In this page, I try to impart how to do one particular form of spiritual exercise that I have found useful. I can't predict how it might work for you, however. Many such methods fail for some people; some could even have a negative effect. In general, I advise stopping an exercise right away if it leads to discomfort ("If it feels bad, don't do it"). And if nothing useful seems to be starting to happen after a reasonable time (people I have learned from have suggested allowing six weeks), maybe another technique would be better for you.
The Inner Rainbow exercise is a combination of two kinds of technique which may seem at first quite disparate, breathing and contemplation of an image. Yet some people find it quite effective. In the ancient tradition of spiritual exercises, that is really enough; it it works, it works.
If you subscribe to the Eastern theory of chakras, spiritual power points lined up along the spine and into the skull, there may be seen to be a connection between these points and the vital force of chi ("breath") to explain the unifying principle of the exercise, but this is just a side issue for most from a Western point of view.
The success of the exercise for certain individuals may also be due to the two aspects of the exercise keeping the mind occupied. If your attention wanders from the visual part, the breathing part may keep you from random trains of thought until you recall your intention to hold the mental image. And vice versa.
Here is how it's done. Assume a position with the head, neck and spine relatively straight and vertical. For most people, this will be a comfortable seated pose. If possible, put a bit more effort than in some other exercises to achieving straightness of the spinal column. Close your eyes. Then visualize a rainbow -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet -- as a column of colors lined up along your spine and its continuation into your brain, with red at the bottom and violet at the top. Click on the following image to see it in a larger size by itself; this may help you to put and hold it in your mind's eye.
Hold the image of the rainbow column, and pay attention to your breath. Don't try to do anything in particular to your breathing, just observe it.
If you find your mind otherwise occupied, just gently and non-judgementally put yourself back into your chosen task of looking, within yourself, at the rainbow while attending to your breath. After about twenty minutes or some other interval which you find comfortable, let go of the rainbow, let your breathing go its own way, wait briefly and then, when you feel ready, open your eyes. If you decide to make this your main spiritual exercise, do it twice a day.
Return to "Spiritual Exercises" page to select another kind of exercise. In particular, other breath exercises, and contemplation of images and things, have their own pages.
© 2007 Anthony Buckland,
anthonybuckland@telus.net
last modified: May 12, 2007
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