Q: When I do tratak how far do I have to keep the flame from my eyes - 3 feet or less? My mind is wandering while I am gazing at the flame, what can I do to concentrate on the flame? While gazing at the flame, water runs through my eyes & nose So I have to blow my nose 3-4 times and I blink my eyes during at that time. What should I do? When second track of CD starts, I close my eyes and I can’t see any flame in front, then after 2 minutes I again open my eyes & start gazing.

A: “How far do I have to keep the flame from my eyes  - 3 feet or less?“, no dear, it should be 2 feet.

“My mind is wandering while I am gazing at the flame, what can I do to concentrate on the flame“, for that you should be watchful of your breath. You should try to keep the pupil of your eye as fixed as you can because there is a deep connection in between your eye pupil and your mind and if you can hold your breath when you inhale, that too will really help you to calm your mind.

“While gazing at the flame, water runs through my eyes & nose So I have to blow my nose 3-4 times and I blink my eyes during that time…”
My dear Chanderkant Patel, you are doing everything wrong. No.1, if possible then learn ‘jal neti prakriya’, i.e. the jal neti process. There is a nasal pot in which you put lukewarm saline water and then that spout is put in your left nostril. You tilt your head to the right, water automatically comes out and you breathe through your mouth, never through your nose when you are doing this.

Similarly, you repeat it on your right side and then you do the kapalbhati, that is, the forceful exhalation breathing pattern. The kapalbhati paranayam for minimum 10 to 12 minutes, then going in shashank asana where the head is lower than your hips. For this asana, you sit in Vajra asana & then you bow down, your head is down and your hip would be little higher than your head. You stay in this position and then you again repeat the kapalbhati.

So it takes round about 15 minutes to do this nasal cleaning process. It removes all the mucus and all the phlegm from you nose, from your olfactory region & this cleanses your sinus and then when you will do ‘Tratak’ later on, no.1 your eyes won’t be that watery and no.2 once the second track begins that is the time now you just close your eyes, if you can visualize the flame that is fine, if you can’t just focus on your breath which is going in & out and that is it.

And for now what you are doing is blowing your nose & you say your eyes are blinking at that time. Well that is going to happen when you are going to blow your nose or clear up your eyes. I believe in the beginning even if you have very perfect body & good eyes, good olfactory region, clean sinus still there is a chance that your eyes will begin to water & if you can’t keep your eyes open at that time it is fine to blink for once and then next time taking your self to little further, staying without blinking your eyes for little longer & with the practice a day would come for good 20 minutes you can keep your eyes non blinking but be patient, it won’t happen in one day.