Tratak Meditation

We are all running around all day and have many things going on in our head at the same time. We want distraction, as if we, ourselves were not interesting or important enough.

How would it feel if you took some time out every day to just be?

If sitting with your eyes closed and doing nothing seems too undoable to you, try Tratak mediation.

This practice involves gazing at the the tip of a flame. You can use an oil lamp or a beeswax candle. Keep it at eye level, two to three feet away and stare at the flame without blinking your eyes. Tears will come. Close your eyes for some time and stare at the flame again. Maintain a soft focus for ten to fifteen minutes.

If you look at your screens for eight to ten hours or more a day (which you know is bad for your eyes), you might as well look at a flame for a few minutes a day. And just be.

Even if you are not drawn to meditation, or don’t believe staring at a flame can do anything good to you, you can think of it as sitting around doing nothing.

That’s a wonderful thing to do these days.

Just do nothing.

Be still. Be absolutely still.

When thoughts come, let them come and go. Bring your focus back to the flame. Do it every day at the same time.

You will find it comforting beyond words.