Many people have this question — what is meditation? Can meditation help reduce anxiety and worry? How does it work?
Here is how I’d define meditation: The union of the body and the mind. We constantly live in the dualistic nature of self. We have joy and we have anger. We have happiness and anxiety, we have optimism and also hopelessness, calmness and restlessness. The dualities are several.
As we continue to swing between the two extremes of emotions, depending on how circumstances treat us, we fuel suffering.
However, as the body and the mind unite, the external stops mattering. What matters is the self. As the inner self chooses to perceive situations through discernment and appreciation, sufferings lose ground. Here’s an example. How do I choose to respond to a situation where my car breaks down in the middle of the traffic? Do I panic or feel frustrated? Do I get irritated or kick the car in anger? As we succumb to a negative emotion, we immediately slip into a victim state.
How about experimenting with this range of emotions instead: “Okay, my car broke down, but I didn’t bang my car into someone else’s. That is great! And I am not stranded in a secluded highway. That is great too! Help is just a call away. Isn’t that nice? Today is a weekday and I didn’t ruin my family weekend plan. Awesome!. Boss has agreed to delay the meeting till I reach back at work. Amazing! Really, how lucky I am to have discerning colleagues at work. I truly feel lucky. I am a lucky fellow! Actually, I am an amazing fellow! “
Well, how does it feel now? Same situation but different emotions and a different perception of the situation.
There are several ways to work with emotions and guide the self to a high vibration. In the above example, when thoughts get to the point of ‘lucky’ and ‘amazing’, is when you have used your meditation.
Welcome to the world of calmness and happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. It certainly is not euphoria, neither is it tied to things, places or circumstances. Happiness just IS, a state of being, an internal alignment over the externals.
Have you ever seen a child playing with a heap of colour? They love to bury their hands in the heap, pull a hand out and examine it with wonderment. Pure wonderment. Then squeal with laughter. When the mind and body unite, the joy is similar. Children feel joy because they explore the unknown. Adults have limiting beliefs and the fear of exploring the unknown. The worry of consequences prevents the very experience of playing with the unknown.
Suffering steps in when one stops exploring. Exploration is expansion. That is what we are here for, to expand working through our dualities. Dualities serve this very purpose of growth. You see, nothing that the universe gives us is a waste.
Despite benefits, why do people hesitate to mediate? That is because there is resistance or hesitation to expansion. Or the fear that concentration is not possible, which is a limiting belief. The fear of “what if” is a big question. When there is no fear, thoughts turn to a positive flow. That is when you find the true meaning of “limitless potential.”
When body and mind come together, positive thoughts start trickling in the consciousness.
Everyone can mediate. Meditation is a tool to joyfully face fears. When one faces fear, there is no fear! There is just you. Expanded.
— Urmila Rao is a chakra balancing meditation coach and a certified Theta healer-practitioner. She can be reached at milarao2018@gmail.com.
