Students and nuns meditate at Chan Myae meditation centre.

IN Buddhism, the “mind” is the leader of all achievement. Therefore, the ability to control the mind is important, especially when we encounter the ups and downs that life invariably throws at us.

Controlling the mind is an act of mental discipline. U Thein Aung, a teacher of Vipassana, a form of meditation popular among Buddhists, says the Buddha acknowledged there were 40 different ways to control the mind. Of these, meditation was the Buddha’s preferred method.

There are many different types of meditation, which include different features to help people attain peace of mind. The one that works best is up to both the teacher and student.

“Meditation should be taken up as part of a daily routine to have a healthy life, as well as to attain inner peace of mind. As living beings, we have non-stop desires that breed anxiety and grief. Often we don’t take notice of what is going wrong in our inner mind. If we are sick in our inner mind, it is sure to weaken the outer experience as well,” U Thein Aung said.

Dr Aung Than Oo, an associate professor and head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Yangon, said meditation is commonly used to relieve stress and promote relaxation, even by people who do not consider themselves Buddhist.

“There is no ownership of meditation, it can be taken by different kinds of people from different religions because, really, it is a kind of exercise,” Dr Aung Than Oo said.

Meditation works as a stress relief tool because it focuses attention on one subject and away from the sources of stress.

The breathing technique is one of the most frequently used in meditation. It involves deep, even-paced breathing using the diaphragm muscle to expand the function of the lungs.

Venerable U Sandar Thriya, from the Miniyadana monastery in Sanchaung township, which practices Mogok Vipassana meditation, says students attain a sense of calm and mental peace through mediation, while balancing mental and physical wellbeing.

“We eat food to keep our body going, so we are strong, and we always take care of our outer appearances. But we often neglect the ‘inner’ injuries that should be repaired each day,” U Sandar Thriya said.

“Meditation a kind of medicine to cure the inner injuries suffered because of anxiety, anger or negative thoughts and actions.”