HOW TO PRACTICE MANTRA JAPA

I. Take a comfortable seating. It would be ideal to have a seat with back support. As
during advanced stages, we tend to droop down our head and hence back support is
necessary. No japa ml is needed for practicing this.

II. Practice Ndi odhana Prnyma (alternative nostril breathing) a few rounds and
this is to be integrated with yogic breathing. In yogic breathing, while inhaling abdomen
should be pushed forward. This should be done from the diaphragm towards the lower
part of the abdomen. During inhalation, expansion of lower abdomen cannot be noticed
distinctively. While exhaling, lower part of the abdomen should be contracted and
gradually moved to diaphragm area. Yogic breathing is the basis for all prn yma-s.
Yogic breathing should be practiced only in empty stomach. This is different from what
we do, during breathing practice. Here, there is no need to count during inhalation,
retention (antar kumbhaka), exhalation and then holding (bhya kumbhaka) before the
next inhalation. Our convenience is important here. We can conveniently do one round
in 30 to 40 seconds. One round means inhalation through left nostril, antar kumbhaka,
exhaling slowly through right nostril, bhya kumbhaka, inhalation through right nostril,
antar kumbhaka and finally exhaling through the left nostril. Following are the nine
sequential steps. If time is a constraint, five rounds will do.

1. Inhalation through left nostril (praka) by closing the right nostril with right thumb.

2. Retention of breath within (antar kumbhaka) by closing both the nostrils; left nostril to
be closed with little and ring fingers of the right palm.

3. Exhaling through right nostril (recaka) by releasing the thumb from right nostril.

4. Remaining without inhalation for a few seconds (bhya kumbhaka)

5. Inhalation through right nostril (praka)

6. Retention of breath within (antar kumbhaka)

7. Exhalation through left nostril (recaka)

8. Remaining without inhalation for a few seconds (bhya kumbhaka)

9. Repeat again from 1 above.

III. The same process is to be repeated with both nostrils open. In addition to the above
process, while inhaling we can slightly move our head backwards and during exhalation,
bring the head forward. We have to ensure, that chin does not touch the chest. We have
to ensure that there is adequate space in our armpits as shown in the image below

IV. After doing III above, we have to consciously reduce our breathing rate. Ideal rate
would be around 3 +/- 1 or 2. With practice, we can bring down breathing pace. Lower
the better always.

V. After settling down with slow breathing rate, which will turn into shallow breathing on
its own, we have to try to fix attention by focussing our eye balls on the tip of the nose
(nostril openings) marked as green in this image. While inhaling we have to visualise
that prn is moving towards jcakra which is marked as a star between the eyes in
the image below. This movement of prn can be felt. Now start reciting japa mantra in
jcakra. When the concentration is powerful, the japa mantra will be dissolved in our
subconscious mind and the conscious repetition of mantra will stop on its own.

VI. After sometime (may be after 5 to 10 minutes), pulsation/vibrations can be felt at

jcakra. Once the vibrations become more pronounced, we have to push this
vibration towards pineal/pituitary glands as shown in the image 3 below with dark line.
The red line from the pineal gland indicates the flow of energy towards back of the
head. In image 4 references are given.

VII. Once we feel that our jcakra is active, we can move our consciousness
from jcakra tosahasrra as explained in image 3 above. This movement can be
done with the help of our eye balls and breathing. When everything is perfect, trance will
be triggered automatically. Moving up the eye balls towards sahasrra for a very brief
moment so that energy can be properly directed from jcakra to sahasrra.
Overdoing this will cause damage to retinal nerves.

Under normal circumstances, it would take 30 to 45 minutes to practice this.