WELLNESS

MINDFUL PRACTICE WITH MEDITATION

We are so busy and wandering without fully grasping the times we live in that millions of thoughts enter our heads each day. You maintain a mindfulness practice to take steps toward healing, learning about your emotions and thoughts, and focusing on your inner-self.

Meditation is a patience-based technique that involves accepting silence and bringing serenity into one's life. Mediation was first used to better grasp life's holy and mystical powers. People now use this technique to connect with their inner selves and cultivate tranquilly in their lives. Though meditation cannot totally heal all mental, physical, and emotional suffering in life, it helps promote stress management, which is the core cause of medical and emotional problems.

As you focus in to watch your breathing rate and body sensations, meditation helps all your jumbled ideas quiet down. The peace you experience throughout the session does not disappear when you leave it, but you will ultimately realise that you are being aware of your thoughts and feelings.

Meditation may be performed in a variety of ways, and each individual may adapt to different kinds of meditation. For example, some people regard reading a book to be mediation, while others consider writing to be mediation. Body movement techniques such as dance and yoga are also considered mediation.

You won't need any equipment to incorporate this healthy mindful practice into your daily routine, and you won't have to worry about finding the "perfect" method to meditate since there isn't one! The objective is to feel at ease and to know what works best for your lifestyle and daily routine. Meditation can be done in a variety of ways, including:

Find a comfortable position:

You must ensure that you are comfortable when seated, and as a novice, you must seek out a setting that is not distracting, such as your room, balcony, or a nearby park. You can either take a backrest, fold your legs, sit in a chair, etc., and let the calm wash over you.

Just breath:

While your mind wanders, grab hold of it and focus on your breathing. Inhale and exhale slowly and carefully, scanning your body for sensations, becoming aware of discomfort and tensions in your body, and releasing them while you exhale.

Chant your mantras:

You can recite phrases from your sacred books or even daily affirmations while paying attention to your feelings. Recognize yourself, your body, and your thoughts.

Be kind with your inner-child:

Don't condemn yourself or be too harsh with your thoughts if you lose focus or your mind stray. Refocus your attention once you've been recognised.

Close with gratitude:

You slowly open your eyes, or gently lift your gaze and look at the things around you, notice how you feel, mindful of your emotions. And, that’s it. The vibrations of patience and compassion toward oneself are the same vibrations needed in the world!

“The journey towards my inner self began almost six months ago when someone I really admire happened to tell me the importance of empowering ourselves through our own company and mindfulness. Ever since I’ve started meditating along with a lot of calmness and peace there came a wave of understanding and forgiveness which helped me see people, situations, and life in a much simpler way. It’s definitely a slow process, but the journey is beautiful. The realisations and self-introspection that comes with meditation help me understand many aspects of my life. Meditation helps me combat my stress and cope with any negative thoughts and energy around me. For me, the purpose of starting meditation was to find peace and improve my mental health during the stressful pandemic time and I am so glad that now it has given me so much more, the journey of becoming the better version of yourself through gratitude, mindfulness and patience is truly amazing to experience. It’s definitely a journey from limited identity to unlimited happiness and wisdom.” Devika Nair, Artist

“How do we learn to pick between right & wrong? How do we differentiate between the emotional & the logical choice? And how do decide to pick one over the other? These are questions that a lot of people would agree to require an elevated maturity to answer & these have been questions that I found answers to from my meditation. I gave been meditating since I was 10, it has been a family activity that we & my parents take part in even today. Twenty minutes of meditation every day in the morning is essential to me. It grounds me in reality & truth and lets me connect with the divine. It is “MY” time of the day, meant for my soul, my mind & my body only. It is the time when I remind myself of the grandeur of our expansive universe, & how petite my problems, which often stress me out, are. Meditation lets me sink my feet into the truth & look at my problem just as they are. It helps me break the chain of mindless overthinking that has often led to anxiety attacks, which often paralyse me from making a decision. Through continuous meditation, I’ve learnt that my being is not worthless, I have value, my voice matters & I am meant to serve this world to the best of my potential. My meditation has led to my inner truth, led me to develop & create myself & my character, & often appears to be my portal to connect with the divinity within. My meditation has taught me to be grateful & to be a source of love & joy.” Snehasish Chinara, Student

“Sometimes we forget that we will not reach our goals in our daily life if we do not have a calm, healthy and fit body. That is when meditation comes to our rescue it reduces the body’s stress response and promote a feeling of calmness in the mind and stops our wandering thoughts. Like all things in fitness even meditation takes a lot of practice and time even for beginners and for more advanced meditators also not every session is going to be a success. But the benefits of practising even when it goes wrong are overwhelming if you are new to meditation or you are frustrated as you are trying to find that centre of gravity. Remember that the more you try to practise, the better you become at finding your inner peace. When I think of meditating, I think it’s an exercise for mental health. When I first began I started out doing what one would think of as a traditional meditation sitting with legs crossed and hands in a mudra and trying to calm my mind by focusing on my breath, it was not easy in my initial days but because of my consistent with the practice I have become better and have started to enjoy doing it daily, in fact, it has opened up a world of possibilities and helped me broaden my approach and my will power have boasted up in my bad days with full of positivity and it has made my health much better.” Antony

Civin, Founder and CEO of Kalpataa yoga studios “Meditation is the way of practising patience, calmness, to remove anxiety. Meditation is also known as Sadhana. Sitting in one place with a closed eye and focusing on the breathing pattern is one kind of meditation but not the only way. This is a way for the people who are on their path of detachment and away from the world resided in the Himalayas, Monks do this type of meditation. But unfortunately, the present generations have taken it to a point where they think, they need to take time for meditation which they are not comfortable with the timings or a place to do so. But meditation can also be done by practising to focusing on any individuals particular interest. what we are working with or for an art student his passion is painting n he puts all his focus into the painting, similarly, a person following and working in his passion with great interest and focused on his work is also a part of meditation. A focused person is in a state of selfconsciousness where he/she exactly knows all the good and the flaws of a work to be done. Meditation does help in calming anxiety, helps clear all the doubts within, regular practising with proper breathing techniques can also attain many health benefits. While a beginner starts to meditate he/she gets different thoughts, let these thoughts move like moving clouds and just watch them without any reaction to the thoughts you see. It helps in getting clarity, patience, you see a different perspective of the same problem when you practise meditation while you are working or while relaxing.” Sudarshan

Barik, Kalaripayattu Trainer at Nitya Chaithainya Kalari