Vedic Meditation comes from an ancient tradition in India. It’s a mantra based practice. It’s a universal practice.
Who is Vedic Meditation for?
It’s for any culture, any background, any country. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what you believe in. It’s here to enhance whatever you love in life.
What is Vedic Meditation?
It’s a mantra based practice. The word “mantra”: Man = Mind, Tra = Liberator
Mantra is designed to liberate the mind.
It’s a sound and vibration, to take the mind from the surface of thought, and go beyond thought.
A lot of people will say, “I can’t meditate because I’m thinking”
Because we’re a mind, we are always going to think, that’s the function of the mind.
The Mind is Like an Ocean
The mind is like an ocean. At the top of the ocean are waves. Waves come in, and they crash. They come in sets, and then they go flat, exactly like our thinking. We come in waves of thought, and then we go flat. In Vedic meditation, the mantras are designed to take the mind from the crashing waves of thought, deeper into the ocean of thought. The mind gets absorbed in the sounds and vibrations, and we start to experience a deeper aspect of our thinking, to the stillest place within us.
You may be thinking, there is no way I can experience that. Yes, you can. And, on the first session that I teach anyone, when they receive their sound and vibration, and their mantra, they’ll experience going beyond thought. The mind will bubble up, back into thinking, but that’s ok. The process that’s happening within Vedic meditation is a necessary process, to experience all of the layers of thought. the deeper layers, and the more excited layers.
(3:00)
Vedic meditation is a transcending technique to take us from our most excited state to our least excited state.
It’s a deep rest technique, and this is what sets it apart from so many other meditations out there. It’s not about focus. It’s not about concentration.
It’s about allowing the mind to be in the freedom of what its nature is, which is to roam, which is to be distracted. It’s going to get lost in thoughts, and it’s going to come back to mantra. It’s going to wander all over the place within meditation.
Vedic Meditation Outcome
What we teach the mind is how to have intention with attention.
The outcome of the meditation is to have focus and concentration.
When we concentrate and when we focus, it is control. What meditation does is it allows us to move out of control, into a more free, liberated state. We don’t want to be controlling our thoughts. We don’t want to be controlling our experiences in life. If we’re controlling, then we are not living in the flow. As this technique works, we move beyond that. We start to teach the mind how to not control. The funny part is the outcome is more focused. The outcome is more memory. The outcome is more concentration, the ability to focus on many things at one time, because we’re allowing thoughts to happen at the same time that we’re thinking mantra and multiple experiences happening simultaneously.
Vedic meditation is a technique that allows us to have an all-inclusive experience. From that perspective, all inclusiveness is what we all desire. If we’re experiencing exclusiveness, like you can’t be a part of this, we don’t like that. Why would we practice in our mind?
With Vedic meditation, we like to experience everything, because that is what life is about. A full spectrum, simultaneous experience, everything happening at one time, and you have the ability to experience all. So, that is what Vedic meditation is.
Vedic Meditation Components
1. Vedic Meditation and Sound
Vedic meditation using sound and vibrations that work on the level of new meaning. They are primordial sounds, which means they are sounds that emulate nature. Sounds and vibrations that take the mind from an excited state to a less excited state. It’s as simple as that.
2. Deep Rest
With Vedic meditation, we come from a perspective of deep rest. All yourself to rest comfortably, your back supported. You can have your legs stretched out of on the ground, whatever is comfortable. You can put pillows behind your neck and back.
On the wellness side, If your sick and not feeling well, you can still meditate. If your struggling with cancer or any sort of arthritis, whatever it is that’s been inhibiting you. For back injuries, this is definitely a technique that you can do. It’s a technique that allows for you to move beyond the things or pain that is hurting you.
Vedic Meditation Benefits
The benefits that you receive from a Vedic meditation are numerous. A few key benefits are:
1. Better sleep at night
2. Increased wellness and wellbeing
3. Increased creativity
4. Better relationships
5. More productivity
A Simple Mantra Meditation
(7:00)
Look for an expert in the field of meditation. We recommend you learn from an established teacher. Go online, and look up anyone in your area that teaches Vedic meditation. Vedic meditation teachers are based across the country and all over the world. If there isn’t someone in your area, you can start sitting on your own.
To get started, start with 10 minutes first thing in the morning:
1. Start first thing in the morning
Get out of bed, freshen yourself in the bathroom, then sit. Prior to looking at your phone, prior to eating food, prior to having caffeine. All of that you can do afterwards.
2. Find a comfortable seat.
Have your back supported against something. You don’t have to have your legs crossed. You can put your feet on the ground. You can still be on the bed with your comfy duvet, pillows around your neck. Everything feeling good.
3. Start with a simple breath.
Breath starts to calm your mind. It’s as easy as that. Inhale for 5 long seconds, and then exhale for 5 long seconds. This allows for the brain to bring in more coherency, to start to move beyond the chaos within the mind. Do this breath for about 2 or 3 minutes.
4. Choose a word of affirmation.
It could be as simple as the word “love”. Use breath as you do the affirmation. Use it very gently. This is key. You’re not using the breath and/or the affirmation the entire time. The whole time, you use both in a very gentle way.
5. Let the mind roam.
If it has thoughts, it’s ok. It will get lost in the thoughts, and then come back to the word of affirmation. Use the breath in a simple way, not in a harsh way. You’re not forcing yourself. Your not concentrating. allow yourself to experience the mind going into relaxation or close to sleep. When you start to feel you may fall asleep, know that you’re doing it correctly. Allow for your body to experience that.
Frequency
If it begins to feel good to do it every day, in the morning, then add the afternoon.
Take a little break from your work. Anytime that you feel that work is too much or you are yawning,
instead of going for a coffee or tea, close your eyes and relax 5 to 10 minutes.
Pause, and then go back to work. Start with that, and as you increase the meditation in your life, you will start to attract the knowledge that you need. If you do this, things will start to come to you.
Take Action
Nature is designed to support you.
She’s just waiting to help you. You have to close your eyes, you have to create the space. You have to create that gentleness within you to be able to receive those things in your life.
Learn more about Vedic Meditation on the Healthy Life Project HERE
About the speaker:
Yashoda Devi Ma is the co-founder of The Subtle Mind meditation + conscious living studio in Boulder, Co and the founder of Cosmic Women’s Tribe/Cosmic Moon Tribe. She is a master teacher of Vedic Meditation, Sattva Yoga. For almost two decades she has studied under the guidance of her two Guru’s in India. She teaches a 4 -day intro to Vedic Meditation in Boulder, CO, and visits NYC, LA, Aspen, India.
Work with Yashoda Learn more: The Subtle Mind
Leave a Reply