Sri Yukteswar and Paramahansa Yogananda

Here is a variation on meditations taught by Shri Yukteswar and Drunvalo Melchizedek.

Begin your day with a few minutes of silent contemplation as you lie on your back with your eyes closed or better yet seated in a chair, or in half lotus position. I have also done this meditation in a half lotus seated under a tree or walking mindfully in a garden. 

Acknowledge your guides and teachers, and give thanks for the new day. 

Notice the breath going in and out of your nostrils. 

Place your tongue at the top of your palate, behind your teeth. Breathe in through the nostrils, working from the stomach, while you count to seven. (If you can't reach seven, then just keep track of your own personal count and repeat the same number each time you breathe.) 

Breathe out through the nostrils, while you count to seven. 

Continue to breathe deeply, in and out, to the count of seven. 

While you inhale, imagine the Sun is right above your head. 

Sun Rising in Woods, Pleasantville, New York by Jane Sherry

 See the golden liquid light of the Sun pour down over your head and into your prana tube.

The prana tube is approximately two inches in diameter and extends from a point about a foot above your head through the center of your body, exiting at the perineum and extending down into the earth about a foot. 

The liquid light of the sun pours down that tube into your heart. 

As you exhale, see the silvery liquid light of the Earth rise up from far beneath your feet into your prana tube, all the way into your heart.

As you continue to breathe, see the golden and silvery liquid light continue to pour into your prana tube from above and below. 

Do this breath ten times. 

Unity Affirmations for Self-Realization

"I unify my physical body, my etheric body, my astral body, my egoistic will and my lower mind with my higher self, my higher purpose, and my higher mind." 

"I unify my higher self, higher purpose and higher mind with the grand unfolding plan for the optimization of the Universe and the liberation of all sentient and non-sentient beings in love and light." 

"I unify my higher self, higher purpose and higher mind with the Atman within, the Great Father Mother Source within." 

Human Energy Body and BioField, by Jane Sherry

"I feel the downpouring flow of love and light from the Atman within." 

"I feel the uprising flow of kundalini energy from deep within the Earth, from deep within my root chakra, and as these flows of love and light meet and intermingle in my heart of hearts -- I am the I am, I am that I am, I am that I am."  

With each inhalation and each exhalation, more and more liquid silvery and gold light pours into the heart. 

Now, every time you inhale, golden liquid light pours down from your crown chakra into your heart while silvery liquid light pours up from your root chakra into your heart, at the same time. 

Now, every time you exhale, silvery liquid light pours up from your root chakra into your heart, while, simultaneously, golden liquid light pours down from your crown chakra into your heart. 

By the fifth or sixth breath, the silvery and gold light fills your heart. 

See the silvery and gold liquid light pouring from your heart into the rest of your body, filling it up entirely, all the way to the tips of your fingernails and toenails and the tips of the hair on your head. 

After ten breaths, relax for a moment. 

Then do the same breath sequence, inhaling to the count of five and exhaling to the count of five, five more times.

Invoking the Cosmic Christ

As you do the next five breaths:

Rainbow, St. John, Virgin Islands, photo by Jane Sherry

1. See a rainbow colored beam of light shoot up from the top of your prana tube into the sky, rising up about fifty miles above the surface of the Earth. 

2. See this rainbow colored light fill the sky, and expand until it surrounds the entire planet. 

3. See a rainbow colored beam of light shoot down from the bottom of your prana tube deep into the Earth, filling the Earth and its waters with brilliant colors. 

4. Invoke the secret name of Christ. Chant the following to yourself over and over, Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh, Yod, Heh, Shin, Vau, Heh, pronounced Yod, Hey, Vow, Hey, Yod, Hey, Shin, Vow, Hey.

Alchemical Figure of the Sacred Name of Yeheshua, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Jakob Bohme -- see the YHSVH in Hebrew Letters at Bottom of Heart, reading from right to left

These Hebrew letters stand for JHVH or Jehovah, and JHSVH (Jeheshua or Jesus).

The four letters comprising the name of Jehovah, YHVH, stand for the four elements, fire, water, air and earth. The fifth element, which is spirit, is called Shin. When you put Shin, or spirit in the middle of the four elements, into YHVH, you get Jeheshua, or Jesus.

Jesus indeed infused spirit into the material world through his Divine presence and ability to sacrifice everything, even his own body, for love. So chant these nine letters over and over to yourself as you meditate and breathe deeply and slowly. In this way, you can attract Christ consciousness, the spirit of Jesus, into your aura, your mind, and your heart. 

That rainbow colored light represents Divine Love in the form of Living, Intelligent Light (Holy Spirit, prana, Reiki energy), transformed into the beautiful energy signature of the rainbow, which has always been a symbol of the unity between this world and the Divine, between God and humanity. 

By giving back to Sky and Earth, we acknowledge our interdependence with all the sentient and non-sentient beings in spiritual and material realms, with the living light and with the mystery underlying creation.  

Sun Salutation

At the end of this second round of breathing, take an additional three breaths in the same manner. 

While you breathe, imagine that silver and gold liquid light radiates out from your heart, filling your aura, a sphere that extends about an arm's length in every direction around your body.

Sun God, Fayez Tepe, Uzbekistan, Public Domain

Imagine your aura glowing like the sun, radiating light out into the world in every direction. 

After these breathing exercises, relax your body and your mind. 

Keeping your eyes closed, and breathing deeply and slowly, reflect on the rising sun, know the sun to be a living being, and reflect on the qualities of the sun you would like to make your own. 

The sun gives generously to all without exception without asking for return. The sun represents, purity, conscious will, cosmic intelligence, limitless light, and so much more. 

Connect your sphere of light with the sun's sphere of light in your own mind. 

Acknowledge that the sun is a sentient spiritual being. Thank the sun for being such a good model for you, for helping you on your spiritual path each and every day. 

Thank your spiritual teachers and your holy guardian angel for the protection, grace and guidance they provide you every day. Thank the devas and nature spirits of  the place where you currently reside for helping to maintain the equilibrium of natural forces that sustains all life on Earth. Thank Mother Earth for birthing you and nurturing you in her body.

The ideal time to do this meditation is, of course, dawn, but evening twilight is also a propitious time for this exercise. 

In addition to the spiritual, subtle benefits of the Sunrise Meditation, viewing the sun in the early morning, soon after waking, increases the release of cortisol in the body, according to Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist at Stanford Medical School.

"A morning spike in cortisol will also positively influence your immune system, metabolism and ability to focus during the day," Huberman explains. "On a sunny morning, get outside for 5-10 minutes." 

"You can do more if you have time, and feel free to use the time outside to exercise, walk, eat a light breakfast or journal in the sunlight," Huberman says. "Even on overcast days, there is still enough sunlight to trigger positive effects, but you’ll need to increase the time outside to at least 15-20 minutes."

For best results during the Sunrise Meditation, never look directly at the sun for prolonged periods. Remove sunglasses and perform the Sunrise Meditation with eyes closed, facing the sun.