As the exam draw closer, most of the students feels kind of
pressure, often they are distracted when they sit down for the study, the mind
goes here and there, sometime they are
able to focus on study and sometime not. Usually different topic becomes
interesting rather than the study topic, most of the students are overwhelm by so
many things when they have to do number of things in one sitting. They have to
remember so many events and formulas during exam preparation. It is crucial and
important to place students’ attention in only one thing. Worrying is the process
imagination, we are expert to make headache out of headache; the worst which
worries creates is emotional anxiety. The pressure of study is natural, nothing
is wrong with it. It is positive energy which is urging us to focus on right direction;
sometime we are not able to understand the inner calling, confused to
prioritize the important topic. Most of students are trying to do different
thing at a time which is not possible, especially during the time of exam. The
vehicle will not move if we press everything at a time like accelerator, break,
and clutch.
I love to share an analogy to clear it out, our mind does two
things: thinking and acting. Thinking is like accelerating a vehicle in neutral
gear, and acting is like accelerating the vehicle on top gear. If we accelerate
the vehicle and increase the gear, the vehicle moves, and in contrast, when we
do not increase the gear but continue to accelerate, the vehicle just makes
noise. For the vehicle to move there must be a proper combination of gear and
accelerator. The noisy vehicle can be compared to a frustrated and disturbed
mind which has so many plans but no action. This state of mind is not
trustworthy. The student has to start the action of reading, just sitting
and thinking will not lead to desired destination. There must be good combination
between thought and action for the better result. How to deal with such stressful situation and
confusing situation? Meditation could be the best answer.
What is
meditation?
Each act it meditation, whether we are eating, reading, dancing or
playing, everything is meditation, we just need to add something on it, that is
awareness on and it becomes meditation. Reading about mediation will not help,
it will be like reading “water, water and water” in a
book which will not quench your thirst of water until and unless you drink it,
likewise you have to practice meditation for benefit. Meditation does not
involve any religion or philosophy; it is a discipline to achieve deeper state
of relaxation or awareness, so let us make a daily routine for meditation. Students
have to commit about 20 to 30 minutes a day in order to start seeing benefits.
Meditation isn’t just sitting; it is not easy task when we are trained to
constantly multitasking. As the body
need physical exercise to keep fit so the mind needs meditation to keep brain
cells healthy. Meditation is good for all age group; especially it is very
important for students who are using their brain more than normal people.
I would like to share another situation so student can understand
the meditation properly, did you ever try to throw a stone in a pond, If not
try it. What will you see once you throw a stone in the center of a pond? In
response, you will see frequent wave or whirlpool rising from the center,
expanding and going out, just keep on watching unless the rippling stop,
similarly our mind is rippling with different thought. We just need to sit in
relax mood, keep on watching the thought without distracting and judging write
or wrong, suddenly a time will come when the rippling of thought stop as the
whirlpool was stopped in a pond. Our mind is multitasking like a T.V. frequency
where more than hundred of channel are broadcasting at a time, we can’t see all
channel, it is impossible, we have to prioritized preferable channel to enjoy
the whole series, like wise different subject matter are running in the mind of
a student, some are necessary and some are not, focus in one subject, you can
do one thing at a time so, schedule your activities and act accordingly,
practice meditation with awareness, you will be calm, relax and fresh for the
next challenges.
Meditation is known as Raja Yoga (The king of yoga) among Karma
Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana yoga and Hatha Yoga. Meditation is best for the
students; it is the right age to practice some of the rules and regulation
formulated by Patanjali which is not possible for married man. Students are chaste and innocent so they can
be trained for right life. In his eightfold path (Ashtanga Marg), Patajali
focus on Yama, Niyama, Ashana, Pranayama, Pratyahar, Dharana, Dhyana and
Samadhi.
How to start
meditation?
The eight fold path work together, first five are Yama, Niyama, Ashana,
Pranayama and Pratyahara, these are the basic of Raja Yoga to build the
foundation of spiritual life, concerned to the body and brain and last three
are not possible without the previous step concerned with the reconditioning
with the mind. These eight steps basically act as guidelines on how to live a
meaningful and purposeful life. It serves as a prescription for moral and ethical
conduct and self-discipline; it direct focus toward one's health; and it can
help student to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of our nature. Usually most
of modern gurus are not giving importance to the basic of meditation like Yama,
Niyama, Ashana, Pranayama and Pratyahara but I would like to share the basic of
it so students can understand the alpha the omega of meditation. Yama means
abstentions, not participating in the following five activities of Non-violence
(Ashimsa), Truth (Satya), Non-stealing (Ashatya), Chastity (Brahmacharya) and
Aparigraha (Non-greed) and Niyama means moral observation of following five activities
of Purity (Saucha), Contentment (Santosha), Austerity (Tapas), Study of the
holy text (Swadhyaya) and Surrender to God (Ishwarasamarpan). Pratyahara means
withdrawal of the senses from objects, the natural tendency of the senses is to
go out towards the objects of the world; the mediator must be able to pull the
senses within to keep the balanced and peaceful mind. Pranayama means
controlling the vital energy through breath work.
Body and mind are intimately connected and if the body is agitated
the mind will be agitated, in order to meditate successfully one must develop a
very steady posture (Ashana). One thing necessary for the posture is to sit
cross legged on a comfortable place, close your eyes, left palm over the right
palm, hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts the
chest, neck, and head in straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported
by the ribs, and then you have an easy natural posture, with the spine
straight. Sometime people need anchoring (Dharana) tools for meditation
(Dhyana) like focusing on breath (Pranayama), image of God, reciting mantras or
sometime being like a cowboy, let the cow
prances where it wills, no judgment
and distraction just a watcher. According to Osho, meditation is sitting
silently doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself. Enlightenment (Samadhi) is union with the divine;
Samadhi refers to perfect union of true Yoga. It is like vehicle in
neutral gear, no acceleration, Just pulsation, beyond the sensation of pleasure
and pain, tuning with cosmic energy. These eight steps of yoga indicate a
logical pathway that leads to the attainment of physical, ethical, emotional,
and psycho-spiritual health. Yoga Sutra suggests the practice of Asanas
and Pranayama as preparation for Dharana, because these influence mental
activities and create space in the crowded schedule of our life. Once Dharana
has occurred, Dhyana and Samadhi can follow. I would like to suggest visual
meditation (Imagination) for the students to internalize the subject what they had
read for the preparation for the exam.
What is Visualizing
Meditation?
Visualization meditation is a variation on traditional meditation
that requires you to employ not only your visual sense, but also your sense of
taste, touch, smell, and sound. When used as a relaxation technique,
visualization involves imagining a scene in which you feel at peace, free to
let go of all tension and anxiety. If you are nerves, worry about exams and
revision than practice visualizing meditation, a part of passive meditation. It
will be better if you practice jogging every morning as a part of active
meditation to balance the body and mind. For the student visualization
meditation will be helpful to build confidence on a daily basis. This
meditation could be a good master for a student, so let us find a quiet and
relaxing environment void of distraction, sit in a comfortable position on the
level ground, keep your back straight and relax your entire body, close your
eyes, pay attention on your breath because all habit of mind is associated with
the pattern of breathing, once you change the pattern of breathing, mind change
immediately, after that choose whatever setting is most calming to you, start mindfulness
visualization or recall the topic which you have just studied. Visualization
can be done on any topic; it is like rehearsal before presentation. Recalling
information strengthens it to memory and will facilitate to recall on the day
of the exam and this raise confidence levels. Anybody can do this visualization
meditation in any topic like a lover can do this meditation, sitting silently
and imagining a good time being with beloved one in preferable setting and
background. The meditation practitioner visualizes themselves on a movie screen
in their minds. Let into the habit of sitting daily intention each morning by
simply sitting quietly for a few minutes, relaxing and dealing how you want to
feel about ahead and how you will structure your study time. Meditation is
extremely beneficial for all walks of life.
Some pretty
amazing benefit of regular meditation
# Better brain integrity, efficiency and memory power
# Improve academic achievement for better future
# Improve learning disorder
# Effective to increase creativity or intelligent
# Lower absentees from class
# Help to know own inner potentiality
# Help to develop self-confident
# Reduce psychological disorder including stress, anxiety and
depression
# Makes social from antisocial behaviors
# Makes moral and help healthy habits
# Help to overall emotional well being.
Meditation may be frustrating at first, if you find it is
difficult to concentrate on your breathing don’t get upset or quite the idea of
meditation. Sometime mind goes here and there; bring your attention back to the present moment, refocus and
re-centre your attention, start from shorter period of time and build your way
up to longer stretched. I would like to suggest private and public school to adopt
meditation class as an extra curriculum activity with the strong support of
parents, educators and government. Meditation class should be compulsory for
the student because it will help to shape the better future of the student. The
great spiritual master Osho of our time suggests, “The base of new education
will be meditation”. So, let us plant a seed of meditation in our daily life as
early as possible so the plants grow up on time to its maturity to give better
environment for peaceful, healthy and prosperous society.
-By Giri Bahadur Sunar
The author is a meditation practitioner and sociologist can be
reached at
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