From time to time, we stop to admire people who are strong personalities and seem to live in absolute clarity. They are clear about what they want, experts in their area, have great self-discipline and most important of all, seem to magnetically attract a lot of followers. And some of them seem to be extremely spiritual too.

There’s a path to this kind of self-mastery in our lives and it is achievable.

In our spiritual subtle energy system of chakras and energy channels, a circular region existing in the abdominal cavity is known as the Void region. Usually, everyone knows and talks about the seven chakras, but the Void region is an integral part of the subtle energy system and as important as any chakra.

Our happiness and emotional stability are dependent on our ability to love ourselves. This self-love is called self-esteem. Self-esteem works on us in subtle ways, dictating our choices, shaping our worldview. It lies at the heart of many of our problems in life, but because we may not be fully aware of our implicit self-evaluations, we may not realize that the root cause of a problem is how we feel about ourselves at the deepest level.

Unfortunately, self-esteem is often presented as some nebulous, magical quality that some people simply have and others don’t, or as a quality that we can improve by losing weight or buying a new wardrobe. But self-esteem is more complicated than that.

The more interesting and relevant fact is that meditation can help improve Self-esteem.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 68% of Americans are overweight, and more than a third are obese. That is a lot of people who are potentially looking for solutions to lose weight and get fitter.

But, more recently and importantly, with the world being upended with Covid-19, the CDC states the following:

• Having obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. People who are overweight may also be at increased risk.
• Having obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection

While the myriad of solutions and options for this are mind-boggling, a successful weight loss program is a combination of multiple facets that need to be followed with discipline – optimal diet, cardiovascular and strength training and staying active.  In addition, the invisible factors in the success of such programs are subtle – they deal with motivation, accountability, and perseverance, amongst many others.

Meditation scores heavily in subtler areas along with scientifically backed research supporting its role in the primary weight loss facets or levers. It can be the central guiding force that makes a weight loss program successful.

Let’s see how.

Last week, we talked about how social distancing has a silver lining and could be used to change your life positively in many ways.

But for those of us who are struggling with many problems in life, including financial, health, or family-related brought about by the pandemic of the century, meditation can be a massive help in getting through this period.

We examine some specific meditation-related methods for overcoming the stress and loneliness that forced social distancing can bring in our lives.