Anita is one of the most regular readers of Meditation Rocks! No, you won’t find her commenting she is a bit shy about that but she writes me mails – everyday, we discuss all sorts of things – from meditation to money. Ideas for so many posts came when we were talking.

Thank you Anita for this awesome friendship that we share and thanks for letting me publish your name.

Anita has two kids – both of them under 4 and she has hard time managing them. Every time she’d mention stress in her emails – I’d suggest only one thing – meditation. She tried so hard, she said, and finally gave up:

Ok, It’s official. I give up. I can’t distress unless I meditate, and I need time for meditation and I am stressed because I’ve no time!

This seems to be catch 22 situation – doesn’t it? If you are facing same problem, then you are not alone. Good news: there are sure-shot way to deal with this problem.

1. Stop Trying

Really folks, it’s time that you stop trying to meditate. There is no try and when you don’t try and just let it be – it’s meditation. It really is simpler than it seems to be.

Meditation is doing nothing and since doing nothing, everything about it is opposite of doing something. That means:

1. It doesn’t take effort.
2. It doesn’t take ‘mind’.
3. It doesn’t take ‘thought’
4. It doesn’t take negativity or positivity.

And so on… c’mon be creative and add to the list.

2. Forget it

The best way to meditate is to forget it. Don’t put it in your to-do list. Because it is not a ‘do’ it’s opposite of ‘do’.

Instead of all this ‘make it ritual’ stuff – let this be a fun sneak out that you do every now and then – whenever you feel like.

3. Meditate Whenever & Wherever You Want

Yes, it’s your secret ritual which you do whenever and wherever. It does help to have a meditation corner but what about whole world as your meditation corner?

Whenever you feel like meditating (hint: you always feel like meditating) just focus on something that doesn’t have a tendency to grow in thought like – breathe, meaningless sound, natural sound, tree, sky … and there you are! Hmmmmmm…. It feels good!

Here are some more things you can try:

• Meditate while Cycling
• Meditate in Noise
• Meditate with friend
• Meditate While Drinking / Eating
• Meditate when you are not feeling well.
• Meditate when you are feeling well.
• Meditate at Parties
• Meditate when Lying
• Meditate while being creative
• Meditate for no reason.

Conclusion

Meditation is timeless, you can never find time to meditate. That’s why when you meditate – time flies by so quickly.

The only way I can suggest you is: stop thinking about meditation in terms of another thing to check off list, take it easy and let it be fun. And do it whenever and wherever. That’s how it is supposed to be.

And when it’s fun, time will make sure you meditate.

Namaste

Photo Credit: *Time* Ticking away… by Michel Filion, on Flickr

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Thought I’ve mentioned this one time and again. In fact, I used it as base for other meditation techniques I developed on my own. But here it is, in it’s full glory and simplicity and some more insights on practice. Though a bit of confession before we proceed, Zazen is too astonishing and deep a practice to be explained in words – only experience can best describe it.

What is Zazen?

In brief: The practice of meditation in Zen. Usually it’s called ‘doing nothing’. It unites the body, mind and soul and you experience oneness with yourself and all that is.

What are it’s benefits?

This is the worst questions which aspiring mediators ask, trying to look for ‘benefits’ everywhere. But yet it’s got to be answered – the best of best benefit that you’ll experience is ‘satisfaction’ or ‘contentment’ and ‘knowingness’.

Rest of best is far beyond notions of ‘benefits’. I’d rather call them ‘life transformation’ or ‘miracles’.

Who can practice? When? Where?

Same answer for all meditations: doesn’t matter.

How to Practice Zazen:

1. The Mindset: I know it’s hard, so make no effort to leave worries and tension behind. Meditation’ll let it out.
2. The Posture: You can sit in ‘lotus pose’ or ‘half lotus pose’ or simply on a chair. Keep your back straight.
3. Eyes: Open or close – doesn’t matter. If you have hard time of letting go of thoughts with open eyes then close them. Though, traditionally – eyes half open.
4. Now inhale and let your belly swell out as you do so count ‘1’.
5. Exhale and let your belly go in as you do so count ‘2’.
6. Keep on going like this till 10 and start again at one.
7. Your focus should be blurred on breathe. Don’t try and focus to hard – just be easy about it.
8. When you find yourself tangling with a thought just acknowledge it and let go of it.
9. Continue meditating as long as you want to.

Zazen is Goal (The Story)

Many might ask ‘where are we headed in all this? Where is it leading to? What’s the goal?’. Especially the people who were educated from outside ask these questions and there is nothing bad about it. In fact, being curious is good.

The answer is – the practice is the goal. What you are doing is all we are headed for. It is called ‘art of doing nothing’ for some reason. Experience is and you will get your answers.

Here is a small story for you to explain what I am trying to say:

Once a monk was practicing Zazen and his master came to him. Seeing him practicing since hours he went up to him and asked him, “My great disciple, what are you trying to achieve with such great practice of Zazen?’

Delighted disciple answered, ‘I shall attain enlightenment, master.’

Hearing this, the master took a large black stone and started rubbing it.

Seeing this the disciple asked, ‘What are you doing, master?’

Master said, ‘I will turn this stone into a mirror – I am polishing it.’

Disciple said, ‘O great master, no matter how much or how long you polish it – it can’t turn into a mirror.’

Master replied, ‘If you can attain enlightenment through Zazen, then why can’t I make a stone into a mirror.’

Meaning

I know, it’s one of those Zen Stories that doesn’t make sense at first reading. So here is the meaning for you:

Zazen is not way to make stone into mirror i,e. It is not a way to attain enlightenment – it is enlightenment.

If you practice Zazen for 30 min, you are a Buddha for 30 min.

It is all you need. Zazen is your true state of being – fulfilled, rewarded, joyous, appreciative and at centre of existence. That’s you!

Experience the delight of such wonderful knowing, just go for it. Now is the best time… what better time is there to be all that you wanted to be? What better time there would be to be a Buddha then now? Come joint the oneness.

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It’s been 60 days since launch of Meditation Rocks! I’d like to share our achievements so far. Let’s see how much have we progressed as a community and then I’ll make some exciting announcements. And most important, I will need your feedback to make this blog a better place.

Growing as Community

This month was super exciting for us. Thanks to Deepak Chopra’s tweet and to you people who shared the articles with all your friends. We now have 175 fans on facebook and 940+ followers on twitter. That means more loving people are connecting to meditation!

We had total of 37,721 Hits and 6,824 Visits.

I got buys with studies and for a whole week in November, Meditation Rocks wasn’t updates we lost a lot of readers. But I am glad that we have those who will stick around no matter what. Thanks you guys.

Media Exposure

Remember last time I mentioned that we were published in local newspaper? I’ve managed to find one of the two mentions.

Here is the full resolution image. I’ve highlighted the important part.

Also our post ‘10 Most Inspiring People to Follow on Twitter’ got viral and was retweeted like crazy. The post got place in Blogussion’s Weird Weekends which is a great honor.

Thanks to Authors

Last time I was misunderstood on this one, What I meant was that Meditation Rocks is your own place. So everyone of you is invited to share your experience. I am thankful to Manav Dhiman who wrote 15 Year Old’s Advice on Healing Through Meditation and our Gifting Guy Ryan Biddulph who revealed his secret Meditation. If you are thinking of sharing your experience, just write and contact me .

Personal Experience

Meditation Rocks and you guys inspired me to try new things, write, explore, read and meet awesome people. You guys inspired new ideas in me. Asked awesome questions which made me think, explore and learn more. So it’s been so much of fun and learning.

Announcements

Yes we have some awesome announcements to make. And please remember to provide your feedback on this. Your opinion means everything to Meditation Rocks.

Re-Design

We will have major redesign here. Things will be more awesome and easy to find. This place will be awesome to hangout and meditate. So if you love a site’s design, then do let me know. We have Blogussion and Zen Habits on our list.

Weekly Series – Affirmations

Most probably next week we will have a series of posts on Affirmations. So remember to subscribe via Email if you have not, this is to make sure you don’t miss out any article. I know I promised this earlier but I thought let’s start with Affirmations.

Book Reviews

I am not sure about this, need your feedback. I usually read 4- 5 books a month. Many of them are related to meditation. Would you like me to review the books here?

Meditation Weekends

If you have noticed, I usually don’t post on weekends because most of you are busy enjoying weekends so there is no use. But sometimes we just want to meditate on weekends and enjoy more? Or maybe just learn more? So on weekends I’ll  post a list on interesting articles, facts and fun stuff. Would you like to add to his idea?

Favourites

These are the most popular articles, which means they are your favourite:

What A Drug Addict Could Teach Us About Meditation

10 Most Inspiring People to Follow on Twitter

15 Years Old Advice on Meditation

Gifting Guy’s Secret Meditation Revealed

The Lie It’s Ok to Tell in Meditation

Feed Me Back

I mean ‘feedback’ it’s your blog, why not tell me what you’d like to read about more? What you don’t want to hear about again? What changes to do you want? Suggestions, Ideas, Threats, Compliments all are not only welcome but also required for us to grow. So please write a long nice comment or use contact form to mail me (if you want to be anon).

Namaste.

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Whenever I try to sit and study, I just can’t concentrate! There are so many distractions. I just want to open facebook once, check my mails, call that friend or just sleep for 5 min. No matter what I do, I just can’t concentrate. I don’t want to do it.
This is story is not only close to a student’s heart but also to professionals and many more people. So why does this happen and can Meditation help?

Relax

Most of the time we just can’t concentrate because there is so much going on in mind that it becomes hard to focus on a task. Meditation can help in quieting the chatter of mind. Here is a simple exercise you can begin with:

1. Close your eyes and sit comfortably
2. Relax every part of your body.
3. Focus on breathing in and breathing out for few min.
4. Now, in your mind, start counting from 1 to 10 with your breathing.
5. When you breathe in, count 1 and when you breathe out count 2
6. When you reach to ten, start again from 1
7. Let mind think whatever it wants, just concentrate on counting from 1 to 10
8. After repeating this for sometime, you will notice that your mind is quiet and under your control.
9. Now open your eyes and get down to accomplish the mission

The important thing to remember here is that you cannot force the mind to become quiet. Mind is supposed to think, that’s it’s nature. You can ignore, shift the focus away from mind to breathing and counting. This will result in mind becoming calm itself and under your control as you affirm and choose to be in control.
Try it now and let me know how you feel.

Photo by Randy Son Of Robert, on Flickr

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This is first video we did for Meditation Blog. People you will see in this video are: Aryana Vala, Neha and King Sidharth and there is just one voice you will hear from behind the camera, he is Tubb (our cool friend and camera man)

Please pardon the bad lighting and my super tired looks (It was a hectic day, you see) and my school shirt. We will improve as we go.

Same video from Vimeo if you have issues with YouTube (might be blocked at some places:

Please share this video with your friends, you can find this video on Vimeo, YouTube and Facebook.
Please join our YouTube Channel or Vimeo Channel or facebook fan page to receive regular updates.

Here is a bit of what we talked in video:

What is Meditation?

Meditation is disconnecting from body, thoughts feelings and everything else and in that moment realizing that you are none of them. You are far beyond that what you see and think…

How to do it?

A simple method that we discussed in first post…
Can I meditate in school bus? Is listening to music Meditation too?
Yes! And Yes. Doing anything that pleases you and relaxes you is first step of meditation. Listening to music that inspires you are raises your vibes/lightens your mood is most popular form of meditation.

Do I have to wear orange clothes and stuff? That sucks!

Not at all! Think of meditation as breathing. Most of what is true of breathing is true of meditation too…

Here is what to do after this:

Tell us how you liked the video in comments. Tell us what questions would you like to get answered; what are you views about meditation?

Why not record your own video and post them as video reply? Do comment about how you liked the video and what would you like to see in videos in future. Crazy ideas are always invited!

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Do you think you don’t meditate? Well think again! What happens when it’s your favourite track playing on iPod? When you feel so good petting your cat? When you love spending time with your best friend? When you just take a quick nap? You are meditating! No, really you are!

Meditation is as Natural as Breathing.

You don’t have to sit in some yoga poses wearing orange clothes to meditate. Think of it as breathing. Do you take out time to breathe? Do you make any extra effort to breathe? Do you wear special clothes to breathe? No! Same is true for meditation too.

Don’t do anything to begin. Either follow the simple meditation process I talked about in earlier post or just do any of following:

• Plug-in your iPod: Just put on your favourite inspirational music. Love songs do the best.
• Paint: Even if you think you can’t. Just paint for the fun of it, not to show it to anyone… just for your soul.
• Write a Poem: Let your thoughts flow, forget the rhyming scheme or book on ‘How to Write Poetry’ just be with the flow.
• Watch Sunset or Sunrise: It’s wonderful, do it with someone special and now it’s really special.
• Travel: You are not living your life id you are not traveling.
• Pet your cat: or whatever pet you have (if you have one)
• Play with a baby: it really teaches you a lot.
• Play a music instrument or Learn to play one.
• Watch Comedy Shows: Well that’s easy

What’s on your list? Add to the list! Let’s make it grow. (Use comment section)

None of these sound like traditional meditation, do they? Well that’s what this blog is all about: new simple, easy or crazy ideas.

These simple things will allow you get more control over your thoughts. They will start flying in formations. You will begin to change your feelings deliberately. You will start living by heart. This is meditation. Just let go. Be at ease and let it flow. Now, you are at peace.

Share your experiences, problems, questions or simple/crazy ideas in comments. I’d love to hear them all!

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When I started talking to my friends about meditation, I discovered that many of them think of meditation as a chore, a supplement pill that you could take daily or as a religious ritual. But it is none. Meditation is something as natural as breathing.

Meditation is all about calming your mind’s chatter, letting your body relax, letting your thoughts go and discover the real self in that moment. It is a realization that you are far more than your body, mind and conscious. In fact, most part of us is non-physical and vibrational – soul. It is like going on a treasure hunt, and finding the treasure –you.

What happens next, no language in world can describe. It’s a sleep deeper than sleep and awareness beyond what we know as conscious.
Why should I do it? Why it’s cool?!

“Meditation is pure awesomeness.”

There are loads and loads of reasons. I’ve written the main ones and divided them in sections.

Cool Meditation = Cool Body

• Improves body’s general state of health
• Maintains healthy Blood Pressure
• Increases blood flow to every part of body (especially to heart and brain)
• Increases patience (you don’t loose your temper so often)
• Fast Healing: be it post-operational, wounds, injuries or anything.

And there are many more. If you have a scientific mind (like me ) then an article from my favourite science magazine New Scientist :

“Meditating does more than just feel good and calm you down, it makes you perform better – and alters the structure of your brain, researchers have found.”

Meditation Builds up the brain | Nature

I’ve read articles in Nature magazine too, but you need to pay to read them.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7219/full/456170a.html

Cool Meditation = Cool You

• Improves concentration: That’s a big one! Very helpful for, both, students and people at work. Make most out of your time, even if kid next door loves rock music!
• Reduces Stress: Tired of looking tired and exhausted? Well, not anymore!
  Boosts Self-Confidence: We know it’s priceless
• More control on thoughts: So when mind tries to procrastinate you can have your control back.

I suggest that mediation breaks the illusion that mind runs the show. We began to realize our true potential and respect & love ourselves even more.

So, where to being?

I will give you some easy steps for starters. Wear easy clothes (you don’t want to keep adjusting that funky jeans, do you?). Now what you need is a comfortable place to sit in. Yoga postures do help, but to start sit in whatever way you like. Just make sure that every part of your body is relaxed. Ease out any stress. Here are steps:

• Close your eyes
• And take a deep breathe in and out ( 2 times)
• Now focus on your breathing, feel yourself breathing in and out.
• Let thoughts come and go, let feelings come and go… just focus on breath.
• If your mind goes on your favourite scene from LOST, lovingly and patiently bring it back and focus on your breathe

Your mind might doze off to sleep or something similar (it’s relaxing finally, you see) let it be. Just focus on your breathe.
That’s it go for as long as you can. Maybe 5 min in beginning and as you will begin to explore and get more comfortable. You will automatically want to do it more.

So how was your experience? Let me know in comments:
Photo by ODDSOCK via Flickr

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