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THE HIMALAYAN TRADITION
Following are the major components of the Himalayan Tradition of Yoga Meditation:
Purification of thoughts and emotions: In order to prevent internal disturbances from extraneous thoughts and sentiments during meditation, one is encouraged to practice purifications such as: The five Yamas (codes of conduct: Non-Violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, abstinence from sense-indulgence, and non-possessiveness), and the five Niyamas (moral practices: cleanliness in all aspects of one's life, contentment, practices that lead to perfection of mind, body, and senses, study that leads to the knowledge of the Self, and surrender to the Ultimate Reality). Other practices for purification of thoughts and emotions include brahma-viharas (or right attitudes), and prati-paksha-bhavana which are antidotes to disturbing thoughts. The emotional purification manifests itself in one's mental well-being, in the quality of one's daily contact with others as well as improved stillness in one's meditative postures.
Mindfulness: Himalayan Tradition teaches the method of asanas (postures) coupled with full awareness of the states of the body, breath, and mind in a detailed methodology. Central to the practice of asanas in this tradition is self-awareness, a deep self-observation in all states of body, breath, and especially the mind. This mindfulness is encouraged to become the way of life for students.
Breath Awareness: Starting with mindfulness, awareness of breath becomes specialized as the very first step in practice of meditation. Here it is essential to learn diaphragmatic breathing that is slow, smooth, without any jerks, and without a pause between breaths. Pranayama or breathing with awareness branches into many practices. Nadi-Shodhana, or purification of subtle energy channels, is chief among pranayama practice. Other practices include bhastrika, and kapalabhati.
Japa: Japa is recitation of one's mantra at one of many levels. The science of mantra is based on an understanding of sound vibrations which are primarily centered in the various stations of the kundalini and cannot be grasped without initiation. The ultimate purpose of japa is to go into supreme silence. A preceptor trained in the Himalayan Tradition leads the students into further and further refinements through nine major stages of mantra practice as taught in the Tantric systems.
