Why Meditation is the Crown Jewel of Yoga and How You can Benefit

Around 300 million people are said to practice yoga worldwide. It may seem a huge number but it’s less than 4% of the global population of 8 billion. The folks doing meditation — which is an integral part of yoga — would be far fewer.

For me, these statistics matter a lot. Because I’m a strong advocate of yoga, especially meditation. And as a fairly long-time practitioner (10+ years of meditation every day), I want to say a few things about what meditation involves, and why I think it’s the best gift of yoga and why every human being on the planet should do it — regardless of country, belief, or social status.

According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, meditation or dhyana is the stage between dharana and samadhi in what the sage called Ashtanga or eight limbs of yoga. So one begins to focus on a single object in dharana and when that focus becomes smooth and uninterrupted, it becomes dhyana. Drawing upon my own experience, I can say that meditation makes you feel full of peace, joy, and contentment: after a “successful” session, your physical pains and mental anguish melt away, and a supreme sense of calm and blessedness takes root. (With more practice and sticking to it regularly, success comes more frequently and naturally.)

Most people largely relate to yoga and are more familiar with its third limb, asana — the numerous body postures that bring balance and health to the practitioners. Unfortunately, only a few know about or practice meditation.

Here I would like to highlight dhyana or meditation as something that is very simple and accessible (simpler and easier to follow than asanas for most people, I’d say). And if practiced regularly by a sufficiently large number of people, meditation can bring about a profound change not only in their own mental and spiritual wellbeing but also in the overall health and sustainability of our planet.

What has meditation got to do with the Earth’s sustainability, one might wonder?

Let me briefly recount how our mind works and how meditation can help.

The human mind is a constant cauldron of thoughts good and bad. It is a fantastic, majestic contraption, no doubt — one that has left every other species behind in controlling and dominating the space and resources of the planet. From using tools to innovating in industrial technologies to the current boom in artificial intelligence, humans have used their minds to an absolutely complex and remarkable degree. They have created innumerable products to make life more comfortable and devised countless ways to “spend time” for pleasure.

Alongside the good parts, however, a lot of “badness” has gone unfiltered to create all sorts of havoc: pollution, inequality, hunger, war, and disease. So much so that we are at a precipice, looking at disastrous possibilities for the human “race” (pun intended).

This chaos and impending disaster is reflected not only at a global level but also at multiple levels — regions, countries, cities, societies, and families are struggling to deal with it. Ultimately, it boils down to the individual level.

So, when an individual — you, me, everybody — sits down to meditate for a few minutes each day, it helps them deal with this internal chaos. Closing our eyes to the external world for a few moments and looking inward with peace and calm can help nurture our thoughts in the right direction. Meditation helps us reset our intent for being in this world and heals our relationship with fellow humans and creatures. It allows us to question our inner selves as to what is it that gives us real joy, real happiness? What is it that makes our life worth it? What is the meaning of it all? Why do we do what we do?

With our breathing calm, our body at rest, and our mind attuned to the inner voice that otherwise gets drowned in the daily noise of external exigencies, meditation opens up great possibilities for peaceful, better answers to our turmoil.

[Those new to the “process of meditation” my find this post I wrote a few years back useful: How to sit down in meditation.]

Imagine the change that millions of meditating souls can bring about! Change that is peaceful, positive, and “progressive” in the truly meaningful sense of the word.

You don’t have to listen to me — but please do listen to your inner voice. Do spend some quality time each day with your own self: meditate.

Namaskar and happy meditating :)

How to Sustain Your Meditation

(Image: Ralf Kunze from Pixabay)

Sometime back, I had written a post titled How to Sit Down in Meditation. Well, I tried following my own advice – and discovered that I was able not only to sit down in peace but do so for a longer period than before.

I understand that a lot of people do take the plunge into meditation but find it difficult to sustain their poise. They either get distracted easily, become fidgety after only a few minutes, or exhibit downright impatient behavior. Yet others, who can sit down longer, feel bored and keep wondering if they are indeed progressing in their meditation practice.

Before I proceed further, a disclaimer is in order: I’m no expert on meditation and do not advocate any particular type of meditation. What I’m sharing here is based on my own simple practice – one that I have been experimenting with and self-checking on for the past six years or so. Sometimes I wish I had a guru who I could look up to and who was accessible to me for accelerating my own path – and since I don't, I content myself with taking guidance from the inner light each one of us has.

Maybe this post will nudge some fellow seekers and practitioners to offer their own tips and suggestions.

As for me, I have usually observed three phases to my meditation routine. The first one is indeed sitting down quietly and comfortably (to the extent possible and that you can accept in your heart). In this phase the focus is on kind of “settling down” amidst the turmoil around – and within – you. In my experience, this phase can be as little as a few seconds to as much as five or even ten minutes.

The second phase, or the middle phase, begins with longer, steadier breaths, accompanied with fewer and less distracting thoughts.

Here, let me take a little detour into the human mind that is like a non-stop factory of thoughts: before you’ve dealt with one, another thought emerges. Even in sleep, our mind keeps fabricating all sorts of thoughts in real and surreal scenarios. So it’s quite a feat to “empty your mind” of all thought.

As such, the “strategy” I personally adopt is not to vigorously fight the onslaught of thoughts. Doing so makes you unnecessarily agitated, making the quietude of meditation even more slippery. Instead, what I do is “engage gently” with the thoughts. Why did such and such thought occur? Why now? What does the thought “want” from me? Can I lay it to rest without dwelling too much on it? Such “thinking about thinking” often takes me to the root cause or a better understanding, allowing me to retire each thought to a gentler, rather than violent, end. Alongside, I also bring my attention back to the process of meditation – sitting comfortably, and breathing gently and deeply.

Sometimes, I just let the thoughts be and merely nod or smile internally in their direction: gradually, they become fewer in number and fade away of their own accord. Perhaps they realize that there’s no further nesting ground for them “in here”!

This middle phase is rather tricky and may take up a significant portion of your meditation time. My personal goal has been to keep it within 10-15 minutes – but sometimes a rogue thought or two get the better of “me” and keep me in their tangle much longer.

Let us now come to the third phase – perhaps the whole point of why we are meditating in the first place.

In the second phase, you have a fairly good awareness of and, possibly, concern about your environment. A noise here or there bothers you, the thought avalanche has subsided but the mind is still fizzing in its Ego-bubble, and your body demands to be adjusted every now and then to ease out any discomfort. However, the third phase of meditation is when you surrender yourself wholly to the beauty of your being. At some point of the second phase, you hear a voice in your head: “Now is the time – to stop time in its tracks, as it were.” Somewhere inside, you realize that your mind-body-soul is ready to go deeper in its meditative state.

So you say goodbye to the last approaching thought – of bodily or mental discomfort, of your social life, of your surroundings… – and turn completely to your inner, here-and-now reality. Sitting. Breathing. Unthinking. Even the image or mantra you were using to concentrate should ideally dissolve into what I can possibly call your “meditative consciousness.”

At this moment, your senses become keener and your awareness, clearer. A feeling of peace and deep love begins to spring forth from every atom of your being. From deep within you, a realization sweeps across your arteries and veins that this state is where you have always wanted to belong: it’s your innermost natural tendency, to be shorn of any pain or attachment or fear. You want to remain in this peaceful, meditative state for God-knows-how-long.

While I have tried to describe this third phase, words often fail. And I must admit it without any reservation that reaching and sustaining the third phase continues to be challenging. Body-mind aches or erstwhile-overcome distractions often make an unwelcome appearance just when you think you have nailed it.

The reality is, there is no nailing; there’s only scaling – the ever-subtler, ever-peaceful, ever-joyous heights of what’s come to be known as meditation.

Keep at it, my dear meditator, keep at it. I know I will :)

(Also read – Beyond Asana: Yoga, its Ancient Roots…)