Vedic dhyan is the ancient Himalayan traditional method of meditation. The word dhyan means your flow of awareness in the present moment. It is the only piece of life which offers the possibility to uplift your consciousness.
In this article, we explain the workings of the mind, and Stage 1 of the Vedic dhyan practice.
The basis of your life is dhyan – it is the flow of your life. And whenever you are attentive to this flow, you are in a state of peace and happiness in each moment. Then you notice that time flies. But when you are just passing time, then you don’t get that sense of clarity and equanimity.
Understanding the mind
In modern times, mental health issues are one of the biggest challenges for our society. This is due to information overload, lack of self-discipline, and inability to slow down one’s thoughts. Extensive scientific research on meditation has found its amazing benefits on the physical, mental, and psychological aspects of the human being. However, the process requires a systematic practice of mindfulness.
The Sanskrit word for meditation is dhyan, which literally means a state of attentiveness. In practice, it is a state when your focus flows in one direction, as oil is flows in a stream from a vessel. It is a gradual process, and we must understand that we have to start from where we are NOW. Each individual struggles with their own thought processes due to the mind’s tendency to dissipate in different directions. From the moment you open your eyes in the morning, your attention is constantly drawn to many different thoughts. And you identify with these thoughts. You remain entangled with them, unable to bring your mind back to the moment
On the one hand, these negative thoughts can distract you. On the other hand, your positive thoughts can encourage you to exercise your willpower to practice meditation. Start your day by adopting some form of yogic discipline to ground your awareness. Apply the same process at the end of your day. This routine helps you separate your awareness from your thoughts of the day, leading you to experience equanimity. And this is what encourages you to continue walking on this journey. The distractions in your life are an examination of how you can maintain your attentiveness to overcome the imbalances between your physical, mental, emotional and psychological health.
Pitfalls for practitioners
In today’s world, there is a great deal of information available about meditation. Practitioners often switch from one technique to another, trying to find the ideal practice. But they find that each one only works for a short period of time, and eventually give up. This is because when you start something new, the mind can easily focus on it. However, when you practice over a longer period, your mind becomes distracted and you lose interest.
It is important for practitioners to understand the nature of this process. As you are start to discipline your conscious mind, all your subconscious and unconscious mind comes forward. This is what distracts you, especially when facing unpleasant thoughts. On the other hand, when you have pleasant thoughts, you believe you have had a great meditation. But the point is that you must not identify with either the pleasant or the unpleasant thoughts.
The very nature of the human mind is to relate to things – identify with them. However, on your inner journey – when redirecting your mind within – identification is an obstacle. Unfortunately, it is part of our deep-rooted habits. In this inner journey, we learn not to identify with either positive or negative thoughts, but just see them as they are. This is difficult, because although we understand this, it is so deeply and firmly rooted in our subconscious and unconscious mind that we are unable to become aware of it.
The moment you attach to a positive thought, you create a battle with its opposite – an endless process. It will never lead you to go beyond the thoughts; so, you have to learn to just see this. You must become the seer of everything within you: positive or negative. Do not identify with any of your experiences. The ability to see things within you as they are is determined by the state of your equanimity – or balance.
Vedic dhyan
The Vedic dhyan method of meditation that we offer at the Vedic Yoga Centre help to bring your dissipated mind away from its many distractions and focus it on one point. The focus can be on a mantra, on your breath, on your Third Eye – there are different options. Essentially, the focus creates alignment between your physical, mental and energy bodies, which is the preparation for the stillness needed for dhyan.
The technique of Vedic dhyan gives you a systematic way to do this. Firstly, it helps you withdraw the senses from the external world (pratyahara) so that you can develop deeper concentration (dharana). And as your focus becomes more one-pointed, you can gradually experience the state of meditation (dhyan). When your consciousness eventually starts to flow within, it is like a river:
when it flows uninterrupted, it is considered to be concentration (dharana); and as this dharana expands, it spontaneously evolves into the state of dhyan where you are just being with that flow of awareness, no longer trying to be with it – it becomes effortless effort.
The fundamental principle of Vedic dhyan is learning to accept your physical state as it is in this moment. Only from there can you start to train yourself, and form the habit of experiencing stillness. The journey of dhyan starts with stillness. There is a saying of the sages, that when you want to experience something in your external world you have to move; but when you want to experience something in your inner world you have to learn to be still.
Every human being is aware that they have a body, they have a mind, and they can breathe. So, the journey of dhyana requires that you learn how to discipline these three aspects and align them so that you can redirect the flow of your awareness from the external world to your inner world – the source of your awareness, which is the very base of your existence.
It is very useful to understand all of this information, but in order to transform your life you have to start practicing regularly, at the one fixed time each day, without any expectations; and above all, have a determination to be consistent.
VEDIC DHYAN PRACTICE – STAGE 1
The process of Vedic dhyan meditation begins by learning to discipline your body. You can do this by developing a regular asana practice so that you prepare your muscles and joints for sitting in meditation.
- After establishing a regular asana practice, sit in one meditative posture with your back and neck in one straight line. Any crossed-legged pose such as siddhasana will do. If you are unable to sit on the floor, you can sit in a chair.
- Rest your hands on your knees, in chin or gyana mudra (tips of the thumb and index finger together. Palms can face either up or down. Make sure there is no tension in the body.
- Form a habit of sitting in the same position every day – and in the beginning, not closing your eyes. Learn to just see the body with open eyes, from the toes to the crown of the head. In this process you are also watching the breath with eyes still open. Take deep, slow, abdominal breath, focusing your awareness at the entrance of the nostrils.
- Initially, the duration of your sitting practice should be a maximum of 10-15 minutes (or according to your capacity). Determine that you will keep your body motionless – that is the first step to disciplining the body.
- Once you learn to be aware of the body, you can start becoming aware of the mind. lways keep the body still.
In the first two weeks you may experience that your body wants to move – for many different reasons. At this point you need to have patience with yourself, and understand that this restlessness will pass if you don’t give into it, and if you persist in maintaining your stillness. Remember that you need to relax your body.
As time passes and you are able to scan your whole body to see that it’s motionless, you will start to experience the stillness, as well as the delight of experiencing the meaning of “steady and comfortable” – which is the first step on your journey within. This is the stage when your eyes will naturally want to close – you are not forcing this – you have brought your body, mind and energy to a state where the eyes will want to close by themselves.
This is the end of Stage 1 for your practice – here, you have trained your body to be still.
In the next stage you learn how to integrate your breath awareness with the actual breathing process.
“The sound and vibration of a mantra penetrates your unconscious mind”
The Vedic Yoga Centre offers the technique of Vedic dhyan as a part of all its programs. In our most common course (200 hour YTTC), we offer the full technique of Vedic dhyan as part of student training. Additional programs that include this meditation technique include Kundalini Kriya Yoga Meditation Course and Himalayan Art of Mindfulness. Our Ayurveda packages (such as our Panchakarma – Detox package) also include a yoga component where guests can experience Vedic dhyan.
You can also watch this short video where Shailendra explains the basics of Vedic dhyan.
