Love

Many a times I have asked myself what exactly Love is?

Recently the penny dropped for me...

Love is Just Being…

It is not a concept, has no boundaries, and has no definition.

When you can look at other creations of life and admire their beauty and them without any judgment and expectation is ‘What Love is...’

Love is when you enjoy being yourself…

Love is when you feel liberated yet bounded with other people…

Love is that tiny spark in you which makes you smile at ALL THAT IS…

All this is Love for me

What it means for you???

Pranayama

Pranayama is generally understood as breath control, it is true partially; as Prana is not intake of breath it is the ‘Life force energy’ in us which flows freely. When this prana can’t flow freely in our body we start manifesting mental, physical emotional issues.

Prana means “Life force energy’ and Ayama means ‘to expand’. Pranayama in true sense means expansion of the vital life force energy. Free flow of this Vital is responsible for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth. Pranayama harmonizes the pranic body,  a network of nerve channels carrying this life force energy to each and every cell and organs of the body. Pranayamas are also preparatory for meditative state.

Follow the pranayama of basic breath awareness and exploration.

Find a comfortable seated position and begin to notice your breath. Without changing it, simply notice the pathway of your breath. How and where does it move? Does it move freely through your nostrils between inhalation and exhalation? Where your breath is moving with ease and where it feels stuck. Begin to gradually deepen your inhalation and extend your exhalation. Go slowly, breath by breath, each one slightly deeper than the one before. Notice how your body changes as your breath changes. What does that feel like in your chest, your side ribs, and the back of your neck, your armpits, and your jaw?

When you feel that your awareness has shifted to a thought, do not get caught up in it and create a story around it. Recognize the thought and bring your awareness back to your breath and its movement, initially you might get lot of thoughts, which is absolutely fine. This practice is to be in the awareness and not allowing your mind to take over you. This practice is to be mindful of your thought processes, their nature, acknowledging them and letting them go.

It is a good idea to introduce Sama Vritti or Equal Breathing now. This means inhaling and exhaling for an equal length. Inhale through your nostrils for four counts and exhale though your nose for four counts. Continue this breathing pattern for as long as you like. You may change the length of your breath to a shorter or longer count. As you practice Sama Vritti (Equal Breathing), continue to observe the quality, movement, and sound of your breath.

You may continue doing this as long as you feel like doing it. Once you are done, slowly and gently open your eyes, first look at your palms, then at your feet. Take few moments before getting into any activity.

Once you get comfortable with your breath awareness, you can start introducing it though the day while doing various activities. Consciously start becoming aware of your breath during various and different kind of activities. Continue observing the quality, movement, and sound of your breath.

This practice is very good for bringing in relaxation and helps alleviate mental chatter. It helps in Insomnia.

Meditation

A lot has been talked about meditation.

I am only going to tell you what happens when we meditate and how does it affect our state of being. And what we can do to achieve that state of Peace and Calm, if not Bliss.

Our mind has three sections – Conscious mind, Subconscious mind and Critical filter between the two which separates them.

This filter has a lot of work to do. Whatever we see, conceive, and perceive through the day. Our conscious mind passes it on via critical filter to our sub-conscious mind. This critical filter decides what needs to go to sub-conscious mind for storage and what needs to be discarded. This process mostly happens when we go off to sleep or relax. Now if we don't get sound sleep or are not relaxed, this critical filter gets overloaded and becomes sluggish. We keep adding new information to it and keep feeling stressed, lack of concentration, tired, low etc.

When we meditate, we cleanse and rejuvenate this filter so that it works at its optimum and we are ready for new experiences in a better manner. 

Despite all its popularity, today very few of us truly know what meditation is. Some think meditation is the mental concentration on some point, others feel while we meditate we imagine something that gives us peace or satisfaction. All these methods are basically to slow down and, eventually, completely stop the incessant activity of our minds. These exercises are not really meditation – they are substitutes for meditation because it is normally very difficult to stop our minds all-together.

In reality, meditation is a state of thoughtless awareness. It is not an act of doing – it is a state of awareness. We are either in this state or we are not, regardless of what we are doing in life. Truly, a man can be in meditation while doing his day’s chores and another man can be very far from meditation while sitting in a lotus posture on the top of a mountain.

When we take a look at the various explanations of meditation, another thing we often see is that meditation is defined as taking a moment to sit quietly or to ponder. True meditation, however is much more than this. It is a state of profound, deep peace that occurs when the mind is calm and silent, yet completely alert. This is just the beginning of an inner transformation that takes us to a higher level of awareness. This enables us to fulfill our true potential.

How does one make sure that mind is silent and calm?

How does one reach that profound state of deep peace??

To reach that state one need to start from basic, from Mindful breathing...

Mindful breathing is the first stage of getting into meditative state...

Watch this space for the understanding of MINDFUL BREATHING