Later I extended this to ‘easy reading’ or ‘lazy reading’ if you wish - where I used to loudly read a chapter from my book, record it on a tape – I am talking about those good old days – and play the tape back.
Just listening to the tape once, I could remember the entire chapter for a long time without ever having to re-read it again!
If you are a good listener like me, then the focusing technique I am going to narrate next, is for you.
Take any metallic object. If you don’t find any, it could be some metal utensil in your kitchen 😉 Hit it with some wooden stick. Obviously, the object would make a sharp sound. Observe this sound. The sound suddenly rises in intensity and then gradually dies down after a long time.
Keep listening to the sound. See how the sound suddenly rises and gradually dies down. Concentrate even on the faintest of its last notes before it dies down completely.
When the sound dies down completely, hit the object once again, the very same way. Repeat the entire process all over again. This is your simple focusing technique. Keep doing it for say 10 minutes each day. You will find that your attention becomes sharper and sharper day by day.
Just hit the bell with the wooden stick or hammer. There would be a sharp sound that gradually and very slowly dies down making lot reverberations.
Some even prolong these reverberations by rotating the stick either inside or outside the bell. That would add a non-monotonous variation to the sound.
Just practice focusing your attention on the sound variations. And as usual, repeat the entire process once the sound completely dies down.
Yogis are clever guys. They don’t want to depend on any external object for their practice. For them their body is the best instrument. So, here is a way you can practice the same ‘sound focusing’ without any external object.
Now with the mouth closed, make a bee like humming sound. Keep the humming as long as you comfortably can, till you run out of breath.
This humming sound reverberates in your closed ears. Keep focusing on these reverberations till they completely die down. Repeat the entire process all over again.
Hatayogis call this way of focusing as Bhramari. Bhramara means a bee. And since you make a sound like that of a bee, it is called Bhramari.
Please observe that in this exercise you are unknowingly focusing on your breathing as well. So, it works like the Pranayama of Yoga or the Anapana Sati of the Buddhists. Even some Hatayogis call this as Bhramari Pranayama.
Though this is a very good focusing technique, the Hatayogis as usual mystify it and claim many things apart from merely training the attention system. They say that this exercise bestows on you certain psychic powers and it also minimizes your stress.
I generally would not like to go into things that cannot be logically explained or scientifically proven. As I said earlier, psychic powers are attained not necessarily by the practice of a specific technique, but just because of a focused mind that seems to be capable of transgressing the physical limits of the body. Probably, I cannot go beyond this explanation without sounding mystical 😉
As far as stress reduction is concerned, this too has nothing to do with a specific technique. It is the consequence of a focused mind. I will be explaining this later on.
Let us go on with one more of the focusing technique in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King,Swami Satyapriya 2019-2020
No comments:
Post a Comment