Here I will present you two simple, yet powerful techniques that will help your meditation. Both are coming from the complex methodology of Yoga. Also these two techniques are good examples of vertical thinking. The primary goal of all meditation methods is to transform the mind into a perfectly controlled instrument. Into a recipient ready to receive the flow of increased streams of consciousness. If you prefer, of higher levels of awareness. At their core, both techniques can help you stop the discursiveness of the mind.

The two most obvious activities of the mind you notice when starting to practice some form of meditation, is the wandering imagination (1) and the inner speech (2). These two can be present simultaneously or just one at a time. But while they are there, they are filling your mind, they are generating mind activity. It is important to realize that neither one should not have any negative connotation for you in this context. The inner wanderings and ramblings just need to be brought under voluntary control in order to be able to stop them at will.

The beauty of Yoga consists in helping you understand that every part of your being can be trained. Not just your physical body. Thus, in order to be able to practice your chosen form of meditation, you can train your mind to become a helpful instrument.

1. Stopping imagination at will

Imagination doesn’t just provide the essential material for your dreams, but it controls your involuntary actions more than you realize. In your day-to-day life when something imagined becomes a belief, it will then influence even your physical health. Learning to direct imagination towards a desirable direction is widely accepted as a form of mental health care.

Here, we need to get neutral about this. It is not our goal to turn towards a positive mental stream, but to understand and learn the way to bring imagination under control. When you are able to stop any imaginative activity on your mind-screen for an indefinite time period, then you have gained control over your imagination. And once more, this does not mean you should not learn to have a positive imaginative mental attitude. This is just simply different. You are simply learning to stop imagination at will.

Imagination is calibrated by attention. Attention is usually pointed where the eyes are looking. Traversing a rift on a plank is usually safe just until you stare at center of the plank. If you move your eyes, your attention follows and your imagination brings in the belief of falling. So, three factors are involved in the process: imagination – attention – eye focus. What the yoga technique suggests is to reverse the order here. Learning to keep the eye perfectly motionless will keep the attention focused. When the focused attention is maintained at will, as long as you want it, uninterruptedly, then imagination can be maintained still. It can be stopped at will.

This technique is called Trataka. It consists of fixing the focus of the eyeballs on one spot. You may use whatever you want to be the object of this training: a spot on the wall, an object, the top of your nose, some prefer the light of a candle. But you are there only when there are no movements of the eyes. Not even micro movements. It should be maintained until the eyes begin to water, at which point you may close them and relax. Too much tensed effort affects you like in any sort of training. So be careful, but persistent. You have to learn to get control over all the reactions that will manifest.

2. Suspending the inner speech

Thinking is generally considered a process of inner verbalization. We use words, sentences to think, although this is going on soundless for the outer world. All thoughts are followed by a soundless form of speaking, the inner speech. Those of you who were trying some form of meditation practice know that the inner speech is very much present when you wish to calm your mental fluctuations. In fact, most of the mental fluctuations are manifesting through this inner speech. Even thinking about your actual meditation is a sign of a fluctuating mind. So, learning to suspend the inner speech at will, indefinitely in time, is essential for every meditation practitioner.

Any kind of soundless inner speech produces micro movements in the muscles of your tongue. Even if you try your best and it is completely unnoticeable for you, with the help of some sophisticated machinery, those micro movements would be clearly observable. And also, those movements are perfectly corresponding to the regular tongue movements as in loud talk. The interesting part is, that we are so used to this interaction between our tongue and the inner speech, that if we impede or inhibit the movements of the tongue, our inner speech will be impeded and stopped. This is what is used in yoga. Operating on the reverse as with the stopping of the eyeball movements.

Yoga calls this technique Khechari Mudra. The complete execution of this technique is difficult, also not entirely relevant here as it concerns breathing exercises. What is important to remember is, that by placing firmly the tip of the tongue on the palate you are making the effort of inhibiting all tongue movements. Through constraining the tongue in a firmly fixed position, your are also impeding the inner speech to manifest. Thus, you are stopping the mental fluctuations and – through serious and persistent effort – are training the mind to become a helping tool.

… levels that share common informational value …

Now a few final thoughts. Using these two techniques will improve your meditation. But the other reason to share those was to demonstrate how self-evidently yoga operates with vertical thinking. Acting upon interconnected levels generates efficient change. Recognizing the connected levels that share common informational value is the core of vertical thinking. Inner transformation is relevant only in terms of this verticality, on the axes of material and formal causes. Acting upon one level always affects the other.

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