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Who were we before our kids were born and even before we got married? Are there just millions of mothers who look at their college or pre-marriage picture and say – “I miss being that”. We would think, it is natural not feel like dressing up once we are moms and it is ok to not look as good because THERE IS NO TIME!!! But really, is that how our life needs to be? Not get enough time to brush our hair, just squeeze in our meals and eat the left-
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Get to every video with one click. Many world secrets revealed about astrology, health, life-coaching, dating and more: Get to every video with one click. Many world secrets revealed: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCps8gUnc4Zfp3xKw62fp4_g
It is so easy to say – “You should meditate” but it is so hard to actually do it, in fact, even want to do it. Meditation has that boring, serious or ‘difficult’ connotation to it which gets us to push it to – “Maybe someday I will do it, but not today!” If you have been in this in-between of knowing how great meditation can be and yet not sure if you want to do it, this is the article for you. In this article I will briefly describe meditation, how to and touch on my recent experience with Vipassana meditation. I have a video at the end of the article which explains my views on all these in greater detail.
Why Meditate / What is Meditation?
Just like we exercise our body to strengthen our muscles and body immunity, we meditate to strengthen our mind muscles and be stronger. We need to build our mind muscle by stillness of the mind. Quiet and stillness gives our mind a break from non-stop working. Imagine a car engine that never stopped, what would happen to it? Can you guess the average number of thoughts we think in a day? Know the answer in my video.
In short, meditation is silence of the mind, not silence of the tongue or stillness of the body. We may not speak but yet our mind may continue to work. Especially at night when the body rests, the mind decides to remove all of its collected waste. That we call either anxiety, worry, dreams or insomnia. These conditions come about when our waste basket hasnot been emptied on a regular basis and results in over spilling.
How to Meditate?
Hence, for daily mind clearing, a few minutes of meditation is a must. Why ignore our mind when it is so simple? Let’s say we have no more than 5 minutes a day. For that, all we need to do is, find 2 minutes of silence twice a day. In that silence, we must close our eyes and focus our mind on our breath and feel free of any things planned for the day. This can be done while travelling to work / home or just before lunch, before bed time, etc. This is the simplest way to meditate and yet very effective if done twice a day, daily.
With more time, say more than 5 minutes, one can even play meditation music on YouTube and sit in a comfortable place of privacy. Just close one’s eyes, with a straight back (take back support if needed) and hear that music for as long as one wishes.
The 3rd easy way to meditate is ‘Aum’ chanting. Sit in a comfortable position with straight back and chant A-u-m by pulling the sound from one’s navel / stomach. It gets better with practice and some youtube videos may be available for the same. Chant with an emphasis on A sound first and less of U and M. Repeat that. Then move to short A sound but longer U sound and short M sound (repeat it). Last go to M sound for the longest time and repeat that. Do as many Aum repetitions as needed. It is ok to do a short Aum chant to start with. Our breath may not permit a longer chant and that is ok. It gets better with daily repetitions. We must not do more than what our body permits.
The next level of meditation is sitting in complete silence and allowing our thoughts to come and go without any focus on them. This is the best way to remove ‘mind waste’ and create a space for deeper introspection. Through that one builds mental strength and self-awareness of deeper emotional layers.
There are many other ways to meditate but the above 4 are the simplest. If one likes chanting mantras, one can do mantra meditation to increase mental power.
For increasing focus, concentration and memory:
1. YouTube – Look at the changing designs of mandalas for as long as you can, you can YouTube Magic Mandalas or Mandala meditation.
2. Fix one’s gaze on a candle’s wick.
3. Color Mandalas with intent and focus.
4. Labyrinth – Walk a labyrinth.
There are several other types of meditation. Just like different types of medicines or fitness regimes suit different people, same is with meditation.
Vipassana Meditation:
This week I visited Belapur center for Vipassana Meditation for the 10 day course. The accommodation and food facilities at the center are awesome and overall the atmosphere feels conducive for meditation. However, like I had imagined, Vipassana is not a course of complete silence. While students remain silent, the group meditation (about 3 hours a day in total) involves teacher’s constant instruction played through a recorded tape, first in Hindi, followed by English repetition. Besides that, there is a discourse daily and recorded audios focusing on karma theory, moral values, how Vipassana helps, etc. In my video I have mentioned in great detail, the truth that I felt about Vipassana and in comparison to other meditation techniques.
Brahma Kumaris
Personally, I am in love with Brahma Kumaris. To avail of their meditation services, we must first do a 7 day course (which is just 1 hour a day of meditation for 7 days) and then attend any center for meditation whenever we feel like. Their audio which states – “Om Shanti Om, I am a peaceful soul” is my most favorite audio for meditation.
Do watch my video link which will be added here soon. You can even YouTube Rima Desai or Google – Rima Desai YouTube to find all my videos. Remember to meditate at least 2 minutes a day. Your lovely self deserves at least that much pampering. How much do we all do for others throughout the day? Let’s do some for ourselves too!
Important Points:
Never meditate right after a meal
Never force yourself to meditate no matter what others say
Meditation is joyful experience, not a serious, sad matter!
Midnight empty roads – the time when the damp air is caressing the exhausted roads while the walls SCREAM out the Stories of the Day ~ everything becomes CLEAR in Stillness … ~ I could hear it all, how beautiful are the roads rt now :)
…Kinda like the Sub-Conscious Mind which starts SPEAKING OUT while we rest our Conscious / Awake Mind and it can N-E-V-E-R lie.
So what does your silence scream out? ~ hidden under the cushions of a busy life?!
O how we are attracted to the play of Planets in our lives. Since we can remember, humans have turned to astrology for guidance and hope. And don’t these planets impact us? Of course they do! The sun’s rays impacts us? If yes, then so does every other planet in our solar system. Astrology is real, it works! However, if one gets a wrong reading, is misguided or feels misled, then that doesn’t mean astrology is wrong. It simply means that not all astrologers are informed or talented enough to be able to provide the ‘authentic’, ancient astrology or that it may have been a mismatch or that just like other industries, some astrologers are ‘commercial’ and some are sincere, learned astrologers. Whatever the case, it is important to not ‘judge’ this ancient science with the lack of one’s knowledge or a bad experience.
One of the big reason why astrology pulls us towards it is that we ‘believe’ that it will give us HOPE for a better future. That is often the reason many people show their charts to astrologers. Seek an Astrology Consultation from Rima.
Astrology may be able to give us hope but it was primarily built to guide people in seeking important answers related to guiding their soul’s spiritual advancement, choosing a career, being mindful of one’s karmic backlog and finding solutions to life’s problems related to relationships or etc…
This is not a post for anyone in specific, it is to all those who have in the past, and still consult me with their charts – if you want HOPE, you do not need to show your chart to gain it. A horoscope cannot guarantee anything is going to be ‘better’. Neither can it change things magically.In fact, it could point out the several problems that the individual must address. What happens then to one’s psyche?
In my consultations to people, it has helped my clients to be affirmed of challenges they perceive, have or feel and finding more ‘internalized’ solutions as vs. external, superficial remedies like gem stones or havans.
Working on our ‘character’, our ‘sanskars’, our attitude towards things can do a lot more for us than having a chart read simply for ‘HOPE’ of things turning in your favor. What if I see something worse coming up? Then what do you want the astrologer to tell you?
“Showing one’s chart cannot guarantee a better future, working on oneself can!!!”
Ways to work on oneself: Life-Coaching, Hypnotherapy, Spiritual living, Meditation, Social Service, Life-style change including food and exercise.
When can astrology help?
Astrology is a wonderful, scientific tool which can be used towards one’s benefit in many ways. It can help provide insights into which career or which field of study to pursue, the purpose of one’s birth, what did the soul pledge to do before it chose that body, best time for marriage, child birth, how to reduce certain health or financial hazards and best move through challenging planetary times…
I hope this information helps you make better choices for a brighter future. Remember there is no escape from Self-Work: In our years of life, we have thought ill of people, judged others, been critical, harsh, boastful, greedy, deceived others, acted out of insecurity, etc. Through life-coaching and other modalities, when we clear out our past, we 100% create a pathway for a Brighter Future and then, it doesn’t matter what our chart says!!!
Also know that when a solution is mentioned from an astrological point of view, that is probably the ‘best’ solution for your particular context. Clients sometimes hope for ‘easier’ solutions. Imagine if I am ill, you are giving me medicine for my ailment but I don’t like this medicine, could I ask for an ‘easier’ medicine? … when we show our charts, it gets easier for us if we are ‘willing’ to make the changes mentioned. The astrologer is not a magician: cannot change things around for you. Short cut solutions do not work. They are simply quick fixes that produce weak results.
However, if you are ready to receive GENUINE guidance and are committed to self work, want to grow spiritually and personally, be guided sincerely, then yes, there is a lot to gain from an astrology reading!
Spirit vs. Computer. With the Magic powers of my Spirit how much Tech do I need?
Read on…
Last weekend at a site-seeing spot this person comes up to and asks me to click his family. I was surprised to see the camera was size of a cookie- Glucose biscuit size! I am not at all a ‘Tech’ person, uninterested! Yes, I like to use it and I need this laptop rt now to print this – but I need nothing Fancy and don’t find any interest in staying up-to-date with it.
…
On the contrary, ask me about what I personally call – ‘Spiritual Technology’: I can tell you and teach you a lot about: Clairvoyance, Intuition, Psychic readings, Hypnosis, Past-life regression, Astrology, Zodiac Signs, Polarity, Reiki, Energy related work, Meditation of Several types, Karma Theories, Heavenly bodies, Spirits, and so on..
Why should I find interest in Technology when I can feel your energies, know what you are doing, read your mind often even WORD BY WORD, feel your feelings even if you are a 1000 or 100,000 miles away; When I can tell who is calling or texting me before I see the phone, why you did what you did before I ask you, when I can look into my past life and tell you and me what was it like and give you proof of it, when I can dream in advance what is going to happen, when I can help myself with meditation and hypnosis to alter my life style for the better, when I can half heal my physical hurt with reiki….
…when I can tell you about your childhood or your relationships at home by just interacting with you, when I can look at your face and capture your overall personality, character, and above all: HAVE MY TEAM OF POWERFUL ANGELS WORKING WITH ME.The list goes on…. I am still on the journey but I sure have come far and realizing how powerful this magic is!! Those who are out of touch with that world, are missing out a lot!!!! There is so much out there in the Universe and within you…
“It is the most intriguing part of life. It is like all of us have 2 lands every where we step – it is either the Spirit land or the Material Land. It is what you chose to land on, that you chose to make more Powerful!” ~ By Rima Desai
Parent of the Month II (May 2015): LATE MRS. MAYA CHHEDA
Today: 14th May, is my Late Mom’s birthday – Mrs. Maya Chheda. ‘My Parent of the Month’ Series will be incomplete without her mention. I will like to dedicate this post to her with the intention that it will reach her wherever she is. I believe that she did a lot more for others than she received. I intend that with this post, her soul ‘hears’ that she is valued, loved, cared for, and MISSED by many of us even now; that I owe her my life and I Thank her for all the goodness that she instilled in my sister and me in early years. She passed away at an early age of 33 years and I missed out on learning a lot more things from her.
Today I was working at my laptop when suddenly my daughter began singing – “Happy Birthday to you…” Oblivious in my work, I asked her whose birthday was it? She ignored my question and continued singing in the end addressing it to her grandma (my mom). I was thrilled! :)
MOM’S BACKGROUND
Mom was born in a large family of 10 children. She was the last of them all and sadly for her, she didn’t get a chance to even see her dad. Her father passed away when she was yet to be born.
The growing years for all the children including her were filled up numerous hardships. Her mom (my grandma) had to financially support the family and also look after so many children. Even though grandma was physically present, she was emotionally missing from mom’s life. Mom was brilliant in academics and she received support from her mom and siblings to study. She was about to finish her Doctorate but did not end up giving the very last paper!
In her own life, mom had considerable financial struggles while she brought us up. She did the best in giving us the love and support she could. There were times of severe financial difficulty and I heard from my elders that she would not eat a single slice of fruit because she would save them to give it to my sister and me.
From the vague memory that I have of my mom, I remember that she would have us recite religious prayers before sleeping, from a very young age. Those values which she gave me in the first years of life, did remain with me and I can say that they came to my ‘rescue’ in my dark times. It helped me immensely to have faith in God and believe in praying.
“Wherever you are Mom, I want to Thank You for embedding religious and moral values in me at a very early age and giving us all the care and love you did. We cherish that and love you”.
Below are heart-felt shares from some of her family members:
NIECE
“I loved her a lot. She was very intelligent and religious. She had studied Jain religion in deep. She was an expert in cooking and her pani puri was the world’s best. I was very fond of her. She was my ideal and I always wanted to be like her. Your Mom always believed in equality between girl and boy. She never approved of gender bias and clearly corrected those who discriminate between their son and daughter. I still remember her saying that one should give equal love to all children. I am going to feel her loss all my life”.
BROTHER-IN-LAW
“As her name suggests, MAYA, she was full of ‘love’. She was like a sister to me. She helped her sister (my wife) to get married in spite of her partial disability. She put an ad in Mumbai Samachar newspaper. Because of Sister Maya’s help, today I have a wonderful wife and daughter.
She was the most beautiful person in the family by looks and by heart. She would treat guests as God and her sacrifice and love for the family was unmatching. She has helped my wife in many ways. When our apartment was getting painted for 9 days, she took my wife – her elder sister to her home forcibly because she knew her sister had allergy to paint. And in those 9 days of stay, even though Sister Maya had her own difficulties, she treated my wife (her elder sister) excellent.
We all miss her a lot. Maybe God had a plan to have her meet her father in heaven and hence took her away from us so early. She has been a blessing and she has left behind 2 beautiful Angel Daughters. May God Bless her and Keep her united with all family members here and in heaven”.
DAUGHTERS
We mutually remember that Mom used to knit sweaters for us. She was super talented. And she always made our birthdays special by making THREE cakes for us. I clearly remember one of the Strawberry or Pink cake that she had made. It used to be Chocolate, Strawberry, and maybe Pineapple. We know that Mom loved us a lot and did many special things for us.
I remember when I would go down to play without shoes and get hurt with nails from the playground or the times when mom would call us back home. She also taught us to help in the kitchen from young age as often her health would not be good.
“Mom I always bake cake for your grand-daughter’s birthday and she loves it. If you were here today, I would bake THREE cakes for You! I trust that you are well wherever you are and may you celebrate that life with Love and Joy You were a very courageous person and you have passed that on to us. Thank You Mom for everything!”
SISTER
Maya was extremely talented and affectionate by nature. She was good looking, independent, and smart. – She was very fond of keeping a beautiful, neat, and tidy home. Her interests and talents included cooking, stitching, and socializing. She enjoyed inviting people and was loved by her entire family because of her loving and generous nature. She had wonderful handwriting too. She loved her daughters immensely; even though she was strict with them in her discipline rarely have I seen a mother who loves her children so deeply. I still resent the fact that she didn’t complete her doctorate and that she struggled a lot with her kids in the apartment she lived in. I always remember her sharing her wish to come to USA. Whatever I say about her will be less. She left behind a lot of memories in our hearts. Her sudden loss is a wound that cannot be healed.
SISTER II
If I have to sum up in just few words, I can say that Maya was my best friend.
When we were young we shared the same mattress to sleep together, knowing that we had a highly modest upbringing. We laughed, cried, fought, and confided in each other. Many a times she fought with entire family for me! She was the only one I could speak out my heart to about some things that I could not share with anyone else. I think I was v.protective about her. I miss her immensely!———
Thank You everyone for reading this article and for blessing her soul :) It is easier to write about others than to write about someone of your own.
This is an insightful poem that I wrote in my tweens.
Life’s Lessons
I was curious to know how deep the ocean was, but my hand couldn’t reach the ground;
I was curious to know how tall the sky was but my hand couldn’t ladder up
I was eager to know how far the horizon was, but my hand couldn’t stretch enough
I was waiting to discover how huge the earth was, but my eyes couldn’t gather it up
I was wanting to prove how strong I was, but my body couldn’t lift the weight
I was fighting to prove how right I was, but nobody ever listened to me
I was flaunting my beautiful body but somebody was always more beautiful..
One day a street child smiled at me and I smiled back. At this moment I wasn’t eager, I wasn’t curious, I wasn’t waiting, I wasn’t proving and nor was I flaunting! I was emoting; sharing one moment of happiness right from my soul! I was being myself without conditions and expectations.
That’s when I learnt –
The ocean is not deeper than my thought,
The sky is not higher than my will,
The horizon is not further to my foresight,
The earth is not larger than my kindness,
My limbs are not stronger than my tolerance,
My word is not stronger than my humble action,
My body is not better than my soul!
– Rima Desai
We have wasted a lot of time in proving, arguing, fighting, hurting, earning, back biting and in enjoying. And yet we have not changed this world to a better place!
Have we continued to complain but failed to act, to help, to take responsibility?
There is only a one letter difference between Better & Bitter. Which one do we bend towards often & why? The complaining team or the accomplishing team?
Rima Desai's: Scuba Diving into the Mind's Pool 