Cyclic Meditation

I learnt cyclic meditation in 2005 at Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Research Foundation campus (Bangalore, India). Here I explain how to do this simple, yet effective, technique for relieving stress.

Meditation demands that a person’s mind be on a single track, on any single chosen task. But this doesn’t come easy to most people. Their minds are on a overdrive and they find their minds drifting. Others find themselves falling into a peaceful slumber. There is nothing inherently wrong in falling asleep, as the idea of meditation is to induce relaxation. But to derive full benefits from meditation, we have to perform the relaxation under the conscious control of mind. Cyclic Meditation seeks to invigorate the mind (and the body) by cyclically stimulating and calming it through yoga asanas interspersed with rhythmic breathing and relaxing in supine poses. This technique is based on a verse found in an ancient text called the Mandukya Upanisad – See References and Credits at the end). Essentially, it says “If the mind is lethargic – wake it up; if it is highly strung and distracted, calm it;, and if it is balanced – allow it to remain that way”.

In our everyday life, we relax our bodies unconsciously by stretching and yawning. Cyclic Meditation similarly relaxes our bodies, but does so through total body awareness and bestows a deep silence of mind, since we perform all movements, including breathing, consciously. I remember while doing Ardha Kati Chakrasana, an extremely simple exercise where we had to simply raise and stretch one arm and bend our bodies along with the extended hand at the waist, I would simply wish to drop dead. It used to be so tiring, yet so relaxing; and in the end we would be much calmer and ready to face the everyday grind. When a person with a hyperactive mind does the asanas, his mind becomes unidirectional and alert. The effect is due to the slow speed of doing the movements. We had to perform every movement very slowly and be fully tuned to the subtle changes occurring in the body as a result of the movement. It used to take an eternity to just to raise the hands; we had to pay attention to the tiniest of sensations occurring in the body, such as the rush of blood from the tips of the fingers towards the heart and the sensation of heaviness in the hands.

The technique also uses chanting the syllable “OM”. This sound is said to correspond to the original vibration that first arose at the time of creation. Of the three sounds in Om (AUM), the ‘A’ sound (”aa”) represents the waking, the “U” sound (”oo”) represents the dream state that lies between the waking and deep sleep states, and “M” sound (”mm”) represents the deep sleep state. Between two successive “OM”s, there is a brief period of silence, which represents the state of perfect bliss when the individual self recognizes its identity with the supreme.

The Practice Steps

1. Prayer: Release all tension from your face, and with closed eyes and a smile and a sense of purpose (to relieve stress), say your prayer and feel its resonance throughout the body.
2. Instant Relaxation Technique (IRT): Start off with this step to shake off quickly the stresses that keep your body highly strung.
3. Standing Postures: At first, stand in Tadasana and expand your awareness. Slowly get up to do a simple asana - Ardha kati chakrasana or half waist wheel pose. The bend from the waist sideways resembles half wheel and hence the name.
4. Quick Relaxation Technique (QRT) : After stimulating your mind with ardha kati chakrasana, it is time for a quick relaxation.
5. After gently coming up in sitting position from QRT, get into the Vajrasana posture. Follow this with Shashankasana and Ushtrasana.
6. Deep Relaxation Techniques (DRT): All along, you have been preparing the mind and the body for this stage. This has to be performed really slowly and may take about 15-20 minutes. Apart from muscular stimulation of the asanas, we use sound and visual stimulations as well to go deeper in silence. A recorded cassette is helpful in following the instructions (you may make one yourself).

IRT:

This step makes one aware of the various stresses in the body that keep them away from achieving relaxation. This also makes one aware of the difference between a stressed and a relaxed body and mind. To do this, lie down and tighten each part of the body starting from the toes, then going through ankles, calf muscles, knees, thighs and the pelvic regions. Then quickly breathe out and pull the abdominal muscles in. Squeeze your fingers into a tight fist and tighten the arms. Inhale and expand the chest. Tighten the shoulders, neck and the facial muscles, including the eyes, brows and the jaws.  Keep the taut position for a couple of seconds and finally, you let yourself free in one blissful release.

Standing Postures

Tadasana involves standing erect, maintaining a neutral spine. Get up slowly and stand tall with shoulders thrown back by lifting the breastbone. This creates a good distance between your hipbone and your rib cage, the spine is lengthened and the abdominals don’t hang forward. Make your chin level. The highest point of your body should be the top back region of your head. Relax your jaw and neck muscles. With the mouth closed, rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

Tadasana; Image Credits: Tree of Fitness

Every movement should be slow and deliberate, and the breathing deep, slow and continuous.

Before we do the following asanas, it is important to raise the internal awareness from the self to include the space around us.

• Slowly lean forward and then backward and experience the weight shifting from the toes to the heels. (Point awareness).
• Come to the center . Lean first to the right and then to the left. You would experience the weight of the entire body shift to either edge of the feet (linear awareness).
• Now center your body such that the weight of the body is evenly distributed (surface awareness).
• Relax the shoulders , arms hanging freely down. Feel all the changes taking place in the body. Feel the heartbeat and the pulse. Chant Mmmm…….. and feel the entire body resonate. The awareness slowly expands to the three dimensional space around you.

Proprioception is the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself and this is increased when we do exercises with awareness and closed eyes.

Ardha-kati Chakrasana:

Photo credit: keasyyoga.com

• Begin with Tadasana. As you inhale, slowly raise the left arm side ways. Watch yourself as you reach 45 degrees and, after a pause, take it till it is 90 degrees in line with the shoulders. At this stage turn your wrists so that the palm faces up. Lift it up above the head very, very, slowly and pause when it is about 135 degrees. Pay attention to the sensations you feel in your body as blood slowly gushes down the hands. Then lift the arm further till it touches the ear, palm facing right.
• Bend slowly on the right side; slide the right palm down as far as possible along the right leg. Exhale as you bend. Raised hand should not bend at the elbow and the knees remain straight. Breathe normally. Maintain for about a minute. Extend your left arm very slowly and be aware of the sensations in your left shoulder as your left arm moves upwards. As you reach the final position your left hand points upwards and you consciously stretch your arm a little more. You then bend towards the right, feeling your left side stretch and your right side compress. While breathing in, slowly stretch up the trunk and the arm to vertical position. While breathing out, bring the hand down to the starting position. As you stand in tadasana you should be aware of any differences between the left and right sides of the body. Similarly, and then begin to lower your right arm observing all the sensations.

QRT:

In this exercise, we activate the brain centers by focusing awareness on the parts of the body in a definite sequence. Like a non-judgemental and an impartial witness, we observe various physical and mental activities of the body. This stimulates various parts of the brain.

Lower yourself slowly onto the ground, your body turned on the right side with your right arm on the ground stretched above your head. Move slowly and lie flat in shavasana.

Shavasana; Photo Credits : Wikipedia

You relax by being aware of your breathing, then by deepening your breathing, you make the breathing extend deep down from the abdomen. Finally you give yourself auto-suggestions to feel ‘energized’ with each inhalation and to feel relaxed with each exhalation.
Steps:

• Observe the movements of abdominal muscles going up and down as you breathe in and out normally. Do five cycles.
• Synchronize the abdominal movements with deep breathing. The abdomen goes up with inhalation and comes down with exhalation. Do five cycles.
• You will find the breathing getting deeper automatically. Visualise that the body feels energetic and light when you inhale. Notice that as you exhale, the body becomes limp and collapses to the floor and feels heavy. Enjoy the relaxation. Do five cycles.
• Chant “AAA” in a low pitch while exhaling. Feel the vibrations in the lower parts of the body.
• Slowly and gradually come up from either the right or the left side of the body.

Vajrasana

Vajarasana Credit: Wikimedia
• Sit back on the heels, keeping them apart and well tucked in under the buttocks.
• Keep the head, shoulders and buttocks in a straight line.
• Place your palms on the respective thighs.
• Breathe normally. If you experience pain at the ankles, use a soft cushion or keep a folded towel under your buttocks. Gradually increase the duration of the practice.

Shashankasana (Rabbit Posture)

Shashankasana; Photo 1 Credits : Dharma Ayurveda; Photo 2 Another variation: Credits : Yogamrita

• Start with Vajrasana. Now, take the hands back, make a fist of the right palm and hold the right wrist with the left palm. Relax the shoulders.
• While inhaling lean backward from the waist opening up the chest.
• As you exhale slowly, bend forward from the waist, bringing the forehead on to the ground in front of the knees. Tune your mind to the sensations in the body as you go down. Relax the shoulders.
• Maintain this position for a minute.
• Inhale slowly and come up to the vertical position, observing the changes in the body as you come up.
• Release your hands and come back to the starting position.

Ushtrasana

Ushtrasana; Image Credits: Wikimedia

• Kneel on the floor. Keep the thighs and feet together and the toes pointed.
• Place the palms on the hips. Stand on the knees.
• Bend the head back and pushing the hips forward, bring the thighs at right angles to the floor. Pulli the shoulders back.
• Press the heels or the soles of the feet with the corresponding hands.
• Exhale and raise the chest,curve the spine backwards, bending the trunk and head back as far as you can.
• Contract the hips and stretch the dorsal and coccyx regions of the spine further, keeping the neck stretched back.
• Stay in this posture for as long as possible. Observe the crowding nerve impulses. Breathe normally.
• Release the posture by releasing the hands one by one and place them on the hips. Sit up and relax.

DRT:

Here we sectionally and sequentially relax the lower parts of the body up to the pelvic region, then the trunk, and last of all, the head region. We energise them with the “AUM” sound. We stimulate the mind by visualizing various objects, and calm it with feelings of identity with the objects.

• Direct your awareness to the tip of the toes, gently move your toes and relax. Slowly and subsequently, relax the soles, the ankle joints, and the calf muscles. Gently pull up the knee caps, feel the tightness, then release it and relax. Relax the thigh muscles, buttock muscles, hip joints, pelvic and the waist region. Relax your lower part of the body completely. Observe for a few seconds, inhale deeply and chant “AA”, feeling the vibrations in your abdomen.
• Gently shift your awareness to the abdominal region and observe the abdominal movements for sometime, relax your abdominal muscles. Bring your awareness to your lower back and relax it. Feel the pelvic region sink to the ground. Direct your attention to the spinal cord and visualize each of the vertebrae and the surrounding regions relax. The back feels fully relaxed. The chest is relaxed and calm. The shoulder blades are relaxed and they sink to the ground. Shift your awareness to the tips of the fingers, gently move them a little. Relax each of your fingers, relax your palms , loosen the wrist joints, relax the hands , loosen the elbow joints, relax your arm (triceps and biceps) and relax your shoulders. Shift your awareness to your neck, slowly turn your head to the right and left, again bring back to the center. Relax the muscles and nerves of the neck. Inhale deeply and chant “OO”, feeling the vibrations in your chest.
• Gently bring your awareness to your head region. By this time, you start feeling the numbness that has already crept into your face. Intensify it further by slowly and sequentially relaxing the chin, the lower  and upper jaws, the gums, lower and upper teeth and tongue. Relax the hard and soft palate, throat and vocal chords. Gently shift your awareness to your lips, relax both lips. Shift your awareness to your nose, observe nostrils and perceive the warm air touching the walls of the nostrils while exhaling out and feel the cool air touching the walls of the nostrils as you inhale. Relax cheek muscles and keep a gentle smile on your face. Relax the muscles of the eye balls and feel its heaviness. Relax your eye lids, the eye brows and the region in between the eyebrows. Relax your forehead, temple muscles, ears, the sides of the head, the back of the head and the crown. The head now feels fully relaxed. Chant “MMM” and feel the vibrations in your head region.
• Observe your whole body from toes to head and relax , chant “AUM” in a single breath. Feel the vibrations throughout the body.
• Slowly come out of the body consciousness and visualize your body lying on the ground completely relaxed.
• Imagine the vast beautiful sky. Expand the horizon of your awareness as vast as the blue sky. Feel yourself a part of the sky. You are the blue sky. Enjoy the infinitely blissful state of silence and the all-pervasive consciousness.
• Slowly come back to body consciousness. You are now increasingly aware of the body sensations. Inhale deeply. Chant “AUM” once again. Feel the vibrations throughout your body and the soothing and massaging effect from toes to head.
• Gently move your whole body a little. Feel the lightness, alertness and movement of energy throughout the body. Slowly bring your legs together and the hands by the side of the body. Turn over to the left or the right side and come up when you are ready.

References and Credits

1. “Laye sambodhayet chittam vikshiptam samayet punah
   Sakashayam vijaniyat samapraptam na chalayet.” (Mandukya Upanishad)
2. The instructions for DRT have been taken from BestonHealth site. The idea is that the practitioner records the instructions, so that the voice-over takes about 15 minutes. To get it correctly, you should get a practitioner to follow the instructions, so that you can synchronize them with the narration. The instructions have to be delivered in a soothing and soft voice.