When one says to face East for proper meditation, is it East in reference to the front of the home?
—Yvette Gutierrez, U.S.A.
Dear Yvette,
Actually wherever you stand inside the house, or outside, East will always be the same direction. The sun always rises there.
Why face east when meditating? The reason, Paramhansa Yogananda explains, is that subtle rays of wisdom radiate westward over the earth. If we face East when we meditate, we receive these currents. They help us to attain inner enlightenment.
Facing East, he adds, also helps us “to relax energy from the muscles and send it into the brain.” Interesting, isn’t it? Facing West does not have the same effect, maybe even the opposite. In short, the electromagnetism of the Earth influences our own inner flow of energy in different ways, depending toward which side we turn.
All the best,
Jayadev
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