tantra · Kundalini Tantra, Swami Satyananda Saraswati (Bihar School of Yoga)
Shambhavi Mudra with Om Chanting
A three-stage eyebrow-centre gazing practice combined with chanting Om, moving from external awareness of the gaze, to internal awareness of the mantra at the eyebrow centre, to awareness of the mantra's vibration filling the whole body.
The theory, briefly
Shambhavi mudra is presented in this text as a practice for ajna chakra, built on holding the eyes turned upward toward the eyebrow centre while suspending ordinary thought and meditating on that point. Chanting Om is layered on top of the gaze so that the mantra's sound vibration, not just the visual fixation, becomes the object of concentration.
The practice moves through three stages of increasing subtlety: first with eyes open, gazing at a fixed point and then upward to the eyebrow centre while chanting Om aloud; then with eyes closed, chanting more slowly while imagining the sound originating from within the eyebrow centre itself; and finally, still with eyes closed, letting awareness expand from the point of origin to the sound's vibration reverberating through the whole body.
Each stage builds on the steadiness of the one before it — the point is to let the object of attention (visual fixation, then mantra-at-a-point, then mantra-as-whole-body-vibration) become progressively less effortful and more spontaneous as the practice deepens.
The practice
Three-Stage Eyebrow-Centre Gazing with Om
12–22 minutes · Any meditative pose, back straight, hands resting on the knees
- 1Sit in any meditative pose with the back straight and hands on the knees.
- 2Look forward at a fixed point, then look upward as high as possible without moving the head, focusing the eyes on the eyebrow centre.
- 3Try to suspend the thought process and hold attention there, at ajna, the eyebrow centre.
- 4Chant Om, Om, Om aloud in a soft, clear voice — each repetition one or two seconds, immediately followed by the next — feeling the sound's vibration at the eyebrow centre. Continue for three to five minutes.
- 5Close the eyes while keeping the inner gaze at the eyebrow centre, and chant the mantra more slowly, imagining the sound emerging from within that point itself.
- 6Gradually and effortlessly let each Om grow longer and more continuous, steady and even in pitch, ending only when the breath runs out; refill the lungs fully through the nose without shifting the body or head, then begin the next Om the same way. Continue for about five minutes.
- 7Now let awareness expand outward from the eyebrow centre to the sound reverberating through the whole body — listening to the vibration itself rather than being self-conscious about it — for about five minutes. The duration of the whole practice can be gradually lengthened over time.
- 8Finish the practice by closing the eyes gently and resting the palms lightly over them for a few quiet moments before opening your eyes again.
Do not strain the eye muscles; if they become tired or slightly strained, release the upward gaze and relax the eyes.
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