How meditation helps in staying healthy?

'Your goal is not to battle with the mind but to witness the mind’

- Swami Muktananda

Now that you have continued to see the world of staying healthy through my lens, you must have understood that how all the other factors can bring revolutionary changes in the lives. For me, meditation has been a stress buster since the CS days (OK, by CS I mean company secretary. Yes I am CS by profession and a blogger by choice). The majority of people think that only CA (Charted Accountants) has the toughest educational course after MBBS but CS is not behind. The investment is the same and so the efforts. I can remember how breath-taking it was. The first time I saw that bundle of books in my CS executive days, I started visualizing myself buried under those books (I have this quality of visualizing everything and anything). It was easier to clear the foundation level but it was difficult to deal with those 10 to 6 sessions every day. I was in Delhi, the heart of India throughout the days of my CS and hardly went to Shillong.

I was missing my home (like I told you in my first blog that why homesick I am) and had no way out to reduce my stress. Few of my colleagues were staying at PG (paying guest house) and they were having the hell of a time to enjoy themselves. I was in a dilemma if I should make a boyfriend or find an alternative solution (by boyfriend, I don’t mean to materialize boys or to use them but someone who could pamper me). I thought of an alternate and after opening the windows of my brain I peeped into my subconscious and bang! It was the only thing I have ever wanted.

It just took me 10 minutes to realize that what I wanted and my stress was gone. I continued with this practice every day and found out that meditation provided me with a way out of learning the hidden abilities in me. I was already a Yoga person and I would like to thank again that masseur in Kerala for this. Soon I developed a sense of relaxation and solace in my conscious and subconscious.

People have their own way out to deal with stress (a cause of several serious diseases). Painting, dancing, crafting, singing, chanting, etc are just the way out. I found my stress-buster in meditation and I am glad I did. Those who know me personally would know that how easily I lose my cool (in Punjabi, we call it a ‘Tatta behaviour’) and it takes me a lot of time to calm myself down.

You see there can be many ways to deal with a situation. Some find a way in their romantic relationships while others in spirituality. Recently I was reading a blog of Bhanu Gaba ‘The Thirst of Spirituality’, I got to know about the full moon meditation. You too can give it a read after this click. It triggered my brain and forced me to read the course.

Meditation is a personal practise that helps in finding yourself and improving the quality of life by finding the powers within. Originally, the word “meditate” actually means to think deeply about something. However, when eastern contemplative practices were “imported” to Western culture, this is the term that was used to define them, for lack of a better word. Nowadays meditation has more the meaning of this exercise of focusing attention than to reflect deeply.

Here are some other definitions of meditation.

In Christianity, meditation is a type of contemplative prayer that creates a sense of union with God or the contemplation of religious themes.

In Buddhism, meditation is one of the three core practices for the purification of the mind and the attainment of Nirvana.

Besides the focus of attention, meditation also involves mental calmness and introspection (“looking within”). Meditation is, thus, somewhat different than other personal development or spiritual exercises, such as:

• Affirmation, self-hypnosis, or guided visualization: where the objective is more to imprint a specific message on the mind

• Pure relaxation: where the goal is only to release bodily tensions

• Prayer: where there is a conscious flow of thinking and feeling, directed towards a Deity

• Contemplation: where the thought processes are actively engaged in order to deepen the understanding of a subject or concept.

• Trance dancing: where the main goal is usually to produce visions or an altered state of consciousness

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Breathing exercises like pranayama and (most types of) qigong— where the focus is on producing a certain pattern of breathing and purifies the body.

All these practices are also good and helpful, but they are different than meditation (although some meditation techniques may make use of some of these elements).

So I gave you a few examples that keep help us in staying healthy other than eating healthy.