Pearls of hidden wisdom: The value of breathwork and meditation

Many of us are wondering how we can get off all that is stressing us: the present corona virus situation, the lockdown, cases coming up and reducing, the loss of jobs, broken relationships or on verge of breakdown, divorces, sicknesses, deaths of loved ones, the list seems endless. In the midst of this, some of us are also challenged with questions such as: How to achieve inner peace? How to find joy? How to have the clarity of mind? How to boost self-esteem and confidence? How to deal with stress at work? How to combat loneliness, anxiety and depression? How to build trust in relationships?

The golden key to unlock answers to many of the above questions lie within. And one of the easiest ways to go within in the precious life secret present right underneath our nostrils, our breath! Know breath, know life! No breath, no life! The first act that we did in life when we were born was we took a deep breath in and the last act of life that we would do is we would breathe out and life exists between the first and last acts.

One would wonder how something as mundane as breathing can impact or enhance the quality of our lives. Research shows that every emotion is associated with a certain pattern of breath, we breathe fast when angry, we breathe slowly when we are sad or we don’t feel the breath at all. But the reverse is also possible, we can influence out state of mind using our breath patterns and this can significantly improve the quality of our lives by influencing our emotions. This helps us access inner peace, joy and mental clarity.

As an experiment, we can also breathe in a certain rhythm and notice how our emotions get impacted.

Many of us may also wonder how this can impact the Corona Virus situation, the lockdown, the relationship stress, the loss of jobs and many other stresses that we are surrounded by. Well, we cannot change things or situations externally, however, we can access the inner space for an elevated state of mind. Like Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar says “The quality of our lives depends on the state of our minds”.

Have you observed that when we are in the peak of anger and frustration, even the beauty of the night and the shining moon seems to irritate us? When our mind is pleasant, happy, free from agitation even the smallest and simplest of things such as a raindrop brings us immense joy.

When we move towards the source of joy and bliss within, our life becomes an expression of happiness and anything that we do we do it with a sense of contentment adds more charm and value to it. This has a correlation to our productivity at workplace, our relationships with those around us, and our self-esteem and confidence. Our minds have been programmed to look for happiness in external objects or situations making life a pursuit of happiness. It is time to reverse the trend and tap into our potential within through the pearls of hidden wisdom: breathwork and meditation.