People often ask me, “Sumit, what exactly is meditation?” For a long time, I thought meditation was something complicated—something only monks or people with hours of free time could master. But over the years, I’ve realized that meditation is actually quite simple. It’s not about emptying your mind or forcing yourself to sit still for hours. It’s really about one thing: watching.
Meditation, at its core, is the art of watching. It’s about being present and observing what’s happening inside you—your thoughts, your emotions, even the sensations in your body—without judgment, without trying to change anything. It’s about becoming the witness to your own experience.
Now, this is where things can get tricky, because when we’re caught up in life—especially during emotional moments—it feels almost impossible to step back and just watch. I mean, when you’re angry or sad, watching your feelings is the last thing on your mind, right? You’re wrapped up in it, reacting without even thinking. I’ve been there myself, and I can tell you, it’s no easy task.
But here’s what I’ve come to understand—and this is the real essence of meditation: watching is the key to everything.You know, when I first started my meditation practice, I struggled with the idea of "watching" anything—especially during emotional outbursts. I mean, let’s be honest—when you’re feeling a wave of anger or sadness, watching your feelings is the last thing on your mind, right? You’re caught up in the storm, reacting, maybe even lashing out. It’s so hard to just sit back and observe.
I remember one time, I was in a heated argument with a close friend. My emotions were all over the place—anger, frustration, disappointment. In the heat of the moment, there was no space for calm, no space for awareness. And trying to watch myself? Forget about it.
But here’s what I learned later, through practice—watching, or observing, is at the core of yoga and meditation. It’s the key to everything. Whether we’re talking about postures, breathing, or mindfulness, it all comes down to this: being able to watch what’s happening without getting swept away by it.
Watching is the one thing in us that’s beyond the mind. Think about it. If you can observe your thoughts, your emotions, even your body, that means you’re something separate from them. You’re not your thoughts, you’re not your emotions, and you’re certainly not just your body.
Take this, for example: I can watch my hand move. I can feel the sensations in my body. But that means I’m not just my hand, and I’m not just my body either. The watcher, the observer, is always a step removed from what it’s watching.
And it’s the same with the mind. You can watch your thoughts—how they come and go, how they jump from one thing to another. You ever notice that when you’re still, your mind is like a monkey hopping around? It’s all over the place! But the fact that you can watch this mental circus shows you’re not your thoughts. You’re the one witnessing them.
Now, the tricky part is watching your emotions. I know from experience that when you’re in the middle of a powerful emotion—whether it’s anger, sadness, or even happiness—it’s hard to step back and watch it. You’re usually too caught up in feeling it. But this is where the magic happens. If you can just pause, take a breath, and observe the emotion, you’ll realize something amazing: you are not your emotions either. You can watch them rise and fall, come and go, just like waves in the ocean.
When I started doing this, I found a deeper sense of peace. I’d catch myself in the middle of feeling overwhelmed, and instead of reacting, I’d step back and just observe. It doesn’t always make the emotion disappear, but it helps me remember that the real me is something much deeper than the passing storm.
And the more you practice this art of watching, the deeper you go. Eventually, you hit a point where all that’s left is silence—stillness. And in that silence, something incredible happens: the energy that was watching everything else suddenly starts watching itself.
That’s the essence of yoga and meditation. It’s the practice of moving beyond your mind, beyond your ego, and into pure awareness. It’s a journey of discovering who you really are—beyond the labels, beyond the emotions, beyond the noise.
Love
Sumit
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