Thoughts

When we are going through an issue it becomes so big in our head that our mind starts controlling us. I have always maintained mind is part of us; we are not part of our minds. Let us understand how we can become in charge of mind.

When we are born, we are an empty vessel. With our experiences of life we start filling it up. Now this vessel like any other vessel has a capacity to hold. For example you have a jug that can hold one liter of liquid. It is in your hands now what would you like to fill this jug with. You may decide to fill it with water, refreshing lemon drink, rejuvenating juice, alcohol etc… But you can only fill it up to a level. And to put any other liquid than the current one you have to first empty the jug, cleanse it and then pour the next choice of drink. Choices are umpteen and you are the decision maker.

Likewise your mind is that jug and you are the owner of that jug. What would you like to fill it up with? You can either fill it with positive thoughts or negative ones. Just as the jug has to be first emptied to put in the next batch of liquid, similarly we need to clear our thoughts and empty ourselves for the new experiences and thoughts. If we are still stuck in the past experiences, negative or positive, how do we expect to make the new ones?

We clean our body, our homes on a daily basis. Do we ever look at doing a deep cleansing, Cleansing of our thoughts, of our minds.

There are many ways to clear the clutter of mind… The simplest and the most difficult (as people say) is Meditation.

Meditation brings in the much needed calm and clarity in our minds. It helps us realize what exactly we want from ourselves…

To reach to meditative level, we need to first work on our breath. Pranayama is the first step towards meditation. Also it is a good practice to decide on a particular time and sit for 10 minutes every day so that we first train our minds. Mind needs consistency in order to perform. If we are consistent with our practice, mind automatically begins to relax and prepares itself for the practice.

First step towards it is 'Equal Breathing'. Either sit in a meditative posture or lie down in shavasana. Make sure that your body is in alignment and neck and spine is in one line. If you are in shavasana both sides of the body is equally distributed and there is one and half feet distance between both legs.

Make necessary adjustments and concentrate either on your heart centre or Eyebrow centre. When you concentrate on heart centre you are bringing more compassion in life(surrendering to the divine); if you are concentrating on eye brow centre then you are bringing in focus and clarity in thoughts (being an observer and witnessing).

Now be aware of your breath, after few breaths when you feel comfortable breathe deeply all the way to your stomach for 7 times. The right way of breathing in is that your stomach will extend out like a balloon fills up, and while breathing out stomach will go inwards towards the spine. Now start equalizing your breath. Start inhaling and exhaling for equal counts, so for example if you breathe in for 3 counts,you will breathe out for the similar count i.e. 3 counts. Do 10 rounds of inhalation and exhalation, this one set of pranayama of equal breathing. Do 3 such sets of Equal Breathing. After a fortnight of practice increase the length of inhalation and exhalation to 4 counts.

This will strengthen your lungs, dispel stale air trapped in lungs and also it will bring in the calmness. And prepare you for meditation.

It is a good practice for those who have insomnia. Before going off to sleep you can practice this to have a better quality of sleep.

If you wish to know more you may either post the query here on this page itself or mail me…