Meditation is a practice for the soul. It is a practice that has been around for a very long time, but one that is referred to as “self-care” in contemporary times. However, it is more than just self-care, it is soul care. In the modernity of our times, when everything is moving at an extra fast speed, it is a necessary tool to center ourselves in the midst of everything going on around us.
To understand further how you can get started in meditation or get a fresh perspective on it, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Aparna Sadananda, a yoga and meditation teacher from the Washington, D.C., area. She leads meditation classes and family-based mindfulness workshops for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. She also works as a meditation trainer for the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. Through her work at the Phillips, Aparna guides meditation sessions aligned with specific art pieces within the art gallery collection, which is a fascinating practice. Art has the power to inspire and also evoke feeling in us. I imagine how influential this can be for our minds and subconscious thoughts.
She says:
Our brains have a natural neurological response to the formal and thematic qualities of art such as form, color, texture, etc. Meditation to art can help us become aware of these involuntary responses and facilitate awareness of the other through self-awareness. In our art-based meditations, we tap into the tools of chair-based yoga postures (asanas) and breath-regulating techniques (pranayama) to then harness this awareness in the direction of intentional and purposeful action.
If you’re a beginner, Aparna shares two ways that can help you get started with your meditative practice through small steps:
It is always [important] to start with something simple and sustainable. For example, one could start with 1-minute formal practice of meditation.
Additionally, we could incorporate mindfulness into the quotidian moments of life- everyday activities such as making tea, combing hair, etc., and just "do" only that one thing with full attention.
These simple tips help us create a mindful approach to our mind’s eye and focus. By decluttering our minds of all the busyness we mentioned at the beginning, we can target how we treat daily situations. This will then, in turn, help us improve our meditative state by focusing on what we want at the moment.
When we shift our internal happenings and dialogues, our lives begin to change, and I believe meditation is a vital step toward having more consciousness of ourselves and our thoughts. It is true that we can’t control anyone or anything external to us, but what meditation can allow us to do is get a better understanding of how we maintain that inner dialogue and mindfulness with more knowledge about what we might need at that moment and what steps we need to take to get there through our doings.
Aparna comments:
Meditation can be empowering. Imagine being able to shift from reactivity to responsiveness even in situations that are overwhelming and extremely emotional; a place of awareness where one is still in acknowledgment of how it feels and yet not controlled by those feelings to act out of reactivity.
Meditation can help us connect further with ourselves through small steps, and as Aparna says, there’s much individual power in that practice. We can feel and know that we can press the metaphorical reset button in time, wherever we may be, and disconnect from all the noise and distractions that take us away from inner peace and stillness. This process can potentially lead us to make better decisions and know ourselves from a deeper perspective.
Please find out more about Aparna’s practice by visiting her website.