Meditation has changed my life. A few years back, I had low self-esteem, I had become short-tempered and was in a poor mental state despite all the blessings I had in my life. I chanced upon an article online where someone had written how useful they found something as simple as a ten-minute meditation session using an app like Headspace.
Till then, I had often read about the benefits of meditation. But I always thought that it was not for me. That I could never bring myself to sit in silence and focus on my breath for extended amounts of time.
What drew me to this was that I had to commit only ten minutes. That was easy, I said to myself.
I downloaded the Headspace app and started meditating for ten minutes every morning. That's all it took for several changes to be triggered. In a few months, my self-esteem problem had reduced to a significant extent. I also found myself more aware of my thoughts. That is the beauty of meditation. It benefits you 'off the cushion' (as meditators like to call the time not meditating) as well.
Today, I meditate twice a day for about 20-25 minutes each time and I do it without an app.
So, what is meditation? In its simplest form, it makes you more aware of who you really are.
Most of us go about our lives not realising that there is something behind the mind that is the 'real us'. We live under the illusion that our mind represents our identity. This, for me, was the biggest revelation.
How does meditation do this? Simply, you train the mind to watch your thoughts. You do this by being aware of your breath. Your mind will be aware for a few seconds or minutes and then get distracted by a chain of thoughts. The important thing to do is to realise that your mind has wandered off and then bring it back to the breath. That's it. There's nothing more to it.
Well, there are techniques to help you do this.
NephroPlus, along with Vipassana Research Institute, the original Vipassana school is conducting an introductory session, specially for those on Dialysis on Sunday, the 6th of June at 10 AM. The link will be updated shortly.
This pandemic has affected Dialysis Patients terribly. Low immunity, high exposure to infections because of their weekly thrice visits to the Dialysis Centre and high mortality (about ten to fifteen times that of the rest of the population) has led to severe mental stress even to those not infected.
In such circumstances, meditation is a beautiful way to heal the bruised mind. Please join the session.
Comments