Many cultures use candles to light spaces, make offerings, ritualise or demarcate a space, activity, or practice in some way.
Tratak is a simple meditation practice where we gaze at a candle flame as a means of quietening and focusing the mind and it’s perfect for this dark time of year!
Our eyes work hard. We receive a huge amount of input via the eyes about the world around us, with sight generally being the dominant sense and the visual cortex occupying a lot of brain space. In addition to taking in all this information, our eyes are also often moving about in response to thoughts and mental activity. The two are connected - thinking and eye movement - and we’re often not really aware of these movements.
What’s more, many of spend a lot of time looking at screens these days, and this tends to alter the way we use our eyes. In non-screen activities, we automatically vary our focal length by looking around. We might look out of a window or even close our eyes for a bit. If we are talking to someone, we look away every now and then - even babies will do this. But when we are looking at a screen - engrossed in reading, or scrolling through a feed - we often forget to give our eyes these natural breaks. Instead, we tend to keep our focal length fixed, and blinking can become infrequent and/or erratic.
Lots of us have tired, tense eyes as a result of all this. Not to mention our overly busy minds!
In the practice of tratak, we look steadily at an object, using its form as a clear and unmoving focus for the mind. A candle flame is often chosen because of its bright clarity. It is also uncomplicated, and naturally draws the gaze.
But other objects are possible too, such as the OM symbol or a beautiful object.
If you want to try the practice with a candle, it’s important that the flame doesn’t flicker about, so set up in a draft-free space, placing your candle at eye level and arm’s length. A blank background and darkened room are best, so there’s no distracting clutter. (However, if you suffer from migraines, it’s better to backlight your space; if you have epilepsy, then use a black dot on a blank sheet of white paper instead of a candle).
Gazing in this way helps the mind to become steady as we become absorbed in a clear and stable image. We look at the flame for as long as we can, without blinking, and then rest our eyes when they feel tired or start to water. With the eyes closed, we look at the object’s after-image, and we try to hold it steadily - or, if we don’t have one, we can re-imagine the external object. We repeat this process a few times, and then sit quietly for a few minutes at the end.
I used to regularly take candles to my classes at this time of year, setting them up on their stands ready for meditation at the end. The advent of on-line and hybrid classes has made it trickier, though - when we are not in the same physical space, and I’m relying on a little box on my screen, I can’t always tell what someone’s set up is - it’s much harder, for instance, to be sure that the candle in your living room won’t be flickering about in a draft.
But try it over these wintery months - it’s a wonderful practice for this dark period of the year. We are naturally more introspective when the nights are long, and gazing at the simple, clear, steady flame is an aid to concentration, mental clarity and focus - which are almost acts of subversion in our distracted age.
Our eyes are important for balance, and this practice is said to improve our eyesight, and to help our circadian rhythm, including the balance of melatonin and serotonin - meaning tratak can also help with insomnia.
So steady your gaze, and follow the light all the way to your inner self.