Our relationships add color and diversity to our life. Each one has its own unique dimensions and expectations. However, all relationships require nurturing and certain skills to ensure that they are a positive influence on us.
This is where meditation helps.
But what is meditation for relationships, exactly? It’s more than meditation and deep breathing. Meditation can promote peace of mind and clarity in our lives, and we can carry that peace into our relationships. Guided meditations can also be useful here.
In this article, we’re exploring the effect of meditation on our relationships, as well as Mullah Nasruddin’s secrets to meditation for relationships.
Topics Covered:
- How meditation boosts relationships
- Mullah Nasruddin’s secrets to meditation for relationships
- Foster healthy relationships with The Art of Living
How meditation boosts relationships
If you find yourself searching for meditation for relationship anxiety or specific forms of meditation, it may be beneficial to step back and realize the power that you hold in your intention and initiative.
Beyond the effects that meditation can have on our relationships, we also have to look at the impacts we can see in our personal lives.
For many, meditation can:
- Give us a mood boost. The clarity and peace we can feel as a result of meditation can give us a mood boost or regulate the mood we are currently in.
- Boost resiliency. Life is stressful, but an ongoing practice of meditation can help to lessen the effects of this stress in our lives and relationships.
- Support physical wellness. Meditation can support us in having more healthful experiences, addressing common ailments like high blood pressure, chronic pain, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety.
We want to note that this is just a short list that highlights a few benefits that simple meditation can bring to your quality of life. We’re diving deeper into additional benefits below:
Find more compassion
Research shows that meditation can boost one’s compassion and empathy in a relationship, both of which can support healthier and more fulfilling emotional experiences.
While this can be due to a variety of factors, many believe it’s a combination of the supportive mental health benefits and the concept of self-love and self-acceptance within meditation itself. When we meditate, we intentionally let go of baggage or other factors that can impact our ability to be in a healthy and loving relationship. Finding inner peace and satisfaction in ourselves can, quite literally, heal relationships in our lives—especially those rooted in insecurity or trauma.
We benefit, our loved ones benefit, and we’re able to share positive emotions in the present moment—all due to the self-awareness and self-compassion brought about by regular mindfulness meditation and alignment with our higher self.
Improve patience in stressful situations
Life can be difficult, and our mental and physical health can pay the price. Learning to lean on meditation in these times of stress can promote feelings of calmness, clarity, and stamina.
It may be harder to get started with meditation for stress and anxiety if you’re already in a place of crisis. However, tools such as meditation, breathwork, and yoga, or a go-to meditation app can help prepare your body and mind to release negative energy and step into a place of peace.
Research shows that meditation can help with things such as reduced anxiety, resilience, and blood pressure regulation.
Create a deeper connection
Through meditation, you can better connect with and share your own feelings, facilitating better communication and connecting deeper with your person.
Well-being doesn’t just have to do with our physical bodies — rather, intangible things (such as our chakra system and emotional state of mind) can have a direct effect on our bodies. Blockages, baggage, and other forms of negative energy can inhibit our ability to connect to ourselves, as well as other people.
However, seeking supportive strategies, such as meditation and positive affirmations, can promote positive energy flow in our daily lived experiences and relationships.
Mullah Nasruddin’s secrets to meditation for relationships
Meditation for relationships can be made even more powerful when we have a few guiding principles—making our time spent in solitude and directed flow more impactful.
Here are some of the most critical secrets to meditation from a series of funny fables from India featuring a character known as Mullah Nasruddin and what he learned during his hilarious escapades.
1. Improve your relationship with yourself
Improving your relationship with yourself is just one of the secrets of (and results of) successful meditative practices. Take, for example, this conversational excerpt from Mullah and his wife — detailing the mental shift you can make through meditation and successful self-knowledge.
Mullah (to his wife): I think you should spend a few days in solitude, with yourself.
Wife: But Mullah! I would get so bored being alone!
Mullah: My dear, if you find yourself boring, then how can you be interesting to others?
We spend a lot of our time and energy on relationships with others, but hardly any time on our relationship with ourselves. Gurudev once said: “If you don’t have a relationship with yourself, all other relationships become shallow. And if your relationship with yourself is so profound and steady then you naturally develop the skill to handle any kind of relationship around you.”
Developing your relationship with yourself through meditation is one of the most powerful and impactful ways to do so.
2. Gain freedom from doubt
While all of us can experience the feeling of doubt at some point, it can have lifelong consequences if done in excess.
You may have noticed that our minds have a tendency to doubt the positive and cling to the negative. Unfortunately, ongoing doubt can destroy relationships.
So, how can we address doubt healthfully?
Doubt can primarily arise when you have a low level of prana, or life-force energy. Meditation is a powerful tool that maintains your prana level and helps your mind to be free from doubts and confusion that can later impact your relationships.
3. Don’t let demand destroy love
Giving gifts and attention is a part of every relationship. However, after some time, demand may creep in alongside doubt because we want proof of being loved and relationship security.
This demand can become a burden on both members of a relationship if it is not addressed in a healthy way. Gurudev confirms this, stating publicly that “Demand destroys love”.
How can we escape this insecurity and need for proof? How can we take it for granted that we are loved?
While these feelings and questions can seem overwhelming, meditation can bring clarity, peace of mind, and balance to a union. The practice is inherently designed to nurture qualities of contentment, giving, and love in us—naturally elevating us to a higher level of self-actualization and satisfaction in our own ability to thrive. This carries over well in a partnership, allowing both members to move forward with confidence and clarity.
4. Purify intention and perfect expression
Have you ever been misunderstood? Fear of malintent or confusion of expression can undermine even the best of relationships. Mullah shares a comical exchange he recently had with his wife, in this context:
Mullah’s wife is dressing up for a party.
Mullah (lovingly): You look so slim in this dress, my dear!
Mulla’s wife: Are you trying to say that I look fat in all my other dresses??!
Mullah: No, I’m thinking it may be time to change my glasses.
As you’ll see above, we may find that we want to do or say something positive for our partners — but it can be understood otherwise. This gap can create misunderstandings, leaving room for strife in a relationship.
Meditation gives you the ability to see things as they are, rather than reading between the lines. In this context, you can understand experiences in the right spirit, enjoying a higher level of communication and vibrational energy with your partner.
Further, meditation purifies our intention. Our ability to wish well for others, to forgive and bless, is nourished in daily meditative practice, fueled by the peace that we can find within ourselves.
5. Deepen communication
Communication is an important ingredient in the recipe for a healthy relationship. There are various levels of communication:
- Head-to-head: This is communication that often happens on a logical or logistical plane.
- Heart-to-heart: This communication is emotionally driven and bonds both partners together.
- Soul-to-soul: Perhaps the most intimate of the three, this form of communication transcends all others, enmeshing each other’s souls. This can take place at any time or during an exercise that includes deep connection.
Each of these communication forms has its place in a healthy relationship. However, the goal for many is soul-to-soul connection.
In soul-to-soul communication, words, feelings, and actions don’t have to be present to form a connection. In fact, Gurudev has been quoted stating that “Soul-to-soul communication happens only in silence.”
6. Understand the power of your presence
Words and feelings in a relationship change with time. Even physical appearance doesn’t stay the same. What remains and is powerful is the person’s presence.
Even if you don’t express your feelings the same way as before, simply being in each other’s company and knowing that the other person is there for you can be so comforting.
This strength in your presence comes naturally when you meditate—even better if both partners meditate together—nurturing your relationships with your higher selves.
Foster healthy relationships with The Art of Living
Meditation is an important practice to maintain to enhance one’s relationship. Whether it’s alone or together, ongoing meditative practice brings tangible change and transformation to every area of your life and expression—eventually leading to a deeper soul-to-soul connection with your partner and the other relationships in your life.
For more information and support starting your healing journey, connect with the team at The Art of Living. We’re here to help you reach a higher plane of existence and experience a higher degree of satisfaction from your relationship with yourself and others. Start your meditative journey with Art of Living’s SKY Breath Meditation and grow from there!