Trataka …and Mirror gazing Meditation

Gazing Meditation is also called as “Trataka”.

 It is the practice which involves focusing the eyes through intention but relaxed gazing.

It means the meditators open their eyes to an external object. Then, they close their eyes but still gaze the image of this object in their mind.

Mirror gazing helps you to focus on your body language, facial expressions, and stream of thoughts. This form of meditation can help you reduce stress.

Zen, and Tibetan Buddhism have developed techniques based on the principle that stilling the eyes is not the only way to achieve stillness of mind. By opening the eyes and looking at an object outside, the meditators can really understand about their soul. What they see reflects their “Inner Self”.

Over the past few years, I’ve taught mirror meditation to friends and they’ve shared some amazing insights with me.

This is mindful practices for increasing your self-awareness, managing stress and emotions, developing self-compassion, and increasing your confidence and personal presence.

Using the three principles of mindfulness meditation—attention to the present moment, open awareness, and kind intention toward oneself—

You’ll realize just how much your self-criticisms are affecting you.

Then you’ll have a choice—and a practice—to treat yourself with more self-acceptance. 

Do you remember the first time you saw yourself in the mirror?

Reflections are powerful. As children, we learn to who we are through the reflections of those around us. In fact, we need face-to-face contact for our social and emotional development.

It’s through the mirror we come face to face with ourselves. Being reflected is one of the most important and powerful experiences we can have as humans.

As you spend more time alone gazing at your devices, you y miss the human reflection that is essential for your well-being, and your social and emotional development.

Gazing Meditation … Let you imagine, the fastest and easiest meditation technique is gazing meditation.

Gazing meditation just involves starring at one object in order to calm the mind.

Practice the Mirror Meditation

I recommend 10 minutes of silent mirror gazing per day.

Set the space and intention.

Choose a well-lit distraction-free space where you can position a mirror so that it’s freestanding and you can see into your eyes without straining or leaning forward.

Sit on a meditation cushion or on a chair with both feet on the ground. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Have no goals other than to sit with yourself for the allotted time.

Tune into your breathing. 

Begin with your eyes closed. Tune in to your breath.

Are you holding your breath or breathing rapidly?

Take a few slow, deep belly breaths. Then breathe regularly and naturally, just observing your breath move your belly.

The prominent difference between gazing meditation and others is this meditation is done with the eyes open.

Another important thing to take caution is all feelings, thoughts, and reactions are acceptable. Besides that, while we practice this meditation, we should maintain an attitude of curiosity and compassion.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensure discussion or debate.

Thank you ….NOW …Through the mirror we can come face to face with ourselves anytime.

Seeing facial expressions helps us understand our own emotions. And through the back and forth of emotional expression, we learn to manage our feelings.

We also learn empathy by sensing, and sometimes even emulating emotions of others, as we’re relating face-to-face.

Yet, our digital technology has drastically changed how we relate to each other – in one sense we are more connected than ever through text and social media.

We aren’t spending as much time looking at each other. In fact, we have far less face to face contact, even with ourselves.

Do you want to add a word or two?

Others are intrigued, and sometimes even a bit terrified at the thought of looking at themselves in the mirror.

Did you look in the mirror today?

Do you try to avoid looking at yourself?

Or maybe wish you could stop looking?

I think you’ll agree that mirrors can evoke some strong feelings in us.

They can also be incredibly useful in ways you might not have imagined.

In fact, I believe the mirror is one of the most essential tools we have to deal with the challenges in our world today.

Mirrors allow us to come face to face with ourselves. And being reflected is one of the most important and powerful experiences we can have as humans.

As we spend more time alone and on our devices, we miss out on the face-to-face reflection that is so important for staying emotionally connected to ourselves, and to others.

We don’t know for sure whether more screen time increases anxiety, or whether the more anxious people are, the more they reach for their devices.

But what we do know for sure, that anxiety involves difficulties in regulating our emotions.

This is where the mirror comes in.

Your Comments….

As adults, glancing in the mirror can become second nature. We use it for personal grooming, and to check how we look before we go out in public.

But what if you took a different approach to how you see yourself in the mirror?

Remember back to when you were a child?

What it was like to see yourself in the mirror?

I used to look at my reflection in the side of the shiny chrome toaster on the table for as long as my parents would let me, clowning around, making faces, and imitating the adults around me.

 When I saw myself, I felt a sense of comfort and delight. But like most of us, as I grew older, society’s expectations for me changed, and I started to use the mirror to scrutinize my appearance and compare it to the actors on TV.

What I saw in the mirror never seemed to measure up.

Then one day, I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror, and I was shocked by how sad and distressed I looked. I hadn’t realized I felt that way.

I’d been walking around thinking I felt “fine.” In that moment of realization, I knew that, by trying to create a perfect image for others to see, I’d lost touch with how I felt inside.

After that, I began to take time to look at my reflection in the mirror, not to focus on my appearance, but to simply acknowledge how I felt.

Over time, it became a way to look beyond my appearance, and see deeper into my own eyes with compassion. It became a meditation.

The mirror was so helpful to me, and as a diagnostician, I wanted to understand why. So I began conducting mirror-gazing experiments in which participants meditated on their own reflection.

At first, they seemed awkward and self-conscious, their faces were often tense, and their eyes were harsh and critical.

 I guided them to see beyond their surface appearance and take a deeper look. In the process, something magical happened. They appeared happier.

And, they reported some amazing insights. It was fascinating how a simple mirror could be the catalyst for so many different kinds of realizations for people.

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