Spiritual Fridays: 3 Cool Ways to Meditate

The Smiley Meditation
Method: Find your self a comfortable position, whether sitting, standing or slouching in your favourite armchair. Close your eyes and imagine a smile dancing atop your head. Imagine it sinking down into the roots of your hair and imagine your thousands and thousands of hair roots smiling. Let the smile sink deeper into your brain. Let it take a joy ride through your synapses. Now imagine your eyes smiling, followed by your ears. Let your nose smile for a bit before letting the smile go down to your lips.
Smile all the way down your neck and outwards to your shoulders, through your arms and to your fingertips. Now let your rib cage smile and then your heart. Imagine the smiles running down along the length of your spine to your tailbone. Then let your abdomen smile, your liver,  kidneys and ovaries too. Let the smile go down to your gluteal muscles and then run down the length of your legs to your toes, lingering for as long as it likes. Feel the smileys permeating your entire body and broadcast them out to all the people in the world who may need a smile before you slowly open your eyes.      
After-effects: No matter how ridiculous a smiling liver may sound or how grumpy you are when you start the smiley meditation, somehow by the time you are through with this exercise, you'll find your mood lighter than ever before. 

The Sound of Silence
Method: Sit in the lotus position (if you can), with your back as straight as possible. If you can't sit in the lotus posture, don't worry about it; just be comfortable whatever position you're in, close your eyes and focus on your breath for a few seconds—in, out, in, out... Can you hear yourself breathe? Listen to your breath carefully. Now move your attention to the sounds that surround you. Can you hear the fan or AC in the room you're in? Can you hear the wind blowing a curtain? Now move outwards in concentric circles listening attentively in each circle. Can you hear what's happening in the next room or perhaps your neighbour's house, once you shift your attention outwards a little more? What about in the next circle, can you hear the sound of the fluttering leaves of the mango tree in your building? How about the kids playing and the dog that your building has adopted barking? Keep moving your attention outwards in concentric circles till you can hear the honking traffic on the main road. You can keep going all the way to outer space if you have the time; but it's advisable to stop when you think you've gone far enough and retrace your path back to where you started. Come back to your breathe one circle at a time and then see if you go further within yourself. Can you hear your heart thumping? Can you feel the light at the centre of your being? Hold on to the strength and power at your core and then slowly open your eyes. 
After-effects: In addition to making you more attentive to the things around you, this meditation is also a great way to fall asleep at night, for those prone to insomnia.         

Light up your Life
Method: Sit, stand or lie down in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Imagine a white light at the top of your head. Imagine this light slowly working its way down your body to the tips of your toes, relaxing and healing you as it goes. Imagine the light changing as it passes through each of your chakras—violet (crown), indigo (third-eye), blue (throat), green (heart), yellow (solar plexus), orange (sacral), red (root). Once your whole body is filled with this white light, broadcast it outwards—healing your family, city, country, world, universe. Once you have given the universe all that you have to give, ask the universe for what you want. Expect to receive it. 
After-effects: If the experience of healing the world is not enough, the experience of receiving peace, calm and even materialistic gains is humbling indeed.