Raja Yoga

Do you meditate with eyes closed or open?

This may sound a strange question to ask, as most people probably think that a true meditation must be done with eyes closed. It makes sense as when our eyes are closed, our connection to the external world through vision is shut down, so that we can focus on the mind.

At least that was what I understood and practised until I started Raja Yoga a few months ago.

In Raja Yoga meditation, we meditate with eyes open. I must admit that at the beginning it felt very strange. I found it particularly hard to enter a so-called ‘meditative state‘. The main barrier was distraction by the objects in the room, such as the paintings on the wall, the sofa in front of me, the person next to me …. This difficulty didn’t just happen to me. A few other fellow new comers felt the same. It was hardly surprising given that all the meditations we had practised before were with eyes closed.

Things always get better with a little practice and as time goes by I start to get used to this meditation method. Also since the objects in the room are no longer new items to me, they hardly trigger any thoughts now. Although I haven’t advanced much since I first started Raja Yoga, at least I can now sit in the room with eyes open while not be distracted by what I see. It’s like: none of the objects in the room exists. This to me is a big improvement already!

So, what’s the ration behind open eye meditation? You may ask.

As most of us have experienced with the closed eye meditation, one of the common problems is that we constantly have to resist from drifting into sleep especially if the meditation lasts more than half an hour. When the eyes are closed, our connection to the external world switches off, but at the same time we lose our concentration and alertness. Another problem is that when the eyes are closed, we often experience that the latent thoughts rush forth with great vigour. As the case with me, I often found myself drift into a semi-dreamy state where my thoughts were all over the place while I had no control of it as my mind was not fully awake. Meditate with eyes open, we can remain that concentration and alertness.

Another advantage of open-eye meditation is that, once you have mastered it, you can meditate during any time of the day and in any place! In other words, you don’t have to shut yourselves from the rest of the physical world to do a meditation (it‘s not like we can always find a quiet place to meditate at the drop of a hat at any time!). You can meditate at work, during a boring meeting, walking on the street, washing dishes … Isn’t it wonderful, if we can eliminate any thought that comes to us at any time and take control of that thought, remain as we are, and feel light, centred and full?

I like that idea. That’s why I am enjoying Raja Yoga meditation so much at the moment!