 Physical and mental fatigue

can reduce immunity levels and

thus make a person prone to
illness.
 Meditation is one of
the many wonderful ways
to relax body and mind.
 Body, Mind and Spirit
 Body and Spirit are connected by
Mind
 Mind connects with the outer world
through sensory organs
 You have started your life

with almost a blank memory

 Mind generates

thoughts and emotions

 MEDITATION – GOOD HEALTH
 Regularexercise,
good nutrition,
personal hygiene,
good sleep and relaxation,
value-orientation,
along with positive attitude
can help keep mind and body
HEALTHY and
less prone to illnesses.
 Meditation

helps in
understanding
ourselves
and more
particularly
the nature of
 ~ is restless

~ is cluttered by thoughts, desires,

memories
~ randomly moves from one thought
to another
~ difficult to focus the mind
especially
when you want it to be still / calm
 Benefits of meditation
 improvement in mental and physical health
 feeling good about oneself and others
 relief from stress and anxiety
 alleviation of pain
 greater sense of self-actualization
 self-directedness
 if interested, initiates into spiritual realm
 gives you the POWER to change your life

FOR THE BE TTER

Frequently Asked Questions / Doubts :

1. Meditation is meant only for those

who are spiritually inclined.
With worldly attachments
I am not spiritually inclined.

2. Meditation, Pranayama and Yogasanas

are all generally considered as one package.
Hence, starting with Meditation
is not likely to be helpful.
3. At my age and stage, and with my present
habits, activities, desires, tendencies, etc.
I may not get the intended benefit ;
it may all turnout to be a big waste of time.

4. Sitting idly, without doing any work,

is not a part of my nature.
Also, my family may feel that
I am becoming increasingly other-worldly,
and hence, may not cooperate / appreciate.
 5. Is Spirituality / Meditation
helpful in handling stress and many other
similar situations ?

WE TAKE BATH / SHOWER EVERYDAY

TO KEEP OUR BODY CLEAN.
MEDITATION IS THE INNER SHOWER
THAT KEEPS OUR MIND CLEAN.
SPIRITUALITY
is necessary for improving the
QUALITY OF LIFE.

YOGA
includes Dhyana, Pranayama and Yogasanas.

Yoga
enriches one’s spirit
and gives inner strength.
 When you meditate …
What happens in the body …
Body reaches a heightened restful state
while at the same time
the brain becomes calm but remains
in a state of heightened alertness.

Heightened restful state

- lowered heart rate and pulse,
slow and calm breathing, and
relaxed muscles.

Heightened alertness
- high activity of alpha and beta
waves.
What happens in the mind...
 Withlots of practice,
the mind stops reacting to
thoughts, memories and
desires and
follows constructive actions
 Continuous practice of meditation
helps in acting constructively
rather than merely helplessly
reacting to
life-situations
 When the mind is calm,
body improves its overall
 Research has established
beyond doubt that …
Practicing meditation
on a regular basis for
at least a month
will result in experiencing
better physical health,
feeling better about lives,
a higher sense of self esteem and
thus feel
better-oriented in life.
 Meditation is an adventure
to discover our Self –
our strengths, and our hidden treasures
 One simple Method of
Getting started in
Meditation
• Sit comfortably
• Concentrate on your breath
• Observe the feeling
• When thoughts drift,
return to your breath
• Observe thoughts, acknowledge
them
• Use breath as an anchor
What is Meditation ?

A tool
for experiencing
Physiological,
mental
and
spiritual
well being
 Relaxation Meditation
• Sit in a comfortable position with
back straight ~ keep all your things away
• Close your eyes, slowly ~ with out any fear
• Imagine a relaxing scene ~ really a
pleasant and a
memorable one
• Let some pleasant and soothing music
help you to relax and focus.
Playing background music helps to
improve
your focus and helps to stop unwanted
thoughts.
• You can repeat this exercise anywhere
 In Meditative state
your breathing becomes
slow, deep, smooth, and
abdominal.

• Focus your attention on your

breathing.
• Concentrate on breathing in and out.
• Count your breathing
using the numbers 0 to 9.
• Visualize images of the numbers
while breathing,
so as to make your breathing
slow, deep & smooth.
health, relaxation & positive
attitude
flowing into your body
when you inhale and
stress, pain & negative
attitude
flowing out from your body
Let us combine these
two and experience ~
in a small way.
Practice
Practice
Practice
 What is your goal, in your Life ?
You want unconditional joy.

The TRUTH is
you are already that ~
regardless of your present
Physical, Mental, Emotional & Spiritual
condition.

Sincere Effort is needed

to discover your inner reality.
Practice sincerely, and
bring it into conscious awareness
from your innermost depths.
 Spirituality
is belief in someone
or something
which is bigger and more powerful
than all of us.
You have not seen him, but
you can feel his presence.
Spirituality is being religious,
without being ritualistic.
Spirituality is believing
in the religion of humanity;
involves supporting
what is right against what is wrong.
 Spirituality
in practice
is living a full and meaningful life.

Be Good and Do Good.

Help Ever; Hurt Never.
Be Honest; Work Hard and Honestly.
Adapt WORK IS WORSHIP attitude.
Walk your Talk.
Practice Moral Values.
Truthfulness, to the full.
“ In deep meditation
the sense organs stop functioning;
the mind does not look outward.
It is like closing the gate of the outer
court in a house.
There are five objects of the senses :
form, taste, smell, touch and sound.
They are left outside.”

~ The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

“ The flow of this continuous control of the mind
becomes steady
when practised day after day,
and the mind obtains the faculty of
constant concentration.

How are we to know that the mind has

become concentrated ?
Because the idea of time will vanish.
The more time passes unnoticed
the more concentrated we are.”

~ Swami Vivekananda
“ PRANAYAMA means the control of PRANA -
breathing is only one of the many exercises
through which we get to the real
Pranayama.
Breath is like the fly-wheel of this machine, the body.
In a big engine you find the fly-wheel
first moving and that motion is conveyed
to finer and finer machinery until the most
delicate and finest mechanism in the
machine is in motion.

The Breath is the fly-wheel,

supplying and regulating the motive power
to everything in this body…
~ Swami Vivekananda
PROCESS OF MEDITATION
First sit in the posture in which you can sit still
for a long time. All the nerve currents,
which are working, pass along the spine.
Let it be free from all pressure.
Sit for some time and let the mind run on. You
simply wait and watch. Knowledge is
Power. Until you know what the mind is
doing you cannot control it …
Sit for some time and let the mind run on.
You simply wait and watch. . .
Do not try to control the mind, but go on
with the rhythmic breathing for ten minutes.
The Heart will become peaceful. You will
learn what rest is.
3 Stages in MEDITATION
The first is what is called DHARANA,
concentrating the mind upon an object.
. . . But the mind is wavering.
When it has become strong and does not
waver so much, it is called DHYANA,
Meditation.
And then there is a still higher state called
SAMADHI or Absorption, when the
differentiation between the object and
yourself is lost.
PRACTICAL HINTS ON MEDITATION
1. You must practice at least twice everyday
and the best times are towards the morning
and the evening. The early morning and
the early evening are the two periods of
calmness. Your body will have a like
tendency to become calm at those times.
2. Purity ~ Physical and Mental. All Uncleanness,
all that would draw the mind down,
must be abandoned.
3. Patience; at first, there will be wonderful
manifestations, but they will all cease. Wait,
and continue the practice.
4. Perseverance. Never miss a day in practice.
“ Each soul is potentially divine.
The goal is to
manifest this divinity within
by controlling nature, external and internal.
Do this either by work, or worship, or
psychic control, or philosophy –
by one or more, or all of these –
and be free.
This is the whole of religion. Doctrines,
or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples,
or forms, are but secondary details.
.....
“ . . . .Teach yourselves, teach everyone,
his real nature, call upon the sleeping soul
and see how it awakes. Power will come,
glory will come, goodness will come,
purity will come, and everything that is
excellent will come, when the sleeping soul
is roused to self-conscious activity.

All power is within you; you can do anything

and everything. Believe in that, do not believe
that you are weak; Stand up and express
the divinity within you.
.....
“ . . . .This infinite power of the spirit,
brought to bear upon matter,
evolves material development,
made to act upon thought
evolves intellectuality,
and made to act upon itself
makes of man a God.

~ Swami Vivekananda
“ Belief in Karma ought to make the life pure,
strong, serene, and glad. Only our own
deeds can hinder us; only our own will
can fetter us. Once let men recognize
this truth, and the hour of their liberation
has struck. Nature cannot enslave the soul
that by wisdom has gained power and
uses both in love.

~ Annie Besant~
“ O! Youth or young man, whoever you fancy
that you are neglected by the gods,
know that if you become worse, you shall
go to worse souls, or if better to the better.
In every succession of life and death, you
will do and suffer what like may fitly suffer
at the hands of like. This is the justice of
Heaven.

~ Plato
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