“Without the help of meditation, you cannot
attain knowledge of the self. Without
its aid, you cannot grow into the divine state.
Without it, you cannot liberate yourself from the trammels of the mind
and attain immortality. Meditation is
the only royal road to the attainment of freedom. It is a mysterious ladder, which reaches from
earth to heaven, from error to truth, from darkness to light, from pain to
bliss, from restlessness to abiding peace, from ignorance to knowledge. From mortality to immortality.” Sri Swami Sivananda.
Essentially we are looking for peace, maybe
some of us don’t realize that we are looking but we are searching and searching
for moments of uninterrupted calmness, contentment and ultimately divine
peace. We may think that if we sit and
close our eyes we will just find it however it may take a lifetime or longer to
understand the nature of meditation, it is a rocky road and there are many obstacles
that we face along the way. The proper
preparations and practices are essential to help us with the practice of
meditation, to think that it is easy is a mistake, however, it is something
that we all have the power to do, it is within all of us, the peace is inherent
to all of us, but we have to prepare correctly.
This is why so many people feel that they need this in their life but
give up on it quickly as they lack the proper preparations to help them, they
gain no results and have no patience to continue on, doubt creeps into the mind
and they give up. This is a disaster; as
said by Swami Sivananda – meditation is the royal road to freedom, so what is
preventing us? Here are a few pointers
that are going to help.
The body
is an obstacle – Remedy; Practice Yogic
asana regularly – many people find sitting for meditation is extremely
difficult. Either because of stiffness
or lack of strength in the body or they feel pain after some time all these
cause a disruption to our mind during trying to sit for meditation. By practicing yoga asana or yogic exercise
you will gain more strength and flexibility to be able to sit. Start with smaller amounts of time for your
meditation and as the body becomes more suitable for sitting then gradually
build up your time.
Restlessness – you can’t be in one place for long – Remedy;
again practice Yogic asana or yogic exercise this will increase your levels of
endurance and concentration. Chanting is
also a great way to increase levels of focus and concentration – attend regular
Satsang for the chanting of kirtan – divine songs, this also is going to help
with negative thoughts and emotions that trouble you by uplifting the mood and
generating positive vibrations and thoughts.
Sluggishness
and sleep – Rememdy; stop the
meditation and go for a brisk walk, or a few rounds of sun salutations or some
sort of sattvic exercise to re-awaken the body and mind. Physical activity brings the balance to
meditation. Or splash some cool water on
your face, hands and feet and then continue, also chanting for a few minutes can help to
re-awaken your prana – vital life force.
A
troubled mind – Remedy; look at your diet,
keep to a sattvic (pure) yogic diet of simple, nutritious and light meals. What you eat also forms your thoughts as well
as making your body, so eating a lot of processed, spicy, un pure foods will
really be detrimental for your meditations.
If you need something sweet and comforting – go for natural sweet things
such as honey, milk and dates. Avoid
things in packets, jars and tins etc! Pranayama
or breathing techniques are a beautiful way to soothe and cool down the mind,
giving some space for concentration and to clear the clouds away. Look at the company you keep – are the people
that surround you beneficial to you or detrimental to you, are they supportive
of you? Have the courage to make the
changes that you need even no matter how much you may want somebody in your
life if they are no longer growing and preventing you from growing then have
the strength to let them go and move on with calmness, things will be alright.
Too much
external stimulation –
Remedy; stop talking so much! Have moments in the day dedicated to silence, talking
takes a huge amount of energy, that energy would be better spent on your
practice. Useless conversation makes a
person restless and gossiping creates negativities. Try to reduce the amount of time you may
spend in places full of stimulations such as shopping centers, cinemas, tv
screens, certain books and restaurants or bars and social media.
Stimulations drain your energy, draw the mind outward and create
negativities.
Emotions such as anger, depression, doubt and fear –
Remedy; keep company with spiritually uplifting people that will help to give
you courage, like minded people can feed off of each other and keep us going
providing us with inspiration. Watch
your emotions and make contemplations on them, where have they stemmed from,
consider the harm they create not only for your mind but also on your nervous
system. Try to contemplate on
cultivating positive emotions such as courage and cheerfulness and think about
the benefits they would have on you and those that surround you. Know that all things are impermanent so any
feeling will come and go, you will move forward. Sun salutations are also a really fabulous
means of detoxing the mind as well as the body when practiced with
awareness. Also relaxation techniques
are invaluable to calm down the body and in turn calm down the mind, practice
savasana mentally go through each body part and consciously relax each part and
practice Yoga Nidra – the art of complete relaxation, making promises to your
self or affirmations to not let these emotions get the better or us for example
mentally repeating I will not let anger rise today several times when you wake
up and throughout the day can be a powerful thing.
So we need to look at proper exercise,
breathing techniques, relaxations and proper diet as well as looking at our
whole lifestyle to prepare ourselves for meditation. It may sound like a huge mountain is in front
of you, but you can make it to the top – be brave, be patient and dedicated the
seat of peace is there within you, make changes gently and slowly and you will
indeed reap the benefits. How long to
get to the top of that mountain – that depends on how many times you switch
paths, your speed and determination to get there and whom you will meet along
the way. The challenges are there but
all the great things come to those who battle onwards on the battle field.
Be patient and enjoy every moment of the
journey; an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory, so say Swami
Sivananda.
Have beautiful peaceful days - I took the path less travelled and that made all the difference!
OM shanti shanti shanti
Mangala / Nicky
