One morning his mind felt troubled. Mukesh Vassen had been reading the news surrounding the rising numbers of infected people, and started to feel uneasy. He has breathing problems and naturally began to worry about his fate, should he contract Covid-19. Nonetheless, Vassen, who has been an advanced teacher within the humanitarian organisation, The Art of Living Foundation, for over twenty years, turned to his regular practice of meditation to ease his stress. “Afterwards I had this strange experience; this realisation arose” he said, “you’ve died so many times, why are you so worried about how you are going to die this time.” During my conversation with Vassen, he revealed the power meditation holds in helping a person feel more comfortable with their mortality and more enthused about their present day life.

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Like Vassen, some people have reported greater feelings of uneasiness during lockdown. While the root of these feelings may differ, it does appear that a malaise has swept our world. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Nomvelo Masango, a young woman who has participated in one of The Art of Living courses, said. “We’re fighting an invisible enemy, but I am at home with my family and I choose to be grateful for that,” she continued, shedding light on the impact meditation has had on her. For a number of people, meditation has helped them navigate the recent uncertainty plaguing our lives. 

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Everyday, Mukesh Vassen practices the breathing and meditation techniques he has learnt and taught through The Art of Living Foundation. One of these techniques, a mantra-based meditation called the Sahaj Samadhi Meditation, helps silence the mind and cleanse the different levels of consciousness. Vassen expanded on this by describing the mind as a blank photographic plane at birth. As the human being encounters and experiences different desires, fears or dislikes (impressions), this blank plane is covered by different lenses. As he described this to me, he began to mimic someone wearing several pairs of sunglasses — each new impression, a new pair of glasses. “You start adding your own impressions through your life experience,” he continued. “It’s more than just a relaxation technique, it’s actually an elimination of stresses that are contained in the different levels of consciousness,” he concluded. However, the impact of meditation on these levels of consciousness only becomes apparent following regular practice, and manifests in more long-term effects — changing behavioural patterns: clarity of thought, better concentration, calmness and peace. 

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During lockdown the necessity for this peace and clarity has culminated and Vassen noted the increase in his meditation practice during this time; “there’s more time to meditate and there’s more necessity to meditate,” he said. Marco Arnoldi, and Claire O’Reilly, both students at Rhodes University who practice forms of mindfulness meditation, reported to have meditated more during lockdown; they accounted this frequency to their fewer commitments. “During lockdown, I am meditating every single day — sometimes twice a day,” O’Rielly said. “I almost get excited to meditate […] because I know it’s going to centre me and calm me down,” she continued. However, for Namrata Zala, another student at Rhodes University who practices transcendental meditation, meditation during lockdown has not been as easy. “In lockdown it’s definitely changed; […] my personal space is compromised at home, whereas at university I have my own room, knowing that no one is going to come in. At home there’s always noise,” she said. Nomvelo Masango has also struggled to maintain the regularity of her practice. “Staying at home for a very long time and seeing the same four walls, it gets tiring at times and you just don’t feel like doing anything — sometimes, you just don’t feel like meditating,” she said. Despite this shift in her practice, Masango still pointed to how meditation has served her during lockdown. “I think, during this difficult time, it has helped me to be grateful,” she said, “meditation puts me at the point where I choose to see the positives, and I choose to be grateful for that.” 

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After his own regular meditation, Joseph Baker commented on a similar propensity for appreciation. “Meditation has just centred me and taught me to enjoy the lockdown time and to appreciate it for what it is,” Baker noted. He also spoke of his gratitude towards his family, and the time he has been afforded to read books and commit to his photography. While O’Rielly recognised the difficulty in finding purpose during lockdown, meditation for her has served as a means to achieve direction. For Sam Jarvis, who uses guided meditations on the headspace app, meditation has helped focus his attention on his immediate sphere of influence, particularly amidst the media coverage of the pandemic. “I think I’m beginning to realise that I’m responsible for how I think and feel. There’s always going to be pressures outside of my influence, but I can choose how I deal with those pressures,” Sam reflected as he suggested the power meditation has in managing the thoughts and feelings that respond to these pressures.   

 

Art of Living teacher, Mukesh Vassen, commented on how his meditation practice during lockdown has imbued his life with greater calmness and perspective; Vassen listens to the recent twice-daily online meditations by founder of The Art of Living Foundation and spiritual leader, Sri Sri Ravishankar, in addition to his practice. And he reflected on the depth of these meditations as they inspired a feeling of infinity within him — an infinity that has both connected Vassen to his previous lives and has informed him with a new perspective on death. Swami Purnachaitanya, the director of programs within the Art of Living foundation, also reflected on the depth of his practice during lockdown. “For me it has been an opportunity to really sit down again and re-evaluate how I would like to use my time and what I want to focus on. With life slowing down, the mind has also slowed down, and my meditations have been very profound,” Purnachaitanya wrote. 

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Against the backdrop of Covid-19, and the mounting financial, health and future-related stresses, Vassen concluded his conversation by urging people to meditate. “While we can’t control our external circumstances, at least you know you can prepare the mind to handle it,” Vassen said. From his own practice, Marco Arnoldi, supports this sentiment. “In a time like this where there are many things that are out of control, practicing meditation can help us to at least be more in control of ourselves and how we react to and think about external events,” Arnoldi said. Furthermore, mentor Purnachaitanya shed light on some of these stresses, and the subsequent necessity for meditation. “More and more people feel lonely, anxious, depressed or frustrated, and we have never learned how to manage our emotion. They affect our physical and mental health, our communication skills and relationships, and our overall well-being” he wrote, “a proper meditation practice is a powerful tool to find the much needed peace again, bringing us back to our center, raising our energy levels, and bringing us back in touch with our inner joy, enthusiasm and empathy for those around us.” For Nomvelo Masango, this inner joy has inspired her to share the message of meditation; “it’s the greatest gift which you can give yourself, it’s the best thing really and even more so during this difficult time,”Masango said. 

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For people who would like to engage with some of the techniques and knowledge developed through The Art of Living Foundation, a breathing course called The Happiness Course can be taken online during this time; Vassen along with his partner, who is an advanced teacher within the foundation, teaches these courses. 

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Information to consider about meditation:

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A person’s brain activity during meditation can be examined through the use of electroencephalography — a method that positions electrical leads on different parts of a person’s scalp to assess their brain activity as they meditate. A number of studies have shown the impact meditation has on the brain, particularly on parts of the brain responsible for attention (the frontal lobe), memory (hippocampus) and emotional wellbeing (amygdala and hippocampus). Regular practice can lead to both neuroplasticity and neurogenesis — the ability of the brain to change in the face of continuous experience and the ability of the brain to create new brain cells. As a person meditates, an increase in brain wave activity associated with heightened awareness and relaxation has been reported. Furthermore, as the right hemisphere (associated with intuition and creativity) and the left hemisphere (associated with logic) of the brain work in unison, a person’s problem solving and creative thinking abilities are said to improve. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, conducted a study to examine further scientific effects of meditation on the brain. Her studies reported that the amygdala (the fear center of the brain which is stimulated in times of stress) shrank after regular meditation; this allowed for greater emotional control and calmness. Her studies also showed an increase in the volume and density of the hippocampus — the part of the brain responsible for memory, learning, and motivation.