In this article, I mentioned that periods of transformation are times that seem challenging for us, but that strengthen us and increase our awareness. This week, which is the closest example of this, is a period in which we experience individual and even social transformation. And the question I've been asking myself for days: Why does it happen to us? But just asking this question and rebelling, unfortunately, does not bring any benefit. It is most beneficial for all of us that we first calm our minds and then find constructive and remedial ways. In order to get through this transformation process in a constructive way, I will tell you about my mind calming practices, which is perhaps the most important issue in my own transformation process.
There are so many things to do in today's life; cooking, working, shopping, communicating with friends and family face-to-face or over the phone, following the agenda, solving unexpected problems… While trying to train what we need to do during the day, we also have regrets from the past, resentments or worries about the future. , plans, expectations keep turning. In the midst of all these dense clouds of thought, it is inevitable to get stressed.
While I was in such thoughts, I can say that my stress increased two cards when the problem of eczema arose. On the one hand, I thought that I should not be stressed, otherwise eczema would be triggered, and on the other hand, I was stressed about how my eczema would go away. The first medicine in my holistic treatment prescription was breathing and meditation practices that I would practice on a daily basis. I was lucky that I wasn't far from either of these issues. On the contrary, I had greatly reduced my anxiety by practicing breathing regularly in the morning and evening. But after I got the result, I stopped continuing. I knew meditation as much as my teachers had it applied at the beginning or end of group yoga classes.
If I introduce the practices; Although there are many techniques of breathing exercises, the Nadi Shodhana technique that I apply. I apply it for 10 minutes as the first thing in the morning and the last thing before going to bed at night. Regardless of the technique, the common purpose of breathing exercises is to create space for oneself to take a break from the confusion of thoughts in the mind by focusing only on the breath throughout the practice, and to bring the body into balance by breathing correctly. While doing the work, you see how many issues arise that prevent you from focusing on your breath at first, and on the one hand, you need to fidget in your seat. Your mind starts to produce new thoughts one after another, like who will do it for such a long time, what will it do, my leg has started to hurt, my seat is uncomfortable. But when you continue your practice without interruption, you observe that the thoughts circulating in your mind decrease. This is the main factor that reduces your stress.
Similarly, our goal in meditation is to take awareness from the past or future and bring it to the present moment. Since focusing on the breath is also a part of meditation, the two practices support each other. Since I had not tried to meditate on my own before, I downloaded one of the available applications to my phone and started to practice guided meditation.
In guided meditation, the voice in the app tells you what to do at that moment, so the thought of "I can't do it" disappears. Although thoughts appear in your mind from time to time during meditation, it becomes easier for you to return to the moment thanks to the orientation. I think the greatest thing that my meditation practices have brought me is the ability to observe thoughts coming unannounced.
As thoughts emerged, I called them “thoughts” and watched them come and go without getting stuck. Now, in my daily life, as anxious thoughts appear in my mind, I see them and let them go without getting into that feeling. From time to time, it may not be possible not to have those feelings, and in such cases, I can at least realize that I have that feeling. And whatever I'm doing, I stop and focus on my breath for five minutes. Observing that I calmed down in a short time and came out of that cloud of emotion is my biggest motivation to continue my practice.
