Meditation in Challenging Times

Roughly 150000 die every day across the globe. Today Covid 19 had forced people to lock down themselves in their homes leaving the world in an increased state of anxiety and worry. The scare of covid 19 and looking at the number of people getting affected everyday leaves us with uneasiness and stress. The emotions which the humanity is going through, the loneliness, the depression, the anxiety and stress and many such low emotions are surrounding us and the environment.

The question is how to keep oneself uplifted, how to support? Can this time be utilized for some meaningful inner work? The word Inner work was probably first used by George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, he was a mystic, philosopher, spiritual teacher, and composer of Armenian and Greek descent, born in Alexandrapol, Armenia. One of his pupil during world war asked him about the possibility of Inner work during war times. His response was quite encouraging and positive and he told that the inner work can become more intense during these times.

I have been in the work for some years now, in today’s time which is almost a war like situation, I understand what was said almost 100 years back. In such situations we come closer to truth, there is so much more energy in the environment, we just need to direct this energy in a direction towards our inner self for the purposes of self-exploration, self-understanding, self-healing and transformation.

What is inner work? To understand this we first need to define inner self. Inner self includes our thoughts, memories, emotions, dreams, self-talk, in sanskrit we call it “manas”. Our thoughts and emotions are connected and it is easy to check this. Simply start thinking about a good moment of your life and you will notice you will start experiencing similar emotions now. Similarly if you experience say a feeling of warmth, instantly you will start imagining the moments when you had the same feeling before.

Now what is inner work? When wrong connections are made and we get in a loop of thoughts and emotions which keep us in a lower state, when we feel we are stuck, or simply when we want to live more in higher states like feeling of oneness, unity, bless, clarity, stability, gratitude, then inner work is needed.

My reader you could be anyone on this globe from a different country, culture, tradition, once my mentor in work Dr. Ravi Ravindra said "in around 35 days time the air I am breathing passes through all the creatures". I got goose bumps when I heard this, I had never thought it like that. This statement aroused such a feeling of unity, how not only humans but all living creatures are connected and breathing each other’s air. What we cannot see with our naked eyes are the emotions and subtler energies which are also attached to the air.

So where ever we are we all can assist in the inner work by working on ourselves. If we intentionally release and transform the negative emotions in us, it will assist and help everyone. There are many such groups working in this direction. I have also been part of some of these like the Gurdjieff Foundation of India, The Art of Living Foundation, Brahma Kumaris, Isha Foundation. There are many such groups where teachers and mentors are continuously working in this direction.

We are brought up differently and therefore different teachings will attract us. It is more important to see what my calling is and what helps me to get healed. If the hurt is very deep and we leave an emotional wound to heal by itself, it doesn’t heal by itself, what is needed then is conscious work to heal that part of our thoughts and emotions. There could be some beliefs or thoughts which are stopping us to succeed and move on, then it is crucial to surface them and to understand them.

In my personal experience it is very helpful if one joins a group or a teaching as per one’s own inclinations. The group energy helps in pushing oneself. In today’s time we all are asked to maintain social distance and so we can become part of online groups to keep oneself motivated.

The inner work can be done by only one person that is you, no one else can do this work for you. Guides, mentors, groups can assist and direct but unless we see the need for ourselves and help ourselves, nobody can help us in the inner work. Today when there are restrictions to travel we can respond to our inner calling by joining online meditation classes go to www.iconnectway.com/book-online