HYDERABAD : Meditation has been a tool for most of us to stay at peace during a stressful day. With the ongoing situation in our country, most of us also need some time to calm ourselves down from this chaos. We often tend to find ways to distress ourselves from the different things, hoping that keeping ourselves calm would work in situations that cannot be controlled. We lose control of our emotions in some way or the other. And to avoid the meltdown, we try to start our day with a few minutes of meditation.
Ahead of World Meditation Day, we speak to experts who explain to us the importance of meditation and how we need to meditate daily. Kamlesh Patel (Daaji), president and guide of Heartfulness Institute, teaches millions across 160 countries.
Speaking about the importance of meditation he says, “I understand how deeply concerning and scary this situation is — how we all are affected at different levels and how painful it is for some to lose their loved ones and not having the proper space and time to grieve. By staying calm and mastering our emotions, we can be more empathetic, compassionate, generous, helpful and loving to everyone around us.”
One should understand that meditation is not a trend but a lifestyle, he says. “It is a way of living that has existed for centuries. Today, people are realising the need to pause and slow down. The culture of burn out,staying up late, feeding our mind and bodies with external sources — it’s creating havoc. Everyone is searching for peace. Peace, joy, and balance, all lie within us. People have tried all sorts of things, yet they seek for more. More and more of satisfaction, more contentment, more love, more happiness, yet they are always disappointed. If we can learn to simply be in the present, in every act we take true peace emerges. That is happiness right there. That is meditation.”
Speaking on when is the best time to meditate, he says before sunrise is ideal. “But if your schedule or other circumstances do not permit, you can meditate at any time during the day. However,it is important to try to fix a specific time for meditation and meditate at that time regularly. By meditating at the same time every day, it becomes easier to make meditation a part of your daily routine,” he says.
Kamal Maliramani, founder of Energizer Yoga, advises people not to jump into meditation. “The concept of meditation is slightly misunderstood. People think that by closing their eyes they can become silent. This may help but it is not a long-term solution. The problem here is an overactive mind and if you observe when we are trying to go to sleep that is the time when our mind becomes more active.”
According to her, the very first thing when it comes to meditation is to have a relationship with the world which is very clear, which means that one should be happy, have compassion in their heart when you they other people suffering, build an attitude of appreciation for people who have special virtues and learn the art of staying neutral when you don’t like someone.
Most of the people are not happy with the world and their relationships. There are constant complaints and that becomes your nature and with this your mind can never be peaceful. Meditation doesn’t mean sitting in silence because your mind keeps giving thoughts, the idea is to become a witness to these things. Allow the mind to do what it is doing and be a witness to what is happening. Do not get involved in it and that is how we have to cultivate the habit of witnessing our own mind.”
Giving a small tip to meditate and include in your daily routine, Kamal says, “There is a very simple method. You need to close your eyes or lay down and count the breath in reverse. It is a natural way of breathing don’t make it short and interfere with the breath. Start witnessing your breath and start counting it in reverse. You start with 50 and go to 1 and by the time you reach 30 your mind becomes peaceful.”
How to meditate
Just close your eyes or lay down and count your breath in reverse. Breathe normally, don’t make it short and interfere with the breath. Start witnessing your breath and start counting it in reverse. For instance, start with 50 and count back to one. By the time you reach 30, your mind becomes peaceful, says Kamal Maliramani, founder of Energizer Yoga