Today I will endeavour to introduce you to a daily practice which has so many profound benefits that it will change your life - Meditation..
A mere mention of the word ’meditation’ and the average mind goes about conjuring vivid images of half clad sadhus with half a metre long beards, siting in contorted positins or standing on their heads, muttering incomprehensible chants....:-)
The truth, however, is something completely different!!
Here’s an introduction to my life - Im a Senior Manager at a U.K Based Wealth Management company. I live in a world of high stress, dominated by sales targets, sensex movements and difficult clients. Am also studying 2 hours a day to clear my CFP examinations, which are tough(ive cleared 3)...!!In the midst of all these, I have found peace through my meditation practice.Im not immune to stress, but I surely am resistant. I feel happy and energetic at the end of each day, and I feel awake and refreshed after each night’s sleep, which is a good reward for a time investment of half an hour a day. I dont smoke, drink, or have a excessive coffee habit. In short, meditation has balanced out my life...
Meditation is a simple, practical habit. It involves nothing but eliminating the garbage that clutters your mind all the time, for 2 fifteen minute sessions in a day. That half an hour of peace produces a ’ripple effect’ that lasts the whole day.
I started meditating when a friend of mine advised me to read a book called "The Calm Technique" by Paul Wilson. At that time, I was a hot headed, short tempered young man with a heavy smoking habit. I used to drink like a fish and drunken brawls were not uncommon. My career wasnt going anywhere and I couldnt be less concerned.
Wilson’s simple, effective meditation technique involves sitting quietly, back straight, and mentally repeating what he calls a ’calm phrase’ which could be anything from ’om’ to ’bacon and eggs’. While focussing my mind on my calm phrase twice a day, I found my anger and negative emotions gradually melting away. I was becoming more self aware and focussed. My friends were amazed when I gave up smoking, started excelling at my studies (I was in college then) and started drinking less...they thought I had been abducted by aliens and replaced by a ’new, improved’ Aniruddha !!!
It seems deceptively simple for a practice which has such superb positive effects- because it is! Meditating, unlike the popular misnomer, is a deceptively simple process. It is something which is very easy to fit into one’s lifestyle and adapt to. It is not magical or mystical. It does not involve levitation or time travel. It just involves a calm focus which leaves you with a happy feeling. The feeling of not thinking, working, worrying - just ’being’!!!!
Meditation takes effect by drawing us into the present moment. When the mind is focussed on the present, one doesnt repent over past mistakes or unnecessarily fret about the future. This practice has helped me imensely in my professional life, where I have excelled brilliantly thanks to my focussed and energetic approach which my colleagues admire.
Apart from Stress, meditating is an antidote to a host of other problems-
#sleeplessness
#lack of energy
#irritability
#lack of focus
#sexual problems
#anger
#addictions
#lack of willpower
#a HOST of others
Thus, my advice to one and all - student/working professional/housewife/anyone! Buy a copy of ’The Calm Technique’ TODAY and see your life change..It will...I promise!
And please persist with your daily practice of meditation. Dont give it up midway as the positive effects you would have built up will slip away.
Cheers to life!