Meditation is no longer a mysterious power that only saints and yogis of the past centuries possessed.
Its practical benefits are now being studied by science and it’s now been seen to have genuinely positive effects on a person’s overall health.
From lowering blood pressure to destressing the mind, meditation does it all. But a lot of people have difficulty meditating.
Well, let’s face it. It is difficult. It’s hard to concentrate the mind on a single thing, be it an object or a mantra, with so many distractions around.
Knowing that it’s so challenging, yogis of the old days devised various techniques to help with concentration.
One such method is called trataka and it involves using your eyes.
How would that work? Read on to find out more.
What Is Trataka?
Trataka, also called tratak, in Sanskrit means ‘to gaze‘. In meditation, one of the ways to concentrate is to gaze unwaveringly at a single object until your eyes start to well up.
You may gaze at any small object, or a dot on the wall, or simply stare at a distant star. But the most commonly used object to practice trataka is the flame of a candle.
Now, why does trataka work so well? This is because your eyes are one of the most important parts of your body.
Physiologically, the eyes have a direct connection with the brain. And also, almost half of your brain is dedicated to processing images captured by your eyes.
Well, if your eyes are so important to the brain, isn’t it expected that calming your eyes would also calm your mind?
That’s exactly the concept behind trataka. Focus your gaze, concentrate, relax your eyes, and still the mind.
But why is gazing at a candle so popular?
It’s because the light of the candle forms a strong after-image even after you stop gazing and close your eyes. This image helps you to remain in your meditative state for a longer time.
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What Are Trataka Benefits?
Alright, so now you know that you’ve to use your gaze to concentrate for your meditation session. But even apart from improving your concentration, trataka has several benefits. Let’s briefly look at what they are.
- Improves eye strength and vision – not blinking for a few minutes can strengthen your eye muscle and improve the clarity of your vision.
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Improves concentration and memory – not just during meditation but regularly practicing trataka can improve your concentration in other spheres of life, too.
And remember we talked about the connection between the eyes and the brain? This connection builds up your memory through trataka. - Purifies the eyes – with every trataka practice, your eyes flush out impurities within themselves and help in curing certain eye diseases.
- Calms the mind – when you concentrate on a single object, you disconnect yourself from your surroundings. That’s one way of calming the mind.
- Reduces anxiety – as the mind gets attached to the object of focus during trataka, it ceases to get influenced by all the anxiety triggers of the external world.
- Improves cognitive function – trataka charges the neurons in the brain, creating more alertness and awareness.
- Helps with sleep – consistently practicing trataka makes you more peaceful, which in turn helps you sleep better.
- Balances the two sides of the brain – your left and right sides of the brain must work in perfect harmony to maintain serenity. The central gaze in trataka practice helps you achieve this.
- Boosts willpower – it helps awaken the energy in your spiritual eye, or the third eye, which is also known as the seat of your will.
- Leads to superconsciousness – regularly practicing trataka clears your mind, fixes your concentration, and aids you in meditating deeply to reach the mind’s higher conscious state.
How To Practice Trataka?
Okay, so candlelight meditation has plenty of benefits. But how do you do it? First things first.
You need a candle and a table on which you can place it. When you have these two, follow these steps:
- Choose a dark room where the candle would be your only source of light.
- Sit in a meditative posture. The key is to keep your spine straight and your hips at an elevated position compared to your knees.
- Place the candle on a table, adjusting the height so that the flame of the candle is at your eye level.
- Start gazing into the brightest part of the flame without blinking.
- Continue to gaze until tears begin to appear in your eyes.
- Close your eyes and concentrate on the image of the burning candle imprinted at the point between your eyebrows.
- Maintain the focus on the image until it completely fades out.
- Open your eyes and repeat the steps beginning from step 4.
- Continue the process for as long as you feel comfortable.
- End your practice by breathing deeply and feeling the bliss of your relaxed mind.
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