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Meditation is a mind-body practice that reduces stress, increases life force energy (prana), and restores deep mental clarity through conscious relaxation and breathing. It is not concentration but effortless de-concentration. It is a way to relax deeply, connect with your inner energy, calm your mind, and experience a state of complete relaxation. It is the simple art of doing absolutely nothing and just being.
It is a journey from sound to silence. It is a skill to calm your mind and realise the abundant source of energy within you. It is the simple art of doing absolutely nothing, not even thinking, so you don’t concentrate, but you de-concentrate. Effortlessness is the key. Using the breath as a tool, bringing the mind to a standstill is possible. You just let meditation happen effortlessly.
In ancient times, meditation was used for three purposes: one, it was used for enlightenment, for finding the Self. Two, meditation was used as a way to overcome misery and problems. And third, meditation was a way to improve one’s abilities.
Meditation is the skill to make the mind quiet in a short period of time. It is a state of complete relaxation, freed from the remembrance of the past and the plans for the future. It is the way to take deep rest and just be.
” Music is food for emotions. Knowledge is food for the intellect. Meditation is food for the soul. “
~Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Returning to Absolute Comfort with Meditation
Everyone wants comfort. It is just that we don’t know how to be absolutely comfortable. Meditation is not alien to you. This is because you were meditating for a couple of months before you were born. You were in your mother’s womb doing nothing. You didn’t even have to chew your food. You would happily float in the fluid. That is meditation or absolute comfort. You had to do nothing; everything was done for you. So there is a natural yearning in every soul to return to that state when you were in absolute comfort. It is very natural to want to get back to that state which you have had a taste of, just before entering this world of activity. This is because everything in this universe is cyclical. Everything wants to return to its source.
When you are hungry, you spontaneously go to get something to eat. If you are thirsty, you want to drink some water. In the same way, the soul yearns for meditation, and this yearning is present in everyone.
Benefits of Meditation
If you search the internet, you will find a lot of research on the benefits of meditation, but to put it very simply, meditation can help you to be calm, reduce stress and anxiety, collected, and happy. No matter what is going on in your life. The need to meditate is present in every human because everyone desires a joy that never diminishes, a love that is eternal and free of distortions.
Modern research also demonstrates that regular meditation enhances attention and self-regulation, equipping people to handle the increasing pressures of modern life more effectively [Tang 2007].
If you look at the benefits that meditation brings into our lives, we feel it is all the more relevant, all the more needed in our modern, hectic lives. Scientific studies show that even short-term meditation programs reduce stress and improve emotional well-being, with benefits seen in beginners after just a few days of practice [Zeidan 2010].
- Meditation Brings Deep Relaxation and Clarity
When the river is calm, the reflection is clearer. Similarly, when the mind is calm, there is greater clarity in the field of expression. Regular practice of meditation helps attain a deep state of relaxation and peace. And this peacefulness often lasts far beyond the meditation itself.
Studies on mantra-based meditation and Sahaj Samadhi show increased frontal brain activation and greater calmness, supporting long-lasting relaxation effects [Travis 2009].
- Leads To Positive Vibrations
Each one of us has a unique vibration, and these vibrations are affected when we are stressed, angry, upset or frustrated. Meditation holds the key to change and make these vibrations positive and productive, leading to clarity in thoughts and emotions. It helps to clear the impressions in our mind and focus and redirect our thoughts to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally stable state. Our sense of observation, perception, and expression improves.
Clinical studies of Sudarshan Kriya practitioners found improved autonomic balance and emotional regulation, suggesting meditation fosters more positive emotional states [Sharma 2017; Brown 2005].
- More Powerful Than Sleep
Meditation and sleep both give deep rest. However, the quality of rest from meditation is deeper. The amount of energy that we get from meditation is much more than from sleep. Meditation gives you rest, deeper than the deepest sleep. By doing meditation, we can turn our body into a powerhouse by generating an inner source of energy.
Research shows meditation produces unique physiological rest states distinct from sleep, with reduced oxygen consumption and deep metabolic relaxation [Travis 2009].
- Increases Energy Levels
Anxiety, worry, and stress can be more than distractions. Daily problems and fears can have a negative impact on your mental and physical health. Meditation is known to increase the prana (life force) or the energy level in the body. And as the prana level increases, anxiety automatically decreases. Hence, symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder have reportedly shown improvement with regular meditation.
- Meditation Positively Impacts Mental Health
Studies show that meditation not only increases activation in the part of the brain associated with positive emotions, but also has a positive effect on your overall mental health.
Large trials on Transcendental Meditation demonstrated reductions in blood pressure and cardiovascular risk, while mantra meditation practices improved mood and resilience [Schneider 2012; Travis 2009]. Meditation has also been found to reverse the brain patterns that lead to overthinking, poor attention, and mind-wandering.
How to meditate properly?
Choose a time and placePick a quiet, comfortable spot. It’s better to meditate two to three hours after a meal or before a meal. If you have a full stomach, meditation is not going to happen.Do Stretches or some physical activityIf you are too active, you can’t meditate; at the same time, if you are too well rested, you can’t go into meditation. But in a state where the body has the right amount of tiredness, yet still not that tired, in that very delicate balance, the mind slips into meditation, or your whole system slips into meditation. So it’s good to do some stretches or yoga before meditation.Sit comfortably and easilySit comfortably. You don’t need to sit in a very stiff position with a very straight back. Any comfortable seat is good. You can use a backrest to support your spine. Don’t rest your head as far as possible. But if you feel uncomfortable, you want to rest your head, you can go ahead.Embrace your thoughtsOne common challenge for meditation is that you feel restless. So many thoughts come to mind. How do you handle it? Just embrace the thoughts. In the first one or two days, it may be like that. As you keep practising – on the third day, fourth day and more, every day, your meditation will keep getting better and better.Let your mind relax and let goChoose one of the many guided meditations on the Sattva App or the YouTube channel. You start with all the steps above – comfortable seat, back straight, etc, and then you let go. There is always this instruction. Let go. Totally. Let go. This is the most crucial instruction in meditation.The formula for meditation is “I want nothing, I do nothing, I am nothing!”
