Skip to main content

AH AHA AHOO Meditation in Daily Life

Hold the hands in a very prayerful mood and start a mantra ‘Ah… ah… ah’, loudly, but not very loudly. And move with that ‘Ah… ah… ah’; move with it. Do it for just five to seven minutes not more than that. Just before you go to sleep, sit in your bed and just bring the energy out.

Move very slowly, very gracefully; don’t become violent. That’s why I am saying not more than five or seven minutes, because if you do it more, you will become more and more agitated, and then the prayer will be lost.

After seven days, be in the same posture but change the sound ‘Ah’ to ‘Aha’. That will go still deeper — ‘Aha… aha… aha’. After fifteen days tell me how you are feeling. First ‘Ah’ for seven days, and the ‘Aha’ for seven days. The sound ‘Aha’ can give tremendous grace.

God happens as an ‘Aha’ experience. God is not a proposition but an exclamation. So you start. The energy is going very well. Prayer will be helpful… and this is your prayer, nothing else.

” After five minutes of saying ‘ah!’ then a further five minutes of saying ‘aha!’, add a further five minutes of ‘ahoo!’, saying …

The English language is acquainted with the two — ‘ah!’ and ‘aha!’ ‘Ahoo’ is not part of the English language, but that is the third step in the same series of sounds. It is a state of gratitude, of thanksgiving. ‘Ah’ creates silence, ‘Aha!’ creates joy, and ‘Ahoo’ starts giving thanks and expressing gratitude.

Use the same incense every night. That enters into your bio-memory and it starts triggering things. So just burn the same incense every night, and never bum that incense at other times, otherwise you will lose track. Let it be associated only with this meditation.

Source: ” Dance your way to God, Chapter 18 ” – Osho

Kundalini Kriya Yoga – Upward Love Energy Transformation

Kriya Yoga deals with the highest evolution of human. It deals with the finest form of love energy transformation. There is no secret in Kriya yoga. There are five important techniques, namely;
Nabhi Kriya, Spinal Breathing, Maha Mudra Exercise, Yoni Mudra and 3rd Eye Meditation.
You need to practice them regularly in a very very relax manner.

The upward and downward japa along the spine generates tremendous Love and the whole spine is spiritually magnetized. The Yogi becomes Love energy. The Sushumna channel in the spinal cord is the highway through which the Kundalini energy travels and the evolution of consciousness takes place. Kundalini is the Kinetic Energy remaining after the completion of the Universe. This residual bioelectric force lies as light/sound vibrations at the root of the spinal cord. To avail of it for one’s own evolution and realization is the birthright of every human soul.

In Kriya Yoga, Don’t be in a hurry, because if you are in a hurry you will have a lot of worries.

Never practise all the kriyas all together. In the past many people might say they have practised a number of kriyas at the same time. However, from more experiences and understanding of the kriya system, you should never practise all the kriyas together because it will be too powerful, too strong. Rather, combine them with the normal practices of asana and pranayama, concentration and relaxation.

Initailly, do the normal meditation. Then at the end add one or two kriyas to the daily practice. Practise the first three kriyas for one week. In the second week practice other two kriyas. In the third week combination of three kriyas.

Gradually go on building up your receptive ability, and at the same time balancing the awakening of energy with the normal sadhana practices.

Kriya Yoga Chakras
Kriya Yoga Chakras

Kriya Yoga in Daily Life

Kriya Yoga is the science of  balancing life energy effectively. Kriya yoga is having enormous healing effect.  Through its practice, the mind gets engrossed at the 3rd Eye, at the middle point between the eyebrows. It releases person from bondage.

1st Kriya:

Nabhi Kriya:

The yogi should mentally slowly chant ‘Om’ 15 times,  concentrating just below the navel.

The yogi should mentally chant ‘Om’ 25 times, concentrating on the back of the navel.

The yogi should mentally chant ‘Om’ 35 times, concentrating at the back of the neck.

2nd Kriya ::

The yogi should mentally chant ‘Om’ 15 times, along the imaginary tube of the spine, up and down.

The yogi should mentally chant ‘Om’ 35 times, concentrating on the point between the eyebrows.

3rd Kriya ::

Maha Mudra:  Alternatively sit on your one foot, and try to touch your other toe.

4th Kriya:

3rd Eye Meditation: Imagine a circular light in the forehead. Very slowly do pranava japa along the circumference of the circle.  Do this for few minutes and feel the sensations on the forehead and then feel the sensations on whole body.

Vipassana Yogi

A Vipassana Yogi is always gradual and gentle in everything. They have to make their changes of posture gradually and gently; only then will mindfulness, concentration and insight be perfect. When rising, the yogi must do so gently like a innocent child, at the same time noting as ‘rising, rising’. Not only this: though the eye sees, the yogi must note the act of seeing. Similarly when the ear hears. While meditating, the yogi’s concern is only to observe. What he sees and hears are not his concern. So whatever strange or striking things he may see or hear, he must behave as if he does not see or hear them, merely noting them carefully.

A vipassana Yogi observe the rising and falling of the abdomen, while breathing.

Vipassana was practiced in India, 3000 years back, before Gautama Buddha. It is a ancient art. Gautama Buddha rediscovered it.

Vipassana offers self transformation through self-observation. It uses focus and diligent awareness of the moment to moment present state of being that becomes a study of the flux and constant change in all things. This observation allows sharpened and incisive awareness to be built up around the process of thoughts, habits, judgements and sensations. That in turn allows experiential knowledge to enlighten and bring understanding to the suffering and injury that one inflicts on the self and thus cultivate equanimity.

Letting Go in Daily Life

Practicing letting go is the most important art of yoga and vipassana. How do you take the practice of nowness to the next level so as to see ultimate reality clearly? The answer is: by letting go of conventional knowledge temporarily, which includes letting go of memory. Not only memories from childhood, or yesterday, or one minute ago; not only the memory of our last breath.

In order to gain ultimate knowledge you have to give up, for a time, the labels and concepts of conventional knowledge. Some call this “beginner’s mind.” That means that in order to reach a high level of vipassana insight you must temporarily let go of the names for things, because naming is actually a very subtle form of remembering, a tiny reflex back to the past. But you don’t have to worry that anything will be lost— the memories and names will return as soon as you need them or as soon as you stop the period of intensive practice.

What does it mean to “let go of names”? In order to understand this, let’s take a look at the process of perception as described in Buddhist philosophy. The perceptual process has two parts. Say that you’re looking at a piano. At first you see an unidentified colored shape (this is the initial moment of contact with the object, to which we referred earlier). A split-second later the mind recognizes the name of the object, “piano.” Those two moments occur one right after the other, so quickly that in daily life they’re indistinguishable. But with strong mindfulness and insight it is possible to perceive the initial moment of bare seeing before memory comes up with the name.

The same stages of perception occur whenever you experience a sound, smell, taste or touch. Pure sound-waves are cognized first; in the next moment you recognize the sound. A fragrance is sensed before it is named. The same is true of touches, tastes, and mental phenomena.

The truth is, although you may have general mindfulness, whenever you recognize a sight, sound, etc., you cannot be said to be staying exactly in the present moment, to the highest degree possible. “If we could focus precisely on the present moment,” Achan Sobin wrote, “… the eye would not be able to identify objects coming into the area of perception. Sound, which merely has the function of entering the eardrum and causing it to vibrate, would not be concretized as speech or music, etc. In fact, it is possible to focus on the split-second between hearing sound and recognizing it in the conventional manner.” (Wayfaring: A Manual for Insight Meditation).

Although it may seem impossible to be clearly aware of a form before recognizing it, this event happens naturally during vipassana practice when mindfulness and insight are very strong. With experience in meditation you will not have to believe or disbelieve, because you will know this firsthand. To know a phenomenon with mindfulness before it is overlaid with concepts is to experience reality as it actually is, in its pristine state.

That does not mean that in daily life you will go around bumping into objects you don’t recognize. Again, conventional perception, along with all the names and concepts necessary for everyday functioning, will be there as soon as you need it. It can be accessed anytime.

But in regard to memory, someone might think, “I cherish my happy memories. Why should I give them up?” Again, your memories will not be permanently erased. You’ll be able to recall a certain event whenever you want to. But the more you train the mind to stay in the present moment, the more you’ll see that clinging to the past and living in the future actually cause suffering. Attachment to pleasant memories makes us long for something that is gone, and this longing is in itself painful. What disappears in vipassana practice are not the memories themselves, but the distress that comes from attaching to them.

 

Pranayama Breathing

Pranayama in Daily Life

Breath of Fire: Kapalabhati Pranayama

Kapalabhati is a very active, forced exhalation with a passive inhalation. To exhale, the belly quickly pumps into the spine forcing the air out of the nose (like trying to blow out a candle through you nose). Place a hand on your belly to feel the belly actively pumping. Play with the tempo (30-40 exhalations/60 seconds), but keep a steady rhythm. Try starting with 2-3 rounds of 15 exhalations. Then, gradually increase the exhalations, as you feel comfortable.

Nostril Alternating Breath: Nadi Sodhana Pranayama

Close off your right nostril with the thumb and inhale into the left nostril. Next, close off your left nostril with your forefinger (or another finger), open the right nostril by removing your thumb and exhale through the right nostril. Keep your fingers where they are and inhale into the right nostril. Close the right nostril with your thumb, open the left, and exhale through the left nostril. Repeat. This is one “round”. Try doing 4 “rounds” when you begin. As you feel more comfortable, try 10 or 15 rounds.

Pranayama Breathing
Pranayama Breathing

Three Part Breath: Dirga Pranayama

Dirga Pranayama is called the three part breath because you are actively breathing into three parts of your abdomen. The first position is the low belly (just below the belly button), the second position is the low chest (belly and lower half of the rib cage), and the third position is the upper chest and low throat (just above the top of the sternum). The breath is continuous, inhaled and exhaled through the nose. The inhalation starts in the first position, the low belly; then moves to the second position, the low chest; then to the third position, the upper chest and low throat. The exhalation starts in the low throat and upper chest, moves to the low chest, and finishes in the low belly. Rest your hands on the individual positions to feel the breath rising and falling through each position. When you start practicing, you may want to individually isolate the movement in each position, using the hands. When you have a good feel for the breath moving in and out of each position, begin to practice without your hands.

Vipassana in Daily Life

In Vipassana, the object of meditation is one’s own consciousness. While we continue to use the breath as an anchor to the present moment, it is no longer the only object (as in other forms of meditation). Instead, we become aware of whatever the most prominent stimulus is in that moment, and we allow that stimulus to be our object. It may be a thought, a feeling, a physical sensation, a sound, a smell, or just about anything else. Whatever it is, we simply notice it without becoming involved in thinking about it. In this sense, we are working toward achieving an objective and non-reactive state of mind. At the same time, Vipassana is not primarily a relaxation technique and we are not trying to flee from reality or go off into a trance. The goal is active and objective observation of our subjective experience, without attachment.

In terms of actual practice, try to find a quiet place where people, phones, and other distractions will not be an issue. Wear comfortable clothing and consider taking off your shoes. Sit either on the floor (perhaps on a cushion) or in a straight back chair. Place your hands on your knees or folded in your lap. Sit up straight and close your eyes. Take two or three deep breaths and begin to focus on the present moment. Use your breathing to anchor you to the here-and-now. As you continue, notice the most prominent stimulus, whatever it is, without engaging it. Try to sit still and maintain focus for 10 minutes. Just as you are not reacting impulsively to the thoughts or feelings that you have, do not react impulsively to physical discomforts as they arise. For instance, if your nose itches, do not immediately reach up to scratch it. If you want, you can choose to scratch your nose. Or, if you want, you can choose just to let it be. Whatever you decide, act in mindfulness and with great intention.

Vipassana Excercises

Stretching and bending are very common Vipassana exercises.

But I like, yoga asana during the vipassana retreat. Because that balance the vital energy through out the meditation period. In Vipassana exercise you have to keep your spinal cord flexible. During vipassana meditation you can place both thumbs on the navel and during thumbs on the navel, observe the movement of the breaths. You can also fold the tongue upward and bring to the meeting point of all uper doors (both eyes, both ears, both nostril and mouth) and try to suck the Melatonin Hormon. Sidha Asana, Dhanur Asana and Gomukh Asana are effective.

Mantra Chanting in Daily Life

Different parts of our brain are responsible for moving different body parts. The left side of the brain controls the movements of the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the movements of the left side of the body. Mantra chanting is a way to develop a balance in our brain and body.

Say Om (Aum) chanting is a powerful way to reduce stress and strain in daily life.  Our skeletal and autonomic nervous systems is having close relation to Mantra and Om chanting.

Mantra Chanting and our Chakras are closely related:

1. Muladhara: Earth element. It is centred at the lower base of the spine. Associated with the rectum, prostate, cervix and gonads. The main function of this energy centre is physical survival and groundedness.

Ungroundedness is its dysfunction.. The Bija mantra is Lam and the associated colour is red.

2. Svadhisthana: Water element. It is centred round the lower belly. Associated Adrenal glands. The main function of this centre is self-esteem, creativity(including rproduction) and personal secuality. It´s dysfunction manifests as ovr-attachment and low self-seteem. Can involve problems to do with fertility and premature ejaculation. The Bija mantra is Vam and the associated colour orange.

3. Manipura: Fire element. It is centred in the solar plexus and is associated with the digestive system including the pancreas. It has to do with the marriage of the male and female energies. Its functions are to do with personal power, and include the qualities of pride, confidence and achievement. The Bija mantra is Lam and the colour is yellow.

4. Anahata: Air element. Associated with the cardio-vascular system and the thymus gland(related to immunity). It is the bridge beween the lower three bodily and ´tribal´-related chakras and the upper three transpersonal ones. The main function is personal love of a higher nature than sex and it is the seat of love as an emotion and compassion. The Bij mantra is YAM. Anahat bridges the lower Self and the higher Self. The colour is green.

5. Vishudhi: Eather element. This chakra is associated with the respiratory system and metabolism, and thus involves the thyroid and parathyroid glands. Its main functions are the expression of emotion and will-power, but all forms of communication are connected to this chakra, with the associated qualities of clarity and sharing. The Bij manta is HAM, the colour is blue.

6. Third Eye: Consciousness is the element. It is centred behind the eyebrows and is associated with the ANS(Autonomic Nervous System, dealing with processed such as digestion wich are usually beyond volunty control) and the pituitary gland (the conductor of our hormanal system, which is the carrier of longer-lasting intructions to our body and emotions than the fast-acting nervous system). This is wehre gross and subtle, matter and mind meet and merge. It works closely with the seventh chakra to keep logic and intuition balanced. The mantra is SO (on the in-breath) and HAM(on th out-breath), the clour is indigo.

Many Paths one Goal: Yoga and Vipassana

Vipasana means observing the movements of body and mind in a systematic manner as they are in the present moment.  It is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught in India before the birth of Goutama Buddha. Goutama Buddha re-established its importance of this path to get freedom from human suffering. The three foundations of vipassana are sila, samadhi and panna. Which means:

Sila :  Moral conduct

Samadhi: Observation and Witnessing

Panna: Wisdom of the ultimate.

Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, is well known. There are one hundred and twelve methods in Vijgana bhairaba, vipassana is one of them. Theravāda vipassana teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw emphasize the importance of examining the kalapas as a means to gaining insight.

Great Vipassana master Sri Amit Ray who wrote,  “Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style” , combined the vipassana and the eight limbs of  Patanjali’s yoga as follows:

  1. Yama and Niyama: Self Discipline and morality
  2. Asanas :  Observation of the movement of the body postures
  3. Pranayama : Observation of  the breaths
  4. PratyaharaObservation of the senses
  5. Dharana : Observation of the thoughts, the movements of the mind.
  6. Dhyana : Witnessing the feelings of the pain and pleasure
  7. Samadhi : Union with the ultimate

yoga6

Frank Boccio, in his book  Mindfulness Yoga, agrees. “Patanjali talks about asana as stability and ease,” he mentioned, “and when that happens, there is the dissolution of the sense of separation, an overcoming of the pairs of opposites. That’s the whole practice right there: People feel more able to sit with whatever is arising.”

Click here to know more about the essence of yoga and vipassana.