Three essentials for yoga meditation

What are the essentials of yoga meditation? We are divided into three steps in yoga meditation. First, we must adjust the body, then adjust the breathing, and then adjust the mind.

Adjustment means sitting in your sitting position before practicing yoga. You can sit in a loose position, single or double position; your left foot is down and your right foot is up, or your left foot is up and your right foot is down. The palms are also stacked up and down, and the thumbs are gently pressed against each other. Either hand can be on top, so nature is appropriate.

Then relax your shoulders and straighten your neck to relax. Use the top of the head, that is, the middle of the connection between the top of the ears, to make the benchmark point for adjusting the posture. Imagine that there is a line pulling up at that point, and use that line to adjust the median line of the body. Then use the top of the head, the point directly above, that is, the midpoint of the connection above the ears, hang a line and pull up. The main point here is: use the head to support the neck and shoulders, not the neck and shoulders to support the head. The head is empty, the neck is empty, and the shoulders are loose. Walking, standing, and sitting are all like this. Use the midpoint of the connecting line above the ears as the benchmark for adjusting the body posture. Keep the head hollow, the neck hollow, relax the neck, relax the shoulders, and use the skeleton to meditate without muscles. The so-called meditation without muscles means that we try not to use the strength of our muscles and try our best to have the body's center of gravity form a triangular point.

The main focus of adjustment is these two main points.

The first key point is to use the skeleton to balance the body's posture and try not to use muscles."The skeleton is used for balance, not support. It feels like the muscles are not using any strength at all. This is the same when sitting, standing, and walking.

The second one is to "support the neck and shoulders with our head", not with the neck and spine to support the head. We meditate with the blue sky above our heads, which is simply called "standing upright". It is not just like sitting like this, but also like this when standing.

Then we talk about recuperation. Once we sit on a seat, we can easily take a few deep breaths, and then relax again. The thoughts follow the breath. When we exhale, we know how to exhale, and when we inhale, we know how to inhale. During the entire exhalation, we only have thoughts about exhaling. During the entire inhaling process, we only have thoughts about breathing. If breath is a horse, then the thought is the person riding a horse. When the thought is integrated with the breath, it is the person and the horse are integrated, and let the thought follow the breath. If breathing is a human form, thoughts are shadows under the light and night light. Let the thoughts follow the breathing, like shadows, and follow each step. Let the thoughts follow the breath step by step, follow easily, but never leave at all. They follow closely and are inseparable. Exhale, the whole process of exhaling knows exhaling; inhale, the whole process of inhaling knows inhaling.

Then there is adjustment. At this stage, we call thoughts other than our breath distracting thoughts. We have no resistance to or rejection of distracting thoughts. We call any resistance to or rejection of distracting thoughts big distracting thoughts. When distracting thoughts come, ignore them, just go back to breathing, return to breathing in and out. Know how to exhale when you exhale, and know how to inhale when you inhale. During the entire exhalation process, the only thought is exhaling; during the entire inhaling process, the only thought is inhaling. Ignore the distracting thoughts and continue to return to 'exhale and breathe in and know how to breathe in.' No matter what kind of distracting thoughts, no matter what kind of distracting thoughts, whether they are sensible or unintended, let our body and mind relax, ignore them, don't reject them, don't want them, just simply come back and breathe. This is called regulating the mind. (Internship Editor: Zhang Xing)