong, and you are not practicing it. Simply focus your mind in the palm of your hand.. that's all. That's really all.. Sound simple? It should be. Simply don't involve yourself in trying.. just do it.   Daily practice      It’s not what we do.  It’s what we don’t do.  This is very important to remember.  Although throughout our daily lives we may not be able to walk through the grocery store following our breath..  We can at least not delve into our fantasies.  This requires a subtle concentration but when consistently done, it will continue to change open up life.  Just do not retreat into fantasies.  “She wronged me”, “I don’t like my job”S etc.. When we find ourselves caught in these patterns of thinkingSBREAK FREE!!!  Not too easy sometimes.. but when we do it once, it’s easier next time..   Until eventually,  delusion will start to break up..

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Kamala Devi is the author of Don't Drink the Punch, a public speaker, and a life coach leading individuals towards success and self-realization. To Schedule a coaching session visit: www.blisscoach.com To read samples of her tantra book visit: www.DontDrinkthePunch.com

Kamala Devi is the author of Don't Drink the Punch, Sacred Sexual Healing and a life coach leading people Toward Success & Self Realization!  To Register for an event, or for more info. please contact: Kamala@Blisscoach.com or call 858-272-2254 M-TH 10am-6pm PST Zendow, Inc. Copyright 2008