Meditation

Today I attended a meditation workshop called “The Art of Living”. I know what you are thinking “Wow! This girl is such a hippie she is spending a year in India to learn the “art” of living through meditation. I bet she is wearing baggy pants and has stopped showering too!” But I promise that I am still showering! I have definitely become accustomed to the big baggy harem pants. Native Indians would never wear baggy harem pants, they dress exactly how we do back in the US, but for me it is TOO HOT to wear tight heavy jeans. Besides there is no hiding the fact that I am foreign. I am six feet tall, pale, and have a very thick accent. No matter how I dress people are going to stare at me. So I might as well be comfortable! Most of the time I do not have a problem with how they dress, but sometimes I am unaware of when my outfit is “inappropriate”. For example it is practically a crime to show your legs especially if you are foreign and shirts should go up to your collar bone. I understand the cultural sensitivity to covering your body more and I want to follow them, but it is uncomfortable!  No matter what I do I am always sweating because there is so much moisture in the air, and my skin cannot breathe because it is always covered with clothing! But back to meditation J when I pictured meditation I imagined a room full of shoeless people sitting on ornate pillows intensely rocking back and forth chanting Sanskrit hymns, but that is not what meditation is. Meditation is not a spiritual hippie thing (although it can be if you want it be).  Meditation is actually very practical. Meditation is simply letting your body completely rest and letting your mind process everything. Over 300,000 thoughts run through our minds every day, how can we expect our minds to thoroughly process all of this information? I don’t think that it can! Personally I always felt overwhelmed by everyday life in America. I had homework, AP classes, a job, officer positions, preparing for this exchange, preparing for college, and I at least tried to have a social life :/ Now I realize that that year was practically wasted because I was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening that I can literally not remember most of it. My mind was incapable of processing all of the things around me. Meditation would have really helped me last year, but unfortunately I wasn’t aware of it L But at least I know now. Meditating for 10 minutes can drastically improve your energy level, productivity, and creativity. Think what you do in ten minutes….that’s nothing! I am going to start meditating for ten minutes every morning. I feel like it will really help me cope with all the insanity around me better. Also Indians never have enough sleep! They eat dinner at 8:00-10:00 at night and then they talk for a while or usually go out for more food ;) Then they finally settle down in their rooms at 11:00 or 11:30 and around 12:00-12:30 they actually sleep. Then they wake up at 5:00!!! They do this every day, and this is not enough for me!  Most people are able to take a nap during the day which helps a lot, but I absolutely hate naps. Meditation is like going into super-sleep so that is another bonus! I think you should all consider meditation, because it is not a strange religious ritual it will improve your daily routine. I could go into detail on how exactly to do it, but it would be just as easy and easier to understand if you googled it. Good luck! I promise you will not regret it!