Meditation with Alan

Today's practice helps us understand the movement of our minds - noticing this ceaseless activity, and accepting it for what it is. Movement (emotional and mental) is associated with Swadisthana chakra in yoga. Over the next few episodes I'll draw out a couple of approaches to meditation that touch on each of the chakras in turn.

Something a little different today - a guided relaxation, rather than a meditation.As a relaxation exercise, its best practiced lying down somewhere comfortable and warm. If you have the time, I suggest allowing yourself to stay in a restful position for as long as you need afterwards. Maybe even have a nap...

Today's practice looks at our experience of our bodies and emotions, in order to ground ourselves in the present moment. In traditional yoga this is often associated with muladhara chakra, at the base of the spinal column. This is always a useful practice, and a useful skill to develop, especially when there are so many distractions around us these days. I hope this is an enjoyable and/or useful meditation for you.

A common issue in meditation is the feeling that we are not doing it right.This is something that my students say to me a lot, and I also have personal experience - it actually made me bounce off meditation when I first tried it as a teenager!In today's practice I try to address that a little - talking about what we're actually doing when we meditate, what might it feel like, and how we can embrace our experience as it actually is.Acceptance when we sit can also lead to acceptance in our daily lives, so I hope this will be useful.

Today's meditation includes a whole lot of singing (apologies - this is not my strong suit).I thought it might be interesting to share the kirtan that you'd usually hear sung before and after every yoga practice (meditation, asana, satsang, etc) in a lot of ashrams. I've shared the words and my best effort at translation in the link below (this is on Patreon, but it doesn't require a payment or registration).The meditation for today is also slightly different. A little longer than usual, and with less guidance. So see how you get on with all of this. If it doesn't feel right, just stick with my other episodes.https://www.patreon.com/posts/meditation-and-152202302

In this episode, I've adapted a meditation focused on the five koshas to be a little more beginner friendly. The practice takes us through awareness of 1) the body, 2) the breath, 3) the senses, 4) the mind, and finally to 5) pure awareness itself.I think this should be quite a nice progressive relaxation, so hopefully it works for you!

Today's meditation involves a guided body scan, and a meditative visualisation using imagery of a deep lake. If you have a fear of deep or open water, then this might make you feel uncomfortable, so please have a think about whether this recording will be right for you today.If you'd like an alternative, Episode 2 is a pretty similar practice, but without this kind of imagery.

This episode is a re-use of an older recording from my (now retired) youtube channel, so you'll hear some differences in the audio.Yoga Nidra is a practice I learned many years ago from teachers in the Satyananda Yoga tradition. Its intended to promote deep insight, and can induce a dreamlike sleep-state. The practice is best done somewhere warm, and dimly lit. Lying down with a pillow and blanket will ensure you get the most out of the practice. This is a good book if you'd like to learn more:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1032197.Yoga_Nidra

In this episode I'll guide you through an auto-suggestion relaxation. This is a type of body scan, and is intended to promote deep relaxation. Its also a relatively simple technique, so after practicing it a few times you may find that you can do it by yourself.

In this episode I talk a little about the nature of stillness in meditation, before leading a guided relaxation. Today's relaxation uses the 'withdrawal of awareness' technique (sometimes known as 'antar mouna', though these are not exactly the same thing).If you're new to meditation, try not to worry about how you're sitting or breathing, or how often you get distracted. Just sit any way that works, follow along as best you can, and see how it feels for you.