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What is the Five Fold Gratitude Meditation? 

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A guided embodiment of gratitude, beginning with a creative visualisation focused on our individual bodies - the microcosm - and then connecting that to the universal, the macrocosm. 

 

What is the aim of this meditation? 

 

1. One of the greatest epidemic our world is dealing with is that of Loneliness - personal, existential, societal. Loneliness is a leading mental health problem affecting the productivity and the life style and the life span of an individual. A creative way of mitigating, if not eradicating this mental health issue has been proved by many studies in psychology to be a regular practise of gratitude. This guided meditation aims to provide the tools for a regular method based practise, that can assist in inculcating Gratitude in our daily lives. 

 

1. The other challenge that our world is dealing with is a hyper-consumerism driven global economy, which is fast proving to be unsustainable for our own health and that of other species on the planet. This meditation connects our body-mind-senses with a reality of life on earth that is not independent, but interdependent on all nature, all beings. A sense of time, of progress that is not just based on the linear, momentary Now, but has roots in the past, branches in the future. It aims to provide a tool for practising this cyclical-time, interdependence based gratitude which can create the attitude of responsibility and hence, sustainable choices in our life styles. 

 

 

What is the Panch Maha Yajna? 

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Since ancient times in India the practise of gratitude as a daily ritual has been integrated into the very lifestyle of the householders following Sanatan Dharma. This gratitude practise -  while giving a vision of Knowledge not just as material but also as the Ultimate Consciousness (Brahma Yajna) - links human life with forces of nature (Deva Yajna), with animals, plants, insects (Bhuta Yajna), with fellow humans (Manushya Yajna) while instilling a sense of continuity, responsibility and ownership towards one’s own past, clearly uprooting a short-termist vision of life (Pitra Yajna). 

 

What is the connection between the Gratitude Meditation and the Panch Maha Yajna? 

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The Five Fold method of Gratitude is inspired by this ancient Maha Yajna. Tried and tested over centuries in India. We can still find these gratitude practises in our homes, our neighbourhoods, our villages. Perhaps in some places existing only as mechanical practises, minus emotional or intellectual understanding. Through this meditation we bring a conscious bhaav, emotional, creative and intellectual understanding, back to the process and redesign it to suit our modern 24x7 urban lifestyles. 

 

What is the methodology? 

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Creative guided visualisations using simple common-sense understandings derived from the life sciences that will be based on your creative ability to flow with the guidance. There will be a healthy use of world music, video imagery to assist you in immersing in the experiential live meditation process. 

 

Any requirements for the session?  

 

You need to keep 4-5 sheets of paper or a notebook with removable pages and a pen with you. This is a 90 min interactive online meditation session, so videos have to be on, unless there is a technical issue. Good headphones or speakers are an essential. 

 

Any suggestions for preparation for the gratitude meditation? 

 

Ideally, you should be watching this on your computer, not mobile screens. All other tabs, notifications from apps should be off. 

Bathing the body, wearing clean, comfortable clothes for the session, removing your shoes, sitting in a clean space with no disturbance will help prepare your mind for the immersion.  

 

 

 

1. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/01/feature-the-loneliness-pandemic

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4873114/