while having a cup of coffee along with a friend at a coffee shop in kochi sunitha gs friend told her you should practise meditation overhearing the conversation the restaurants waiter said maam you should go for vipasana i practise it every day after him giving her a half hour lecture sunitha who had trouble dealing with her inner demons decided to take a chance if he can why cant i she thoughta bit of browsing helped her locate a centre for vipasana meditation at the outskirts of chengannur and taking a leave of absence for 10 days from work she went to the centre contrary to her expectation the meditation centre had more youngsters than elders there were youth ranging from the age of 18 to 35 from different castes religions and nationalities there were party animals hitchhikers journalists it professionals social workers and bankers all 60 of them had paused their life for the next 10 days shutting themselves off from all kinds of communication and embraced silencethey had mediation sessions from 430 am to 10pm where everyone sat in a room observing their breath after the course they came out with brighter smiles and blissful thoughts after returning sunitha said i never thought i would be able to maintain silence for even a minute and here i am sitting at peace for more than two hours without any distractionit is not that sunitha has no stress now in her professional or personal life but she says that the 10day course taught her to fight her inner and outer demons it has made my life simpler she addslike sunitha many youngsters in kerala find meditation a magic pill these days and have been searching for different modes to practise it while some opt for art of living a few pick zen meditation there are many centres opening across the state as well that teach the youth the techniques of mastering meditationfor anna pappachan a post graduate student from sacred hearts college the practice helped her cope with the sudden demise of her father i was very attached to my daddy i was depressed ever since he was diagnosed with cancer and he underwent treatment for four months his sudden illness and passing left me dejected she says i stopped talking to people skipped classes and used to just lay on bed it affected my academic performance one day i woke up and felt i cannot live like this foreveranna decided she needs to feel relaxed and return to her normal self and harked back to her teachers advice to inhale and exhale deeply before getting out of bed and sleeping it helps me warm up and also gives me inner peace she says apart from handling the pain of loss anna says that practising meditation has helped boost her confidence tame the monkey mind develop clarity and improve her decision making skillsstress isnt the only reason because of which youth are attracted to meditation those like social