# Mastering Meditation  ## Metadata - Author: [[Forrest Knutson]] - Full Title: Mastering Meditation - Category: #books ## Highlights - The Holy Trinity of Breath Keep the breath rate under 7 breaths per minute (BPM) Always Make the Outbreath Longer (AMOL) Take out all the pauses between breaths ([Location 282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=282)) - Mahamudra Stretching First, place the left leg out straight in front as you sit on the floor. Place the right heel into the groin. Take a breath in, and slowly stretch towards your left foot. If you can only grasp your knee, then only stretch that far. If you can interlace your fingers and grasp your left toe, excellent. If you need more of a challenge, then grasp the whole foot. Keep the stretch as long as you can hold your breath comfortably. Sit up and breathe out.  Extend the right leg out straight, placing the left heel into the groin. Breathe in and stretch forward as before. Hold as long as you can hold the breath comfortably. Sit up and breathe out. Extend both legs out straight on the floor. Breathe in and stretch forward. Hold as long as you can comfortably hold the breath. Sit up and breathe out.  This is one round of Mahamudra. Before your best meditation, three rounds of Mahamudra are recommended. At times when you aren’t feeling well, or if there is any disturbance in your energy, then more rounds are recommended. ([Location 416](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=416)) - love, plus joy, plus peace, equals bliss. ([Location 709](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=709)) - For this purpose, he taught me the following physical and mental method of finding the chakras. Squeeze the anus momentarily. As the energy in the muscle subsides toward the spine, follow the feeling backwards towards the spine. This is the first chakra. Imagine that you are stopping the flow of pee while in the bathroom. As the energy activated in the muscle flows backwards, follow it back into the spine. This is the second chakra. Bend forward with locked knees, then quickly straighten up. The feeling of tension in the lower back is the area of the third chakra. Alternatively, breathe out, and suck the stomach strongly in towards the spine. Hold that until you feel a little heat in your gut. That burning sensation is the third chakra. When a loved one returns to you after a long absence, that shock of love in the heart is the area of the fourth chakra. Make a deep and guttural KA sound deep in the throat. Follow the flow of energy back into the area of the spine after making the sound. This is the fifth chakra. When you have that sudden eureka moment, and say “Oh, now I get it!” you will lift your head and strain the back of the neck near the medulla as you do so.  This takes place in the sixth chakra. Alternatively, feel that the top cervical vertebrae in your neck is like a screw, twisting into the base of your skull. In very small movements, sit up straight and swivel the head back and forth an inch or so. Feel the imagined screw as it enters the skull. This is the medulla and the sixth chakra. ([Location 827](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=827)) - To get a feeling of how much Navi is helping you in each meditation, first perform Mahamudra stretching, followed by Navi Kriya, and then your HRV Resonant Breathing (or your Kriya Pranayama). ([Location 858](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=858)) - Practicing Navi Kriya ([Location 861](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=861)) - Do this mental OM-ing one hundred times. This is not to be coordinated with the breath, so just breathe normally. Now, reverse the neck lock, and very gently stretch your neck backwards so that the weight of the head rests behind the spine comfortably. Place your mind on the back side of the third chakra, which is straight back from the belly button. If you like, place the hands behind the back, interlace the fingers, and press the two thumbs together again. Chant OM mentally into the back side of this third chakra, and with each mental OM tap the back of the spine with the thumbs. The hand movement, again, is only an assist, and once you feel that you can keep your mind in this position, you can stop using the hands. Perform this mental Om-ing from the back twenty-five times. ([Location 866](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=866)) - You must sit with the emotion only, and you have to sit with it until it resolves completely. ([Location 919](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=919)) - The Kriya Yogi practices OM Japa into each of the six chakras described above, from the coccyx to the medulla. This disrupts the natural outflow of conscious intelligence, which attaches the consciousness to the outside world. ([Location 976](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=976)) - When you feel a negative emotion arise, sense where it is. Where is it coming from? OM directly into the feeling. Do this over and over again, mentally. ([Location 1008](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1008)) - this Kriya Therapy.  Ashokji told me, “This is the real Kriya.” I sat there with my mouth open! He then told me that it’s the real Kriya because it’s the one you do all day long. ([Location 1018](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1018)) - By cleaning his projections, the yogi returns more and more to his original sahaja nature, and his inherent joy, love, and bliss may naturally begin to spring forth in his life and meditations. By shrinking the bad, the natural good becomes uppermost. ([Location 1033](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1033)) - Note: Prac continuous good thoughts Turiya oiling and oming into chakras to build beautiful mind to live in - Hakalau, ([Location 1072](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1072)) - Note: Soften the gaze - For further study of bliss, you might like Rumi, Hafiz, or the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. When they speak of wine, they are speaking of yogic bliss! ([Location 1074](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1074)) ## New highlights added July 24, 2023 at 4:53 AM - I remember sitting at a discussion between a few older monks who were counselors, as well as a bunch of novice monks. Suddenly one of my fellow novices burst out in despair, “So, we’re just going to search for Pratyahara for the rest of our lives?!” The older monks said nothing. They had no response because they simply did not know. ([Location 1177](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1177)) - Note: Greatly decreased ext sounds rather - would feel as if I was just a mind in the box of my own skull. He called me up and told me, “There should be no box! Nothing! No box at all! Just expand! Expand everywhere!” ([Location 1204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1204)) - Note: Both void and awareness here in brain - After studying with Ashokji for years, I finally received the seventh and last of the higher Kriya techniques. When he finished the teaching, he turned to me and said, “Now do whichever of the Kriya techniques that draws you the most powerfully into the medulla.” ([Location 1373](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1373)) - Each night right before you go to sleep, ask your question to the Higher Self. Look to the Higher Self as you would to a trustworthy, loving parent. Some ideas for possible messages: Higher Self, bless me and my family.  Higher Self, protect me during these days. Higher Self, give me understanding about this.  Higher Self, what will happen with this part of my life? Higher Self, guide me to go deep in meditation. ([Location 1466](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1466)) - Material Jhanas First Jhana: Piti – the rapture born of seclusion Second Jhana: Sukha – the comfort born of seclusion Third Jhana: Ekaggata – tranquility of mind Fourth Jhana: Upekkha – Equanimity ([Location 1520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1520)) - Immaterial Jhanas Fifth Jhana: Infinite Spaciousness Sixth Jhana: Infinite Intelligence Seventh Jhana: Infinite Nothingness Eighth Jhana: Neither perception nor non-perception ([Location 1536](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1536)) - Three Knots Magnetic Sensation at the Spiritual Eye Opening of the Heart and Internal Feeling Spiral-Like Sensation in the Coccyx Some yogis confuse these signs with the yogic granthis, or psychic knots. Those knots are referring to when your consciousness Rolls-Up part way along the spinal highway, but doesn’t make it all the way back to the brain. ([Location 1705](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1705)) - This Expansion through the crown is a thousand times more comfortable for the yogi than trying to expand through the spiritual eye. I wish someone would have told me that near the beginning of my practice! ([Location 1780](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=1780)) - This makes Samadhi correct, when the yogi realizes all three states that make up the Ultimate: Sat-Chit-Ananda. That is the Truth of Knowing, Expanded Consciousness, and true Bliss. ([Location 2029](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CCFWP4W8&location=2029))