INNER FOCUS MEDITATION (Antar trataka/ Drishti Yoga)

Inner Focus (Antar trataka/ Drishti Yoga) is the practice of gazing in the midpoint of the brain with closed eyes to experience awareness by stopping the activity of the mind.

Safety Measures: Sometimes you feel loneliness in nature while practicing Inner Focus (Antar trataka). There is a change in the nature of many people. This change surprises you and others how you are changing so much. Loneliness is not a problem. Many times you do not understand its initial experiences correctly and you feel that there has been some mistake in the practice. When your mind starts getting lonely, you should first learn to balance yourself. Your mind will be restrained by the beauty of nature around you.

Your eyes and breathing patterns directly influence your mental and emotional state. Next time you feel anxious, angry, or stressed; observe how is the movement of your breath, and of your eyes. Then consciously bring a sense of relaxation and stillness to them both, and you will notice that the emotional state changes as well.

Method: Perform meditation on it as follows:

Step 1: Sit in Lotus pose (Padmasana) and relax your body.  

Step 2: Enter into Pranayama by practicing slow and deep breathing through nose. Simultaneously do Pratyahara by the practice of turning the mind to introspection by voluntarily shutting out distractions provided by the senses.

Step 3: Keep your hands in your lap and fingers in Interlock Position (Ling Mudra). 

Step 4: Focus your vision at centre of the head. Concentrate at Thalamus by relaxing central part of brain. Keep your eyes shut, spine erect, body relaxed while breathing deeply.

Perform at least one round of ten deep gentle breaths.

Benefits: Inner Focus is the way of cleansing, contemplating and paying undivided attention on your mind. It aligns the external and internal worlds within you and takes you on the transcendent state of peace and bliss. It stops the activity of the mind. When the eyes are completely fixed, the mind is completely stilled. 

In order to enter into the subtle realms, one must take support of the subtle element. One should, therefore, practice taking support of the subtle (non-material) element. Subtle support is “the infinitesimal point”. The infinitesimal point is also known as the subtlest of the subtle forms of God. Inner Focus is concentration on this infinitesimal point. By uniting the beams of vision of both eyes, and focusing on a single point in the centre and concentrating the mind on that point, single pointedness is attained. In this practice, it is advised neither to focus forcefully nor manipulate the eyeballs in any manner. By this practice, the inner divine vision is opened.

This is beyond the sensory dimension of seeing. You will see your energy in movement, all of your colours will float before your eye of wisdom. If your concentration is strong and pure, you will pass through the circle into the pure white light of pure consciousness, and you will discover the void beyond the light. If your only desire is for God, you must realize that you are pure consciousness. This is all beyond what your mind can comprehend, beyond what you could think about to understand.

While practicing this Energy Centre‚ you also catch all the benefits of Lotus pose. It has numerous health benefits for mentality, physicality and spiritual energy. In addition to it, you are benefited from Pranayama, Pratyahara and Interlock Position.

Final Position: Inhale a deep breath through nose and exhale it through mouth to come out of this stage. Take another similar breath and release it coming out of practice. Take one more similar breath before opening your eyes.