Through the practice of pranayama a momentary experience of meditation is not difficult to achieve. It is sustaining this momentary experience that takes time. Practicing pranayama for sustained periods of time enables a yogi to meditate for longer durations of time.

It is akin to the process of sowing a seed that has all the information and substance to grow into a tree.

Pranayama has all the means to take its practitioner to the state of bliss. A mental, behavioral and temperamental state where one discovers himself as one not baffled by miseries nor excited over the ephemeral, short lived physical or material pleasures.

Hence, the day one decides to devote some time to the practice of pranayama he is on the path to his physical and behavioral transformation.

The physical well being or progress towards recovery from bodily ailments, if one is sick, is the first benefit the yogi experiences within the first few days or weeks. Control over one's emotions is the next result. A balanced mind is the next destination, followed by objectivity.

Meditation is about a high level of health

Meditation is a step short of Samadhi. It places a person in a state of bliss, a state of high degree of health, and physical as well as mental peace. A state of bliss is several degrees higher than a state of happiness.

Happiness is short lived and vulnerable to change as one goes from one situation to another in his life. Bliss, on the other hand, can be eternal. It is unaffected by circumstances, relationships, time, weather and all those other things that may influence our thoughts and feelings.

In the state of meditation one is an observer of his being and his thoughts, in the same way as one watches a movie. Hence one's involvement with his being and his situation, as with the story of the movie, is interchangeable with his detachment.

Let us explain this further. While watching a movie, the level of involvement that the viewer wants to have is not dependent on any external factors. It is dependent on him alone. He can afford to be totally involved in watching the movie, or he can be totally detached. That is also how the mind of a person in deep meditation is.

The practice of meditation thus brings to the life of an individual a high degree of objectivity. It enables him to exercise complete control over his otherwise instinctive involvement in an event, situation or relationship and take rational, thoughtful decisions.

Meditation stabilizes the mind to an extent that it can overrule the heart.

Meditation and Relaxation >>