Dharana 50 of 112 · verse 66

Joy Under a Kind Touch

When touch brings ease, attend to the ease rather than the touch.

Guided practice

00:00Ready

6 minutes. Anywhere.

Beginner6 min

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The practice

When something touches you kindly and pleasantly — an embrace, a hand on the shoulder, warm water, sun on the skin — turn your attention onto the ease that arises rather than onto the thing causing it. Stay with the feeling after the contact has ended.

What it works on

The move made throughout this family of dharanas appears here in its plainest form: the cause is not the practice, the response is. That is why the joy is said to reveal your own nature rather than the nature of what touched you.

Notes

  • The moment just after contact ends is usually clearer than the contact itself.

Practise gently

Shoonyaka offers educational and contemplative material, not medical, psychological or religious authority. Nothing here diagnoses or treats any condition. Stop any practice that leaves you dizzy, frightened or unwell, and treat a strong reaction as a reason to rest rather than to push on.