Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Do it.
Just once.
Do you feel better?
I bet you do.
No matter how difficult your day has been or how stressed you are, taking deep breaths can soothe anxious nerves, calm you down, and help you think more rationally.
I’ve been meditating for the last ten years. However, meditation became a habit after 9/11.
Those of you who feel that meditation is hokum, I get you.
Been there, done that.
I used to be one of those people who need a concrete proof before they believe something. How I got the motivation to take the first step is an interesting story in itself. Or as I like to call it, ‘God’s own intervention’, to propel me towards a better life.
I live in Maryland. It’s fairly close to NYC, just a couple of hours drive.
What happened was, I came back home from work one day, about a week after 9/11. I was upset, a friend of mine who had suffered injuries during the attack had passed away in the afternoon. This particular friend, he was very close to me. We had spent a good part of our lives studying and growing up together.
He was supposed to be here in Maryland on September 9th. But as fate would have it, he visited his company’s main office for a monthly meeting with other partners. The rest, unfortunately, is history.
Anyway, when I came back from work, I was upset, choked full of emotions. I came to my room, closed the door, and just sat down on my bed, looking out of the window towards the sun setting down. I remember crying and then as if by instinct, I closed my eyes. I don’t remember how long I sat like that, but I definitely remember feeling so much better when I reopened my eyes.
The terrifying attacks made me realize that I had no control over my external environment, and the panic-stricken reaction of everybody around made me appreciate the importance of a composed stature.
When I began meditating, I did not do because I wanted to achieve Nirvana. All I wanted was to feel closer to my own self, that was lost in this fleet-footed life. It is only after five years of meditating every day that I feel calmer, happier, healthier, and wiser.
Today, I follow a nourishing routine in the morning. I get up, say my prayers, and then meditate. After this, I spend some time outdoors, gardening, exercising, and playing with my dog. I then sit down for a hearty breakfast with my family and then begin working.
Meditation has profoundly transformed my life. Whenever I’m nervous, stressed, or anxious, I close my eyes and breathe. Within seconds, I regain my composure and calm down. This superpower is worth more than anything money could buy and the more I read the new research on meditation, the more I feel confident that I’m headed in the right direction.
Why should all of us meditate?
What’s one place where you feel the safest?
Your safe haven is the place where you’re free from the worries of the world. Meditation gives you a safe haven – a clearing of tranquility and calm that is always present right next to you. You can enter it within seconds and stay for as long as you’d like.
Mediation is a refuge, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.
It’s a place where no judgement, no fear, no despair, and no worry can threaten you. This mental refuge is not imaginary and no trolls or wild creatures walk through it – it is as real as the world around you. Since I began meditating regularly, I find that my brain has been rewired.
- I don’t lose my cool easily.
- I don’t rely on outside validation to feel worthy.
- I feel happiness emerging from my within, and not outside.
- I build deeper bonds with my friends, family, and animals around me.
But the biggest reward that I’ve felt is a deep calm and peace that’s slowly permeating into every noon and cranny of my life.
…and this is why I feel that meditation isn’t only for the monks.
How meditation rewires your brain?
#1: Reduced stress.
Can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? You can drastically reduce anxiety and stress through meditation. Studies show that meditation reduces the density of brain tissues associated with worry and anxiety.
Sources:
#2: Increased sense of well-being.
At a low point in my life, I felt that the entire world was against me. I would get upset of the smallest trifles, feel drained all the time, and could feel happy, even if I wanted to. Meditation helped me feel more complete, it ushered in this perennial stream of energy and positivity. I’m not saying I don’t get tired; I just don’t feel tired all the time.
Tai chi and Yoga have been found to increase the psychological functioning of your brain, improving your sense of well-being.
Sources:
#3: Enhanced self-awareness.
Meditating helps you in developing a stronger understanding of yourself so that you evolve into your best self. You can identify thoughts that are belittling, self-deprecating, or toxic. As you gain greater awareness of your thoughts, you steer them towards constructive patterns.
In a study, 40 elderly people who underwent a mindfulness meditation program experienced reduced feelings of loneliness, as opposed to the control group that was on a waitlist for the program.
Sources:
#4: Increased attention span.
Meditating for as little as four days can increase your ability to maintain and redirect attention. A study that looked at the effects of an 8-week mindfulness mediation course found that the participants improved their ability to reorient and hold their attention. Mediation can also reverse patterns that lead to mind-wandering, forgetfulness, and poor attention.
Sources:
How do chakras get affected by meditation?
Ever noticed why you get tears in your eyes when a baby holds your finger for the first time? Or that your jaws get clenched whenever you are angry? Recall that tingling sensation down your spine when you watch a horror movie?
If you haven’t noticed this by now, we tend to associate our emotions with parts of our body. This is not just a coincidence but happens due to the 7 chakras in our body. What are chakras? The literal translation of Chakra from Sanskrit to English is ‘wheel’ and it is nothing but a point of sensation in the body that gives us pleasure or pain, alternatively.
You would come across several symbols denoting chakras, a lotus for example. However, in reality, no physical objects are present at these points. These are just points where the life force energy or prana accumulates within our body. Interestingly, there are 109 chakras in our body. Out of these, 108 are in the physical body and the remaining one is in the astral body – what we usually refer to as aura.
Here’s a fun exercise for you:
Brush the roof of your mouth i.e., the palate with the tip of your tongue. Feel a tingling sensation? You just triggered a chakra present at the top of your mouth. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Of the 109 chakras, there are 7 primary chakras. These are:
- Muladhara chakra or the root chakra located at the base of your spine, right above the anus.
- Swadishthana chakra or the navel chakra located behind the genitals.
- Manipura chakra or the solar plexus chakra located near the belly button.
- Anahata chakra or the heart chakra located in the heart.
- Vishuddha chakra or the throat chakra located in the thyroid.
- Anja chakra or the third eye chakra located right in front of the pituitary gland, in the region between the two eyebrows.
- Sahasrara chakra or the crown chakra located at the crown of the head.
All these chakras are intricately linked with emotions – both positive and negative. The muladhara chakra is responsible for enthusiasm and inertia. Swadishthana chakra is associated with creativity, creation and procreation, and excessive lust. The manipura chakra releases the emotions of joy, greed, generosity, and jealousy. The anahata chakra is responsible for love, hate, and fear. The vishuddha chakra brings grief or gratefulness. The anja chakra gives rise to anger or awareness. The sahasrara chakra brings deep joy.
Activating chakras can improve the quality of your life. When the life force is dormant in the seven chakras, negative emotions build up inside us. Activated chakras evoke positive emotions that help us lead a happier, contented and abundant life.
Meditation propels the life force energy, or the prana lying dormant in the muladhara chakra up the sahasrara chakra, using spinal cord as the ladder. This happens because when we meditate, the mind settles down and we delve deep within our inner self and channelize prana.
Are you also curious about activating these 7 chakras for wellness?
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