After two sessions during a 12-week period, the University Board’s “The Art of Inner Peace” lecture series will come to a close Monday with the topic of mindful meditation.

Jay Shinde, an assistant of accounting, has been giving one lecture per month. The lecture on Monday will take place at 7 p.m. in the 7th Street Underground of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Shinde said this particular lecture will focus on the act of meditating, something he has been practicing for the past 25 years.

He said he practices the “Qadriya Sufi Meditation,” and there are many advantages to it.

“You need to meditate only 5-10 minutes per day, as opposed to longer with other techniques,” Shinde said. “It is enjoyable because it is short, and you don’t have to concentrate.”

Shinde said the meditation uses something called Muraqaba, which is using the words combined with the breath.

Because of the combination of words and breath, the technique can be termed as “mindful,” which is how this particular lecture got its name.

“With the QSM, you typically use a ‘word(s)’ along with the breath,” Shinde said. “This helps to get into a deeper meditative state.”

According to the Qadriya Sufi Foundation of America, the meditation has been practiced for more than 1,000 years.

Shinde said this history is part of the reason this particular type of meditation is so reliable.

“It has been practiced for over 1,400 years, and there is a lot of evidence in terms of its efficacy,” he said.

Shinde said this technique can be used by students as a form of relief for a variety of different issues, including stress, depression and anxiety. He said it can also help develop better concentration that can help students better prepare for exams.

“It is a ‘quick’ technique,” he said. “Students have used this technique in the past to get through difficult exams.”

Through this session, attendees of the previous sessions will get the “final piece of the puzzle” in understanding this subject.

“The previous sessions have been leading up to this session,” Shinde said. “In this session, I will talk about the seven stages of evolution and how a person can become a better person by practicing this meditation.”  

Despite his focus on this particular type of meditation, Shinde said there are many.

“There are many meditation techniques,” he said. “Basically, they are all efficacious.”

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.