“Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.”
Buddha

Let’s face it, most of us have trouble staying present. I always think of it as just putting my mind to it – no pun intended. There are all kinds of strategies we can practice to help us stay present in our meditation practice.
Just a few of many ways to try to stay present in your meditation practice are:

• Focusing on the breath – counting it, practicing Pranayama to stay present while meditating (there are tons of Pranayama techniques to do too)
• Listening to a guided meditation

(There are some great ones of all types, on Itunes – like Meditation Oasis)

• Even candle gazing is an awesome way to stay present, clean out the tear ducts and open the Ajna Chakra. (I love this one.)

But, another great way that seems to have dwindled down the meditation practice list (at least in a yoga class is) is Yantra Meditation.

Yantra Meditation is done by using a mandala (a universal symbol) or a yantra (a geometric design). A person would preferably place the yantra or mandala in front of them equal to their eye level and sit upright, (not stiff or wood like of course) and gaze at the symbol seeing whatever they could see inside the shape. I really enjoy doing this type of meditation because I learn more about myself than I do from some of the other meditations I do. I watch and see whatever it is that I see in that shape on that day, at that present moment.

Meditation practitioners can get cd’s with mandalas and yantras on them to use to gaze at, they can use a design of their own that they have created or my absolute favorite are mandalas made by Susan Bloom in Asheville, NC.

I originally found out about the mandalas in a Mindfulness Training with Shala Worsley at the Asheville Yoga Center. She used them as we practiced yantra meditation and then we got to journal after viewing several different ones. We searched for patterns in our lives from our journals. It was so fun to see what we saw, to learn and to reflect on it.

Then of course, I had to find out where Shala got the beautiful mandalas and she revealed the secret and yes – now I am sharing it with you.

I purchased a notebook full of mandalas from Susan to use when I teach yoga, for my own meditation practice and also for fun gifts for friends – they look awesome in frames too. Take a look!

I have no idea how she makes them, but boy oh boy aren’t they beautiful?

And these pictures don’t even do her work justice!

Each and every time you can see something different inside them.

Try it out, see what you see, see what you learn about yourself and you life.
Susan even has some posted on You Tube too, so that you can watch and do a Yantra meditation.

Do you have a regular meditation practice, a pranayama practice that you incorporate into your meditations?

How do you take/find the time to meditate?