What does meditating mean to me?

One of my friends asked me what meditating meant to me. And honestly, this was one of the most interesting question I have been asked in a long time. I had never really thought about it, so it was a great opportunity for some introspection.

So, what does "meditating" mean to me?

I feel that the act of meditating is one of my anchors. The kind of anchor Byung-Chul Han talks about in his books^[1]. It grabs me and pulls me back before the truck called "fast-paced world" can hit me. It heals me. It's my natural decompression & cooldown period.

I meditate to calm myself down and to cultivate presence, especially before studying and before bed. It's almost spiritual. Ritualistic. Mechanical but organic. It's instinctive to me. I don't force it. It comes on its own. It's like a second nature.

Of all the different kinds of meditative activities, I mostly like stillness, breathing and visualisation exercises. Does yoga nidra count as meditation? Not really, not to me, but I do it for the instrumental value of napping better. Sometimes settling down for some time and journaling can also be pretty meditative and grounding.

For some people, meditating might be an instrumental (like how yoga-nidra is for me) rather than a spiritual activity, but for me, meditating is becoming myself. Whenever I meditate, I become more whole, wider, larger, spacious. It's not really physical, but it's there. It's extension- it's a part of my growth.

I would love to get your thoughts on this as well. Please, do comment on how meditating makes you feel! And don't forget to chill out!

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