Within us we have a Mind which functions as the Commander in Chief of the body. It has an able deputy in the Body Manager who keeps the body alive and ticking. The Body Manager has automated most of the functions like heart beat, renal and bowel movement, breathing and sweating. It has set in triggers for gland functioning like secreting saliva when there is food in the mouth, releasing bile juices when there is food in the stomach and so on. The Mind cannot stop the Body Manager for these automated functions.

The Mind receives information from its five senses. In addition to inputs from five senses, the Mind is conscious of movement of body parts particularly head, limbs and the torso. All these inputs trigger memories in the mind raising thoughts which are then co-related to formulate questions in the brain. The Mind then races to find answers to these questions. If the conclusions are difficult to reach or if they are conflicting, the brain gets trapped in endless loops. The cloudy and whirling thoughts in the Mind confuse the Body Manager who does not know what to expect. The distraction of the Body Manager disrupts normal functioning of the body and ailments begin to show up.

The Mind has to learn therefore how to control these unending thoughts. It must learn how to save the files and retrieve the problems as and when it wants to devote time to it. This is achieved through meditation. Meditation is a process by which the Mind learns how to manage its thoughts.

There are a number of ways of doing meditation. One can divide these ways into 2 basic  types: (1) Flooding and (2) Emptying. In Flooding, the mind is flooded with heavy sensory inputs like chanting mantra, aerobic exercises or dancing or listening to loud music. These heavy sensory inputs have no conflict and thus do not trigger any logical processes in the mind. When the mind is flooded these new simple sensory inputs they push out the other thoughts in the mind and reduce mental stress. On the other hand for meditation to empty the mind, sensory inputs are greatly reduced by keeping the body still and the eyes closed. With shutting down the input streams, no memories are triggered, no questions arise and the mental processes slow down and the Mind puts the trapped thoughts to sleep.  Both these techniques have merit in them. But both of them need considerable time to achieve the result. Besides they cannot be done in the workplace sitting in front of the computer.

We all know as we open a new webpage, it quickly changes the subject in our mind. It has an instant way of resetting our mind. It is this ability of the computer which I thought of using for instant meditation. For this technique, the new screen image must be powerful enough to capture the attention of the viewer. And suddenly I discovered the truth underlying the huge appeal of sex sites. No doubt sex related webpages are being used for relaxation to divert the mind instantly and effectively. But I rejected the idea my instant meditationas I found it distasteful. Viewing a sex page is powerful stimulus and a cue for the Body Manager to trigger body functions not wanted at the workplace. It can never be accepted by any organization. A more benign webpage could be a YouTube video clip showing the recipe of making a delicious dish like Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato (BLT) sandwich! But the food site also has an effect on the body. A stimulated body could distract attention from work. I needed a screen image which will change the mind frame without trigging any body secretions or functions. It must restrict itself solely to change the state of the mind. Preferably it should arouse appreciation of Nature and create a feeling of well being. The closer to Alpha State that it take the mind to, the better.

The easiest way, which sages have found in meditation to empty your mind of thoughts, is by surrender. Devotees mentally surrender to their object of worship. When you surrender you give up trying to solve the problems which vex your mind. You leave it to who you have surrendered to! Love is the result of surrender. When you love someone or something, you put reason aside and you get ready to accept whatever happens. Love possesses your mind and pushes out rational thinking. You can love a person, a pet, an inanimate thing or planet Earth.  The amazing ways by which the Earth sustains our lives has now come to the fore when we have her overburdened her with our increased population. I am fascinated by the wonderful way of our planet Earth gives us pure water to drink! Without rain life will perish. We humans are the creatures of mother Earth and she is worthy of our love and awe! I love the way rainfall washes off all the dirt and rejuvenates life. Landscape changes to green and new growth begins. Rain resets the Earth. I began collecting pictures about rain and found that they really work for this new instant and practical form of meditation. I did not merely look at the rain pictures superficially but observed them in detail trying to imagine being on the scene and sharing thoughts of those in the picture. I found it was a quick way of switching mental state without triggering any of the body functions. It engulfed me with a feeling of well being. I named this process as ‘Wellness Meditation.’

I would like to share my find with my readers. You can download for free the pdf picture book called ‘Rainy Day’ that I compiled with these rain pictures which you can use for the meditation. It is not a book to flip through. It is book to go through page by page, and picture by picture. You have to put yourself in the mood of the photo and think what it is like to be on that scene at that time. You have to think what you would be feeling if you were present on the scene when the photo was taken. As you do that, you will fill your mind with the appreciation of rain and rainy days and feel good with surging warmth of wellness in your mind. It is a book which will act as a cue for relaxing the mind. The more times you see it, the easier and quicker you will ease your mind. Wellness Meditation conditions you to relax, flip to alpha state and get de-stressed. You will find improvement in your concentration and in the quality of your work output when you begin to do this healthy form of meditation. And it’s all done on your computer screen without offending or disturbing anyone! The technique is to save the Rainy Day pdf file on your desktop. The first couple of times devote time to see each picture intently and absorb the mood. Thereafter it’s easy and quick. You can use it time and again to see it for a just few minutes, get instantly refreshed and continue your work. You will see how it works wonders for you as it does for me.