“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy, then you should sit for an hour.” -Zen proverb
I have been a seeker almost last 8 years of my life.In my quest, I try to understand this simple yet complex gift called life. In all these years, I came across several mediation and spiritual practices. I try and incorporate those practices which resonates with me.
The spiritual seeker in me, is always looking out to customize any spiritual practice, which works best for my mind and body.
To name a few of the meditation practices that I tried are – Visualization meditation, Gap mediation, mantra mediation and Breathing mediation.
With the practice of these meditations, intuitively- I came up with my own technique, which I named Soham meditation( the word Soham also came intuitively).
Since, practicing Soham Meditation works wonders for me , I decided to share this technique with my readers so that you can also try this method and if it resonates with you, you can adopt it.
It is a very simple technique which is a mix of Breathing meditation and mantra mediation.
Soham meditation can be done anywhere- in a car, on a bench, on a yoga mat or a chair. The only thing you must take care of is that- you must be in a comfortable posture.
Just look for a comfortable posture where your back is well supported and your body doesn’t feel any pain during the next 20 minutes.
A laying down posture is usually not recommended for meditation, because it’s very likely that you might fall asleep as you reach the calm state. The idea is to reach a calm state without going into a deep sleep.
It works best when you do it for 20 minutes, so I will highly recommend you to do it for complete 20 minutes. If you can do it twice a day, you will immediately start feeling the rest and calm in your body and mind.
To practice Soham meditation, you don’t need a chime or bell to notify you that 20 minutes are over. The idea is not to startle your mind or your body during or even at the end of the mediation. If you think 20 minutes are over, just open your eyes slightly and see the clock.
Slowly, with practice your mind will be trained to open her eyes after exact 20 minutes.
Let’s go through the steps to do Soham Meditation. –
Step 1: After sitting at a comfortable place, close your eyes and take 5-10 deep breaths.
Step 2: Scan your body from head to toe and calm it. You can start it with scanning your head and say in your mind- “I am relaxing my head”, Then slowly moving down- I am relaxing my face, relaxing my jaws..” and go until the feet.
Step 3: Start repeating in your mind- Soham. You can change it with any other word of your choice like Peace , love , harmony or any other word which comes intuitively in your mind. But try to use the word, which does not trigger a chain of thoughts within you.
While chanting Soham in your mind repeatedly , it is very likely that you will shift to your thoughts. This is completely normal and never judge yourself for having thoughts in your mind while you meditate. Our brains are programmed to think. It will take time to be programed to be silent when you sit for mediation.
As soon as you notice that your mind have shifted to thoughts, you can come back to chanting ‘Soham‘, again. Sometimes, you will not notice until 20 minutes have passed that you been thinking all the time and sometimes you will notice in a few minutes or seconds that you have shifted. No matter when you notice, slowly transition to the repetition of the mantra without judging or criticizing yourself.
Step 4: After 20 minutes of chanting the word Soham, focus your concentration back on your breath. Take 5-8 deep breaths and slowly open your eyes.
Do not immediately start rushing through your activities after the mediation. Take it slow.
If you are disturbed during your 20 minutes of mediation by a child or a family member or anyone, slowly open your eyes . Deal with the situation without moving. You can even tell them- “I am in mediation right now. Can i talk to you after 20 minutes?”. Do not get upset because you were disturbed.
This technique has done wonders for me.
There are several benefits of having a mediation practice and who practices mediation, can vouch for it. But that will be a new blog post with benefits of mediation, because there are plenty.
Until then, Meditate and feel the bliss.
Moving from doing......to being. 