"Its locus is the core of your heart.

Its clarity is the clarity issuing from your eyes.

The Buddha dwells inside your heart,
and though it is enclosed by the body of flesh and blood,
it is not covered."

- Padmasambhava, Natural Liberation

Two parts of Ati-meditation. I am talking about two parts but actually 1. being
aware of the eye space (eye balls and space behind them) and 2. gazing at the
air in front of you, together make one technique, that of Ati-meditation, or
"space gazing". As you are aware of your eyes and space behind them, look at
the space/air in front of you and simply remain like that. When you have you
eyes open you see some object or item before you. Don't look at the item but
back up a little bit and look at the objectless space or air in front of you
instead. You can test and play with this at what distance you are looking at the
air. It can be just centimeters in front of your eyes, a few meters or much more.
An ideal place for space gazing, Ati-meditation, is to do it on a mountain top or
a similar natural surrounding because looking at the unbounded sky makes
naturally something go click in our awareness and the immense clarity of it
(which means that the karmic energies subside for a moment and the light
body channels become active). So, gaze at the space. It takes a few sessions to
get a hang of the practice but when you get it going, it becomes obvious to you
why this practice is held in high regard by the greatest masters like Machig
Labdron, Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra. Your mind gets super clear... like
that of the Buddha and Christ. Nothing is a bigger gift than having an
opportunity to do this practice. So cherish it. And I'm sure you will.

Just a few tips to get the practice going. You have seen how a bird flies through
the sky and leaves no trace behind it. If you imagine that a bird flew by you
and look at the trace it left, it can do the trick and the eyes catch the open
space which has the effect of revealing the super clear state of awareness. This
is one trick. Another trick is to imagine, like taking a snapshot, how you would
be sitting on a high mountain top looking and sensing the vast space in front of
you. This trick however is counterproductive in the sense that it is visualisation,
adding an image in the mind which is the opposite of just looking at the
imageless, thoughtless clear mind space. Right? That is why I say to just take a
snapshot, just for a split second and then forget the visualisation. Third way to
see the empty space in front of you would be to swing your hand in front of
your eyes and look at the trace the hand leaves, just like the bird in the first tip.
Swing the hand in front of your eyes and then, attentively look at the empty
space, and rest in it... Ahh... I'm sure you get what I mean here.

They do this practice in Tibetan dzogchen. In hindu yoga and kriya yoga, they
call it shambhavi mudra. Some hindu yogis, like Ramalinga, Lahiri Mahasaya,
Sri Yukteswar and Yogananda got far with it, as far as dzogchenpas. There are
small variations in this practice but what I have told you here is the essence of
it, just the clear mind space recognizing itself. What I have told here are
actually very secret and are not taught in many places or openly to people.
These practices are such a gift... I have also learned a series of follow up
techniques of ati yoga (they are called yang ti in dzogchen, I like to call them
ati yoga mudras) which I will be happy to teach you after you have matured in
this practice. Have fun! Take these teachings to your heart.

When the immense clarity arises, there is no need to hold awareness anymore
as instructed in the technique. The technique is sort of an airplane that is used
as an aid by a skydiver. When the jump happens, then you leave the airplane
and just enjoy the ride, doing nothing, not trying to "hit the space". At that
point you don't worry about the plane anymore, unless, the mind becomes
distracted.

N.A. wrote: This clarity has made a deep impression on me. When I work up the
rest day I felt deep peace and stillness. I still do. I though Ati was like a seal
which presses itself deeply into the mind each time it is experienced. That's
what mahamudra means which is a similar practice to Dzogchen. Anyway
that's it Baba. You mentioned light body channels. Are these subtler than
nadis? Is this a different energy system where ah chakra system meets the rest
of the bodymind?

The impression is deep because the light body of yours, when it becomes
momentarily (and at this point partially) active, has that effect on the ordinary
mind, that is channels and the whole energy body. Indeed, there are two
energy bodies. The one that has karmic imprints and other one, within the first
one, that is ever pure deathless light body, that of a Buddha. These diamond-
channels are within the common nadis. This pure dimension of the Buddha or
Christ can be made active in couple of ways: 1. space gazing 2. by activating
the diamond channel inside the central channel in the spine or 3. by meditating
on the spiritual heart (hridaya) that lies deep inside the chest and few others.
Methods 1. and 3. concern a particular channel (amrita nadi or kati in Tibetan)
that goes from the eyes to the crown and from these to the spiritual heart. This
is what Padmasambhava is referring to in the above quote, "...Its clarity is the
clarity issuing from your eyes. The Buddha dwells inside your heart..." So these
two methods operate from the both ends of this channel. I have no idea how
long might take for this or other diamond light nadis to become active all the
time but that is for sure that this activation, even momentarily and partially, is
like jumping behind the wheel of formula one race car when we are used to
riding a crappy bicycle. Have fun!