Concentration
12. Breath control and purification
This week we offer a simple yet very effective exercise in breath control. Please note that this exercise should be done according to ones capacity — do not do anything that is beyond your capacity or it may upset and disturb you. If you are not able to breath as slowly or as deeply as you would like, no harm. Just breath as slowly and as deeply as you can and your capacity will increase naturally over time.
The following are the words of Sri Chinmoy:
10. Stilling the mind
This week Sri Chinmoy offers advice on how to deal with the minds constant and often troublesome thoughts — a problem that besets most if not all seekers in their quest for enlightenment. Taming the 'monkey-mind', as Sri Chinmoy calls it, requires a combination of adamantine determination, resilience and calm patience. Sri Chinmoy's words:
09. Concentrate on a flower
For this exercise, you will need a flower. Either hold a flower in your hand or have a flower in a vase in front of you. When Sri Chinmoy offered this concentration exercise, he had given each person present a flower...
08. Focus on a picture
This week we offer another simple yet very effective concentration exercise that was recommended by Sri Chinmoy. This is an exercise in identification with a teacher or spiritual Master who inspires you or, if you are fortunate enough to have a spiritual Master, guides your life. If you do not wish to focus a particular individual, no harm — Sri Chinmoy offers other options:
07. The power of concentration
Sri Chinmoy suggests the following exercise to develop power in your concentration and to acquire power from your meditation:
06. Developing extraordinary concentration
This week we continue with the theme of concentration. Sri Chinmoy offers a simple and effective exercise to develop extraordinary concentration:
05. Concentration on a black dot 3
This week we offer a third and final black dot concentration exercise – a variation on last weeks exercise from the writings of Sri Chinmoy:
04. Concentration on a black dot 2
Here is another concentration excercise offered by Sri Chinmoy that continues with the theme of using a black dot.
03. Concentration on a black dot 1
Here is another exercise offered by Sri Chinmoy to help develop concentration:
02. Concentration on a flame
The spiritual heart is a chakra, or spiritual centre, that is located in the centre of the chest and houses our spiritual energies and propensities. Sri Chinmoy puts it this way: