The Silent Mirror: Journey Through Leh Ladakh by Anjan Prakash

Window seat. Face pressed against the glass. The excitement and emotions inside, the infinitude of the Himalayan ranges outside.

Though spellbound, thoughts have a way of cruising through a human mind and I start wondering - How can the Himalayas that are 2,400kms long, about 8,000 mts high, occupying an area of 1.089 million sq.kms be the epitome of stillness, calmness, gentleness, beauty and magnificence? Whereas our cities that are just several hundred kilometres long, filled with high rises, are rapidly collapsing into an abyss of stress, restlessness, and is a far cry from beauty and magnificence?

the being, that for once overrides the doing

First few slow steps, many few slow steps, two days and slightly normal steps, that’s how the body acclimatises in Ladakh. At 11,500ft, the mind and body begins to function as a whole out of necessity. You become aware of your breath as it is now heavier and louder than your thoughts, you start noticing even the minor changes as it is essential for your survival, you begin to respect the boundaries that your body lays out for you, and, you are conscious of what you spend days being unconscious about in a city – the being, that for once overrides the doing. This is meditation in movement.

Ladakh is a desert. It is snow-capped during the winter, and as the mountain sheds its snow-skin in summer, the ranges turn brown while many of them choose to retain their winter skin. Yet it is this unending expanse of the ranges that are either brown/white OR brown & white; it is the playfulness between sunlight and shadow creating multiple hues; it is the occasional sightings of birds or any other life that winds down the stimulations, and gently, the nothingness begins to detox the mind. A noble silence envelops the air. The human meets the being with grace; the mind meets the body with a sense of companionship; and together this meets Nature with humility and love.

Meditation in movement

Each step on the mountain is a permission – to move as much within as without. Can I be large and yet vulnerable? Can I be grand and yet gentle? Can I touch the sky, and still rooted in the ocean I rose from? Can I be abundant and giving? Can I be still and playful? Can I transcend past and future to show up fully in the present? Can I embody this within, so the without reflects it?

Window seat. Face pressed against the glass. Infinitude inside. Infinitude outside.

Anjan Prakash is an Entrepreneur, Biomimicry Communicator based out of Mumbai