The Importance of Meditation - Lesson 4

My journey to regular meditation began 6 months before I entered National Service, so it wouldn't be fair to say that it is thanks to military. Having said that, I must admit that being a soldier really tested the application of this practise, and definately cemented the notion that meditation truly works. Without it, I definitely would have had a few breakdowns as well as at least one meltdown which most probably would have had me spending more than one weekend locked up in the camp while my friends were happily enjoying there time off with their loved ones.

During Boot Camp, we would leave our barracks by 4am, and not see it till 1pm, only to be called out again at 3pm and never see the inside of it till 9 or 10pm. This happened every day for 10 weeks straight. You can ask anyone who has experienced it, and they will all tell you that a single day felt like a full week. When it's time to rest or eat, your bound to get scolded, or get into a argument with soldiers around you about pretty things, or experience severe pain and soreness from the amount of marching and lack of sleep. So when did I have time to meditate? While I rested my back between drill sessions, while I waited for the call of prayer in the quiet and air conditioned mosque, while I laid in my bed right before I slept. All it took was to close my eyes, concentrate on my breath, recognize any thoughts popping up in my head and slowly go back to counting my breaths, then finally scan my body slowly from top to bottom recognizing any sensations I was experiencing during those moments (pain, comfort, heat, coolness, etc...). This freed up space in my mind and heart to accept the discomforts of my environment as well as not react so harshly to occurrences around me.

What I found fairly amusing was how people reacted when they saw me meditating. To alot of people around me, the notion of closing one's eyes and breathing was as useful as having a second belly button. Many brushed it off, saying that all they needed was prayer, or a dose of their nicotine, or simply a shot of caffeine. I too thought the same in the past, until I experienced a phase of my life when I had non-stop anxiety (heart palpitations for most of the day and evening) for no apparent reason which meditation solved after practicing it for only 2 weeks. I will not highlight all the benefits of meditation, but I will tell you that it's scientifically proven to make you a healthier person, and I implore you to read about it online. A good place to start is a website called Headspace (they have a show on Netflix), and for those who want to have a more scientific and quantitative approach to meditation, I would recommend reading Positive Intelligence by Sharzad Chamine or taking a course with life couch Heidi Elmarouf who I worked with and admire greatly. 

Now more than ever, life is filled with constant distractions and duties, and we find ourselves dipping our feet in a sea of unhealthy habits when we have any free time (unhealthy diet, social media, binge watching, etc..). But to meditate is to get in touch with the most innocent parts of our selves, a part that used to drive our imagination as children and make us shrug off failure and excite us to try again. And I know that if I was able to do it in the toughest days as a soldier so can you.