ātma-pratyāvartana

Turning back toward the self

Many times during meditation, we can experience a calmness that is not devoid of thoughts. The times that I have experienced this, it seems like being at the bottom of a lake and only perceiving the faintest view of the surface. In other words, even though there are thoughts, they barely make an imprint in the mind. I remain mostly in a very pristine sense of awareness. 

ātma-pratyāvartana is a practice that we will continue to explore this week. This term refers to the gesture of reorienting our attention to return to what is aware. This is not turning back to our personality or history, but returning to awareness within ourselves.  We are very familiar with the things that awareness rests on, but not with awareness itself. This realization is like watching the stars in the night sky—and suddenly noticing the space that contains them. 

We are using the physical practice of yoga to bring our awareness back to the body, and in doing so, we bring ourselves closer to  the awareness within which all of this is happening.

As always, I look forward to seeing you in class.

Breathe easy,

Blessings

Jorge Nihāl