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RELIEF FROM MENTAL TENSIONS
and not in the past or in the future. We perceive it only when it is taking place and it takes place only in the present moment. We should also practise living and being in the present moment. When we are in the present and are watching what is happening at the present moment, attachments and aversions are totally absent from our minds. Where there is no imagination, there is neither attachment nor aversion. Where there is no memory, there are no attachments and aversions. The present moment is the moment of pure consciousness. Here there is neither love nor hatred. We neither regret past experiences nor are we worried by the future. Our life consists of a single moment only and that moment is the present moment.
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Breath perception means to live a life of equanimity or serenity. It means to live in a moment free from passions. It automatically reduces tensions. Body perception does not mean perceiving only the outer form of the body. It also means perceiving the constituents of the body and their formations. Above all the practitioner has to perceive what is happening in the body at the moment when it is being perceived. He has to perceive the pleasant and unpleasant feelings rising and falling within him. He is also to perceive the feelings of joy and sorrow. He is also to perceive the chemical changes happening in the body. He is to perceive what is happening in the outer body. He will also perceive if there is an itch in the skin which he will like to scratch because the itch is an event. He will also perceive perspiration which is also an event. He would also perceive the feeling of heat and cold which happens at the present moment. Whatever happens in the body as an event in the present moment is to be perceived with a dispassionate mind and without indulging in it or without feeling it to be repugnant. He is to see the present moment in order to take advantage of it in sadhanā.
Body perception develops the sense of equanimity. It enables us to live in the present moment without attachments and aversions. This exercise will relieve us of tensions.
There are three kinds of tensions: physical tensions, mental tensions and tensions born of imagination or moods. Every human being remains exposed to these tensions. The practice of kayotsarga is very useful in warding off physical
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