Hale & Hearty

Making Sense of Life

- Aparna Nair

Former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was working late at night, when he felt something amiss. There was a stillness lurking, yet there was none in him and around him. The thought hit him hard, prompting him to rush to the quiet room in the UN, a space dedicated to solitude and contemplation. Inside the room, Dag felt the space not reflecting the silence that is absent on the streets and thirsting to come out and fill the room. He wanted to create an ambience, a bridge between the vastness of the space above and the limitations of the world below – a reminder of the idea of a supreme power worshipped by many in whatever form and whatever way. That was in 1957.

Now, 67 years later, the UN has gone a step ahead and taken this quietude beyond the spiritual to one of wellness and wellbeing. Akin to the Yoga Day it instituted on June 21, the UN has now set aside a day for what the quiet room stood for, time within one's own self, and celebrated the maiden edition of World Meditation Day recently.

With a new year here, CE aims to motivate its readers to take on this practice, and talks to practitioners who share how meditation has helped them. Yoga trainer Aleena Saju took up meditation, when she was going through a low phase during her college days in Mangaluru. "I had a friend who had taken up yoga modules which gave importance to meditation. I too took up the same and life has transformed for me," she says. Ashvin K, a Chennai resident says, "I began meditating during my temple visits, spending 20-25 minutes focusing on the area between my eyebrows. It gave me a profound sense of calm. I've continued this practice for two years now, and it has been instrumental in relieving my daily stress."