[jonesboy]

FIXATION

In the Dzogchen teaching, to approach the practice
of contemplation according to the instructions found
in the Semde, the Series of the Nature of Mind, the
first exercise with which to begin is called fixation.

THE PLACE

The ability to practise fixation must first be
developed through constant application: for a beginner
it is not easy to learn this practice while remaining
immersed in the commitments of daily life, in one's
family or surrounded by people busy with their affairs.

The first aspect concerns the body posture. When
you first learn to practise fixation the body should be
controlled; that is, you should seek to remain still in a
steady posture. Those who are able to do so should
assume the 'seven-point Vairochana posture'1; this is
the perfect posture. Many people, however, find this
body posture difficult to maintain, in which case you
should remember that the only indispensable feature is
to keep the back straight and the body under control.
The tongue should touch the palate; this disposition
is symbolically called 'union of the water element and
the fire element', that is of the two principles of cold
and heat.

The second aspect is the breathing. Before
practising you should p erform a series of nine
purification breaths2 as is done in Yantra Yoga.

NB: There follows a description of the nine breaths as performed
by male practitioners; female practitioners should perform them
inverting right and left.

Inhale (through both nostrils), raising your right elbow.
Block your right nostril (with the tips of the middle and
ring fingers of your right hand) and exhale from your left
nostril.

Then, after having inhaled again (through both nostrils)
raising your left elbow, block your left nostril and exhale
through your right nostril.

Repeat alternating in this way until you have done the
movement (combined with the respective breathing) thrice
from the left and thrice from the right.

Then the last three times inhale through both nostrils
thoroughly expanding your chest, and exhale completely
from both nostrils, bending your trunk down and forward,
as if to touch the ground with your forehead.

This preliminary purification exercise is always
performed at the start of any practice session- for every
type of practice - and is most useful; before a Shine
session, among other things it serves to make the flow
of thoughts more regular, to find greater mental
equilibrium, and to develop more self-control.