Top-Down Yoga exercise

[Lorin Kiely]

Here is an anatomical drawing of the muscles of the eyes;
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/47/63347-004-610F94B5.gif

Take a bit of time to absorb each instructions before incorporating the next.

Lying down, find a comfortable position in which you can completely let go, into stillness. Use as many pillows as you wish. Begin by releasing all nerve and muscle force of the jaw, down and very slightly back, and turning the tip of the tongue up toward the palate. Breathe lightly through the mouth, meaning without undue effort, and quietly. Connect breathing and awareness at the navel, along the central channel. Take a few minutes to settle and focus with inner awareness, stillness, and rest,

Continuing to breathe in this way, turn your attention to the four rectus muscles of the eyes. For two minutes, while simply resting awareness in the muscles of the eyes, 'tune-in' (listen) to the rate of breathing and the beat of the heart. Sense the profound affect regulation between the connective tissue of the eyes, the heart and the lungs. Afterward, lying still, absorb what learning there is in the exercise.

Then gently and very slowly, roll your eyes up, hold them up, then slowly back to center, pause, now slowly down.... In the same manner, to the right and then left. Remember to pause for a moment in the still-point, in the center, in between the movements. Hold each position for 3 to 5 seconds. Afterward, lying still, completely relax the muscles of the eyes and eyeballs. Rest awareness within this relaxation for a few minutes.

Subtly and gently, draw the muscles of the eyes straight in, or back, a few micromotions toward the brain. As soon as you sense the shape of the muscles of the eyes changing (very subtle), stop right there, and hold them still gently, with awareness and one-pointed precision. Holding the muscles of the eyes-in, and still, with the jaw relaxed, rest awareness within the neurosomatic still-point, in the SA node of the heart, and do nothing else at all. Hold this mudra for 30 seconds or more, while breathing gently through the mouth, to the navel. Then slowly release the muscles of the eyes over a ten second period.

Lie still, resting awareness in the effect of the exercise, invite your body to be aware.

[Mackie J.V. Blanton]

I like this exercise very much. It is very authentic in its underlying assumptions about the brain. I am going to connect it to another exercise I use each night before sleeping. I will do the Kiely first and then the Daskalos. I am pasting here the Daskalos. Daskalos is a Cypriot Orthodox Christian mystic. He once, a very long time ago, developed the meditation exercise that I am pasting just here:


A MEDITATION EXERCISE

Become as comfortable as possible as you are ready to rest for the night, or during quiet time during the day.

Be aware of your entire body, inhaling and exhaling deeply, quietly.

Relax the skin and muscles of your body from the top of your head to the soles of your feet and to your toes.

Honor, then dismiss thoughts from your mind.

Focus your attention exclusively at your toes. Bathe your toes, feet, and ankles in a sphere of white-blue light and slowly concentrate the white-blue light up your body to your navel and solar plexus.

Concentrate on your body where it is wrapped in the white-blue light.

Inhale. Exhale.

Without losing the sphere of the white-blue light around your body, continue now up your body in a sphere of white-rose light up across your chest and heart to and including your throat and neck.

The two spheres interpenetrate at their edges and maintain their own true color.

Inhale. Exhale.

Now concentrate your consciousness to the center of your skull and don your head and face in a sphere of gold that extends all around about six inches in all directions.

Envision your entire body as it now is and envelope it within a white aura in the shape of a luminous egg.

Feel and be aware of your entire body as your mind suggests: “May peace reign within my entire material body, and harmony within my psychic body. May absolute tranquility prevail in my thoughts.”

Breathe deeply.



[If time permits, the morning is also a beneficial time to do this exercise before your day fully begins.]