Credit: Prasanth Inturi
Meditation Gaga
Unless you live under a cyber rock, you’ve probably heard about meditation. With all the cool apps out here, you probably do it, too. But just in case you don’t know what it is, here’s a brief definition:
It’s when you empty your mind. No thoughts. Nada.
And for a more, ahem, formal definition of meditate, here’s Webster:
“to engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness”
I personally have practiced meditation for a long time, probably (I’m quite proud to say) longer than some of you have been alive. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve done it every day. There have been gaps in the practice, some stretch out for days, some have lasted for over a year.
At first, I was ashamed of the fact that I didn’t meditate every day. I approached it as a job — show up, do the time, repeat the next day. Usually, while meditating, my mind would wander, and I would swiftly kick myself in the mental pants, chide myself (yeah there was a lot going on in my brain), and get back on the right path immediately or else.
I was reluctant to call what I was doing meditation, much less a practice, because these lapses made me feel embarrassed. I was under the belief that meditation was successful only when one teleported to a chosen destination or levitated off of one’s mat. Since neither of those were happening, I deemed myself a meditation imposter– someone who claimed to meditate, but in reality was just struggling to stay awake with my eyes closed, or keep my mind from racing to a million (usually morose) thoughts within the space of a few minutes.
But now I don’t care. Something about my journey over the past year has made me stop mentally bashing myself. I just enjoy meditation for meditation’s sake, and the feeling of no thought.
So, yeah, I’ve emptied my mind of thoughts that don’t serve me, and I’ve empowered myself to just be. And it feels awesome.
