The Advantages of Steady Gaze Meditation

Trataka is a form of focus meditation, concentrating on a single object.
 
Trataka, or steady gazing is one of the six kriyas, the purifying methods of Hatha Yoga. It aims to clear the vision.
 
As a kriya, trataka requires the practitioner to maintain the gaze until the eyes begin to water. In the practice of concentrative visual meditation one can blink naturally, and as the eyes get tired, close them and imagine the object of contemplation in the inner vision, before your mind’s eye.
 
When focusing the eyes on an object, whether internal (like the tip of your nose) or external, with practice the mind becomes absorbed in the concentration on the object, and consequently when concentration is maintained with ease, one can explore the deeper levels of consciousness.
 
One begins to simply look and see the object for what it is, its essence, rather than its verbal and mental label. This leads to stillness and clarity of the mind that in turn allows the practitioner to experience Samadhi, the ultimate goal of yoga.
 
Steady Gaze Meditation is therefore a great concentrative preparatory technique of meditation.

​Find out more...