Next to those who eat a bunch of leaves with an abundant topping
of 8 nuts for a meal, I have a healthy respect for those that can meditate. Meditation seems to be the new hot social
topic these days. Yoga, muscle-tearing exercises
and zero-carb diets have stepped aside for this new champion. When my friends were ready to swear on a
stack of invisible Gitas to convince me of the power of meditation, I
was convinced enough to give it a shot.
I confess that I was a bit smug going into this business. After all, how hard could it be? If dumping all thoughts from the mind and being
in a zombie-like state is meditation, I felt pretty confident about it. If you
are acquainted with me, you would know that I walk around in exactly that state
most days anyway. So one day, I warned my family to not disturb
me for a while, rolled my shoulders and closed my eyes. Just so you know that I was not fooling
around, I even switched off the TV.
Thus began my personal epic journey. Well, more of a mini trip to the kitchen
pantry, if you must know. Who knew I had
so many active gray cells in my brain?
My mind, apparently, was a giant monkey on steroids. It jumped up and down, side to side, upside
down and any other direction I have neglected to mention.
Okay, so it was not going to be as easy as I thought which
only meant that I had to try harder next time.
Posture could be the key to this, I figured, and tried to
sit crisscross on the floor like I had seen sages do in the old movies. Let’s just say that I had to ad lib the plan
at the last minute and forego both the floor and the crisscross sitting. One challenge at a time seemed wise. Next, I dug into my treasure box, unearthed a
couple of sandal incense sticks and lit them. Ambience is half the battle, after all. There, I really felt ready this time. Finally, sitting comfortably in my very red,
very designer settee, I closed my eyes and tried again.
I brought to my mind a white jasmine flower that I had seen in
a pot in the back yard the previous day.
Did I tell you that I had decided to use a prop to focus my mind
on? A secret weapon to tame my monkey
mind, so to speak. I had a good feeling
about this already.
I remembered the day a dear friend brought a cutting from
her jasmine plant for me saying that it thrived in her garden and gave her many
blooms. I wanted it to live and thrive
in my garden too so I gave it to my husband to plant and water. If you would stop being judgmental for a
second, I will tell you why. He is the
protector of plants in my house. The one
that who shields them from my very black thumb.
When I peeked in yesterday, it had so many buds ready to
bloom. I wish I had learnt how to string
a garland out of flowers. It would be
nice to wear a string on the hair one evening. The last time I wore a string of jasmine on my
hair was last year when I had gone to India.
Both my mother and mother-in-law would insist that I keep flowers in my
hair whenever I visit home. I am eternally
grateful for having those two in my life.
They are such kind people. I
remember going to a wedding when I was there last year wearing more flowers
than what my fragile head had called for.
It was funny how people kept asking if age had mellowed me into a shy
person since I had my head down most of the time from the weight of the
flowers. Hah!
Wow, wait a minute! That’s
not meditating! I just took the fastest
trip to India and back and still managed to make a few gigantic detours to LaLa
land. Okay, may be that prop was a bit too
stimulating for the mind. Time to zoom
in on something dull that is bound to not kick start my mind into overdrive. What could be duller than a bowl of oats, I
thought and went in search of a new room, a new chair to begin my next mini
epic journey.
If you are thinking that focusing on a bowl of bland oats
would put any mind to sleep, you would be entirely wrong. My monkey mind jumped up and down with excitement
and decided to devise many recipes that would spice up the dull oats into a
culinary pleasure. Oats mixed in a
coconut, vegetables and green chilies gravy; oats slow-cooked in almond milk
and sweetened with a dollop of honey; oats mixed in a hot cup of pepper rasam
and more. I realize that I don’t have a
full handle on meditation yet but I do know that one is not supposed to drool in
the process.
Do you possess the ability to rein in your mind so it is not
bouncing all over the place, even if it is only for a few minutes a day? If so, you are my new hero replacing an
elderly uncle with no teeth that I once met who could still eat a plate of murukkus
with gusto.
I always whine to my husband (because he lets me) that I
haven’t gotten ‘THE CALL’ yet. May be,
if I tame my mind enough to listen, I might hear Him call.
How do you meditate?
How do you meditate?
