Chetan Prabhakar
We all know meditation as a sitting affair. We have always been taught or made to think that the only way to meditate is to sit in stillness. Sitting is only one form of meditation. We can meditate in everything we do as meditation means developing concentration, one pointedness and awareness while watching our thoughts and feelings.
In the practise of mindfulness, every activity of our daily life can be meditation, which is called meditation in motion. We can do eating meditation, drinking mediation, driving meditation, reading, and writing meditation and walking meditation. Meditation in motion is becoming mindful/aware/conscious of every activity of the day from our waking time till the time we sleep. Every activity is an opportunity for meditation. When we walk and concentrate on our steps, it becomes meditation. When we eat and are fully aware and concentrate on eating, it becomes meditation. While reading and writing, when we are fully focused on reading and writing, it becomes writing meditation. Every activity performed in the light of awareness and concentration becomes meditation. Techniques of various meditations in motion are given below:
Walking Meditation: Before starting to walk, just stand and take three deep breaths and then start walking very slowly and match your steps with your breath. One step, one in-breath and another step, one out-breath and you can also speak in your mind in or out or any other word you feel is right. So, it is the coordination of three things: step, breath, and speech.
Eating Meditation: Before starting eating. Take three breaths. Look at the food. Observe the texture of the food and say inside your mind while breathing in, ‘Thank you universe for giving me this wholesome food,’ and while breathing out, ‘May I eat this food in mindfulness so as to be worthy to have received this food.’ Food that comes on our plate is a gift from the Universe. Every time we eat our food, try to go into the history of the food, and you would see that the whole universe has worked to get you this food from the cook to the farmer to nature. The entire universe has worked for us to give us this food and we often take the food for granted and eat it either in hurry or in forgetfulness. We should also never waste our food as wasting it is an insult to the whole cosmos.
Reading or writing meditation: Whenever you read or write, just read a line with one in-breath and another line in the out-breath. If you are not able to concentrate, take a deep breath, hold it inside for some time and release the breath slowly. Your concentration shall increase manifold and reading and writing will become meditation.
Driving or Riding meditation: Whenever you drive your car or ride your motorcycle or cycle. Before starting, take three deep breaths. While driving or riding when you are changing the gear or accelerating, match these actions with your breath. For example, when you press the clutch, inhale and when releasing, exhale. Do not take for granted driving or riding as that is the biggest reason for accidents because most of the time, our body is driving but our mind is thinking something else and hence, our body and mind are not aligned and we are not fully attentive or aware while driving the car or riding our motor or bicycle.
Telephone meditation: Whenever you call someone or someone calls you, before giving or taking the call, take three breaths and then talk to the person on the other side. This way you will become mindful of your talk and will be there with the person on call. By breathing mindfully, we call our mind back to our body which may be busy in the past or the future.
Smiling Meditation: Just smile and do smiling meditation. While breathing in say, ‘I calm my body and mind’, and while breathing out say, ‘I smile’ and smile a bit. It is said that sometimes joy is the source of our smile and sometimes, a smile is the source of joy. Hence, smile because smiling is a face yoga, it relaxes the muscles of your face and it shows that you are in control of your mind.
Tree Hugging Meditation: Tree hugging meditations are also a very effective kind of meditation. When we hug a tree, we take the calmness and peacefulness of a tree. People may call you mad for hugging a tree but tree hugging meditation is a blessing.
Drinking meditation: Drink your tea, water or any other thing in mindfulness and concentration. These all are gifts from the entire cosmos and apply the same steps as given in eating meditation. Aside, just hold the cup or glass in your hand and feel the sensation of the cup or glass. Steps for Tea Meditation is given below:
a) Look at your tea for some time and see the texture and colour of the tea and also try to find in the cup of your tea the sunshine, the cloud, the soil, the farmer, the retailer, the person who has made the tea etc because if you mindfully observe, you will get an insight that entire cosmos/universe is there in the cup of your tea.
b) Breathe in and out three times and while breathing say inside your mind, ‘May I drink this tea in mindfulness and with concentration so as to be worthy to have this cup of tea as this tea is a gift from the cosmos/universe’.
c) Then, slowly, and mindfully raise the cup of your tea to your mouth and drink it slowly by tasting and relishing each sip in your mouth for a few seconds.
d) In the gaps between the sips, mindfully breathe in and out and mindfully observe your surroundings.
Meditation in motion can be done without any extra effort and help curing stress, anxiety, frustration, and depression by reducing the continuous chattering going on inside your mind and make you calm and composed. We must keep in mind that if we want to live a stress and depression free life, we must be in meditative mode in every moment. It is an important yogic practice and in real sense, Yoga, practise of which will give us strength and courage to live our true lives.
(The Author is an Advocate)
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