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Chapter II: Preparing to Meditate

Having devoted the first 50 lines (or 25%) of the Yoga Sutras to the science behind meditating (the intent, types of thought, importance of correct thinking, the four stages of mental awareness, etc.), Patanjali devotes the entire second chapter (the next 50 lines, or 25% of the poem) to PREPARING to meditate. Chapter two describes the constant, routine stress-reducing practices of Raja Yoga: 1) fostering and maintaining a positive attitude, 2) following the Golden Rule and Serenity Prayer, and 3) exercising your body and mind to increase self control and reduce stress and fatigue.

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From the first chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

• Raja Yoga is a practice in quieting your mind.

• Your mind constantly processes four types of thought: correct, incorrect, imagined, and remembered.

• Quieting your mind requires correct thinking.

• By practicing clear correct thinking with single-pointed concentration, you gradually pass through four progressively clearer states of mental awareness before experiencing unfiltered consciousness.

• To succeed: never give up; always let go.

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Takeaways from chapter one of Patanajali’s Yoga Sutras (see recent FB posts)

Raja Yoga is a life-long endeavor to control our thoughts – because our thoughts precede our actions, which directly impact our health and wellbeing.

The crux of Raja Yoga comes in understanding the difference between our mind and consciousness. Our mind is tangible; it has four functions: thinking, sensing, remembering, and identity; however, our consciousness is IN-tangible; it doesn’t “do” anything; it never changes (in that sense it’s eternal!); its simply the awareness OF our thoughts; without it, our body and mind would function, we just wouldn’t be aware of it!

In short, consciousness is the essence of who and what we are. The object of Raja Yoga is to progressively subdue and calm the four functions of our mind, successively passing through four gradually clearer states of mind, until eventually realizing our own nature with absolute clarity: the blissful stillness of consciousness itself.

Patanjali’s only instruction in the first chapter: never give up; always let go.

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Practice self love

Raja Yoga the art of self loveYour body/mind is your most valuable resource so treat it accordingly!

Keep it in clean, proper working order – like anything you want to last longer; and constantly practice the Serenity Prayer: be content, courageous, wise and faithful.

Raja Yoga is a constant, dual practice in self-awareness and self-control; specifically, it’s a code of conduct and a series of physical and mental exercises which facilitate a calm, clear mind. The routine practices and exercises make it easier to:

• act with clarity and confidence [tip: when in doubt, don’t do it]

• form healthy habits

• meditate.

When you meditate you allow your mind to rest, recover and recharge. It’s like taking a nap without the mental distractions.

 

 

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Be kind

Lead with your heart; don’t just passively abstain from:

Violence • Dishonesty • Thievery • Infidelity • Greed

Actively practice the opposite:

Compassion • Honesty • Charity • Fidelity • Generosity

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Rule 6: Find yourself

Having practiced the first five rules (being kind to others and yourself, exercising, controlling your breath, and concentrating) you’re ready to sit quietly and experience a self-induced state of tranquility.

As you sit very still with your heart beating at a very relaxed rate – breathing deeply, subtly and rhythmically – holding the rate and content of your thoughts steady – you’re ready to begin an inward journey through the most subtle aspects of your mind: passed your senses, memories, and sense of identity to your consciousness.

Meditating isn’t about controlling your awareness – that’s not possible; awareness never changes; rather, meditating is about minimizing the fluctuations of your body and mind – finding a state of utter stillness in which to relax, rest and recharge. It’s a calmer state than sleep: you don’t dream, or toss and turn.

When your mind is virtually still, and consciousness has nothing else to be aware of, it becomes aware of itself and you experience something akin to a sense of oneness with the universe.

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Rule 5: Think before acting

Your conscious mind constantly thinks single, consecutive thoughts. You can’t stop your mind from thinking any more than you can stop your heart from beating. Because thoughts manifest into actions with consequences, the trick to leading a more tranquil, less stressful life is to think correctly and clearly.

There are four types of conscious thought: right, wrong, imagined and remembered – so it’s relatively easy to monitor which type you’re experiencing: you’re either perceiving the object of your attention correctly, incorrectly, or your imagining or remembering it.

Once you realize what type of thought your experiencing, check to see if you’re thinking clearly, or whether your thoughts are colored by one or more of four types of emotion: ego, desire, aversion and/or fear.

Raja Yoga’s physical and mental self-awareness and self-control exercises (being kind to others, being kind to yourself, exercising, breathing and focusing) foster a clear, correct mindset – a prerequisite for meditation – and promote a calm, balanced demeanor.

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Faith Trumps Fu*k You Money [or Mindset Trumps Skillset]

In finance, there’s an expression for the amount of savings you need to comfortably retire from a job you can’t otherwise afford to quit: “fu*k you money”, implying that you could flip off the boss and work whenever, wherever you want – or not! Unfortunately, fu*k you money is like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow: it vanishes before you can collect it.

Happily, there’s something more powerful, motivational and real than fu*k you money: faith. It doesn’t matter what you have faith in as long as it’s to protect and preserve something or someone else. Ironically, we naturally draw strength from devotion and commitment to others. In the worst times, faith can even trump self-preservation – that’s how powerful it is.

It’s arguable that Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (the original Raja Yoga text) was composed to promote faith. The first half of the second chapter entitled “Practice” is devoted to one’s attitude, the cornerstone of which is faith. The subsequent half of the chapter is devoted to one’s conduct. Both are intended to foster a clear, calm state of mind in preparation for meditation. In short, your attitude – specifically, your combined level of courage, wisdom and faith (Kriya Yoga) – is more impactful on your state of mind than your conduct (Ashtanga Yoga) or said another way, “mindset trumps skillset”.

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Rule 4: Junk in, junk out

The next rule for cultivating a peaceful frame of mind after following the Golden Rule, being kind to yourself and exercising is to turn inward – literally.

Three thousand years ago, our internal organs and systems were still largely a mystery. Yogis referred to our insides as our energy body: the parts that keep us alive.

People understood the rudimentary mechanics: food, liquids, and fresh air are converted into fuel and circulated throughout our body via blood while our brain communicates with the rest of our body through a system of nerves – but the science of exactly how that’s accomplished hadn’t been verified.

People also understood the primary functions of our larger, more critical organs and system components: our brain, heart, voice box, digestive and reproductive organs, and that they’re linked through our circulatory and nervous systems; specifically, that arteries carry enriched blood in one direction while veins carry depleted blood in the other – and that thoughts are transmitted energetically between our brain and body via a separate system of nerves.

Yogis figured out that we can affect the functioning of our internal organs and systems by manipulating our diaphragm like a bellows – by controlling the rate and depth of our breaths. Your diaphragm is a large flat muscle that serves as the floor of the upper chamber of your abdomen, which contains your lungs and heart within your rib cage, and the ceiling of the lower chamber your abdomen, your stomach, which contains your digestive and reproductive organs, contents and systems.

As you breathe, your diaphragm moves up and down within your abdomen – pulled down to draw oxygen into your lungs, and pulled up to push carbon monoxide out [fun fact: its the only muscle in your body which you can pull in opposite directions]. The practice of controlling the rhythm, depth and subtleness of your breathing stimulates nerve and organ function and blood flow and is very soothing, reducing physical and mental distress.

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Self-awareness

Your body has a natural rhythm: your heart beats, your lungs breathe, and your mind thinks: heartbeats, breaths, and thoughts: singularly, consecutively and constantly.

While it’s technically impossible to stop any one of those three (let alone all three simultaneously) and survive more than minutes, ancient Raja Yoga texts tell tales of yogis surviving being buried alive for DAYS.

While the stories are likely exaggerated for entertainment or emphasis, initially Raja Yoga was purported to enable enthusiastic practitioners to virtually still their heartbeats, breaths and thoughts to the point of feigning death.

Why would anyone want to do that?! Yogis believe that it’s only at the point of virtual stillness or cessation of bodily and mental functioning that we experience our true essence: our consciousness.

Why is THAT a big deal? There’s no stress when you identify with your eternal consciousness rather than your temporal body and mind. Nothing (no attachment, fear, emotion, or action perpetuated by you, another, or Mother Nature) affects your consciousness – unlike your body and mind which are naturally, constantly changing and subject to the vagaries of time and space.