A wonderful pre-meditative/relaxation technique adapted from http://www.swamij.com; as taught by Swami Rama from the Himalayan Masters traditions.
61-Points Exercise
The 61-Points exercise is subtler than the Tension/Release or Complete Relaxation practices (61-points is online). You will find that this leads you to a deeper state of calm and quiet.
As you go through the points, you may experience the points as gross body, such as skin, muscles, or bone, or you may experience the points as a feeling awareness. However you experience the points is okay--you cannot do it wrong. If you "see" with your inner eye, that's okay. If you do not "see" with your inner eye, that's okay too. You may experience darkness, or you may experience light, such as a point of light like a blue star. Any way that you experience it is okay. Just gradually, systematically learn where the points are and move from one to the next.
To move from one point to the next every couple seconds, or one or two breaths should be a comfortable speed. If you move too slow, you may find your attention drifts away, so it is better to go just a bit faster through the points. If you go too fast, you will have the benefit of easily moving through the points, but may lack depth in the practice. It is best to experiment with the timing.
Forehead, throat
Right shoulder, right elbow, right wrist, tip of right thumb, tip of right index finger, tip of right middle finger, tip of right ring finger, tip of right little finger, right wrist, right elbow, right shoulder, throat
Left shoulder, left elbow, left wrist, tip of left thumb, tip of left index finger, tip of left middle finger, tip of left ring finger, tip of left little finger, left wrist, left elbow, left shoulder
Throat, space between the breasts, right breast, space between the breasts, left breast, space between the breasts, navel, lower abdomen
Right hip, right knee, right ankle, tip of the right big toe, tip of the right second toe, tip of the right middle toe, tip of the right fourth toe, tip of the right little toe, right ankle, right knee, right hip, lower abdomen
Left hip, left knee, left ankle, tip of the left big toe, tip of the left second toe, tip of the left middle toe, tip of the left fourth toe, tip of the left little toe, left ankle, left knee, left hip
Lower abdomen, navel, space between the breasts, throat, forehead
The 61-Points exercise is an excellent practice for entering Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep), which is a state where you are in deep sleep, yet are awake. Yoga Nidra is deeply relaxing, and is used by the yogis to deal with samskaras (the deep impressions that drive karma) in their latent form.
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