Miracles – Oprah and Deepak Meditation Challenge Day 1
Today, I began my journey on the 21 Day Meditation Challenge hosted by Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey on ‘Miraculous Relationships’. This post is a part of a 21 day journal documenting my personal experiences with this challenge. Each day of the meditation challenge begins with a daily message that revolves around a ‘centering thought’. For the first day, it was “Today I am open to the Presence of Miracles.” The message is the first step towards the goal for the first week which is to understand your inner self. Only after you know what you truly are, can you expect to build lasting relationships with others as Oprah explains in the introduction of the day’s lesson.
Daily Teachings
Before I discuss today’s lesson, let me quickly brief you about how the program works. As I learned through my first lesson, you receive an email notifying you that the online teaching session is live. The email also contains the centering thought for each day, a link to the audio session and links to other tips and resources online (like Oprah’s word on miracles) that help you apply the teachings in your real life. Once you click on the link and log in using your registered email, you can read a foreword by Deepak Chopra on the day’s thought and then click on the audio player clip to listen to the teachings. The 15 minute clip contains a short introductory message by Oprah Winfrey followed by a brief discourse by Deepak Chopra on the day’s thought. After this, Deepak shows you how to meditate and encourages a short session of peaceful meditation.
Day 1
I intended to do this early morning before my kids were up, but I ended up doing this after I had dropped my kids off to school. It went well at that hour for me. Carrying my laptop or even my netbook seemed too distracting for meditating, so I used my smartphone to listen to the lesson.
Although Deepak does not insist on preparing for meditation in any particular way and only suggests being settled comfortably, I used my own previous experience and sat cross-legged on a mat on the floor in a well-ventilated peaceful room of my house. As suggested in the audio clip, I placed my hands in my lap with palms facing upward.
The audio clip file begins with soothing music that instantly relaxed me. It was a movitating thought as Deepak explained that miracles take place all the time in our daily life. It is only because we are too pre-occupied that we do not realize their presence in our lives. To quote his beautiful line – “…yet they are always there, like gifts waiting to be opened”.
Meditation
So far, so good. The message was precise, clear and uplifting. Then, came the meditation part. After explaining the meaning of the mantra ‘Om’ which is the sound that connects us to the universe, the lesson encourages the meditator to close their eyes and meditate on the mantra for a short duration. Now comes the real test. You wouldn’t believe if I told you it becomes impossible to center your mind at one thought for five minutes, until you try it for yourself. My mind kept jumping from one thought to the other – from the thought of writing this blog post to ‘how long is it going to last’. I was suddenly reminded of my early meditation days mentioned in my last post when I tried to kill time with closed eyes, trying to convince my mother that I was, indeed, meditating. At one point of time, I was trying to think if I would ever have anything to post to the Facebook community of other meditators at all! And before I could really begin meditating, the ending bell sounded.
But one thing that I experienced despite my failed attempt at meditating was that somewhere between listening to the discourse and learning to meditate, I had discovered a really sanctifying place inside of me. I am sure about this because I opened my eyes once, gazed around my beautiful room, and suddenly couldn’t wait to close my eyes again and go back to whatever place I was at that time.
But this was not done. Determined to do it right, I patiently listened to the parting words which were a repetition of the centering thought – Today I am open to the Presence of Miracles – I replayed the entire lesson and fared better this time. The short while when I was asked to continue the meditation in silence were the highlight of the entire lesson. I was dis-connected from the outside world and feeling really calm within.
Snorkeling?
That’s right. With my eyes closed, I was suddenly reminded of the time when I was snorkeling in the pure waters of Phuket. That quiet solitude you feel when you put your head under the water. And yet, you are not asleep or lacking any senses. You continue to observe, enjoy and cherish everything around you while being totally dis-connected with the world outside of the water. Who knew snorkeling could feel the same as an effort to meditate? And who knew what an impact that experience of solitude beneath the layers of water had made on me and was lying hidden somewhere in my sub-conscious mind waiting to be discovered today?
What I Gained
I admit I have no clue how my meditation or the positive thought I am repeating to myself are going to affect my relationships. I also have no idea what I am supposed to do with the fact that I imagined myself snorkeling while I was supposed to be meditating. But I do feel good. Really good. I am feeling calm and ‘settled down’ inside. And those 15 minutes seem to have rejuvenated me. I am suddenly experiencing a burst of energy and a very happy feeling all over me.
In the next few days, I hope to get the hang of it and realize how this is going to help me discover my core and improve relationships around me. Stay with me or better yet, join in and let us be enriched together.
Namaste!
