The Jug meditation, or How to learn to control one’s thoughts

20.03.2017
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Today, let me supplement the Practices and meditations section with information on the Jug meditation described in Sensei of Shambala – Book I by Anastasia Novykh. As I understand, the purpose of this meditation is to learn to balance and purify one’s emotional state, as well as to control one’s thoughts. Moreover, it is said that this meditation helps to improve physical health. The technique is very simple and effective – suffice it not to be lazy to practice it.

First let’s refer to the primary source, then to images and video...

DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUE

From Sensei of Shambala – Book I:

“Alright, everyone is here, perhaps, we’ll begin… Today, we will do the same meditation as last time, to purify thoughts. For those who were absent, I will repeat. So, stand more comfortably, feet as wide as shoulders. Hands should touch each other with the fingertips, all separated from one another, at the level of the belly. Tip to tip, in other words, thumb to thumb, forefinger to forefinger, and so forth. Like that.”

Sensei showed me this connection.

“It is necessary to relax by eliminating all thoughts, and concentrate only on normal breathing. Then, once you have reached a state of full relaxation of all extremities and a feeling of internal peace, you begin to imagine that you are a jug. In other words, the upper part of your head is as if cut off like in a jug... The source of water is the soul. This water fills the whole body and eventually overfills it, spilling over the edge of the jug, streaming down the body and into the earth. While the water is filling the body and flowing out into the earth, all bad thoughts, all problems leave you with it, in other words, all that dirt and unease which are present in your mind. You as if purify yourselves internally. And when you do so, you begin to feel a clear division of the soul and thought – moreover, of the soul located inside you and the soul located above the jug, which observes the process. Eventually, if you practice this meditation every day, you clear your thoughts of the negative and later on learn to control them, permanently keeping your mind in a “pure” state… Do you have any questions?”

“Why should the hands touch exactly this way?” I asked.

“Because during this meditation certain energies circulate inside of the body (I will tell you about them later), while the fingertips enclose this circle. Moreover, there is an irritation of nervous skin receptors located on the fingertips, which positively and calmingly affects the brain... Are there any more questions?”

Everybody remained silent.

“Then let’s begin.”

Under Sensei’s guidance we began to perform this meditation. I tried to imagine myself as a jug. But my imagination formed this image somehow half-way, because my mind just couldn’t agree with this definition. Then I stopped proving anything to myself and simply thought, “I am a jug”, and concentrated on the “internal source of water”. And here appeared an interesting feeling as if my consciousness went inside of me, went into my soul and concentrated in the form of a point in the solar plexus area. That point began gradually to widen while crystal-clear water revolved spirally in it. Finally, there was so much water that it boiled over, filling my entire body with its pleasant moisture. Filling the “vessel” this way, this pleasant feeling flew over the edge. A wave of shivers started running over my body from top to bottom, as though going into the earth. I imagined that my body was being cleared of all bad thoughts. And at a certain moment I felt so nice inside, so cosy, and so joyful that I couldn’t resist and slightly deviated from the meditation, thanking God for all that He gave me in life, for all His enormous Love for His children. In the next moment, I suddenly found out that my consciousness, in other words, my real self, was as if above my body, while the body didn’t look like a body at all. From its jug-like head there emanated thousands of thin, multicoloured threads which constantly moved and went into the earth. At that, in the depth of the jug something bright was shining and transforming these threads into more vivid colours. The beauty was simply charming, of course. But then I heard Sensei’s melodious voice, reaching me from somewhere far away:

“Now, make two deep, quick breathes in and out. Quickly close and open your fists. Open your eyes.”

I quickly came to my senses, though the state of this internal euphoria stayed somewhere in the depth of me. As it later turned out, each one of the guys experienced this state differently. Senior guys made it better than me, while my friends practiced it only in their bare imagination. However, Sensei told them that in the beginning this often happens to many people. But if they practice intensively every day at home, and if they have a desire to improve their moral qualities, then after a certain while they can reach certain sensations and later learn to permanently control their thoughts. Most importantly, one should believe in oneself, in one’s powers, and shouldn’t be lazy.

(An extract from Sensei of Shambala – Book I by Anastasia Novykh)

VIDEO

IMAGES

HOW OLD MAY THIS MEDITATION BE?

Well, in conclusion, Dato has wondered how old this meditation may be, and whether our remote ancestors knew about it.

In order to try to answer these questions, he has collected a series of images of artefacts created at different times and found in different parts of our planet, where figurines and stone statues depict a human figure with one’s hands on the belly. He has precisely called this phenomenon “hands on the belly”.

The Jug meditation

By the way, please note that on many artefacts shown below there is a symbolic jug between the hands. Who knows, perhaps by means of this simple meditation ancient people fought with their animal nature, thus immortalising their numerous inner victories as a jug in stone.

Yet, this is a mere surmise so far.