What are we looking for? Are we tending our mind and body? Do we see an unruly, unkempt garden or do we see beauty, bird song, buzzing of bees, colours and fragrances? Are we pulling the weeds out, and leaving the roots in? Are we disgusted with our lives and are we exaggerating what are we encountering? We have to grasp firmly what we are seeking?

Make a resolve

In order to accomplish this, we have to make a resolve, a sankalp. How do we make a resolve? It is always the same issue, our thoughts are distracting us and tying us in knots. It is easy to grasp a straw and then we are left midway. The problem has assumed overwhelming proportions. We need all our prana to overcome it completely and we are depleted. It happens because we have only gone to the tip of the iceberg. Even if the problem has disappeared outwardly, the crisis remains in our subconscious.

So how do we proceed?

Let us look at the practice of Antar Mouna (Inner Silence). First we will practice Breath Awareness. Close your eyes and become aware of your breath. Listen to the sound of your normal breathing. Add Soham to it. Inhalation So, pause, exhalation Ham. Practice 27 times, counting backwards, no errors. Add a pause after exhalation. Practice 27 times. Now listen to the external sounds, without identifying who or what is making the sound. The softest sound, the loudest sound. No engagement. Now listen to the sound of your breathing, internal awareness, and then external awareness, being aware of the sounds outside. Go back and forth. The sadhana is for twenty minutes. Open your eyes.

What you have done here is that you have followed your resolve. Your mind was single pointed and you did not engage with your distractions. A daily practice will help you to develop a positive and dynamic state of mind.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Julia Fiander on Unsplash