Meditation sessions to beat Monday blues

For many leading hectic lives in the city, Monday evenings at Safal Heights in Deonar are a calming, introspective and peaceful retreat.

Duvedi said that meditation is extremely beneficial to children and encourages parents to help them practise from the age of 15. (Source: File Photo)

For many leading hectic lives in the city, Monday evenings at Safal Heights in Deonar are a calming, introspective and peaceful retreat. Seema Duvedi, a 51-year-old homemaker is among a few ‘preceptors’, providing free meditation sessions. As you walk into her apartment, the smell of cinnamon-lemon tea fills the air of her living room where she holds her sessions.

She began providing these sittings in mid-2017. “I began meditation in 1996 when I was pregnant with my first child. My mother and my sister were actively practising it. I thought it would be good for my child,” she said.

People from all walks of life, including students, professionals and even domestic helps, attend her sessions for 45 about minutes. And any one can walk in. “There are people who come in knowing what they are expected to do. Then, there are others who come simply because they are stressed, and friends and family have suggested this to them…,” Duvedi said.

“Many teenagers and young people come in and they surprise me with their ability to somewhat grasp this practice. They are open to understanding this side of spirituality, which is refreshing,” she added.

Duvedi said that meditation is extremely beneficial to children and encourages parents to help them practise from the age of 15. She has also held such sessions in schools and community centres. “I have been to Hashu Advani School in Govandi and a community centre for mentally-challenged children.”

Janaki Hari (42), resident of Chembur, and a regular attendee, said: “Meditation is a therapy prescribed for many physical and emotional ailments. Through my friends I got introduced to this. Meditation introduced me to a side of myself I never knew. With regular practice, I noticed subtle changes within me, I could overcome several mental blocks and my focus sharpened.”

Homemaker Kanchan Nerani (46), another attendee, added: “I have begun hosting such sessions at my house every Friday. We also hold book reading sessions for half an hour.” When Nerani’s mother passed away in 2013. she turned to meditation. “A year-and-a-half after I started practising it, my father passed away and I noticed that I was able to handle the loss more calmly.”

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Haripriya Ramesh, a 47-year-old homemaker, said: “The first day I was surprised that I sat through 45 minutes.”

The group is now attempting to rope in teenagers. Duvedi’s son Viraj, a 22-year-old MIT-Pune student, is using meditation to vent academic stress. “Although I was introduced to meditation when I was 18, I never really took it up until recently. People around me have noticed changes too. They say I have become warmer and more empathetic.”

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