I have seen meditation transform the lives of men and women in all walks of life all over the world. Meditation can change your life — when you begin to understand it and allow the magical power of meditation to transform your mind. Meditation is your nature. It is, and should be, natural to you, if you allow it to sprout within. From years of experience of teaching and guiding people in meditation, I have not come across a single person, who does not have the natural capability to meditate, provided, they are guided to the right technique, and if they pursue it.
In the busy modern life of hectic activities, with the modern mind’s need for constant communication and networking, most people find it difficult to find some quiet time for them. This makes us prone to stress and anxiety, and inner peace often seems like a faraway destination.
When there is no inner peace, peace in the outer world is just not possible. Meditation can be an avenue to access the deep reservoir of peace that already exists within us all. My deepest desire is to share with you meditation as a simple lifestyle practice that enables everybody to easily reach your Centre of inner peace and calm. I wish to see a world where people are a little more relaxed, happy, harmonious, peaceful and meditative. That will be a wonderful world. Right?
Meditation and inner peace is easier than most people believe it is, only if you cultivate the right attitude towards life, and pursue the technique that is appropriate for you. You can not but love meditation, if you love peace.
The truth I discovered in my life is this: If you love yourself, your body, your mind, your breath, and if you have a quest for peace, you can surely succeed in meditation, because, meditation begins with you, ends with you.
Meditation is nothing but a tool of self-love, self-nourishment, and self-awareness, and a journey from peace to peace.
When I say ‘self-love’, I mean your everyday self. The concept of ‘self’ begins with the everyday-self that you know, and as you progress on the path, the true meaning of the word becomes clearer to you, and you get to know the beauty and blessedness that exists deeper in to your being. You get to know who you really are.
I am telling you, from my experience. Loving yourself is as important as loving others. We can be truly peaceful, only when we love ourselves.
Contrary to the social conditioning, loving yourself is not selfish; it is a great virtue, because, we can truly love others, we can love the whole existence, only when we love ourselves.
This can be especially difficult if you are an empath, if you tend to care for others more than yourself, and place other people’s concern on top of your own most of the time. When people around you become a priority over you, it may so happen that you neglect your own physical and mental wellbeing. However, not loving yourself is a transgression that, if you perpetrate, will cause many distress and diseases inside and outside, including lack of peace.
Meditation can teach you to love yourself, to focus on yourself, to care for your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. This can be the single most important reason why you would want to meditate. Your world revolves around YOU. It begins with you, and it ends with you. If you do not love yourself, whom else should you love?
We take care to clean our dwelling place. How many people care and do something to clean their minds? Unfortunately, few people understand that cleaning and beautifying our mind is as important as cleaning and beautifying our bodies and dwelling places.
Hateful thoughts, vain resentment, vanity, hurtful self-dialogue, harmful emotions, negative thoughts and useless baggage of memories not only make the mind unclean and ugly, but also clutter it, just like clutters gather in your home, if you don’t care to clean it. That destroys the inner peace.
Also, a cluttered mind is less-efficient or inefficient mind, which is unable to focus on a creative job and create great ideas. More cluttered the mind is, the more is it a breeding ground for stress and anxiety.
Meditation helps to declutter the mind of past baggage of useless memories, unprocessed thoughts and emotions, and negative emotions that no longer serve you but create brain-fog, confusions and subtle stress and tension on the background of your mind.
But I don’t recommend people to meditate with apps or meditation music. Why? It’s because, Apps, however great and hi-tech, they are just like props and crutches.
They can never bring you the freedom of running on the greens under the blue sky and the joy to explore the subtle musical symphony of your body, mind and being.
Meditation Apps may be useful for a quick-fix remedy for stress-reduction. But an app can never bring you the knowledge, wisdom and the joy of reveling in the light of who you truly are. An app can NEVER make a Buddha.
When you approach life with understanding, meditation becomes a spontaneous way of life rather than a fixed set of exercises. There are useful techniques helpful to routinely clear the clutters of useless thoughts.
But, what if, I am very busy and don’t have enough time to meditate? – I often face this question from my students. My answer to them is this: If you have time to brush your teeth, or take a shower, you can have time to meditate too! If you need to clean your body, you need to invest a little time to clean your mind too. Because that is equally important for your health, prosperity, relationship and overall sense of well being! A little time really means a little time – as less as 15 to 20 minutes a day. Does that sound logical? I never urge my students to do more than that, and meditation as little as that can transform your life.
‘But, I find meditation very difficult; my mind is restless.’ Some say. The most important point you need to understand is this: A single technique may not suit all, because we all come from different backgrounds and we do have varied tastes and temperaments. That is the reason why all such varied types of meditation techniques were devised and experimented throughout ages in the ancient spiritual traditions.
If a single technique does not work for you for some reason or other, please do not conclude that meditation is not for you. Meditation is a broad umbrella expression that includes so many techniques and methods, including the technique of ‘no methods’. Feel free to experiment with the techniques, with the posture, with the place and timing! However, promise yourself to practice every day, even if you can afford to do it for a very short time.
In learning how to use your inner powers, you will slowly discover the miracle of unadulterated peace in your life. You will discover the joy and blessings of true relaxation, open-heartedness, healing and freedom! My goodwill, support and loving blessings are with you.
Excerpted from the Book: Meditation Walking the Path of Peace: A Guidebook for Stress Free Living by Banani Ray