Lesson 7

Ecstatic Dance
for Inspiring Meditation
Adding body movements to the mantra singing technique.

There are two ways of concentrating on the spiritual idea:

  1. Turn off all the sensory organs to concentrate internally. This is what silent meditation is for.
  2. Direct sensory organ movements into the spiritual idea channel, without stopping them. Mind does not protest when you do something as usual, but you guide it towards the spiritual idea. This is what dynamic meditation practice is.
When you are so concentrated you want to stop the movement and be still, you sit to mediate. This is how one practice flows into another.

Movements of dynamic meditation are called Lalita Marmika. This is a powerful biopsychological practice, which puts the mind into a resourceful state on the body level.

  • "Lalita" — means beauty, gracefulness and tenderness.

  • "Marmo" — means core, the heart of your heart, the essence of your spirit.

"Lalita Marmika" — means a practice in which you touch your inner divinity, beauty and show it on the outside.
Parvati, wife of a great yogi Sadashiva, invented this dance 7000 years ago.

Lalita Marmika has a rhythm and a gesture.
RHYTHM
Softly hit with the tip of your right foot big toe behind the left heel when you hear the strong beat. Then you touch with your left toe tip behind the right heel.

The psycho-physical effect is to stimulate the secretion of the pineal gland which is linked to the nerve endings in the upper part of the big toe. The hormone of the pineal gland calms all the other glands in the body and generates feelings of spiritual bliss.

Bending the knees warms up legs before mediation.
GESTURE
There is an ancient science that studies the link between different gestures and their influence on our state of mind. Gestures can spontaneously express emotional energy, as happens unconsciously when we gesticulate while talking. However, it is also possible to consciously stimulate certain subtle states of mind by using specific gestures.


In sanskrit this science is known as "Mudra". In particular, our hands are directly connected to expressing our heart and emotions. When experiencing strong spiritual feelings of love, depth and thrill, our hands will reflect this.

When we assume particular gestures, it allows the life-force energies to flow in a special way. When our hands form a mudra, it serves to illuminate a specific state. Through the effort to maintain the mudra, we are able to more deeply enter into that state and illuminate it to the outer world as well.


Moving to music is also very spontaneous and natural. When we dance, we are more fully absorbed into the music and can experience and express the feelings it evokes in us through our movements .



Mudras in Lalita Marmika:

  1. Anjalii mudra (prayer position) — your palms are held together against the center of your chest.
    This gesture symbolizes the idea of five motory organs and five sensory organs being concentrated on and directed towards the Highest Goal.
  2. Gesture with raised up opened hands. This gesture symbolizes the state of openness, freedom, letting go, ecstasy, joy, triumph, and immense confidence. Let your hands rise up into this gesture from ainjali mudra, in order to allow your heart to open up. This movement is also the best way to free yourself of any limiting tensions, thoughts or stress, as it is a gesture that encourages "letting go".

When you lose your concentration or your arms are getting tired, bring them back down into Ainjali mudra. Sing a few more repetitions of mantra, gathering energy in your heart and then raise up your hands again to release it and bring in more.


However, do not let your hands drop down to your sides. That is a position that connects us to the earth, or mundane, and can reflect indifference and passivity. That will tend to make the mind less engaged, and moving towards dullness rather than openness.

It is also important to keep your eyes closed during the practice, as much as possible, to keep your flow internal and not distracted by the external environment.


To intensify the effect of the practice, gather your mind to concentrate at the point between the eyebrows while singing and dancing.


Use the kiirtans in the timer application, for Lalita Marmika dance while singing the dynamic mediation of Baba Nam Kevalam.


HOMEWORK
1) Every day before the mediation use the Lalita Marmika dance while practicing dynamic mantra technique from the previous lesson. Practice two times per day, even if you can give it only 5 minutes each time.


2) Do Lalita Marmika for two weeks and observe. If you see the benefits, proceed further. It is always important to experiment sufficiently with a new technique in order to properly evaluate it. It can take some time to overcome initial feelings of awkwardness until we are comfortable with new practices. Two weeks of consistent practice will already give you a good idea of its effectiveness.


IN THE NEXT LESSON:

  • Concentrating using numbers

  • How does meditation get interesting

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