Introduction

In the booklet that accompanies your morning meditation cd is my synthesis of the esoteric yoga practices that are said to be thousands of years’ old. I have sought to extract the practical essence of the ancient wisdom and to road-test it in the world of high pressure examinations, adversarial commercial property litigation and daily life with a passionate wife and three young children.

I am pleased to report that in the 21st century, morning meditation provides a line of communication to one’s higher self just as readily and effectively as our ancient ancestors reported thousands of years’ ago.

In this booklet you will find explanations and suggestions on how to get the most from your morning meditation.

Morning meditation is a skill , a technique and like all skills and techniques, practice makes perfect. The fastest way forward is daily repetition. That is one of the reasons why your morning meditation can be practised in around 8 minutes – particularly if you cue it to begin with the mooladhara chant and visualisation.

Traditionally, morning meditation is conducted before dawn. There is a practical and an esoteric reason. Meditation is more effective without the disturbance or interruption of sounds and activities. There are few sounds and activities before dawn. This is the practical reason. The esoteric reason can be experienced. There is a Sanskrit phrase which seeks to describe the feeling that exists in the pre-dawn. The phrase is “Brahma muhurta”. The literal translation is “the hours of God”. Find out for yourself.

Your morning meditation can be conducted at whatever time of day or night you choose. My recommendation is that your morning meditation be conducted as soon as you have woken and completed your normal ablutions. However, any time is better than no time.

Traditionally, morning meditation takes place at the same place each morning. Again there is a practical and an esoteric reason. The practical reason is that habits are formed by repetition of action. Habits, once formed, provide an easy way for useful actions to repeated regularly.

The esoteric reason is that actions leave imprints at the scene of the actions and the imprints are perceptible under certain circumstances. The imprint of football games and rock concerts can be perceived at venues long after the players have left. And so with morning meditation – you can perceive your imprint more readily if you return to the same place. The perception of your imprint is useful in re-establishing contact with your higher self. It is like re-reading a prior chapter of a novel before moving to the new chapter. It evokes the recollection and thereby effectively establishes the scene.

Your morning meditation can be conducted wherever you choose – a different place every day if you choose. However, I recommend your morning meditation be conducted in the same place every day for the reasons I have given. Further and ideally, I suggest that the place you choose for your morning meditation be unaffected by noises, lights and activities.

Traditionally, morning meditation is conducted sitting down on the floor with legs crossed. A cushion or a folded blanket can be placed under the buttocks. This helps to keep the spine upright and straight.

Traditionally, there are a number of ways in which the legs can be positioned. However, the most important consideration is that your body position is steady and comfortable for you.

If you have not done much floor sitting in recent years, you may find it is comfortable to sit with your back against a wall and with your legs stretched out straight in front of you. Or, sitting in a chair might provide you with a straight and upright spine in a steady and comfortable position.

Lying down is not recommended because there is a tendency to sleep.

Traditionally, the hands are placed on the knees with the palms facing upwards and the thumb and first finger touching lightly at the tips. By having the palms facing upwards there is less likelihood of distraction from stimulus to the finger tips. Placing the hands in the lap is an alternative. However, the shoulders tend to hunch a little in that position and that tends to bring on drowsiness.

An appropriate attitude to take into your morning meditation is child-like wonder with adult self-discipline.

I suggest that you listen intently to the instructions on the cd and simply carry out the actions suggested. Your attention will drift from time to time. When you become aware that your attention has drifted, simply recommence the action.

The narration is interrupted at one stage by our eldest daughter Isabelle, aged seven, recording over the narration. Interestingly, the interruption occurred at a point in the narration where there is a tendency for the attention to drift - so I have left Issy’s interruption on the cd. It is also a reminder as to the child-like attitude I have referred to above. Further, there is a wonderful poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne called ‘A Child’s Laughter’, which includes :

‘All the bells of heaven may ring,
All the birds of heaven may sing,
…
Here that rings forth heaven
…
Might be half as sweet as when
Laughs a child of seven.’

So, all in all, there is much to commend the interruption and its overriding of the narration.

At times during your morning meditation you will be creating images, sounds and feelings. These get more vivid with repetition.

The visual, auditory and kinaesthetic effects have been selected specifically to provide access to your higher self. Repetition increases the quality of the access.

At one point in the practice you are asked to focus your attention on the point where your bottom makes contact with the floor or the chair. What is happening here is your attention is being directed to a chakra.

A chakra can be thought of as a switch which turns on or opens up a specific part of the brain. Yoga texts suggest that the chakras provide access to parts of the brain which house intuitive faculties and which are normally inaccessible.

Yoga texts indicate that there are seven major chakras and they are located essentially in the spinal column. The chakras are associated with major nerve plexuses and endocrine glands.

Mooladhara chakra

The first chakra to be accessed in your morning meditation is traditionally called ‘mooladhara’. ‘Mooladhara’ is a Sanskrit word. ‘Mool’ means ‘root’ and ‘adhara’ means ‘place’.

The mooladhara chakra is said to be located in men at the perineum and in women at the cervix. The chakra is said to be stimulated by the colour red and by the sound ‘lam’. Hence, your morning meditation seeks to have you focus your attention around your bottom whilst visualising the red lamb and making the sound ‘lam’.

With practise you will feel vibration in the mooladhara chakra when you are performing this part of the morning meditation practice.

The stimulation of mooladhara induces a state known as ‘pratyahara’. ‘Pratyahara’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘sense withdrawal’. Pratyahara brings about a lowering of blood pressure. Pratyahara creates a sense of relaxation which is vital for good health and for the alleviation of anxiety, insomnia and stress related ailments.

Once the mooladhara chakra is stimulated in the morning meditation by the technique described above, the focus is moved to the second chakra.

Swadhistana chakra

The second chakras is called ‘swadhistana’. ‘Swadhistana’ is a Sanskrit word comprising ‘swa’ which means ‘self’ and ‘sthan’ which means ‘dwelling place’. It can be thought of as ‘home’ where the fundamental and driving instincts are housed.

Swadhistana is said to be located about two fingers’ width above mooladhara directly behind the genital organs.

The swadhistana chakra is said to be stimulated by the colour dark blue and by the sound ‘vam’ and by the concept of water. Hence, your morning meditation combines those elements to stimulate the swadhistana chakra.

The word ‘chakra’ is a Sanskrit word. It means ‘wheel’ or ‘circle’. It is sometimes translated as ‘vortex’ or ‘whirlpool’.

The dynamic or whirling nature of the chakras is utilised in your morning meditation by the visualisation of the lamb running around your legs in order to further stimulate mooladhara chakra and the associated coccygeal plexus and pelvic plexus. For swadhistana chakra the visualisation is the boat circling your body and making waves and wash that comes in contact with your body at a water level that coincides with the location of the swadhistana chakra and the associated sacral plexus and hypogastric plexus.

Your morning meditation then moves to the manipura chakra.

Manipura chakra

‘Manipura’ is a Sanskrit word comprising ‘mani’ which means ‘gem’ or ‘jewel’ and ‘pura’ which means ‘city’. The concept is a lustrous, radiant jewel created by the forces of nature and containing the pent-up energy derived from the process of its creation.

The sound, or beeja mantra, for manipura chakra is ‘ram’. A traditional image for stimulating manipura chakra is the golden goat, the ram with its characteristics of fiery assertiveness and steadfast energy.

Manipura chakra is said to be located in the spine behind the navel. The solar plexus is the associated plexus for manipura chakra.

The movement of energy through and around manipura chakra is said to balance the production and proper distribution of the hormone adrenaline by the adrenal glands. An under stimulated manipura chakra is said to be characterised by sluggishness or depression. An overstimulated and unknowing over use of manipura chakra is said to result in the malfunctioning of digestion and food metabolism and the production of ulcers and gallstones.

A balanced stimulation of manipura chakra is said to produce dynamism and self-assertion whilst avoiding the despotism which is said to be characteristic of unregulated access to manipura chakra.

Your morning meditation is designed to ignite gently the manipura chakra. However, if your energy levels are low it will be useful to spend more time on the visualisation, the sound/beeja mantra and the feeling of movement at the navel until there is produced a radiating energy from the region of the solar plexus.

Anahata chakra

Your morning meditation then moves to the beautiful and alluring anahata chakra. ‘Anahata’ is a Sanskrit word which seeks to describe an ‘unstruck sound’. The concept is of a universal primordial pulse which manifests and is perceived as a vibration in the heart.

Anahata chakra is associated with the cardiac plexus, the thymus gland and the upper thoracic vertebrae. A stimulated and properly functioning anahata chakra is said to be characterised by the production of feelings of compassion and unconditional love.

The beeja mantra for anahata chakra is ‘yam’. Your morning meditation can be enhanced by visualising two interlacing triangles at your heart centre with a tiny bright flame at the centre of the interlaced triangles.

‘Sankalpa’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘resolution’. Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the world reknown Bihar School of Yoga has said that “If you know what you wish to achieve in life, sankalpa can be the creator of your destiny.”

In your morning meditation cd, a general and universal sankalpa is introduced at that stage of your practice when your subconscious mind is most receptive and sensitive to autosuggestion. It is in the form “Every day in every way, I am getting better and better and better.” It contains elements of an effective sankalpa in that it is a short positively worded statement dealing with the present and the future.

Traditionally, it is said that the purpose of sankalpa is to influence and transform the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual patterns of your life. Accordingly, it is appropriate to select very carefully the form of your sankalpa. At the end of your morning meditation there is an invitation for you to introduce your sankalpa.

One very effective approach to sankalpa is to consider the following areas of your life :

i. Health.
ii. Relationships.
iii. Wealth.
iv. Spirit.
v. Work.
vi. Community.
vii. The coming day.

In relation to each topic, create a short positively worded statement of your goal. Ideally, the form of words will be specific, measurable, achievable and will have a time frame. For example :

i.(health)
I have a strong, super healthy body weighing * kilograms.

ii.(relationships)
I have a passionate, relationship with my wife and a loving, nurturing relationship with my children.

iii. (wealth)
I have abundant affluence flowing into my life providing $* each and every day in exchange for the excellent service I provide to the world in my occupation as an *.

iv. (spirit)
I am spirit, I know that I am spirit, every day I am aware that I am spirit.

v. (work)
I am an outstanding *.

vi. (community)
I contribute to my community in the following way *.

vii. (the coming day)
Today I am serene at all times as I create the following outcomes * (describe successful outcomes for the activities for that particular day. This sankalpa, unlike your previous ones, contains different details each day according to your specific desired outcomes for that day.)

The sankalpa needs to be supported by daily action that is consistent with the sankalpa. For example, a sankalpa in relation to health needs to be supported by daily actions that contribute to that described and desired outcome.

There also needs to be an internal consistency amongst each of the goals and the daily actions for such goals.

The hours available on any one day need to be apportioned so as to support each goal. For example, ideally your day will provide time for actions consistent with health, relationships, wealth creation, work excellence and community contribution. The reality is that on some days the wheels fall off. It will rain on your parade. However, in my experience an incredibly effective way to achieve appropriate allocation of time for each of your goals is to plan the day, each and every morning at the time of your sankalpa in your morning meditation.

Your sankalpa will need to be supported by longer term goals. For example, the health goals will need to be supported by taking time off from daily work to go on holidays where you are physically active. Appropriate holidays need to be taken regularly. Time needs to be set aside in advance. This is easy to do. Obtain a diary, select the dates, plan the holiday and go away.

Your sankalpa will need to be supported by the contributions of others. For example, the wealth creation goal needs to be supported by appropriate guidance from people who have created wealth. Fortunately these days, there are superb books available. The bibliography contains some of my favourites. The books are a good starting point. What is essential however, is a mentor who has created and is creating wealth. It may be that you have to pay for the advice. So be it. It is an investment. The important thing is to set the goal with your sankalpa and then be alert and aware as appropriate opportunities arise. The opportunities become readily apparent when the sankalpa is clear and is practiced regularly.

In my view one of the most important sankalpas is that in which you resolve to contribute and to give to others. The resolution to give is the seed which produces an action of giving. The action of giving produces a change in your character for the better. The change in your character produces a destiny which is magnificent because it is characterised by contribution to others.

The action of giving produces an equal and opposite action, in my experience. If you give love, you will receive love. If you give support, you will receive support. If you give wealth, you will received abundant affluence.

And most excitingly, the process can be initiated by formulating your sankalpa to give in your morning meditation.