Yoga Psychology (A Practical Guide to Meditation)

Yoga Psychology (A Practical Guide to Meditation)

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Book Specification

Item Code: NAF346
Author: Swami Ajaya
Publisher: Himalayan Institute
Language: English
Edition: 1976
ISBN: 9780893890520
Pages: 127
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.0 inch x 5.5 inch
Weight 190 gm

Book Description

Back of the Book

“This book is a clear and easy to understand guide which teaches the fundamentals of meditation. Questions which inevitably arise in the mind of a beginning yoga student are dealt with in a straightforward manner. Common misconceptions about yoga are discussed. The author explains how to meditate and includes instructions o correct posture and proper breathing and relaxation techniques.”

A clear, concise, and accessible guide to the principal philosophy, requirement and techniques of meditation.”

Most readable and lucid… it is as much a how-to-do-it book as it is a primer on the philosophy and psychology of meditation… swami Ajaya covers all the important points which a mediator is likely to ask or needs to take into account, such as relaxation, posture, breathing, diet, the cultivation of conscious silence, the translation of meditative experience into action, and so on.”

About the Author

Swami Ajaya, Ph.D., received his education at Wesleyan University and at the university of California, Berkeley. He taught at the University of Wisconsin Medical school in Madison and has served as a consultative psychologist to a number of mental health centers. In addition to his Western training, Swami Ajaya has studied with various yogis in India. He is the Author of Psychotherapy east and west. A unifying Paradigm and co-author of Yoga and Psychotherapy: the evolution of consciousness and creative use of emotion.

Introduction

In the west we tend to view yoga in one of two ways as a form of spiritual philosophy or as a technique of physical development. Only in recent years have we come to realize that yoga is also a psychological system and method for the expansion of consciousness enabling an individual to reach new levels of understanding and self-actualization. Yoga Psychology is thus a very refreshing and appropriate title for this book by swami Ajaya.

Since the essential method of yoga psychology is meditation, Swami Ajaya dis cusses the process of meditation in considerable detail. Those who wish to practice meditation will find in this book a wealth of information not easily available in a s single volume elsewhere. The book includes excellent in-depth discussions of the psychological effects of mantra upon human consciousness and the subjective changes that occur with continued practice of meditation. The author also includes a discussion of other substantive ideas, intrinsic not so much to the actual techniques of meditation, but which have a strong bearing on the process of expanding consciousness and reaching the highest levels of consciousness through meditation. These ideas, which are often a source of controversy in the west, such as the need to renounce worldly desires or to change one’s well-ingrained dietary habits, are dicussed in the context of individual psychological needs. Both the beginning and the advanced student of meditation will find that many of their questions have been anticipated and discussed by Swami Ajaya.

Contents

I The Need for Meditation 1
What is Meditation 1
The Essential unity of Various forms of Meditation 5
The ordinary Mind 8
What Causes the mind to be Restless 12
Withdrowal vs. Involvement 21
II How to Practice Meditation 24
Choosing a place 24
How to sit 25
The time of Meditation 31
Preparation for meditation 31
Breathing and Relexation 31
Methods of Meditation 34
The Progressive use of Meditational Techniques 38
The Meditation Experience : how to deal with distubing thoughts 39
III Mantra 53
How Words affect us 53
The university of Mantra 56
The sound within 58
Om 60
The Origin of Mantras 63
IV Aids to Meditation 69
Kriya Yoga 69
Diet 74
Prayer 80
Silence 86
V Meditation in Daily Life 92
Common aspects of meditation and meditation in action 95
Being in the Now 98
Letting Go 105
Creating Our environment 107
The world as a teacher 110
A Daily Exercise 113

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