Preksha Dhyana Self Awareness by Relaxation

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

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is acquired only with physical immobility. Hence the most important element of the basic meditational pre-requisite is the physical immobility. Kāyotsarg is motionless state of the body.
Mental concentration follows physical motionlessness. A practitioner must first learn the technique of relaxation. One who has mastered this technique, would be able to achieve mental steadiness in due course. Relaxation should be total, i.e. the whole body is completely relaxed and free from tension, ahd there is no stiffness anywhere in the body. All skeletal muscles are relaxed and demagnetized. Muscular tension and fatigue result from stiffness. This, in fact, is the first lesson. For an average person it is very important to master the technique of relaxation.
Auto-suggestion is the basic principle of the technique of relaxation. In practice, the body is mentally divided into small parts and each part is relaxed, in turn, by auto-suggestion until the entire body is free from tension. It should be noted that this technique is not hypnotism. In hypnotism, suggestions of another persoh are accepted subconsciously and the process expends great deal of vital energy both from the hypnotist and his subject. Kāyotsarg is not hypnotism and there is no loss of vital energy.
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