The Deal With Meditation

3 mins read.

Last year, around Covid and perhaps, even slightly before it, I took a conscious call to reflect and build some habits into my routine.

Mediation was one habit I'd read a great deal about - particularly the fact that it helped regenerate grey matter and also made you calmer in the process. I thought, why not?

Most top leaders recommend it, our forefathers sing praises of it so why not give it a shot? 

Reflecting today, after a year of regular practice and as passionate as I have now become about the topic - I recommend people to try and see the benefits of meditation.

While discussing with people on this topic, I have gotten some interesting questions/thoughts and my attempt below is to document these and provide my humble viewpoint. 

What is meditation?

Wikipedia defines meditation as "a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state." Heavy words. 

Heavy words and definitions lead people to lack of clarity and that leads them to inaction. What the mind doesn't understand, it worships or fears. A biological optimization.

Meditation for me is the simple act of focusing on one entity and re-focusing as many times as your attention deviates to thoughts. Easier said than done though but constant practice helps.

But meditation is not for me. I am restless - I can't keep my mind clear/sit in one position!

Meditation is not necessarily about clearing your head but about focusing your attention to a single source - be it your breath, a sound, a particular body part or even a sensation that you're experiencing.

The mind is a canvas, there are a million thoughts it paints and erases. The idea is to let the slide show of the mind run while constantly re-anchoring your attention to the single source you've decided to focus upon.

But meditation will take a lot of time during my day!

As a personal habit, I started meditating 5 mins a day. Continued this practice for a good month or so. Found it to be very relaxing and calming and gradually increased it to 10 minutes a day. I also combined it with some prayers so as to please the Gods while I'm at it. :)

In totality, I have never exceeded 40 minutes and very rarely exceed 20 minutes.10 minutes of mindfulness is all you need to get started. 

I have tried it but did not see any visible benefits of mediation!

Just like that of any good habit, the benefits of meditation compound beautifully over time. A calmer self, a clearer head, presence, good recollections, deeper focus and I can keep going.

To each his/her own, really. Having meditated regularly for over a year now, I can vouch for the benefits that are exponential in nature. You will just have to be a bit patient.

But I don't know any good sources to sustain the habit.

I personally am a big fan of Cult fit series of meditation. They have a plethora of options there.

Try guided meditation to learn the practice and then go deeper into it. Other apps/sources: Headspace, Calm, Spotify(Dhyanam playlist), Dr. Shyam Bhatt, Divya Rolla, Deepak Chopra, and many more.

Will mediation eliminate stress and anxieties in my life?

Meditation is not a magic potion and will not eliminate the source of your stresses and anxieties but may help you cope with them better.

Meditation is not a medical solution but a mindfulness practice. Always good to seek professional help if you feel you have overwhelming stress and anxieties that you are not able to deal with on your own.

Is there any research to benefits of mediation?

Meditation is shown to thicken the pre-frontal cortex. This brain center manages higher order brain function, like increased awareness, concentration, and decision making.

There is a lot of material out there about alpha waves, binaural beats, brain frequencies, brain health, etc. Feel free to explore. I am slowly exploring more content and will post more on this in the days to come.

In a nutshell - meditation is a good practice, costs nothing, has great overall benefits, and takes just 10 odd minutes of your day. Start today and persist - the upsides are endless. Cheers!

(Here's a photo of me post a meditation session at peak lockdwn way back in July'20.)

Next article: Glorification of Passion

Peace!