The UN has officially set 21 December as World Meditation Day in an effort to increase awareness about the practice’s benefits.
Meditation takes many forms; it can be spiritual meditation or a guided mindful meditation, whichever works best for you. It can help lower stress levels; help calm a busy mind and help dissipate anxious feelings and thoughts. However, it’s important to remember to be patient with yourself as you start practicing it.
From the very beginning, personal spiritual contemplation has been part of Islamic traditions. Islam’s teachings encourage individuals to maintain strong mental wellbeing and to live a life that balances din (faith) and duniya (world).
Many Muslim communities follow a path (tariqa) guided by a spiritual leader, such as a Shia Imam or a Sufi murshid, who guide their community’s inward search for individual spiritual enlightenment. These include personal meditative practices, often involving the silent repetition and remembrance (dhikr) of God.
During the Covid pandemic, in his message to the Jamat on the occasion of Navroz 2021, Mawlana Hazar Imam reminded the Jamat: “I wish my Jamat to keep in mind the importance I attach to our historic tradition of personal, private prayer.”
Looking after one’s health, both physical and mental, is imperative. It also aligns with the third Sustainable Development Goal, good health and wellbeing encouraging individuals to adopt strategies encouraging a peaceful and patient society.
With climate concerns, political concerns, health and social concerns it’s more important now than ever to be setting time aside to recalibrate yourself to cope with challenges presented. There’s a longstanding Zen saying: “if you don’t have the time to meditate for an hour, that’s when you need to meditate for two.”
The benefits of meditation range from clearing your mind, reducing stress levels, aiding sleep and helping to increase focus and attention. Research has also shown that meditation can help with age-related memory loss, lower blood pressure and the list of benefits continues.
“Given its wide range of benefits, I incorporate meditation into my clinical practice and recommend it to patients, as it shows promising results in improving overall well-being,” says Dr. Mashal Babar Motani of the Aga Khan Health Board in the UAE.
This World Meditation Day, seize the opportunity to start making your wellness a priority and begin your meditation journey.
“It is clear that the human mind and heart will be the central factors in determining social wealth.” - Mawlana Hazar Imam at the Annual meeting of the International Baccalaureate, 2008
