Tonight’s topic is yoga and meditation. So we are going to begin with the short meditation. Tomorrow night we will have a more complete presentation about meditation. But now we will do this simple meditation to help us relax, to make it a little more easy to understand the subject matter that we will be discussing. And you can also learn it now and take it with you when you go. The type of meditation that we will be doing is mantra meditation.
Mantras are transcendental sounds. They come from the spiritual realm and contain spiritual potency. So just by coming in contact with this sound, we get the spiritual benefit.
In the little package you received there were some cards. The two of those have mantras on them. Now we are going to use the one that is yellow in color. It has one mantra. The mantra is GAURANGA.
Ok, everybody see the yellow card? You can see that GAURANGA is divided into four syllables. GAU-RA-ANG-GA. Now let’s practice saying that just so to make sure we have our pronunciation correct. First I will say it and then you can repeat. Ok, everybody ready? GAU-RA-ANG-GA. GAU-RA-ANG-GA. Ok, very good.
The method we will use is quite easy. We breathe in through the nose very slowly, gently, but also deeply. And then when the body is filled with air, we exhale. And on the outgoing breath we will chant GAU-RA-ANG-GA. And then we will repeat it several times.
Before we begin the meditation, we want to relax the face, the neck, the shoulders, the chest. To help us relax we take a deep breath and let it out. And with the outgoing breath goes the tension, anxiety, frustration.
Then while we do the meditation, we want to listen closely to the sound and place our mind on the sound. In other words, meditate on the sound. So we will repeat this several times. And when we finish, we will just sit here for a couple of moments and feel the effect. We encourage everyone to participate. The more we all take part, the more we all benefit. And you get to experience the meditation directly.
First I will give you a little demonstration just to show you exactly how it is done. Then we can all do it together. Ok, here is the demonstration. First I am going to take a deep breath and relax. Now very slowly, gently and deeply I inhale:
GAU-RA-ANG-GA
GAU-RA-ANG-GA
Ok, it is just that easy. Let’s all do that together now. I know this is unusual for some of you; probably, you’ve never done anything like this. But that is Ok. Relax, meditate on the mantra. Of course everyone should sit erect in your seat. It helps us to breath. All right, now everyone take a big breath, let it out and relax. Now very slowly, gently and deeply inhale:
GAU-RA-ANG-GA
GAU-RA-ANG-GA
GAU-RA-ANG-GA
…
So you can see it is an easy meditation to do. You learned it in a couple of minutes. Maybe you also experienced that it is very relaxing. This is an excellent way to start your day. Wake up in the morning and do the meditation. Also it is an excellent way to end the day. But you can do it any time. So take your card and practice this at home.