Develop your capacity for compassion, forgiveness, and grace.
The Practice
Posture: Sit in a comfortable meditative posture with a straight spine.
Eyes: Closed.
Mudra: Bring the palms up in front of the chest. Press the Saturn (middle), Sun (ring), and Mercury (pinkie) fingers back to back. The three fingers are pointing up. The index fingers are pointing away from the body and are crossed. Extend the thumbs away from the hands to each side. Hold the mudra in front of the Heart Center.
Breath & Mantra: Begin by inhaling in 4 equal parts. Suspend the breath for the same amount of time as the segmented inhale. Exhale in 4 equal parts. Suspend the breath out of the lungs for the same amount of time. Slowly build up from 4 equal parts on the inhale and the exhale to 8, 12, and finally 16 equal parts.
As the breath is inhaled in 4 parts, mentally vibrate the mantra Sa Ta Na Ma. Use the mantra for each part of the breath: inhalation, suspension, exhalation, suspension.
Vibrate the mantra the same number of times on the exhale as it is vibrated on the inhale. Vibrate the mantra the same number of times on the inhaled suspension as on the exhaled suspension.
![](https://www.3ho.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/meditation_arouse-mercy-compassion_1of2.jpg)
Continue for as long as is comfortable.
This meditation was originally taught on January 31, 1977 and can be found in KRIYA: Yoga Sets, Meditations, and Classic Kriyas.