5min with Sona Bahri

My name is Sona Bahri and I have been practising meditation since I was 16, so that’s 32 years now! I was born in India but brought up in Europe, UK, South America and was in Australia for 14 years before coming to Abu Dhabi.

The difference between Mindfulness and Meditation for me is that Mindfulness focuses on being in the present and being self aware whilst focusing on the here and now. It is a practice that helps step back from the mind and to see your thoughts and feelings from a distance, to calm down the mind and be quiet. Mindfulness also can help to create a feeling of compassion and healing towards whatever you are dealing with.

Meditation on the other hand is a way of deeply connecting with your original inner goodness and gently rewiring the mind and subconscious mind to positivity and peace therefore creating new default patterns. Meditation helps to change my inner patterns of thinking, feeling and perceiving life. So in meditation we dive much deeper and are able to understand ourselves from a spiritual perspective and in my experience meditation has a long lasting effect.

The benefit of meditation is that I can experience silence in my ‘inner space’ and this helps to generate power. For most people the mind is like a pop-corn machine that never stops and this leaves the mind overused and weak. So having quiet time helps to regenerate my inner strength to deal with the daily challenges of life.

Meditation helped to change my practical life when I could start to recharge my inner battery. I used to have strong reactions to things and people I didn’t like. However by meditating I was able to understand myself and why I was reacting negatively and how I could change that. So I started to develop much healthier and happier relationships with my friends and family.

My favorite quote:

When I change, my world changes.

First tip:

Wake up early morning and be with yourself for the first moment of everyday. Whether that might be meditating or going for a walk, or even just sitting and having a quiet cup of tea; be with yourself and appreciate yourself.

The second tip would be reconnect with your core, your real self, everyday of your life. This works like a reset button without which I stray away from my core personality. It helps to just take a few moments and know the inner works better through meditation or any form of reconnection.

The third tip is to look after your body and understand how your body works. It’s so important to be kind to your body and to know when we need to rest more or care a bit extra for the bodily energies because you are not well. Some of us need more water or particular food types; so it’s good to look after this physical vehicle.

The fourth tip would be to go for a spiritual retreat every year. Choose something spiritual and holistic and go somewhere away from home and definitely away from family, I think it is very important to take time out from the regular routine of life and give yourself time to relook at how you are traveling along your journey of life.

The fifth tip would be to practice gratitude regularly. This might take the form of writing down all the things we are grateful for everyday or repeating affirmations. Or you could even say thank you to those people in your life who help to make it so special and easy; or just thanking nature for all that we have. It might be just counting all the blessings you have received in your mind. Gratitude creates an energy inside that is very constructive and pure and helps us to move ahead in life positively.