The practice
Settle on a bed or a couch. Now continuously imagine that the body is unsupported — that nothing is beneath it, that it rests on nothing. Keep the image going without lapsing. The verse says that when the mind disappears, one’s fixed place of residence disappears with it.
What it works on
Where dharana 71 removes physical support, this one leaves the support in place and removes the idea of it. The instruction insists on continuity, because a single imagining does nothing and a sustained one undermines something quite deep.
Notes
- Lying down makes the contradiction sharper and therefore the practice stronger.
Practise gently
Shoonyaka offers educational and contemplative material, not medical, psychological or religious authority. Nothing here diagnoses or treats any condition. Stop any practice that leaves you dizzy, frightened or unwell, and treat a strong reaction as a reason to rest rather than to push on.