30-Day Meditation Challenge

I picked up yoga late last year in a quest to try something I have always wanted to do. And after hearing about a place that taught hot yoga at a relatively cheap rate I jumped on bandwagon, all ready to embrace all the therapeutic benefits I had heard so much about. I think to wholly embrace yoga practice, one needs to also wholeheartedly embrace the philosophical underpinnings of the practice. Yoga, to my knowledge, is a practice which evolved from buddhist teachings and philosophy. It embraces mindfulness and self-love. It is highly conducive to entering zen: a place of calmness, inner-peace and love. I remember these feelings so clearing because I would often get comments of my calm aura by peers, especially during exam period. I loved being in this mental space I had stumbled upon and yearned to practice it more.

Another delightful Yumi Sakugawa illustration

I first read about meditation with this forty-eight page guide, given to me by one of my closest friends, who had also started meditation practice on his own accord. The practice and philosophy of meditation really resonated with me, so I decided to challenge myself in February 2014 to meditate everyday. In preparation of the Challenge, I read the linked guide and familiarised myself with mindfulness practice. I told my friends about this Challenge and was blessed with response I got - unwavering support coupled with a bunch of meditation resources sent through from the meditatively astute friends. Some resources worked, others did not.

One of my friends suggested a sensory deprivation tank/floating session as part of my meditation challenge. The float session was not as useful for a couple of reasons: first because it was an obscurely new environment for me, and second because of my mild claustrophobia. Added on top of this, I had some scabs on my elbows (from the planks I was doing on my bedroom carpet), which stung like a wasp when I submerged my body into the saturated Epson salt float tubs - very distracting and prevented me from reaching zen until the last ten minutes or so in my floating session. I found that I meditated best when guided by the humble voice of Alan Watts in a natural surrounding or on the daily commute into town. The guidance led me to feel in complete utter harmony and peace with myself and the universe - all the good and the bad stuff.

Gili Layer, Indonesia 2014: One on my meditation spaces during the Challenge

Meditation has made me a lot more calm as a person. I have learnt to breathe deeply, and with every breathe I have become more responsive to my environment. I have learnt not be so damn defensive and as a result, am a lot better at navigating different relationships, albeit sometimes frustrating. My thoughts are not so concrete, but rather suspended, which allows me to become more reflective of who I am so I can better be.  And I guess that is the point of life, right?