“A useful tool that people can learn through meditation is the understanding that you are in control of your thoughts, rather than your thoughts controlling you.”
The practice of Raja Yoga is taught by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University as a way of calming the inner mind and experiencing a peaceful and positive approach to life. Here, a practitioner of Raja Yoga shares how it has impacted her life, career and patients.
* * *
Psychiatrist Dr Sarah Eagger works in the NHS with elderly patients with mental illness and with professionals in the City. She has been a meditator for 30 years. In this interview, she was asked how this has impacted on her work.
“I originally learned meditation for my own benefit, but I’m now realising just how much it’s helped my patients too. I deal with people who are distressed and often very angry, so I need to be able to handle that. Raja Yoga meditation has taught me to remain peaceful within while I listen to patients. I find this helps them to calm down. Mental illness causes a lot of worry and fear, so reassurance is the first and often the most important thing they need from me. My meditation practice helps me to connect to the positive part of that person and to listen, really listen, to them. So I need to be still inside. Being listened to is very therapeutic for people in a state of distress. You’re then not treating an illness, but a person who needs your care and attention and to feel a real sense of hope that recovery is possible. One of my patients is a wonderful character but also very disturbed and manic. Her carer told me that what had helped the most was that I took time to listen and see the good in her – and that she hadn’t always received this care.
A useful tool that people can learn through meditation is the understanding that you are in control of
your thoughts, rather than your thoughts controlling you – in the sense that when something gets into your mind, you can’t stop thinking or worrying about it. This is so common. So I encourage patients, especially those in the City who are really stressed and anxious, to take up meditation. Their lives are so fast that they can’t digest what’s going on. It’s essential for them to learn how to calm themselves. They can then be guided into reflecting on the self as a soul and learn to connect with the universal source of love and energy.
Of course, there’s plenty of research about the positive physiological effects of meditation – like reduced blood pressure and muscle relaxation – but the most important thing it has given me is being
able to see beyond the illness in a person and see the soul. I know by listening, understanding and seeing their qualities I’m helping them in their recovery.”
Dr Sarah Eagger is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College London. She runs meditation sessions for psychiatrists at the Royal College Annual meeting and is an active member of the British Holistic Medical Association and Scientific and Medical Advisor to the Janki Foundation for Global Health Care.
