Meditation for Commuters
With Matthew Earl and Amisha Bhavsar
 
 
 
This talk was featured as the main story on the BBC website’s News Magazine that day:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6639857.stm
 
Also as a result of this programme there was another interview on News Talk Radio in Ireland for the Moncrieff show with Sister Amisha
http://www.newstalk.ie/ probably about 10 mins with live meditation commentary and then
I gave out the details and tel no. for the BK centres in Ireland.
 
Radio Scotland also requested a short interview with Sister Amisha on how to meditate whilst commuting: for Gerard Kelly’s SummerTime Thing -  on air between 0930 and 1100am. The format of the show is very light hearted and so the interview was short, sweet and funny.  It was a 4min chat with 1 min live commentary and then I gave out the details and tel no. for the BK centres in Scotland.
 
REPORT
 
Meditation for Commuters was a very experiential evening, backed up by research and personal anecdotes, with practical methods to follow. Matthew and Amisha talked about the pitfalls and possibilities of commuting in a light, clear and very down-to-earth way.
 
Matthew started by emphasising the practicality of Raja Yoga meditation, being an open-eye meditation, with no need to chant, which you can do anytime, anywhere, even when you’re driving or on a packed train.
 
He had some interesting statistics about commuting and its effects on society.  The average commute in the UK is an average of 45 minutes each way (the highest in Europe) and it’s increasing.  Psychological research found that the blood pressure and pulse rate of people during rush hour were greater than those of a fighter pilot going into battle or a riot policeman!  Another piece of research found that 44% of people cited commuting as the most stressful part of their day. So there is a wide problem, which meditation can help to address.
 
Amisha suggested that, rather than disliking our commute, and focusing anxiously on getting to our destination, we should see commuting as ‘me time’.  We should enjoy the journey, observing life around us with curiosity and humour and doing things that we wouldn’t have time for otherwise. Yes, she admitted, the environment for commuters is often ‘challenging’ and one over which we have little control. Meditation, she said, enables us to create a ‘buffer zone’ between ourselves and what is happening to and around us - and also between ‘work’ and ‘home’.
 
The evening was spent exploring and experiencing four main methods with which to experiment:
 
1. Relaxation  - relaxing the mind and body
2. Concentration and Visualisation - choosing and holding a positive thought, then creating a beautiful scene
3. Meditation - centring the self, anchoring in one’s true qualities and then plugging in to the Source
4. Sharing - being a lighthouse and making a positive contribution to the environment
 
Each of these elements was discussed and illustrated, followed by a short guided meditation, in which the audience participated readily. Some novel tips were given. For example, to slow down your thoughts, imagine each one as a coach of a train, with spaces in between; step off the train and let them just pass by.  Or use visual prompts around you to help you in your meditation - such as a picture of an ocean or sun in an advertisement - allow the ocean to cleanse and refresh you or do some spiritual sunbathing! When it comes to sharing with others, try seeing everyone in the carriage around you as a little child.
 
The point was made that, if we are peaceful and happy, we will be able both to cope with - indeed positively enjoy - whatever challenges our commute to and from work brings us. We will create a positive vibration that will benefit people around us - and, according to the law
of attraction, inspire a positive response as a result of our own positivity.  In marketing parlance, meditation is truly a win/win situation.
 
Amisha stressed the importance of starting and ending the day - before travelling - with meditation, so that you set off on your journey in the right state of mind (something that was backed up by recent RAC research).  She finished by saying that it was all a matter of
attitude: our attitude is our choice, citing a favourite slogan, ‘As is my attitude, so is my experience.’

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