In search of Zen-ness for the mind: Meditation

Meditation never came across to me as something I needed to try. To the layman, it seemed like something meant for bored retirees. In fact, I had no idea that yoga was so closely linked to mediation until a few years after I started practicing.

 

The usual one-hour yoga classes do not give teachers enough time to introduce and teach it and hence there was very little meaningful encounter with it despite years of asana practice. As a beginner to meditation, the hustle and bustle of our busy city means it is almost impossible to find a quiet moment make the starting process easier. After embarking on this YTT journey, I started recalling my acquaintance with mediation, and I realized I must have been one of the lucky ones to have been introduced to it this way, and I have never really fully appreciated that experience until now.

 

In a remote town deep in the Scottish Highlands, where the nearest two-lane paved road was a 15-min drive away, I attended a yoga retreat deep in the mountains where the only “noise” was birds chirping and waterfall gushing. Meditation was practiced after dinner for one hour, it was the perfect setting and I am grateful for the experience. Although it was difficult to focus and understand the philosophy at the time because it was a challenge in itself to sit still and clear the mind, recalling the experience now makes me want to re-create it and re-do it all over again.

 

Now that I have a better understanding of meditation as a philosophy, I couldn’t understand how it was possible that we lead such busy lives that tire us out all the time but do not seek ways to slow down, both physically and mentally? The fact that it is so tightly knitted into yoga made it so much easier for me to get started and want to learn more. It was the cure I never knew I needed. The calmness was a much-needed respite from our hectic lives, much like chicken soup for the soul. Mmm!

Hui Zhi

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