The Power of Meditation to Harmonize Relationships — The Story of Sharada

Strong and positive family relationships constitute a key pillar of emotional well-being and holistic health. They provide safety, protection, and confidence, and also foster uplifting emotions such as love, acceptance, and connectedness. Strong family bonds make people resilient in the face of any challenge.  

Sharada grew up in a happy family of six children. Her parents, although from a rural background, always had a liberal parenting approach. Sharada had the freedom to socialize with her friends, to go a movie, or organize picnics.  

Things changed drastically after her marriage. The family she married into was of different values and attitudes. Sharada found it difficult to adjust to the new household and her in-laws. Gradually, misunderstandings began to crop up. Sharada experienced verbal, physical, and emotional violence. She was not allowed to either speak to or visit her family and friends. This caused tremendous loneliness and suffering.  

Sharada’s relationship with meditation had always been ambivalent. In her childhood and youth, she had been more inclined to participate in rituals and spiritual festivals than to do meditation. Even though the sight of peaceful meditators sometimes inspired her, she did not develop a strong interest in meditation. Her friend Chandrakala, too, often talked about the benefits of meditation, but Sharada remained disinterested.  

There were, however, a few sporadic incidents that turned her attention toward meditation. The first one occurred when she developed a rather serious ovarian infection and was put on a rigorous medicinal regime. Instead of relying on medicine, she committed to regular meditation practice. Just 11 days later, she was completely cured. The second transformational experience happened during her pregnancy when she noticed that vegetarian food enhanced the quality of her meditation. She was determined to become a vegetarian, but her in-laws forced her to continue eating meat, convinced it was a necessary source of protein.  

Gradually, Sharada became a regular meditator. Despite this, her problems with her husband and her in-laws did not seem to recede; on the contrary, they appeared to further aggravate. Her husband became suspicious and jealous — she was not even allowed to speak to her neighbors. He also kept disturbing her every time she sat down to meditate.

At that time, her friend Chandrakala came to her aid and recommended she focus on the elevated emotion of love while meditating. Every time she meditated, Sharada started sending loving thoughts and emotions to every person in her life. In addition, she made a conscious effort to stop nurturing negative thoughts and emotions toward her in-laws. The effect of this shift was tremendous — slowly but surely, her husband became tolerant of her meditation practice and no longer restricted her, while her in-laws even began talking to her with love and affection.  

Today Sharada is 45 years old, and she is confident that through meditation and the power of her elevated thoughts and emotions, she is capable of manifesting loving relationships and shaping all aspects of her reality.  

The human body is electromagnetic — the body’s electromagnetic fields are generated by the complex and continuous biological activity in each cell and organ.1,2 Electrical currents in the human body exist due to the chemical reactions associated with normal physiological functions. For example, neural signaling is, in essence, a transmission of electric impulses. The electrical activity of the heart is measured using an electrocardiogram.3 The body’s electromagnetic field extends to a radius of about five meters, interacting with the fields of other people.4 "Through your brain, mind, and cells, your consciousness projects signals into the fields around you”5

Scientists have extensively documented a phenomenon known as ‘emotional contagion’ — the tendency of individuals and groups to pick up emotions from those around them. Both positive and negative emotions are capable of spreading and affecting others.6 A large-scale longitudinal study has even quantified the ripple effect of an emotion — the happiness of a single person boosts the happiness of the family members, spouse, neighbors, and friends by 34 percent.7  

Through her elevated emotion meditation, and persistent cultivation of positive thoughts towards her spouse and family members, Sharada’s energy field affected her environment. Her example is very inspirational, as it testifies to our power to transform our relationships with others and achieve a harmonious social environment.