The students in my yoga class often tell me how meditation can be difficult to do. In fact this is true. The human mind – what we call the चंचल मन – is apt to wander in all directions when we are trying to keep in still and centered. However, I found the ‘tratak kriya’ or the traatak method of meditation to be very effective and helpful for my students. I will explain more about this to you and perhaps you will also find this to be a workable way to meditate and concentrate the mind.
What is tratak?
Tratak means to look at steadily or gaze fixedly at one point for a long duration. It can be any small object, a dot on the wall. Most often it refers to the flame of a candle. The idea is to look at the object unwaveringly and to concentrate all of one’s mental energies on this. Tratak is performed by sitting (on the ground preferably cross-legged) and then placing a lighted candle at about eye level by using a small table or stool. This eye level placement is important because it can otherwise stress the eyes. It is also important that the candle flame must be kept sill and steady. So you may have to switch off the fans and control any drafts.
Tratak kriya has various benefits
Tratak kriya is one of the kriyas or yoga techniques that help bring about mental and physical balance. Tratak is also one of the known yogic exercises to improve eyesight in a natural way; in many cases people have found that it can help reduce the power of their specs or help lower the degeneration of eyesight at any rate.
Tratak is thought to calm the mind and to bring it within one’s own control. This is seen to improve concentration, learning and memory. It is thought that looking at the flame without blinking helps control the blink reflex of the eye, which in turn can stimulate the pineal gland (which in yoga is also thought to be the third eye).
Doing tratak in my yoga class
As you can see from the pictures, all the yogis (and yes there are several men also who attend my classes!) sit in a circle surrounding the candle. Each person gazes unblinkingly at the candle flame. Then the eyes are shut for a few seconds. Then the eyes are reopened and once again one concentrates on the flame. This time the flame will appear different and one is able to detect distinct color zones in it. The yogi closes the eyes once again and then the flame will appear within the closed eyes as well. The mind is to be concentrated on this inner image. This kriya can be repeated several times. One must end with lying down in corpse pose or savasana.
One starts by looking at the flame for about 10 to 15 seconds at the beginning. As one becomes more proficient, one can increase the amount of time that one gazes unblinkingly at the flame to one minute. It is best to do this under expert supervision. People with mental issues should avoid doing tratak. Over time, my students have become more proficient at tratak and are able to better control their mind for meditation.