Dumbbells and Drama

** This article has been written by Dimple Dhalwani

Depression is more common than what you think it is, it’s just  the intensity that makes the difference. Whether it’s been a temporary phase of depression or a long term disease that you’ve been dealing with, let’s admit it, we have all had our low moments. Not convinced? Losing a job, death of a loved one, death of a pet, break ups, all of them make us experience depression in some form. Social rejection, peer pressure, any form of abuse, or even unequal treatment of siblings in childhood can lead on to depression.

One thing to note here is that while we realise we are suffering, we do not wan to do anything about it. In fact there are times when we don’t want to accept it either! If we do wish to accept it, we make it an internal struggle and tell ourselves that we will be fine with time; we read articles to feel positive about things, we rely on Google for our mental health. Seldom do we seek professional help and treat it seriously because of our societal conditioning.

Depression in India largely means having a mental/psychological disorder. We are looked down upon, pitied if we utter the word. If we do muster the courage to admit it to ourselves or our support system we are  asked to stay shush “uh, what’s there to be depressed. Be strong,get over it. Something better will come. God has better things planned for you” Here’s the thing – this doesn’t help.

Depression is technically a constantly low state of mood which affects our self –esteem. Self-doubt starts to creep in and we feel frustrated, demotivated, restless, ashamed, worthless, empty, hopeless, anger and so much more.

Thankfully we are now aware of the medical treatment for depression that is available in the world. We are getting comfortable with visiting doctors and taking anti-depressants.

BUT! Have we ever thought of taking another route in this 2 minute instant Maggi noodle life where we’re used to instant solutions? We’re so wrapped up in our world that we forget to give time to ourselves. How if I told you that giving time to yourself and figuring out what is causing your depression could help you cure it for good?

Say hello to meditation.

We all believe it’s a task to sit down to meditate. “Who has so much time?” “Oh it’s going to take forever!” “How does it even help I don’t have the time to think so much.”

It’s a misconception that meditation is only about thinking.Meditation is a state of awareness in a moment- an awareness of our mind, body, breathing, surrounding. This makes the tip of the iceberg of the mediation practice. Each and every one one of us can meditate, it’s not rocket science.

A lot of people believe we are sitting down in silence and doing nothing. What we are actually doing is rewiring our brain nerves, actively training our mind to increase our awareness and working on conditioning the mind to accept silence as a form of activity. There is a lot of research evidence that meditation aids in depression. Science is constantly proving how our brain waves change after a meditation session and the everlasting results of a daily meditation practice for just 5 mins a day –yes, 300 seconds is all it takes!

How Does One Meditate?

The easiest way to start  is through a guided meditation session where you are guided by the mediator. Thanks to YouTube these guided meditation sessions are easily available and can be done anytime and anywhere in the world.

It is highly recommended that when dealing with depression you get help from mediation teachers to start with and then you can gradually move to self-practice.

Just put your phone down, close your eyes and take a deep deep breath. There you go, you’ve already started meditating 🙂

***These are the writers views and is not speaking against the medical help community where people take help from for curing depression.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *