This publication is part of the “Practices Notebook” — a collection of simple and safe spiritual exercises aimed at conscious inner cultivation.
During meditative practice, it is common to distance ourselves from identification with the physical body and establish our awareness in the mental body. Through continued practice, this mental body eventually becomes the center of consciousness and begins to serve as a point of departure for polarization in the causal body — and even in the higher triad.
However, it is important to be aware of certain dangers. One of the most subtle is the use of willpower to artificially suppress the functioning of the lower bodies.
Visualize the mental body as a luminous ovoid that envelops the physical body and extends beyond it. Within this field, countless thought-forms circulate — both our own and those absorbed from the surrounding environment — coloring the mental body according to predominant attractions and diversifying it through many geometric shapes in constant flux. When someone attempts to inhibit or suppress the movement of the mental body through willpower, these forms “crystallize,” causing fatigue (since this affects the physical brain) and bringing about all sorts of consequences if this condition persists or recurs for too long.
Yet everyone who begins meditating does this to some degree. So how can we eliminate these forms circulating within our mental body — especially its lower portion — which distract us from the purpose of meditation, if not from our daily activities themselves? The following practice, described in Letters on Occult Meditation (Alice Bailey), is a simple and safe method for performing this mental cleansing:
Technique: Mental Body Cleansing with the OM
- Fix your awareness on an internal point in the brain, calmly.
- Visualize the mental body as an ovoid of light surrounding the physical body, where mental forms circulate — created by you or absorbed from the environment.
- Chant the Sacred Word (OM) softly, three times.
- As you exhale during each chant, visualize the power of the exhalation as a breath of light sweeping through the mental ovoid, dispersing the thought-forms and carrying them far away.
- At the end, perceive the mental body as serene and clean, free of distracting images and vibrations.
- Then raise your inner vibration as much as you can, seeking to transfer it to the causal body and allow the direct action of the Ego upon the lower vehicles.
Final Observations
While this elevated vibration is maintained, the mental body will remain stable, protected against intrusive forms and free from the risk of willful repression. The force of the Ego will circulate within the mental ovoid, not allowing the entry of other mental forms, and the danger of inhibition will have been avoided.
With regular practice, the substance of the mental body progressively adjusts to a subtler vibration, naturally becoming immune to coarse or unwanted impressions. This silent purification is one of the first fruits of true occult work.
Do not fight the flow of the concrete mind — elevate it.