with Tracey and Ganga
Sometimes even a candle flame can light your whole world. Sometimes it is simply a matter of the presence of light. Beautiful words from an anonymous poem that I love.
In this time of winter solstice when the light wanes, we are naturally drawn inward. The darkness allows for us to investigate our interior landscape, to rest, lay fallow, and incubate seeds, dreams and visions that can flourish when the light returns.
Tratakam, or candle flame gazing, is both a meditation and a kriya, a yogic cleansing technique.
When staring at the light of a simple, dancing flame our minds center and have the opportunity to calm and clear. There is something warming and clarifying in the fire that speaks to our elemental nature and brings us home to ourselves.
Please join us in a tratakam meditation led by Ganga.
We wish you a warm holiday season filled with light.
with love,
Tracey, Ganga, and the White Lotus family
Preparations for Tratakam
Tratakam can be done anytime, but is best at night or in a completely darkened room. Light a single candle and situate it someplace where there is no draft. Place yourself comfortably in front of your candle flame on a cushion with hips elevated, or in a chair if sitting on the ground is not comfortable for you. Take a few deep breaths and enjoy the following candle gazing meditation with Ganga.
The Presence of Light
We are not saints, we are not heroes.
Our lives are lived in the quiet corners of the ordinary.
We build our tiny hearth fires,
Sometimes barely strong enough to give off warmth.
But to the person lost in the darkness,
Our tiny flame may be the road to safety, the path to salvation.
It is not given to us to know who is lost in the darkness that surrounds us
Or even if our light is seen.
We can only know that against even the smallest of lights,
darkness cannot stand.
A sailor lost at sea can be guided home by a single candle.
A person lost in a wood can be led to safety by a flickering flame.
It is not an issue of quality or intensity or purity.
It is simply an issue of the presence of light.
--Author unknown