Yesterday, a friend gave me the link to this page. I really found it fascinating especially since I've been meaning to practice the 8 siddhis. I'm not religious or anything like that but these concepts are so charming like that of super heroes. More than anything, such practices re-train the mind which tends, for most of us, to go in silly circles.
The first 4 points are about breath. Though I was exposed to the meditations of observing breath from early childhood as my father was always discussing it and also practising it, I found it hard to observe breath for years. It is only in recent years that I feel I am getting somewhere. Previously, I used to almost feel suffocated or that my breath would stop when observed.
points 5 to 8 deal with concentration on the centre of the forehead which is also very difficult for me-I used to feel I would get a headache when I tried this at a younger age. Now I can do it somewhat sometimes.
Point 9 is so amusing and it was due to this that my friend had passed me the link. We were both chatting about certain people in our lives and the anger they tended to arouse in us.
"Lie down as dead.
Enraged in wrath, stay so.
Or stare without moving an eyelash." Point 24("
At least it made us giggle but I feel it is worth trying next time I feel my temper rising. In most things, we tend to "run away" when it is better to stay still with that thing. I use it with headaches-sometimes the pain is so overwhelming nothing helps. At such times I enter the pain and stay with it-it seems to become "painless" when one is inside it.
I do sometimes practice point 12 which brings me back to what I was saying about the 8 Siddhis. It is a nice feeling to sometimes practice a sense of Lightness. My father used to tell me that most human problems are characterised by darkness and heaviness and the way to combat them is by practising a feeling of lightness and of imagining Light flowing out of the body. These are all fun games-please do not take me too seriously and ask me learned questions! I am not knowledgeable and, in fact, prefer to be the opposite of that as one gains too much head-weight.
Point 24 also deals with the common issue of hostility:
'When a mood against someone or for someone arises,
Do not place it on the person in question,
But remain centered."
It is worth skimming through it and, if one is interested, these are very good and simple exercises to tame the mind.
