Meditation for Mindfulness

The benefits of meditation in the form of mindfulness

21/10/2017
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"I am suffering from anxiety ever since I lost my mother and broke my engagement to my old
friend."

"I am finding it very difficult to strike a work-life balance."

"I know I am depressed, I do not feel happy...."

"I easily get distracted. I am not at all attentive..."

"Oh yes, I too suffer from insomnia!"

"My workplace environment is very stressful...Too much of politics.."

Quite often we come across such disclosures in course of our conversation with our friends,
relations, or family members. Often, we can hear ourselves confiding such issues in our close
friend or a family member like parents, siblings or spouse. We often experience such emotional
turmoil but refrain from openly discussing them with anyone because we are scared of being
labeled as an emotionally weak person, or as someone who has mental problems, hence a person
with a weak persona, we often give up on our own self and easily resign to failure. We do so
because we are not aware of our potential to overcome such emotional challenges and issues we
face in our life. Often we allow such trifles to transform into gargantuan challenges that
invariably consume us and leave us distraught with the deep-rooted feeling of failure. Often this
results in our identity crisis too.

People who have such emotional experience are low on self-confidence and self-esteem. Their
worry begins with a question they ask themselves, and allow it to consume their energy in
brooding over it. Their negative vibes make them biased, prejudiced and even cynical at times.
To escape from reality they can indulge in gossip and eventually most of their decisions are
based on gossip than on well-analyzed facts. Such people tend to dwell on the past or the future
than being aware of the present. They get easily distracted by their own thoughts or any external
stimuli in the form of any sound, noise, image, etc. They can also resort to substance abuse as a
solution to their problem.

Yes, it's a question worth answering, "How can I face such problems and overcome them
myself?"

The answer again is in the affirmative. You can solve these problems yourself and here are a few
methods you can adapt to solve your emotional problems:

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Meditation

Our talkative and wandering mind is the root cause of such emotional problems we face.
Meditation is the most effective way to regulate our thoughts and control our mind. Meditation
helps us to anchor our mind to the present and live in the present without the prejudice of the
past experience. People usually say, 'Oh, it's impossible for me to be in one place and meditate. I
just can't do it!" In fact, it is true. Initially, it is quite difficult to meditate; for that matter, even
chant a mantra or a shloka for a minute. You can begin by chanting a shloka or mantra for a
minute. While chanting, completely concentrate on the words you are uttering and feel your own
voice vibrate within you. You will not allow any thoughts to creep into your mind while you are
chanting. Concentrate completely on the chant. Once you are able to chant for more than ten to
fifteen minutes without allowing your mind to deviate from the chant, then try the next step, to
meditate. The purpose of meditation is to dwell completely in the moment. Empty your mind of
any thoughts. Be in a quiet and comfortable place, sit in a comfortable posture. Either close your
eyes while meditating or observe an object like a lamp, or a symbol, or an icon while you
meditate. Begin by meditating for a minute. Within the span of a minute, concentrate on your
breathing, your physical being, the presence of air or breeze around you. Listen to any external
sound without allowing your mind to process these external stimuli, just be aware of them
without discerning or analyzing them. Try to meditate for a minute without allowing your mind
to deviate from the present moment. You may find it to be quite an exercise for the first few
days, but once you are able to control your mind and keep it blank to dwell in the present, you
can then extend the duration of meditation from one minute to two or three minutes. After
meditation, have a glass of juice or lemonade to feel more fresh and primed.

Initially, after meditation, you may feel exhausted or not as fresh and rejuvenated as you should;
this is just the beginning, within a few days you will begin to feel fresh post the meditation
session. You can also lie down and relax for a while, but make sure you do not allow any
thoughts of worries to rush back into your mind.

There are many ways one can meditate and I am sharing a few of them with you:

1. Walk and Meditate: You can begin by walking for five minutes; while you are walking,
carefully observe your surroundings without allowing your mind to analyze and interpret your
observation. The mind should remain empty and do not allow it to relate your observation to any
of your past experience. The mind should remain empty. Initially, you may find it difficult to
prevent thoughts from creeping into your mind. So you can chant under your breath while you
are walking and concentrate on the words you chant as well as its rhythm and can pace yourself
with its rhythm. This will help you to relax as well as walk with ease. At least you can walk and
meditate for fifteen minutes to fresh up your mind and get ready for the day's journey.

2. Listen to the Music and Meditate: Listen to an instrumental music. There plenty available in
a music store or online on music streaming sites including YouTube. You can choose a music
that helps you relax. Its tune and rhythm help you to empty your mind and live in the moment.
You can concentrate on the rhythm of the music and regulate your breath as you concentrate on
your breathing while listening to the music. Try for a minute, then for two minutes and gradually
extend it till you are able to meditate for fifteen to twenty minutes regulating your breath and

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keeping your mind blank and devoid of any thoughts or worries. You will remain aware of
yourself and your surroundings. The music helps you to relax and concentrate on your breathing.

3. Dance and Meditate:

This form of meditation is used by many aboriginal tribes all over the world. The Dervish (Holy
Men) from Turkey and Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu from India used to dance to the tune of
hymns and bhajans. This is now practiced by the ISKCON devotees, who dance to the tune of
the bhajans they sing. This is the most dynamic way to live in the present while you rid yourself
of thoughts and worries. TAI CHI is also this form of meditation that helps the performer to
effectively control the coordination of his body and mind. This is also the most effective way to
rejuvenate you both physically and mentally.

4. Colour and Meditate:

This is yet another unique way to meditate. There are meditation colour books available and you
can concentrate on colouring the pictures and patterns within a given time. You have to immerse
yourself in the activity and not allow your mind to get distracted and hamper the flow of your
activity. There is yet another dynamic variation to this method of meditation. This variation
combines music with the colouring activity and makes it easy to tune in to the colouring activity
without allowing your mind deviating from it.

5. Meditation Yoga:

Pranayaam, Surya Namaskar are few of the asanas that help you to meditate involving your
entire body in the process. You regulate your physical activity to the rhythm of your breath.
While doing the asanas, you synchronise your body movement with your breath and this makes it
easy for you to involve your mind in the activity and be completely present in the moment. This
is quite similar to TAI CHI.

6. Craftwork Yoga/ Hobby Yoga:

Do what is your favourite activity, for example, knitting, fabric painting, embroidery, crochets,
carving, painting, sculpting, working in the garden, tending to the animals or infants, reading,
and writing, listening to music, just to name a few. You can pursue these activities in your leisure
time and ensure your complete involvement in the activity. Your mind should be completely
involved in the activity and should be aware of each and every move you make. You must have
experienced you make mistake in the activity viz, embroidery or cross stitch when your mind
becomes inattentive to what you are doing. This activity also rewards you with a sense of
achievement when you complete the activity by creating the artwork the way you wanted to.

7. Trekking and traveling:

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Trekking and traveling to places that are very close to nature, viz. forest, fields, hills, beaches,
farms, glades, that gives you the space to relax in the natural environs and completely
concentrate on your natural surroundings and try to harmonise with it by observing its sight,
sound and smell, its feeling in the form of the breeze, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, its
terrain interspersed with water bodies. Kayaking or canoeing in the streams. All these are yet
another method of yoga that helps you to be both physically and mentally involved with the
surroundings and it has an invigorating influence on your being. Any sports activities like
gymnastics, swimming, athletics, to name a few are yet another method of meditation as you
need to completely involve yourself in the activity, in the moment.

8. Meditation through Bathing:

Bathing is yet another form of yoga as you concentrate on the activity. After a hard day's work,
when you enter a shower and feel the cool and refreshing shower of water gently relax the strain
from your limbs. You can feel the water gently and gradually wash away the day's grime and
exhaustion from your body and leave you feeling refreshed and revitalized. A word of caution;
while bathing, do not allow any thoughts to creep into your mind. Enjoy your bath and become a
bathroom singer if need be to ward off any thoughts and worries crawling back into your mind.

Benefits of Meditation:

1. It helps you to be fully aware of the moment and not allow thoughts and memories from the
past make you unmindful of the present and brood over the past.

2. It helps you to avoid the bias and prejudice elicited from your experience to make you biased
an prejudiced, that makes you judgemental and affect your decisions too.

3. It helps you to take full control of your mind and not allow it to get distracted easily.

4. It helps you to prevent negative thoughts and emotions from affecting your attitude and
actions.

5. It helps you to analyse any external stimulus in the form of an image, conversation, etc. reach
out for facts before you allow them to influence your behaviour and the subsequent decisions
you make.

6. It helps you to retain your peace of mind and control or avoid any external factors affecting
you in any way.

7. It helps to regain your self-confidence, courage and a sense of self-discipline.

7. It helps you to remove any feeling of insecurity lurking inside you

8. It helps to rid yourself of worries and anxiety worrying you.

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9. It helps you to live in the present as you are able to control your thoughts from disturbing your
mental peace and sanctity.

10. It helps you to effectively manage your work stress and successfully balance your personal
and professional life.

11. It helps you to assimilate your knowledge and experience for overall wellbeing.

12. It develops your grit and resilience to successfully meet with any challenges that come your
way.

13. It helps you to rid yourself off the feeling of insecurity and aggression.

Mindfulness:

Mindfulness simply means to live and enjoy the present moment and imbibe the knowledge and
experience we invariably gain from it. This is therefore evident that mindfulness is the primary
benefit of meditation. All the benefits that we have listed can be summed up in one word and that
is to be mindful of yourself and your surroundings.

Meditation is a very effective, yet much-ignored method of self-development. People are

gradually becoming aware of its benefits and are gradually accepting and integrating it into their
lives with no side effects, only positive effects and results for those who practice it.

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