Alternatives For Meditation

My body was trembling. A red-eyed bird flew into me. It flapped the wings in between my eyebrows. I was fifteen years old when I experienced this during my first ever meditation. Since then, when I hear the word “meditation,” I ran away as much I could for the next twenty years. Then the magic happened, during my thirty-fifth birthday, I received a free meditation course coupon from my brother. It is a two days meditation program.

I went there to see how others do meditation. I told the meditation master(Guru) I sprint faster when I hear the word meditation. He smiled at me and said, “You need not meditate; just close your eyes and sleep or think about one of your fun moments in life.”

It is so easy when you have an air-conditioned room to fall asleep. But I could not sleep on that day. The next two days have made me move closer to meditation.

My journey with meditation starts there. Now, I meditate every day. But for beginners, meditation is always a bitter fruit.

What we are going to see in this article is, Is there an alternative for meditation? Yes, we do have, read on 😊

Staring through the window

Staring through the window is one of the practices I used to do when I was living in Philadelphia back in 2009. I was alone in the apartment as I had to work from there, once my apartment-mates left for work, I developed this habit for myself to escape from the loneliness.

Our apartment was on the 17th floor, and it had a lovely lake view. I used to stare through the window for countless days. It has many benefits:

• Your mind becomes calm
• Your concentration level increases
• You will connect with nature(Sky, Trees, Clouds and more)
• You will get instant relief from the digital world

Give a try for a few days. You will never be the same person again.

Look at photos

We are in an era where we take photos of everything using our smartphone if you browse your mobile photo gallery you might have hundreds of photos, ask yourself this one question:

“I have tens of thousands of photos, how many times am I gonna see it?” mostly, your answer would be “a few times in a year.”

Instead, start seeing the best photos daily for a few minutes. Flip through the photographs of your best moments in life. Looking at the images of your past self brings you pleasant memories. Your mind will travel to that memory, and your soul will feel much ease. If possible, look at the pre-mobile era photos, the one sleeping in your physical photo album, not the digital snaps. Those old photographs bring much more happiness than the new ones and soothe your inner self.

Nature Walk

Walking is the right way of relieving your stress and good for health, but what is nature walk? Instead of walking on the same ground or park, try to walk in a different route every day. It gives you a new perspective of life for sure; you will meet new people, explore new places. Human minds like to explore. The more you explore, the more you connect with yourself.

Most importantly, your jumping thoughts will slowly settle down, and you will soon enjoy the walk as your mind will think only one thing which is exploring a new route/place. It is why most of the creators go for a quick walk and come back with a new idea.

Conclusion

Meditation does not mean it has to be done in a sitting position by closing your eyes and letting go off the thoughts. For me, in our day to day life, be one with your thoughts can be achieved in various ways. The above three are the best samples.

In the longer run, you will embrace meditation through these simple practices, and the experience with meditation will give you new insights about life.

I wish you a blessed year ahead.