Self-inquiry Meditation with Swami Shankarananda Swami Shankarananda

Say to yourself:
Oh my mind, think positive thoughts.
Think well of me.
Think well of others.
Notice the feeling tone that comes with each of these three statements.
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.

Close your eyes and search for feelings or ideas within yourself. Is there joy inside (confidence, satisfaction, pleasure)? Is there love inside (gratitude)? Is there clarity or wisdom inside? Is there peace or contentment inside? Is there energy inside? Is there doership or ambition inside? In each case, locate wherein the body the feeling is held.
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.

The next time you feel depressed, unbalanced or contracted, turn your attention inside, become aware of the state of your inner world, and ask yourself, ‘Who is in here?’ or ‘Who have I let in?’ You will be surprised at what you understand from this simple inquiry.
Hint: If there’s someone with whom you’re somewhat obsessed, or even thinking about a lot, it’s likely that they are ‘inside you’. You should remember, however, that sometimes this happens in the unconscious, and when you discover who is inside you, it comes as a revelation.
Ask, ‘Is it my mother? My father?’‘My spouse?’‘The culture?’‘A false or limited “I”?’‘Some imagined person who views me critically?’
Once you find who it is you’ve let in—and you can also find how you have weakened yourself to enable them to come in—politely ask them to leave.
Now call on the Self, God, Guru or Consciousness, and ask that your inner space be expanded and empowered.

You can proxy another person when that person’s feeling invades you or when you are a well-wisher of that person and you want to help them. In either of these cases, proxying has a magical effect.
Since Consciousness is one, we can work with another’s feeling inside of ourselves and we can help another in this way and we also can decontaminate ourselves when we’ve been affected by another’s feeling. Use proxying.
To proxy, you look at the feeling within you and you assume that it comes from the other person and you make statements, as you would for yourself. You begin with A-Statements. You say, ‘I’m X …’—X being the other person— ‘and I feel angry. I feel sad. I feel scared’. You can be specific and find their underlying statements. ‘I’m X, I feel unlovable. I’m X, I feel weak. I’m X, I feel like a failure.’ To help the other person, when you come to the end of the A-Statements, you can make B-Statements. ‘I’m X and I feel optimistic. I’m X, I am capable. I’m X, I love myself.’ You can go seamlessly into G-Statements. ‘I’m X and I am Shiva.'
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.

This is a streamlined version of personal inquiry for adept meditators:
Discover where you hold the most second force, and make A-Statements.
Keeping in mind that any second force or tension you hold is based on some sort of wrong understanding, ask yourself, ‘What do I have to do to shift this feeling?"
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.

Look within. Scan the four chakras for tension.
Find where you hold the most tension or second force.
Give yourself A-Statements until you are satisfied that you have accurately described the feeling.
Give yourself B- and G-Statements until a shift occurs.
Meditate.
Click here to purchase Swamiji's book 'Self-Inquiry: Using Your Awareness to Unblock Your Life'.