Meditation & Me
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In modern times, life has so much more to offer. Compared to earlier times when gender roles were more limited, we now have the opportunity and freedom to pursue our dreams regardless of our gender and to do whatever we want with our lives. At the same time, life has also become more challenging and stressful, with an increase in the roles and duties which we are expected to perform. More married women now work a full time job and juggle taking care of the family as well, and the husbands also do contribute to domestic duties after a tiring day of work.
When life gets too intense, we may find it difficult to cope and our body may start to show us symptoms like depression, mood swings, headaches , fatigue, trouble concentrating and sleep problems etc., which could be a sign of hormonal imbalance (1). Research has shown that high levels of daily psychological stress are linked to lower estrogen levels in young women (2). And in men, managing stress levels can help improve symptoms of low testosterone (3). Our internal system which has the natural ability to adjust and regulate itself thus becomes imbalanced and is unable to deal with the outward stressors which we experience.
To lead a more fulfilling life, we need to learn how to manage our stress. First we can examine what are our stressors and try to reduce them as much as possible. Then we can proceed with helping our internal system to come back to balance by itself. Though there are many who take hormone supplements, this can be quite risky in the long run as hormone levels in the body naturally fluctuate and it is difficult to know the appropriate dosage to consume, also by being dependent on an external source, ultimately it prevents the body from producing the hormones naturally.
To balance our hormones naturally, one way is to help stimulate the brain through our behavioural response to produce the hormones. When women work too hard doing all the planning and organising in her day job, her masculine side increases and hence suppress the feminine side. She feels that there is too much to do and feels overwhelmed. In this case, she needs to balance herself by coming back to her feminine side. She will find herself feeling much better after sharing her feelings at the end of the day with someone and also if she knows that she will be receiving support from others. Women require support to feel less stressed! On the other hand, when men participate in too much nurturing activities like helping to look after children the whole day, his masculine side decreases and he may feel less motivated in his life. So to balance himself he would need to come back to his masculine side. Thus spending some time by himself or with his guy friends would be beneficial. By coming back to our respective sides accordingly, the body naturally responds by bringing our hormones back into balance which helps us to reduce stress(4).
Another way to balance hormones that we recommend here is the practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation, where one can learn how to effectively balance our internal system of energy channels & centres, using the healing energy which lies within each one of us. By practising this meditation technique regularly, you will find yourself to be calmer and feeling less stressed, as your negative emotions and overthinking tendencies reduce. This intelligent energy works on the parasympathetic nervous system, the system for bringing the body back to a calm state from a stressful one, and also it knows how to balance our unique blend of feminine and masculine nature, hence bringing our hormones back to balance, in the way that it should support a healthy and happier life.
References:
(3) https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/low-testosterone-guide/managing-stress/
(4) Gray, John. Beyond Mars and Venus: Relationship Skills for Today’s Complex World. BenBella Books, 2017.
A recent study by Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario found that a person has an average of 6,200 thoughts per day. These cusps of the thoughts are also referred to as “thought worms”. As we jump on the cusps of thought waves, our attention is frittered away on the them. The thoughts are thus our distractions and affect our ability to focus and our efficiency.
“Only one thought, whether good or bad, is enough to bring a whole series of thoughts one after the other. It then becomes a never-ending process where each thought gives rise to another. ” The nominee of Nobel Peace Prize Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi mentioned about how thoughts can ripple into more thoughts in a speech dating back to 31st December 1980.
She also mentioned how to overcome this. “If we really want to indicate this ‘Nih‘ (which means no) feeling within ourselves then we must do one thing: whenever thoughts come into our minds, we must say to ourselves that it is nothing but deception and is thus useless. You will have to do this over and over again. Only then will you all understand the true meaning of the word ‘Nih‘!”
The term ‘Nirvicharita’ refers to a state where one is in complete union with the whole and can be achieved easily with meditation after Self-Realization. Reducing our thoughts not only brings about higher work efficiency, it also reduces stress and brings about better mental, emotional and physical health.
Try out the guided meditation below with an open mind to dissolve into the state of thoughtless awareness and enjoy the benefits of being in the state of oneness with our ‘self’.
www.singaporemeditation.org
“Yoga” means union in Sanskrit and is a term in spirituality, where one seeks our connection with the divine. Union is a common term in ancient philosophy and ancient medical theories, including Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is strongly believed that humans are a microscopic entity living in a macroscopic world. Whatever changes in the environment has an impact on humans and vice versa, whatever changes we have within will gradually and subtlely make an impact on the world.
As we see the pandemic causing fear, anxiety, stress within individuals and tensed sentiments amongst different countries, let us reach in depth to our inner self, seek our connection with the whole, inner peace within ourselves and spreading this peace externally, across continents, across borders, across different races.
In event of International Day of Yoga to propagate Yoga, take a few minutes to see what different saints from different culture mentions about Yoga (including indian saints as well as Lao Tzu, William Blake etc.) in the video below.
It’s in the recent news that some Mexicans had turned to methanol as COVID-19 had brought about a shortage in alcohol beverage provision which led to some deaths due to consumption of the adulterated alcohol.
For many people in the modern society, life revolves around work, money, family and…. alcoholic beverage. The things that makes people happy are having people (friends and family members) around to socialise, to love, money which can buy whatever we want, and of course, many turn to beer, which can trigger different emotions in different people. Ultimately, as human beings, we seek to feel good (confident, stress-free, loved, good spirits). However, alcohol’s effect on humans, whether it is to elevate our mood, to reduce stress or to gain confidence, are momentary and comes with a side-effect on our health.
The other thing humans turn to is shopping, that is, using our hard-earned money to buy ourselves things to pamper our mind. Whatever our mind tells us is useful, is good for us, is a necessity, we buy. But why is there a saying that “money can’t buy happiness”? Is there a logic for that well-known phrase? Well, there is a saying in economics that wants are never satiable. After all, if money can truly buy happiness, what about the children whom we see are always as happy as they are, content with being able to play with a pebble, observe an insect crawling or being able to draw, dance or play.
Many of us must have heard about the story of Buddha, also known as Siddharta Gautama. He was a prince, who left his much-sought-after life in his palace to seek a realm beyond sufferings and sorrow. I believe in everyone of us, there must be a desire like Buddha. However, as we are thrown into the sea of modern society, our focus on swimming to stay alive in the society gradually led us to lose touch with that little seed of desire within us.
As we go through different phases of life, let us never forget the seeking, as within us we never did, we took to drinking to seek elevation of our moods, to be stress-free and to be confident. What if, we could actually achieve all these without the side-effects of alcohol, i.e. the negative impact on our health and have longer-lasting effects?
All we need is to desire, desire to be in that realm that is free from the sorrows of life, that is stress-free, that is so fairy-tale like.
Let’s place our right hand on our heart and feel our heartbeat. What is it that our spirit desire? Let me feel the love and joy of my spirit. Close our eyes and feel the silence in our heart for 1-2 mins.
Secondly, let’s place our right hand on our forehead. Our minds are full of clutter. Let us declutter our minds by forgiving everyone and everything. We can say innately, “I forgive everyone, including myself.” With our eyes closed, enjoy the state of forgiveness for 1-2 mins.
Lastly, let us place our right hand on top of our head, with a little pressure and rotating in a clockwise manner, let us desire, like Buddha, to establish our connection, to enter to the realm of emptiness or thoughtlessness. Let us close our eyes and enjoy this state for 1-2 mins.
If you have felt the silence within and enjoy that realm, do visit our meditation resources link for more info! Hope you’ve enjoyed the silence!
What is Yin? What is Yang? What is Yin-Yang in harmony?
Yin is like the dark side and is prevalent at night, while Yang is like the bright side and in daytime, Yang is prevalent. Yin governs the internals while Yang fights the external. Let us understand more with some illustrations..
The mouse is chosen to represent Yin because of its characteristics, it likes darkness and hides from the sun and is timid.
The tiger is chosen to represent Yang for its characteristics: it is fearless and aggressive.
In summer, Yang is more prevalent, clocking longer hours of sun. In winter, Yin is more prevalent, clocking shorter hours of sun. In the day time, our Yang energy is active, while in the night time, our Yang energy returns back and Yin becomes prevalent as we move into the state of sleep.
When Yin is overpowering, we might be overwhelmed with these emotions:
When Yang is overpowering, we might face these emotions:
Of course, we hope to have these qualities:
In order to have these good traits or qualities, it’s important for the Yin and Yang within to be in Harmony. For that, we need to have a balanced lifestyle and diet, and we can also make use of nature’s elements and meditation to keep our Yin-Yang in harmony.
If you want to try meditation, you can try the below link:
Few days back while eating breakfast, as my mum tuned in to the radio, I heard the DJ mentioning that consuming beef is not environmentally friendly as cows need to consume lots of grass and also release methane gas. It sparked some thoughts within me.
Well, cows are herbivores, so they are considered to be placed in the lower portion of a food chain. Humans, on the other hand, consume different types of animals and greens, positioning us on the higher side of the food chain. If by rearing cows or consuming beef are considered to be not environmentally friendly, then what is the use of human beings, a tertiary consumer, on this Earth? What then, is the purpose of our life?
And I remembered this award winning short film… If you believe as human beings, our purpose of life is not to hurt Mother Nature nor just to make a living, if you believe there is a higher purpose to our life, to have our self-realisation and to be connected to the mains, follow through the video (takes only 3 mins to watch) and enjoy…