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Contrary to what people may believe, meditation does not require you to go to a certain place or be in a particular condition, says a meditation community member.

“Meditation is actually very easy; you can do it while sitting down,” said Linda Widjaja, a representative of the Tergar Meditation Center community in Indonesia. “The core of meditation is keeping our consciousness with us; when we talk, we know what we are talking about. When we drink, we know that what we are tasting. It can be said that is meditation.”

For Linda, meditation can also be done by sitting up straight with our feet on the floor and our hands on our thighs, facing up or down. For beginners, she suggests two ways in doing meditation, the first one is by focusing on your breathing. “We [have to] know when we are inhaling and exhaling,” she said.

Representative of the Tergar Meditation Center community in Indonesia, Linda Widjaja, says the core of meditation is by keeping our consciousness with us.(JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)

The second one is by bringing our consciousness to the sounds of our surroundings at the time without giving any judgment towards them. “For example, the sound of a car horn or crowd of a market that we dislike; we should not directly say, ‘I don’t like it [that sound]’. We just bring our consciousness [to another place] instead of analyzing it,” Linda explained. “It's okay if you are carried away, you just need to go back.”

The duration of meditation will depend on the level of advancement. “I suggest to my children to do it for 2 to 3 minutes,” said Linda who began to meditate after suffering from insomnia. “But there are people who can do it for 45 minutes. My husband meditates for 60 minutes; divided into 20 minutes each in the morning, afternoon and evening.”

Among the benefits of meditation is having inner peace with your emotions. “[Meditation] does not mean controlling your emotions, but befriending them instead,” said Linda, adding that it was necessary to realize that your emotions soon will be gone anyway. “There shouldn't be an aversion, such as, ‘I do not like it, do not come near me’ and euphoric feelings as well, such as when we meet our idols. When we realize that the emotions will pass, we won't get too attached with something that we like or dislike. Otherwise, we will get carried away.”

Linda admits that it took her three years to finally understand her emotions. “Up until now, it doesn't mean that I don't have any emotions. I can still be emotional, but now it is different,” she said. “When I see something that irritates me, I'll tell myself, ‘I want to get angry, I know I will be angry, I know I am in a state of anger’. Thus, I leave my problem for a while so it won't explode.”

http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2016/10/10/meditation-can-be-practised-anywhere-anytime.html