Meditation, it is said, calms our body and mind.Some people describe its importance as a way to relax whereas others speak of it as a means to increase efficiency.One day when I was discussing various aspects of meditation with some of my friends, one of them, a psychiatrist by profession, told us about a unique way to meditate and its advantages.

He first inquired about the techniques we all used and then he revealed his own.While most of us were of the opinion that we should either concentrate on our breathing or the God during meditation, he said," I use a slightly different technique. I concentrate upon the parts of my body and try to sympathise with them. I try to remind myself of all the hard works my body parts do for me all the day long. My hands feed me, my legs carry me to wherever I want to go, my stomach has to work hard to digest food,my ears and my eyes are busy collecting information and above all my brain has to toil so hard to survive in this competitive world. I sometimes think about what would have I been in absence of some of them."

Along with relaxation, exercise and good food, it is absolutely essential to sympathise with our limbs,hair,nails,skin etc. Ponder over how we sometimes use our fingers and nails in place of a screw drivers or plyers and how we let our skin burn in the sun while going out on a hot summer day.My friend further elaborated how our cells are consumed bit by bit in the tense situations which today's hectic life style poses He said,"Only when you start feeling for them will you be able to take good care of them. For watching and observing and analysing I have to sit in front of my personal computer for hours together and this would play havoc on my neck,upper abdomen and eyes, But when I started feeling for them I came to learn to take precautions for them and now I have no problems. Moreover I felt that coordination between the mind and parts of the body increases. Though I am still not sure about it but perhaps such meditation has a good effect on some involuntary muscles and these muscles seem to obey you slightly.for instance, perhaps you can calm rapidly beating cardiac muscles in a tense meeting scenario or you can handle a shocking news better than others or you can react better to a greatly pleasing piece of information."

Having undertaken his advice I found myself benefitted on many fronts. It was not a very difficult thing to practise. In first two to three sittings I was comfortably able to master this art. In comparison to other forms of meditation, I found the one advised by my friend more natural because concentrating about my own body seemed alot easier as the hardship by the body parts is lived by the individual himself or herself. Thinking about and feeling the pain and overcoming it spiritually is a great way to energise oneself. Corelation between body and spirit has improved since and the energy level has gone above so as to adequately support my day-to-day activities.

So dear readers you may apply this as a new beginning.This is just a suggestion.One may find it even easier to directly concentrate in the Almighty while others may find the aforesaid method helpful as a stepping stone to concentrate in the God.But in any respect it relaxes one and fills one with new vigour.So go ahead and enjoy your meditation with this innovative method.