If you don’t know meditation, your lifespan is cut to half.
Are you one of those people who think that meditation is sitting still for a long time with eyes closed? If yes, then it’s time to change misconceptions about meditation. Meditation in its true nature is nothing like sitting silent for hours with eyes closed or chanting mantras. They are just techniques to control thought process but meditation is much beyond controlling thoughts. Meditation is awareness about your thoughts, your feelings and your surroundings and beyond all your existence. If you truly know what meditation is, everything you do can be meditation.
Research suggests that humans spend half of their waking hours in “absent” state of mind. Which means the body is performing a task but mind is roaming somewhere else.
Myth: Meditation is concentration.
Fact: It is the exact opposite! Concentration is thinking about only one thing while meditation is about just witnessing your thoughts. Concentration makes you more closed rather than opening you. As Osho puts, there is difference between man of concentration and man of awareness. Concentration is narrowing down consciousness to one thing while meditation is about becoming available to existence, become truly aware of the surroundings. Concentration brings stress to your mind while meditation is all about relaxing your mind and enjoying that relaxed state of mind.
Myth: You have to sit in a particular posture for a long time.
Fact: Laughing, sleeping, eating, dancing, singing, swimming, working or anything you do can be meditation. You don’t need to sit in a particular posture or silence to attain the meditative state of mind. Meditation is witnessing the thoughts without getting involved into it. And with practice one can meditate even 24 hours a day.
Myth: Those who meditate do not enjoy life.
Fact: Nothing is more enjoyable than meditative state of mind! People have false notion that if meditation is all about witnessing thoughts, the people who meditate becomes aloof and cannot indulge into life and thus cannot enjoy it. Meditation makes person aware of its thoughts and makes things crystal clear and clutter free. Meditation in every way makes life more enjoyable by allowing the person to live, indulge in the present moment, not in the past, not in the future.
Myth: Meditation is about controlling your thoughts.
Fact: No, meditation is not about controlling your thoughts but it is about accepting it. While meditating, the meditator may have to confront the ugly side of his mind but that is what meditation is all about. Meditation is about witnessing your thought process just like you witness a procession going from your balcony, without getting involved into it. If meditator tries to control his thoughts, his mind will revolt back. Meditation is more about accepting and witnessing the thought process rather than controlling it.
Myth: Meditation is a religious practice.
Fact: Meditation is a science to lead a better life and it has nothing to do with any religion. Many people have linked meditation with chanting or particular postures but meditation cannot be defined by this. It is a practice to attain the ultimate state of awareness about self and surroundings. It is not barred by any religion, region or age group. It is a key to synchronise mind and body to lead a better life.
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