Has anyone here gone in deep with the smiling meditative techniques of the Buddhist tradition? I’ve been on it for 4 days and I’ve already been fascinated by the power it has to affect change in my inner world.
Basically, a slight smile has the capacity to fill yourself with light and bliss. I was enthralled when I saw an immediate change in my inner world as it filled with the light of my inner smile (one such explanation here: https://library.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/a_guide_to_twim.pdf ).
Does anyone have any experience with this meditative technique and how far it has taken them?
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In my experience, the smile arises as part of the jnana stages toward samadhi, when the quiet happiness spreads in the layers of the being. After the initial stages of heat and excitement, the quiet smile facilitates moving to the following stages of form jnanas.
Enjoy this when it happens, and let it go. There is much more to come, and holding on anything will create obstacles.
The guru is in you. 
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A simple smile facilitates stillness in action, any loving intention and connection puts you firmly in the moment. In this way our yoga comes to life.
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Hello, I am currently considering what meaningful practices could be suitable for children to gain their first experiences with meditation. I have also noticed that smiling meditation feels very pleasant. I have meditated on the feeling that the smile evokes in the heart space.
It seems to be possible to allow this feeling to gradually become subtler and quieter. Whether this can reach as deep a state as breath meditation or the use of a mantra, I cannot say for certain. However, this meditation feels very enjoyable, and that could be important when it comes to inspiring children on their spiritual journey.
It might also be helpful for people who suffer from depression. Do you think it would be worthwhile to recommend this type of meditation to children or to those who are depressed? Or could it potentially trigger imbalances in the cleansing process due to its strong focus on the heart? (These could be short meditations to start with.)
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I may be totally wrong here but if I were to recommend a meditation for children, I would go with a few minutes of watching the breath. Smiling may create a sense of “I need to smile all the time despite the fact that I am now very angry” in a child. And that is damaging. A child should be free to express all its moods and emotions.
Sey 
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I agree with Sey
Kids and adults experience all kinds of emotions
If you are faking your experience by smiling it is just bypassing
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Everyone engages in emotional regulation; letting go is also a form of it. We do this because it results in a change for the better, either in the short term or long term, as it is a path towards pleasure.
I agree with you that if the intention here is to “defeat” a feeling with a smile, then that approach is flawed. However, it’s different if someone has already learned to let go and can engage in the practice at that moment.
The thought was that breath meditation might simply be boring and requires concentration and discipline to engage with. In contrast, a positive feeling could exert a certain attractiveness, both as an object of meditation and as motivation to meditate in the first place.
I also thought that this smiling meditation should always be orientated towards the approach of deep meditation: One favours the meditation-object as long as this is easily possible (and why shouldn’t it be the feeling of a smile) and when this is no longer easily possible we use the method of the witness.
And why shouldn’t this meditation also generate purification?
Do you think we should offer both forms of meditation, or even additional ones, and allow individuals to choose which one to engage with?
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Hi Annademiel,
When putting together a spiritual practice for children, or for people suffering from depression, we basically use much the same principles as we do for anyone else. The primary questions are “what is the goal?”, and “will the spiritual system achieve that goal in the most effective way?”.
So, safety over the short and long term has to be an important aspect of that. If the practices do lead to imbalances, then that can have long term repercussions.
With AYP the practices start out with global purification practices that focus the purification in the sushumna nadi between the root and third eye. This is a very stable energetic pathway. Deep Meditation with the AYAM mantra does this and so does Spinal Breathing Pranayama. Even asana practice as taught in AYP focusses the purification primarily on this pathway. It is not until people start getting into the advanced pranayamas that any purification is being done in specific chakras.
With children, it can be tempting to think that something that they enjoy will get them into it and then we can advise them to stop doing that, in case it leads to an imbalance, and then start doing something else. The problem there is that some children will not stop doing something just because they are told to.
As you have noted, practices like smiling meditation only work when people are able to let go of their emotions at will and allow feelings of contentment, joy and happiness to arise. That means they need to have some abiding inner silence present in the mind. Some children may have this, but usually not the majority.
But there are many things that we can do with children to get them interested in spiritual practice that do not lead to imbalances. And many of those things are fun and interesting. I used to run a kids yoga class for several years that was for children aged between 8 and 12. We did a lot of asana practice, including partner asana practice which they loved. We also did chanting in Sanskrit which they enjoyed, and short guided relaxations.
If a child is serious about spiritual practice then they can start with short sessions of Deep Meditation at the age of twelve or thirteen if they wish. They can also start with Alternate Nostril Breathing at any age and progress to Spinal Breathing Pranayama at age eighteen, if they wish. They can practice asana at any age.
You may find this lesson useful.
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Yes, that is reasonable, even in the case of depression; here too, the user must first be able to let go and the long-term effect should be the most important thing.
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