HOT on the heels of the news that Prince Harry is meditating every day before he becomes a father, here’s a chance for PN readers to try what many on social media wrongly believe is a stress test, but more of that later.
“Harry Krishna” ran a lead story headline in The Sun, which said that “Meg’s chilled-out prince” is meditating on a daily basis.
Journalist Emily Andrews explained that Prince Harry, 34, chatted to Buddhist monk Kelsang Sonam when he and his wife Meghan visited a café in Birkenhead, Merseyside.
“Harry asked me how I became a Buddhist monk,” said 69-year-old Kelsang. “He said he meditated every day, so I gave him my meditation book.”
The prince also revealed that he is a feminist when he and Meghan, who is six months pregnant, visited the Tomorrow’s Women charity.
“Harry initiated a group hug,” said its chief executive officer Angela Murphy. “There were about fifteen women – it was a scrum. He said, ‘Come on, group hug.’ You don’t expect that. They engaged and initiated conversations with the women and were so warm.”
Carol Cooper, the paper’s doctor, said meditation helps people to sleep better, reduces anxiety and makes individuals more patient, which were valuable assets for a new father.
“Harry,” she added, “will have a sense of physical and mental wellbeing.”
The paper ended by saying that meditation is practised widely in many eastern religions and philosophies, including Hinduism and the Hare Krishna movement.
In its report of the couple’s visit to Birkenhead, the MailOnline said that Los Angeles-based meditation instructor Light Watkins claimed he had spent four days giving Meghan one-to-one guidance and still e-mails the duchess a “daily dose of inspiration.”
IT has emerged that Prince Harry is now meditating on a daily basis. (Photo: DoD News / EJ Hersom)
He told The Mirror: “I met Meghan through a mutual friend and she was really intrigued by the fact I was a meditation teacher.
“She came by my home studio and we did four sessions over four days, so you become self-sufficient in it.
“I took her through it and she had wonderful experiences. She really appreciated the training and getting structure.”
Mr Watkins added that Meghan later got back in touch and told him: “I’m meditating every day, twice a day – it’s wonderful. Once in the morning for twenty minutes and once in the afternoon.”
Now look at the image above by Yurii Perepadia, a 50-year-old designer from Oleksandriya in Ukraine (Photo: Guten Tag Vector/Shutterstock). He created it three years ago in about two hours.
Can you see parts of the image moving? According to reports on social media, if it remains still, you are calm.
Should the image move, you are stressed – and if the central column turns like a carousel, you are very stressed.
This is incorrect, for Mr Perepadia is keen to point out that the image is nothing to do with testing stress, but is an optical illusion.
However, we have discovered that if it is moving, some people can slow it down with meditation.
Spend a few meditational moments with the image and see if you can slow down any movement. Do let us know your results – and happy meditating!
Footnote. If you are concerned about being stressed, it is better to see a qualified professional rather than trying to self-diagnose on social media, as tests posted there might not be all they claim to be.