My take on mindfulness and meditation

It's been a hot minute since I last wrote a blog post. And wow, a LOT has happened in the meantime. I've largely been busy with writing exams, which luckily came to a long-awaited end. Apart from that, I've been navigating surviving in a constantly changing, pandemic-ridden world where nothing is certain and everything has become relative.

However, more than anything, these past 2 months have been a period of profound growth - specifically as far as mindfulness and spirituality are concerned.

Why did I start meditating?

I have realised that a great deal of the so-called suffering I endured on a daily basis - whether stress, anxiety, fear, existential dread - was a product of my mind and my thoughts. As Sam Harris writes in his book Waking Up (which I am currently reading, by the way), "Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others." He also writes that "How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives." How crazy is that? The way you perceive the current moment and your accompanying thoughts can literally determine the quality of your life. Apart from wanting to train my mind and my thoughts, ironically by quieting my mind, I noticed marked changes in my moods and everyday experiences of mundane situations and occurrences. It's somewhat impossible to sit in silence for 10 minutes, following your breath and observing your thoughts as mere patterns in consciousness and then bursting into a fit of anger afterwards. Meditation has changed my life for the better and I cannot imagine starting a day without it now.

"Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others."

How do you start meditating if you have no experience?

You just start. I also had zero experience. I remember downloading the "Calm" and "Headspace" apps a couple of years ago, but I never really meditated consistently (largely because I wasn't willing to pay the app subscription fees) and eventually I deleted the apps. Fast forward to lockdown 2020, and I started digging into the wonderful world of meditation and mindfulness again. I came across Sam Harris's Instagram page via another account and saw that he had both an app and a book on meditation. That's when I downloaded the Waking Up app and started my 30-day free trial introductory course. I soon realised that even though I was by no means a meditation expert and that it would take a substantial amount of time for me to reap the full benefits and concepts surrounding consciousness and the human mind, there was certainly a case to be made for sitting in silence and quieting the incessant stream of thoughts which plagues us every single day. I realised there was something there. Something that made it easier for me to observe instead of react. Something that made me realise everything I observe is part of consciousness. My thoughts and awareness are not distinct and separate from consciousness, it is subsumed in it. And then I couldn't stop. My free trial soon ended and I had to make a choice: either now delete this app and move on, or pay the subscription fee, make meditation a permanent part of my daily life and invest in my wellness journey. And so I decided to take the leap. I think it was US$ 29.99 for a whole YEAR subscription, which really isn't that bad considering we easily spend US$ 9.99 on Netflix every month.

Why is it important to be mindful?

In his book, Harris writes that "rigorous introspection - 'spirituality' in the wider sense of the term - is an indispensable part of understanding the nature of the mind." This, to me, is enough of a reason in itself to partake in introspection and mindful observation of your thoughts. I do also believe that mindfulness is an integral component of one's spiritual life (please note that I am not inferring religion when I refer to spirituality). The experience of self-transcendence is, in principle, available to all people. However, this possibility is only weakly attested to in Western religious and philosophical literature. Only Buddhists and students of Advaita Vedanta have been absolutely clear in asserting that "spiritual life consists in overcoming the illusion of the self by paying close attention to our experience in the present moment."

"Spiritual life consists in overcoming the illusion of the self by paying close attention to our experience in the present moment."

What exactly is mindfulness and is meditation the only way to attain a mindful state of being?

Mindfulness is not some airy-fairy, highly elusive, mysterious or spooky concept. Harris defines it as "simply a state of clear, nonjudgmental, and undistracted attention to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant." That's all it is. It's being quiet and in a state of deep attention. It's observing your thoughts and reactions without judgement, recognising that even judgement is merely a thought, an appearance in consciousness. Harris also writes that cultivating this quality of mind has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety, and depression; improve cognitive function; and even produce changes in grey matter density in regions of the brain related to learning and memory, emotional regulation, and self-awareness. Mindfulness is simply "clear awareness". Can you be mindful without meditating? Absolutely! There are many other ways in which I practice mindfulness such as:

• 15-20 minutes of yoga or stretching

• Deep breathing and breath work

• Sitting in the sun for 5-10 minutes every day and listening closely to the sounds around you

• Eating mindfully without distractions and closely observing all the textures and flavours

• Going for a relaxed outdoor walk

• Getting lost in the flow of doing things you love (reading, painting, sewing, making music)

• Listening to a loved one wholeheartedly and devoting all your energy to them

• Connect with your senses - pause to soak up the beautiful aroma of your coffee or the salty ocean air; run yourself a warm bath with essential oils and Epsom salts, etc.

• Observe your emotions and reflect on them by journalling about it

Concluding remarks

All things considered, meditation and mindfulness practices have become integral parts of my daily life and my own wellbeing and mental fitness. It is something which I would recommend to anyone and everyone. If you are willing to pay for a gym membership to train your bodily muscles, you can surely sacrifice a small amount of money to invest in training your mental and awareness muscles too. It will pay off.

I would like to end off by listing some amazing books you can read on this topic:

• A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

• Waking Up by Sam Harris

• The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

• The Miracle of Mindfulnesss: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh