MEDITATION FOR QUALITY LIFE !

 

Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods.

                           - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Meditation is a state of restful alertness. It is the art of taming your mind without any manipulation. American Cardiologist Herbert Benson, M.D., a pioneer in meditation research, reported that Buddhist monks are capable of raising their body temperatures in near-freezing weather to the point that they are able to heat up and completely dry ice sheets wrapped around them.

Dr. Mani Bhaumik, whose book " Code Name God' is Los Angeles Times Best-seller says that Meditation is , by the way, also the mind's most blissful state, as evidenced by the significant rise of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain chemistry of deep meditators.

Our daily lives put us under enormous stress affecting physical and mental well-being. 90% of diseases are caused by stress. Latest studies reveal that our very chromosomes are affected by stress which cause us to age faster.

Scientists find an extraordinary wear and tear of telomeres of people who are leading stressful lives. Telomeres are in fact the end tips of chromosomes, little caps that protect our DNA. Telomeres play an important role in cell division and get a bit shorter every time a cell divides. There is an enzyme called telomerase which maintains and repairs the telomeres, prolonging the life of our cells. An exciting 2010 study shows that people in an intensive meditation practice had greater telomerase activity in their immune cells than those who did not meditate.

Published research reveals that a regular practice of meditation for 5 years will reduce your chronological age by 12 years. Its benefits include lowering of heart rate, blood pressure and stress related hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the immune system and increased blood levels of serotonin. A consistent practice of meditation thickens the prefrontal cortex, the so called CEO of your brain.

Psychologist Roger Thompson says that the true nature of individual is emphatically non-individual. So simply sit quiet for 20 minutes daily at appointed time so as to get inner serenity with a wide range of health benefits. While sitting for meditation, ensure that you wear loose-fitting clothes and be a witness to what is happening inside your mind.

Jiddu Krishnamurthy, the eminent Indian philosopher guides us to witness the mind and thoughts like a lizard on the wall. Don't attempt to stop or change the thought pattern and be a witness . Take a deep breath with eyes closed. The posture is simply sit on ground with folded legs and spine erect or sit comfortably on a chair.

Meditation facilitates you to concentrate your energies more on present moment than brooding over past or wavering for future. Dr. Bhaumik says that once meditation becomes a regular practice in your life, you become part of something much larger than your individual self. !

SLEEP WELL !

Who don't like sleep ? Nobody ! But, majority of people care little to this important daily ritual.

What is sleep ? It is defined as a natural periodic state of rest for the mind and body, in which the eyes usually close and consciousness is completely or partially shut off.

Though scientists have done considerable research on sleep disorders and sleep states in mammals including humans, there seems to be no clear-cut answer why 'sleep' is essential and continuous research is still going on.

Sleep is a natural restful state of body and mind. If you do your day's work to your best of ability, the psychological factors contribute to get a good sleep. In fact, your sleep cycles are in symphony with Nature's cycles.

According to Ayurveda good sleep is called Sukh Nidra. I see majority of people including myself don't take an afternoon nap due to which we look tired and facial gestures clearly reflect this. You must take at least 10 - 15 minutes cat nap in the afternoon to rejuvenate your body and mind. This nap is so essential for people who are in the mind-intensive works like scientists, journalists, writers, chauffeurs etc. That's why the internet giant Google has kept nap pods for its employees.

You can't lead your normal routine if you are sleep deprived. If you want to be healthy all through your life, you should not neglect sleep. Doctors advise us to retire to sleep at the same time in the night daily thereby body adjusts to the biological rhythms.

In fact, your quality of thought severely hampers if you don't sleep enough. An adult (18 plus) requires to sleep at least 7.5 to 9 hours. Health experts say that a healthy man with good sleeping habits need not require 'alarm' to wake up in the morning. Once, he completes his sleep, he automatically rises up effortlessly.

The hormone that is responsible for your sleep is melatonin. Each of your sleep cycle is a combination of both Non-REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and REM stages that lasts about 90 minutes. Hence when you sleep, keep your sleep time in multiples of 90 minutes. Suppose, if you sleep at 10 pm, you must wake up at 5.30 am invariably, because the 5th cycle of 90 minutes elapses at 5.30 am and sleeping beyond that time, you can't wake before 7 am.

When you understand the mechanics of sleep that dictates your body rhythms, physical and mental vitality blooms your life !

THE MECHANICS BEHIND YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

A New Year Resolution should be a creamy wish list but not a laundry list.   You can alternatively call them the crucial goals  of your life to work on daily basis.  In order to keep the vigour consistently on daily basis, you have to make objective analysis of implementation process and steps  to be taken  to tide over the difficulties  you encounter.

 You would feel reverberated with the energy once you clearly imagine the fulfilment of your  goals and the attendant  prosperity both material and spiritual that would be dawned into your life.  

When it comes to mechanics of decision, you must turn the pages of Napoleon Hill's much-acclaimed work "Think and Grow Rich'.  The cover flap of the book mentions that 'This book could be worth a million dollars to you'.  

 In this unparalleled book, Hill elaborately mentions 30 major causes of failure.  Point 13 mentions 'Lack of well-defined power of decision'.  He says that men who succeed reach decisions promptly and change them, if at all, very slowly.   Men who fail, reach decisions, if at all, very slowly, and change them frequently, and quickly. Majority of folks make New Year Resolutions very casually every year without bothering on the implementation part.  They are the  bundles of failures.

Hill terms indecision and procrastination as twin brothers where one is found, the other will also be  found with it.  So  write carefully your New Year Resolutions with a vow to work  on daily basis.  It should be binding on your persona  rather dry words written on a piece of paper.  Better late but with a  time-bound action plan to execute the New Year Resolutions ! 

MUSCLE POWER !

Success does not require a lengthy sermon. In one word, it is perseverance.  When success embraces you, it itself becomes a great narration. 

 In the world when one becomes a celebrity, each of his or her act is seen from a magnified glass. When I flip through the newspapers, tabloids, magazines, I feel that a paradigm shift is needed in the journalistic ethos.  Instead of concentrating their energies for  attracting more eyeballs,  the scribblers must honestly do their jobs with novelty.  The problem in fact is, only a handful of them do what is supposed to be done and rest fall into mediocrity.

One way to find a loyal reader is to write in an engaging tone. The secret  lies on the subject you choose. If you write on people of everyday life, it would attract more loyal readers. I always give my first preference to read  such stories where the person shows  unmatched resolve in  achieving  his/her set  goals. 

Rishipal, 45,  an ordinary cook in a police force in Delhi, India but with an  immense passion for fitness.  When I sit with him for a chat, his radiant eyes and raised biceps narrated half the story.  No tricks were involved but only  four years of workout through a  natural process, he contends.  It means, he has not used any supplements, protein powders in the process of body-building. 

His daily workout includes 3 km run in the morning after which, he has a set of exercises on sophisticated machines that would tone up his muscles and different parts of the body.

When asked, how he got this whole idea, Rishipal says that God plans us to live this way, where as most of us are not adhering to the fitness regimen. When asked about the food he eats, Rishipal says that he takes six bananas after one litre of water in the morning, then starts exercise. His breakfast includes baked badam, soya and multi-grams. He advises you to have solid breakfast in the morning. His special diet includes 1 ltr milk with 20 eggs.

Rishipal's  secret behind keeping this  envious body lies in this dictum :  No artificial sweets at all.  If I require glucose, I take it from natural sources like fruits.

With a wink of smile, Rishipal wraps up the chat with these concluding remarks : Even if you lure me with money  to skip these workouts, I don't ! 

What Rishipal says can't be dismissed as  it is a Science of Body !