How simple can meditation get? Meditation for the modern human “The simplest Meditation technique for everyone anywhere! “ Nothing is more important than our breath, without which we would die in a matter of minutes. Even though nothing is more important to our life than breath, at least 99% of the time we are not even aware of our breath. We are not aware that we are breathing in this essential vital energy. The breaths we take mindfully, as the three we just now took together, have a way of calming us down and cooling down the feverishness of our life and our thoughts. Just to become fully aware of the breath, though very simple, does wonders in terms of grounding us, centering us, and straightening out our priorities in life. Mindfully meditating on our breath is the simplest and the most immediately accessible form of meditation. This mindful breathing is always available to us at any time of day or night. At any time, we can pause for one or two minutes and breathe mindfully. Breathing, in English, is referred to as “respiration,” which implies two complementary movements: inspiration and expiration. During the inspiration, we are filled up and during expiration (or exhalation) we are emptying. This two-way alternation is very important to notice and very instructive. This is like the yin-yang of Chinese philosophy, where the yin is receptivity, and the yang is creativity. During our inhalation we are receptive, we receive inspiration. During the exhalation we breathe out, we become creative, and in the process, we empty ourselves, in, and through our creativity. Breathing in and out, inspiration and expiration, receptivity and creativity. This is the defining dynamic of life. The nature Even the plants and greenery we see outside are breathing in and breathing out. This is not a poetic fancy, but a scientific fact. To live, plants need to absorb carbon dioxide. And these same plants take in the CO2, then breathe out oxygen. We breathe in Oxygen and breathe out CO2. Is this mutual and life-giving complementarity not wonderful? What they breathe in is what we breathe out. And what they breathe out is what we require to breathe in. Should we not be more mindful in our everyday association with the natural world of the reciprocity by which we give each other life? I am suggesting that sometime during this week, while you are here at the convention, you find time in some
Depression : It's More Than ‘Just A Bad Day’ William Styron, in his memoir Darkness visible, has vividly explained about his tryst with depression, comparing the pain and agony of mental health as that of a heart attack. He defines depression as the ‘grey drizzle of unrelenting horror’. Depression is no longer a dark, terrible secret which you need to hide from the world. More and more people are now ready to break their silence about this perennial plague of the human mind which had been concealed by cultural baggage all these years. The earliest understanding of depression was a spiritual condition caused by demonic possession. It was Hippocrates who described it as a disease named ‘melancholia’, but he included all kinds of quiet insanity under this term. This concept was repeatedly moulded and reconceived, to give rise to our current understanding of depression. What is Depression? Depression is a mood disorder that causes distressing symptoms with a persistent feeling of sadness, pessimism, guilt, or hopelessness that can last for weeks, months, or years. According to WHO, depression is the leading cause of disability in the world. It comes in various forms, but as it is intangible and imperceptible, it is a lot difficult to diagnose, empathise, and understand the situation. It is important to understand the difference between clinical depression and feeling sad. Almost everyone feels blue from time to time; failing an examination, an illness, losing a loved one, or even an argument can make you sad. This is completely normal and as the situation changes, we learn to cope with our emotions and return to normalcy. Clinical depression on the other hand is a debilitating medical condition that continues for at least two or more weeks consecutively, significantly affecting physical, emotional, social wellbeing and interfering with the ability to work. Sometimes it may also be accompanied by anxiety, as both of them stem from the same vulnerability. Because of its complexity, understanding depression has been elusive, yet even in the most severe cases, depression is highly treatable. Causes Neuroscientists still don’t have the real answer as to what exactly causes depression. It is a result of a complex interaction of genetic, biological, and psychological factors that may be caused by faulty mood regulation by the brain and triggered by a negative experience or a stressful condition. We all have to encounter stressful events at some point in life, and we all feel sad, but not