Scanning for Peace

This meditation theme is Pratyahara, which is a Sanskrit (yogic) word for Going Inward.

You will notice in many of the meditations, we first connect or tune inside the body and then we connect with the breath. This is a practice of Pratayahara, or tuning inside and then connecting with the breath, or prana, which is our connection to life force energy.

Pratayahara is practiced this way:

Go inside.

Observe your thoughts,

feel sensations,

and honor emotions,

without judging yourself.

Accept yourself

in this moment.

And realize

you are enough.

Exactly as you are.

Here now.

Present and aware,

fully conscious,

body and mind

grounded to the Earth.

Pratayahara is withdrawl of the senses, or gaining mastery over external influences. Going within and closing out our day to day experiences for the time we are together in meditation.

Pratayahara has been compared to a turtle withdrawing into its shell, and the turtle's shell is the mind and the turtle's limbs are the senses. Pulling all awareness inside.

By withdrawing our awareness from external experiences, we strengthens the mind's powers of immunity to distraction. Just as a healthy body resists toxins or pathogens, a healthy mind resists the sensory influences around it.

Control of the external environment requires the development and control of prana, or breath (life force energy). If our our breath work is strong we will develop the power to control the senses and the external environment. If our prana is scattered or disturbed our senses will also be scattered and disturbed.

This meditation brings the breath and conscious awareness inside, travels into the body and to the Earth, the source of prana or life force energy for all of life. Once connected to this energy we use breath to pull the prana into the body, breathing it in and expanding it within the body, concentrating our focus on the internal environment.

Many blessings, and remember this is a practice and a journey, each step is a step toward a shift in how we experience life itself and the world around us.

Namaste,

Alison