Preksha Dhyana Basic Principles

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 19

Method of Kayotsarga
Choose a comfortable position; 'Lotus-posture' is ideal, but other ones can also be adopted. Keep your spinal cord, neck and head in a straight line without causing tension. For longer period, lying flat on a hard ground on a blanket is more suitable. Relaxation commences with the total cessation of the voluntary movements. Since breathing and relaxation are linked together, be aware of your breathing. If it is shallow, hasty and irregular, regulate it until it becomes even, slow and rhythmic. After this, it may be forgotten altogether. Next persuade every muscle in each part of the body to relax by auto-suggestion. Keeping the body entirely motionless, allow the mind to move in small steps keeping in mind that the technique is that of patient persuation, and not forced by strong will-power. Auto-suggestion is followed by an experience of relaxation in each part. When the whole body has become relaxed, there is an acute and actual perception of rest and relaxation, which is no longer auto-suggestion, but is real experience. Once this stage is reached, the body is cast off and forgotten, and the conscious element reveals its separate existence. Thus Kayotsarga is not only total relaxation, but actual perception of the self, quite apart from the material non-self i.e. the body.
12