Okinawan karate (Shorin Ryu karate): Meditative form of karate that, frees the minds of practitioners, nourishes their spirits, and strengthens their bodies. Shorin Ryu is the technical name for a style and school of Okinawan karate.

(See also: Okinawan karate, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Lesser Kan & Li (Sexual Alchemy): Form of meditation whose theory posits chi, core energy channels, higher energy bodies, and internal male and female sexual energies (which are mixable in self-intercourse).

(See also: Lesser Kan & Li, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Smaranam - rememberance and meditation upon Krsna’s names, forms, qualities, and pastimes. Smaranam should be done in connection with nama-sankirtana. There are five stages in the process of smarana known as smarana, dharana, dhyana, dhruvanusmrti, and samadhi:

(1) a little investigation or examination of Sri Hari’s names, forms, and so on is called smarana;

(2) to withdraw the mind from all external objects and fix it in a general way upon the name, form, etc. of Sri Hari is called dharana;

(3) to contemplate the Lord’s names, forms, etc. in a concentrated manner is called dhyana;

(4) when that rememberance proceeds in an uninterrupted manner like a continuous flow of nectar, it is called dhruvanusmrti, and

(5) that meditation in which the object of one’s contemplation is the only thing manifest in the heart is called samadhi. Smaranam is one of the nine primary angas of bhakti.

(See also: Smaranam, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Gayatri:

Gayatri: [see also Srimad Bhagavatam] Ancient Vedic prayer to awaken the intelligence and lead to enlightenment: "Aum Bhur Bhuva Svaha; Tat Savitur Varenyam; Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi; Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat": The original form of the body, the lifeforce and the supreme abode; that source of life most excellent, that divine luster we meditate - may this light illumine our intellect. (RRV-6b)

(See also: Gayatri, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Yoga: meaning Union, A broad range of disciplined forms of meditation, which share the goal of freeing the mind from attachment, and distraction and opening the way for an experience of oneness with everything.  Recent discovery of 5000 year old medals illustrating classic yoga poses, have confirmed the ancient origins of Yoga. Yoga is also an integral part of Buddhism, Jainism and other offshoots of Hinduism.

(See also: Yoga, Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

SkyDancing Tantra: Westernized form of Tantra developed by Margo Anand, author of The Art of Sexual Ecstasy and the bestseller The Art of Sexual Magic. SkyDancing Tantra is an approach to sexual ecstasy that borrows from bioenergetics, NLP, shamanism, and transpersonal psychology. It awakens vitality and hidden powers of the brain. The Fall 1997 New York Open Center catalog described the expression SkyDancing as an ancient metaphor for the ability to reach ecstatic states when love is experienced as a joyful meditation.

(See also: SkyDancing Tantra, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

process psychology (Dreambody approach, Dreambody Work, process oriented psychology, Process-Oriented Psychotherapy, Process Work): Spiritual form of psychotherapy developed by American psychotherapist and author Arnold Mindell, Ph.D., at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. Process psychology involves bodywork, dreamwork, and meditation. Its theory posits a dreambody, and its design is to heal the source of illness as it manifests in the unconscious.

(See also: Process psychology, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Ten Jin Do (The Way of Angels): Transformational mode of energy work developed by psychic Anju Tenbu Myodo (the Japanese word anju means nun), who also developed Shaman Stone Healing. Ten Jin Do includes a meditative form of absent healing, through which its Touch is available anywhere on earth.

(See also: Ten Jin Do, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

divine therapy: a combination of centering prayer, Lectio Divina, and Open Mind Open Heart. Centering prayer (the centering prayer method) is a theistic form of meditation that involves using a sacred word. Lectio divina (Lectio) is a method of reading sacred writings such as the Bible. (The expression lectio divina literally means divine reading.) Open Mind Open Heart (the open mind, open heart practice) is a means of opening oneself to God.

(See also: Divine therapy, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

holistic medicine:

1. Alternative medicine.
2. That form of alternative medicine which focuses on
1. personal accountability for one's health;
2. the human body's ability to heal itself; and
3. balancing the body, mind, and spirit with the environment.

Holistic medicine includes among others acupuncture, biofeedback, faith healing, folk medicine, meditation, yoga etc.

(See also: Holistic medicine, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Meditation The attempt to raise the self-conscious mind to the level of its spiritual counterpart, to unite manas with a ray from buddhi. It is a positive attitude of mind, a state of consciousness rather than a system or a time period of intensive thinking.

It corresponds in its more perfect form to the ecstasy of Plotinus, which he defines as "the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness, becoming one and identified with the Infinite."

It is silent prayer in one real sense, for the heart aspires upwards to become freed from all desire for personal benefit, and the mind frames no specific object, but both unite in the aspiration; not my will, but thine, be done. When engaged in at the outset of the day, or on retiring to sleep, it often takes the form of reflecting profoundly and impersonally on spiritual teachings, as well as self-examination, attuning of the mind and heart to calm and unselfish thought and feelings, as well as the endeavor to realize in consciousness one's highest ideals of duty, purity, and truth, and inducing thereby a general harmonizing and one-pointed adjustment of the whole nature.

"Meditate all the time -- nothing is so easy and so helpful. Far better is this for most students than to have a set period: quiet, unremitting thought on the questions you have, continuing even when the hands are busy with the tasks of the day, and the mind itself quite absorbed by other duties. In the back of the consciousness there can still be this steady undercurrent of thought. It is likewise a protecting shield in all one's affairs, for it surrounds the body with an aura drawn forth from the deeper recesses of the auric egg . . ." (FSO 39).

(See also: Meditation, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Tso-ch'an (Chinese) Sitting dhyana or contemplation, practicing dhyana; equivalent to the Taoist tso-wang (sitting with blank mind), defined as "Slackening limbs and frame, blotting out the senses of hearing and sight, getting clear of outward forms, dismissing knowledge and being absorbed into That which Pervades Everything" (Chuang Tzu 6:10).

Connected with the meditation there was practiced by certain individuals some form of breath control, as expressed by Chuang Tzu: the breathing of the sage is not like ordinary men, "he breathes with every part of him right down to the heels" (6:2). However, this author condemned physical exercises analogous to the yoga asanas (postures).

(See also: Tso-ch'an, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

MEDITATION - n. or adj.

1. art and science of contemplation and concentration spanning Paleolithic hunting rituals. Neolithic mysteries and historic religious traditions East and West, especially Zen, Yoga, Sufism and Coptic, Carmelite, Trappist and Quaker Christianity.

2. contemplation reflection, intuition, doing nothing; in duration from a movement to a kalpa, through most frequently for periods of 10 minutes to several hours or days; performed anytime, anywhere or in any position or activity, through often setting on the Earth, floor, a chair, rock or pennacle standing straight or holding a posture, walling, dancing, jogging, making love; sometimes accompanied by chanting silently or aloud alone or with a group; focusing on the breath, the chakras, the mind, parts of the body, light, sound, God, a tutelary deity, symbols, archetypes, a candle or another internal, external or transcendental object.

3. practice leading to cosmic consciousness, enlightenment truth-consciousness-bless, developing body consciousness, rooting in the here and now perfecting harmony and balance with the Earth.

5. discipline of mind awareness and control of thoughts, emotions and states of consciousness.

6. return to the source or emptiness to erase delusions, refresh ourselves day to day and begin a new. (Michio Kushi).

7. exercise or practice of just being experiencing ourselves at whatever we are, without any extra thing added. (Gary Snyder)

8. going into the mind to see wisdom for yourself-over and over again until it becomes the mind you live in. (Gary Snyder)

9. space to work or fears, hopes, neurotic games, self-deception. (Trungpa)

10. self-analysis, self-cultivation, self-enlightenment.

11. thought-form building, bring down to the concrete levels of the mental plane abstract ideas and intuitions and shattering of forms, establishing of a direct channel between the nomad and the purified personality and between the seven centers in the human etheric vehicle; freedom to work on any path (Bailey)

12. the Tao of cats n. mediator, meditativeness, adj. meditative. v. meditate (from meditari, Latin). (NAD)

(See also: MEDITATION, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Anahata-sabda (Sanskrit) (from an not + a-han to beat, strike + sabda sound from the verbal root sabd to make noise, cry out, invoke)

Unstruck circle of sound; the immaterial sound produced by no form of material substance; a mystical bell-like sound at times heard by the dying which slowly lessens in intensity until the moment of death. Also heard by the yogi or contemplative at certain stages of his meditation.

The Theravada Buddhists speak of this inner signal as the voice of devas which resemble the "sound of a golden bell" (Digha-nikaya 1:152). The anahata-sabda is, in reality, a reflection of the inherent sound-characteristic of akasa (cf VS 18, 78).

(See also: Anahata-sabda, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ecstasy, Ecstasis (Greek) (from ekstasis displacement, standing out from the proper place, hence rising above)

A transference of consciousness from the physical plane to another inner and superior plane, accompanied by awareness and memory of the experience. It is necessary to distinguish between an astral-psychic experience and a truly psychospiritual one.

The former is delusive and fraught with harm; the latter is the state of illumination spoken of by Plotinus, resulting from the true asceticism of the disciple, and in its highest form is the same as the high stage of meditation of the Hindu yogi.

Used in the Gospels to mean astonishment, trance, or ecstatic visions.

(See also: Ecstasy, Ecstasis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Tantras - the verbal root tan means "to expand”, so tantra is that which expands the meaning of the Vedas. A class of Vedic literature dealing with a variety of spiritual topics and divided into three branches: the Agamas, Yamala, and principal Tantras; a class of works teaching magical and mystical formularies, mostly in the form of dialogues between Siva and Durga. These are said to expound upon five subjects:

(1) the creation,

(2) the destruction of the world,

(3) the worship of the gods,

(4) the attainment of all objects, especially of six superhuman faculties, and

(5) the four methods of union with the supreme spirit by meditation.

(See also: Tantras, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Manasa-dhyanis (Sanskrit) [from manasa mental, intelligent from manas mind + dhyanis class of pitris from dhyani meditation]

The agnishvatta pitris, the givers of manas (mind) and intellectual consciousness to man; those solar and lunar pitris or dhyanis who incarnated by irradiation from themselves in the mentally senseless forms of semi-ethereal flesh of third root-race mankind. In the Puranas, considered the highest of the pitris (fathers of mankind).

The agnishvattas or manasa-dhyanis are intimately connected evolutionally and in occult cosmology with the sun, and are hence often called the solar ancestors of mankind. They are, in fact, one of the several classes of monads springing directly from mahat who provided man with his intellect, mind, and sense of individual moral responsibility.

(See also: Manasa-dhyanis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

prayer (metaphysical healing): Any attempt to express sentiments to a supernatural focus of worship or veneration. The general categories of prayer are thanksgiving and petitionary prayer.

Forms of Christian prayer include:

(a)   private prayer, which is solitary and/or meditative;

(b)  liturgical prayer, wherein a priest or leader prays ceremonially for countless persons and spirits;

(c)   vocal prayer, characterized by holy utterances;

(d)  mental prayer, the turning of one's mind and heart to God;

(e)   mystical prayer, whose goal is mystical union with God; and

(f)   prophetic prayer, which is often public and extemporary.

(See also: Prayer, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Pranava (Sanskrit) [from pra-nu to utter a droning or humming sound, as during the proper pronunciation of the world Om or Aum]

The mystical, sacred syllable Om or Aum, pronounced by Brahmins, Yogis, and others during meditation. In Vedanta philosophy and the Upanishads, used in another sense: "In one sense Pranava represents the macrocosm and in another sense the microcosm. . . . The reason why this Pranava is called Vach is this, that these four principles of the great cosmos correspond to these four forms of Vach" (N on G 25, 26) -- vaikhari, madhyama, pasyanti, para. These are called the four matras of pranava.

It is also equivalent to the second sign of the zodiac, Rishabha (Taurus).

The fact that this term is given to the mystical sacred syllable, and that it signifies a droning or humming sound, shows that anciently the word was uttered aloud, although in secret whenever possible. Modern Brahmins, however, are apt to condemn the vocal utterance of their sacred syllable, and sometimes assert that it should be uttered in silence -- i.e., in the mind.

(See also: Pranava, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Abhyasa-yoga (Sanskrit) (from abhi towards + the verbal root as to be, exist + yoga union from the verbal root yuj to join, yoke)

Sometimes erroneously abhyasana. Repeated practice and application of yoga, meditation, or recollection; the effort of the mind to attain an unmodified condition of perfect serenity and quiet. One of the eight disciplines or requirements of yoga: persistent concentration of attention. When accompanied with physical postures, it is a form of hatha yoga, and practiced without the spiritual training of raja yoga, it has its dangers. As a system of mental concentration directed to impersonal, altruistic ends, it is beneficial.

Krishna (BG 12:9-10) points out that abhyasa-yoga is not only useful for training in one life but, if performed for the sake of the Supreme, is likely to leave permanent helpful impulses in the soul which will aid it in future incarnations and lead it ultimately to union (yoga) with the divine.

(See also: Abhyasa-yoga, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Tantras (Sanskrit) Loom, the warp or threads in a loom; a rule or ritual for ceremonial rites. Religious treatises teaching mystical and magical formulas for the attainment of magical powers, and for the worship of the gods; treating of the evolution of the universe and its destruction; the adoration of the divinities; the attainment of desired objects, especially of six superhuman faculties; and methods of union (usually given as four) with the supreme divinity by contemplative meditation. They are mostly composed in the form of dialogues between Siva and his divine consort or sakti Durga, who is worshiped as a personified female power.

The tendency of these works for long ages has been towards black magic. "The origin of the Tantras unquestionably goes back to a very remote antiquity, and there seems to be little doubt that these works, or their originals, were heirlooms handed down from originally debased or degenerate Atlantean racial offshoots. There is, of course, a certain amount of profoundly philosophical and mystical thought running through the more important tantrika works, but the tantrika worship in many cases is highly licentious and immoral" (OG 17;1).

(See also: Tantras, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)