This self-healing process builds your body’s capacity to conquer pain. It balances your central nervous system and trains your body to fight pain. When your body is trained to fight pain, you can conquer any obstacle.
The Practice
Posture: Sit in Easy Pose with your spine straight and apply jalandhar bandh (neck lock).
Mudra: Split your fingers so that the index and middle fingers are together and the ring and pinkie fingers are together. Stretch your arms straight out to the sides parallel to the ground. You’ll feel a stretch felt in the armpits. The left palm faces downward and the right palm faces upward.
Breath: Inhale deeply through the mouth and exhale deeply through the nose. Slow your breathing so that you breathe only three times per minute. Keep your arms straight and your armpits stretched.
Continue for 11 minutes. To end: inhale deeply through the mouth, hold the breath, and stretch the arms out to the sides and the spine upward. Exhale through the nose and repeat this sequence two more times.
This meditation was published in Aquarian Times, Spring 2004.