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Meditation is referred to as Pranayam in Sanskrit. Now how to master meditation. For that first lets understand what Pranayam means.

Pranayam is made from two words first is Pran, now what is Pran? You can search for it on the web and there are plenty of meaning for the same, but though they differ in meaning they don’t differ by much, some say it is the source of life and some says it is the respiration and some say it is just the breath that we inhale, this difference is due to the fact that Sanskrit though was a popular language at one time, but it is also a sort of lost language today and also when we translate from one language to another language we sort of loose its actual meaning because different people interpret the same thing in different ways.

Pranayam is one of the important step in the art of seeking blissfulness, some people try to complicate it by putting everything on pranayam, by saying by means of pranayam you can achieve moksha or achieve perfectly healthy body or will be free of all your miseries, but shri Krishna tells in Geeta that only by means of bhakti i.e. devotion you can get moksha.

What is Bhakti?

Just repeating few Sanskrit word is not bhakti, just enchanting names of God is not bhakti. Shri Krishna says that my best bhakt i.e. a devotee, is a person who understands me i.e. a “Gyani”, and its eventually a seeker i.e. a “Gigyasu” i.e. who has the curiosity to know me in term of proper reasoning ultimately becomes a “Gyani”.

Now how to master the art of Pranayam. It is not a big deal but along with pranayama you will also have to practice yog i.e. balance eating, that means food that suits your stomach, your health as well as your mind, and balance thinking, excluding anything will make you miss all the buses.

How to do Pranayam?

As most of the people know Pranayam means sitting straight, you can also sit on a chair if you feel uneasy or uncomfortable sitting on the ground but care should be taken that your legs don’t hang in air rather they must be resting on the ground, also the surface of the chair on which you are sitting should be flat and not too fluffy, and if it is not cushioned, place a cloth on the chair and sit over it, now close your eyes, just don’t move any of your parts other then the lungs which will move in order to respirate, you will have to be alert while meditating.

Now some processes will be simultaneous. You will have to observe that none of your body part move or is under tension.  You shouldn’t get lost in your own world of thought. Even if you get lost in your own world the moment you remember that you are lost, you have to focus back on your eyes that they are not restless, your body i.e. your legs and hands are not tense or moving.

This act will be repeated again and again. The process of repeating the same act again is nothing but remembering god. When you will master this art you will start to focus on your breath by itself. Because even when you are not doing anything you are breathing, you will feel calm.

Importance of Regularity

This act you should perform regularly. You shouldn’t attempt to sit for an hour or two, just give a few minutes. Why this act has to perform regularly?  Because first few days when you will be doing this you will put extra effort but slowly things will change you will become casual.

Now each day will be different. Someday you must have had a fight with your boss, or on some day you saw a sexy person of opposite sex, someday you will be annoyed with your colleague. So each day when you will meditate these thoughts will strike your mind. You might get lost in them and it might result in anger in you or maybe lust or some other form of desire and at that point, you have to relax your senses which ultimately will let to relaxation of your mind and that is nothing but indirectly remembering god.

You don’t have to concentrate on your hand posture and all those stuff. Only thing is that there should be less noise. You don’t require to go to the Himalayas or under some banyan tree in a jungle. Do it with ease in your own bedroom or drawing room wherever you feel comfortable. I hope I am able to explain it you. If anybody has any doubt they can ask me, here itself. 

I would like to add on that it will be good idea to practice anulom vilom Pranayam and kapalbhati pranayam during the act of Mastering Pranayam. These will help you to have a better focus on your breath easily which you have ignored so far in your life.