Meditation is a mental exercise that involves focusing one's mind on a particular object, thought, or activity to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. Some common techniques include:

1. Concentrative Meditation: Focus on one point, such as your breath or a mantra.

2. Mindfulness Meditation: Observe thoughts and emotions without judgment.

3. Movement Meditation: Incorporate physical movement, such as yoga or tai chi, into your meditation practice.

To get started with meditation, find a quiet and comfortable place to sit, set a timer for the desired length of your meditation, and start focusing your mind. It's normal for thoughts to arise, but simply acknowledge them and redirect your focus back to your chosen object of meditation.

Remember, meditation is a skill that takes time and practice to develop. Be patient with yourself and enjoy the journey.

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has been shown to offer a range of physical and mental benefits, including:

1. Reduced stress and anxiety: Meditation helps calm the mind and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.

2. Improved focus and concentration: Regular meditation can improve cognitive function, leading to better focus and concentration.

3. Increased self-awareness: Meditation can increase self-awareness and help you understand your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

4. Better sleep: Meditation has been shown to improve sleep quality, especially for those with insomnia.

5. Pain management: Meditation has been found to be effective in reducing chronic pain and improving pain management.

6. Enhanced immune function: Studies have shown that regular meditation can improve the body's immune function.

7. Improved emotional well-being: Meditation can help boost mood and improve overall emotional well-being.

It's important to note that the effects of meditation can vary depending on the individual and the type of meditation practiced. To experience the full benefits of meditation, it's recommended to make it a regular part of your routine.

How To Start Meditation

As we are all aware, meditation has several benefits. From helping us find peace of mind and a sense of calmness, to lowering stress levels, meditation takes us to a better place. Moreover, meditating regularly helps improve our concentration and productivity, and to some extent pumps up energy levels. Meditating regularly is essential - as long as it’s done the right way!

Here’s our guide to mindful meditation:

What is meditation and how it makes a difference

Meditation is not a complex process. If anything, it is liberating. Something as simple as focusing on your breath can alter your stress levels drastically, helping you live a better life both in body and mind. But meditation takes time and technique - it isn’t as easy as curling your fingers and adopting a pose. When you are new to meditation, your mind will be restless, flooded with thoughts and on the move, as it’s been trained to do. But when you settle into the routine and develop this habit through consistent practice, you will notice the changes yourself: the emptying of your mind becomes easier, as does controlling your thoughts and emotions. Meditation can help you regulate and reduce everything from rage, to hunger pangs, emotional turmoil, impatience and the like.

How to meditate the right way

Everyone can meditate, and should. You can start with creating a comfortable space for yourself and setting a timer. Then ease into it and forget the rest of the world for those moments. Be kind to yourself and understand that achieving complete concentration will only come with time. Follow the steps given below for effective meditation: 

1. Sit somewhere silent
   Meditating amidst nature is the most ideal location for the activity, so you can head to a nearby park to sit comfortably under a tree or by the lake. You can also do this with lights off at home in a room with no noise. Convenience and comfort is key!
   
2. Time yourself
   This is important to note how long you are able to sit in one place, focus, and relax at the same time. As you become more adapted to the activity, you can increase your time.
   
3. Focus on your breathing
   The most crucial part of meditation is the ability to understand your breathing. Let the sound of taking in and releasing oxygen distract you from the surroundings around you.
4. Pay attention to your body
   Feel how this exercise makes your body and mind feel. Every time you breathe in, and for every count you exhale - how does your body change?
   
5. Don’t let wandering thoughts affect you
   There will be plenty of thoughts that will come to your mind. This is natural - don’t let it frustrate you. Accept each thought as it comes, and let it go.  Try and focus on your breathing or the rhythms in your body, and you’ll find your thoughts slowing with time.
   
6. Finish slowly
   Once you feel ready or your time is up, slowly open your eyes and stay there for a minute. Take in everything around, as you come back to reality.

Make it a habit 

Put reminders to help you take time out in your schedule to meditate. As with any habit, consistency is paramount. Do it often, and it’ll be a part of your lifestyle in no time. 

Sri Yantra Mats

At Kaarigar, we craft an exquisite Sri Yantra design mat that is perfect for meditation.

A Yantra is a geometrical shape or object that is said to aid meditation. Sri Yantra is the King of all Yantras, and is said to evoke the goodness of the entire universe. This mat, made by artisans back in India, has the Sri Yantra pattern printed on it alongside 4 incredible pure copper plates in each corner. Their role, traditionally, is to provide grounding and prevent the energy you create during meditation from dissipating.

Mastering the art of meditation comes with time and practice. It can’t be aced in one day. People often include it as a part of other daily activities, from workouts to their Yoga routines. Meditation is known to be highly therapeutic, and is often the most natural cure to stress or pent up emotions. Immerse yourself in meditation and give your mind the support it needs to find peace, everyday. 

The Singing Bowl, also called a Himalayan bowl, is known to be used by Buddhist monks since 600 B.C. It is most commonly known for sound therapy and space clearing, but there are other uses for it. The singing bowl can be used to balance our chakras, reduce stress and even sound massage. 

The sound produced by the singing bowl is that of the AUM –  the absolute. There are two basic ways of playing a Singing Bowl, you can either strike it with the wooden wand for percussive, pulsating tones; or you can encircle the edges repeatedly with the wand for a sustained effect.  Resting the singing bowl upon the palm of your hand will usually enable you to appreciate the experience to a greater depth than placing the bowl on a pad.

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This hilarious article was written by an ​ 

Architect from BaaN, Netherlands who spent two years in Hyderabad.

For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer.

Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are as follows:

Do we drive on the left or right of the road?

The answer is "both". Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive, but just aim their vehicles in the intended direction. Don't you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in reincarnation, the other drivers are not in any better position.

Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We horn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts), or, just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar.

Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade, or waiting for the rain ​ ​
waters to recede when over ground traffic meets underground drainage.

Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, ​ 
often meeting with success.

Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton's laws of motion en route to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often "mopped" off the tarmac.

Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive, as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hypercritical; I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a "speed breaker"; two for each house.

This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left un tarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.

Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience (for those with the mental makeup of Genghis Khan). In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes. Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously. Of course, all this occurs at night, on the trunk roads. During the daytime, trucks are more visible, except that the drivers will never show any Signal. (And you must watch for the absent signals; they are the greater threat). Only, you will often observe that the cleaner who sits next to the driver, will project his hand and wave hysterically.

This is definitely not to be construed as a signal for a left turn. The waving is just a statement of physical relief on a hot day.

If, after all this, you still want to drive in India, have your lessons between 8 pm and 11 am-when the police have gone home and The citizen is then free to enjoy the 'FREEDOM OF SPEED' enshrined in our constitution.

Having said all this, isn't it true that the accident rate and related deaths are less in India compared to US or other countries!

NAMASTE

Yoga has become widely practiced worldwide. In the United States with growth to more than 20 million people since 2002. According to the U.S. News & World Report in 2015, yoga practice showed more growth than any other natural health therapy   

 The mention of the word "YOGA" conjures up images of super fit people posing in sometimes impossible looking "Asanas". Much of these poses do not exist in the real yoga. You do not have to be able to achieve these fancy poses to be considered a yogi. The core principle of yoga is to align your life to be in harmony with Mother Nature and be a good human being. 

The birth of yoga originally comes from the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures), which dates back between 4,000 to 5,000 years. Vedic knowledge was passed down from teacher to student through perfect memorization in the way of verses and poems. But it wasn’t until the second century B.C. that a sage named Patanjali outlined what is known today as the Eight Limbs of Yoga. 

An Overview of the Eight Limbs (Ashtanga) of Yoga 

 Here’s a brief overview of each of the eight limbs:

1. The Yamas are rules of moral code and include ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), bramacharya (sexual restraint), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness).
2. The Niyamas are rules of personal behavior including saucha (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas (discipline or austerity), svadhyaya (spiritual studies), and Ishvara Pranidhana (constant devotion to God).
3. Asana refers to yoga postures but in Patanjali’s initial practice, it referred to mastering the body to sit still for meditation. The practice of yoga asanas came about eight centuries later, which helped disciples ready their bodies for meditation.
4. Pranayama are yoga breathing techniques designed to control prana or vital life force.
5. Pratyahara means withdrawal of the senses.
6. Dharana refers to concentration.
7. Dhyana is the practice of meditation.
8. Samadhi is merging with the divine.

As you can see, Asanas is just one small part of the way of life that has been prescribed. We do not see the 7 other key pillars being either practiced or taught. Try to incorporate these steps into your life and you will feel a sense of contentment.

We are unable to elaborate on each of the 8 Ashtangas here but there is enough information available on the web.

We are vulnerable to unethical marketing especially when it involves a science that is foreign to us. 

Comments/Opinions welcome.