Yoga Meditation 123

1. Begin by stretching. It is in the physical limbering of the body that the practice of yoga meditation lies. Stretching loosens muscle and allows for more comfortable positioning of the body.  Before yoga meditation practice can begin, you need to be able to “come inward,” and stretching allows just that.

2. As you meditate, acknowledge that frustration may creep up. This is a common beginner’s pitfall, one in which during yoga meditation we begin to question “why can’t I focus and quiet my mind?” When these feelings arise, acknowledge them, but return to your breath, letting the frustration drift away like clouds in the sky.

3. Focus on the body. A great tool for beginning yoga meditation yogis is to take a mental “scan” of your body.  Begin at your feet, picture a warm glowing light (choose a color that suits your mood!) that slowly travels up your body.  Feel your inner organs, as well as the surface of your skin as you pull your consciousness inwards and upwards.

4.     Meditate early in the morning. Without a doubt, early morning is an ideal
time to practice: it is quieter, your mind is not filled with the usual clutter, and there is less chance you will be disturbed. Make it a habit to get up half an hour earlier to practice yoga meditation. It doesn’t have to be every day, but try it at least twice a week!

In the morning, wake mindfully. As you feel your body awake, take a few moments to follow your breath before gently rising from bed. As you go about your morning routine: bathing, brushing your teeth, grooming your hair, pause, if only for a second, to focus on the sensation of your hair tugging at the root as you comb it, or the warm ripple of water on your back in the shower.  Try not to cloud your mine in those moments with thoughts of what you need to do next: dress, commute, etc. As you continue this practice you will slowly realize that your mind goes back to those urgent to-dos less and less frequently. You will find that your mind expands in the moments of mindfulness.

In the afternoon, begin with finding moments to follow your breath. At first you will find that the best time for this is time alone: if you have a lunch break, or even while in the bathroom, center yourself. Close your eyes and breathe in deeply. Watch your breath as it fills your body, your torso expanding as the cold air rushes in. Inhale as deeply as you can and pause for just a moment before exhaling as the warmed air that has filled your lungs flows out. After practicing this even for a few minutes a day, you will find that your body will naturally attune itself as you go about your day in the presences of coworkers, children, shopkeepers, or neighbors. This yoga meditation practice will bring you a deep connection with your body and mind.

In the evening, as you prepare dinner or commute home, take a minute again to pause and savor your surroundings. The vibrations of the train tracks beneath, the simmering smell of onions. Even the less pleasant sensations: screaming children, smelly sidewalks, can give us a moment to stop and reflect, if only as quickly as possible. Sometimes you cannot stop the children from screaming or the sidewalk from stinking, but you can find a moment within yourself to refocus on your breath. Experience these “distractions” as white noise, drowned out by the eternal vastness of om, the universal syllable that echoes and reverberates with perpetuity across the cosmos.   Disturbances around you can become part of the larger pulse of the cosmos if you choose to view it in such a light.

As you incorporate this practice into your day, you will find your body and mind realign and synch to one another.  If you learn over time to focus your mind on your body and the sensations that surround you, you will begin the process of defeating the anxious, stressful, and negative parts of your daily life. By finding a safe space within yourself, you will find refuge throughout life’s journey.

Hello Meditation Seekers. Did you know that meditation actually changes your brain’s chemistry for the better? It physically alters your mind into one that is calmer and more centered according to a recent study conducted at Harvard Medical College.  Check out this article recently published in the New York Times:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/?src=me&ref=general

Namaste,

Ella

Yoga is a term that refers to physical and mental exercises that were developed by Indian monks thousands of years ago.  These practices are meditative in nature, which means that they take great concentration, whether mental or physical. The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, which means “union.”  Yoga can therefore be translated as “uniting” or “binding.”  This idea of uniting can be related to the joining of mind and body through the practice of yoga.

In the Western modern world, yoga is most commonly used to describe the practice of Hatha yoga, which was codified in 15^th century India.  Hatha yoga believes that purification of the physical body leads to purification of the mind.

Therefore, yoga meditation is the act of purifying the mind through physical exercise of the body.  In order to achieve a clear and calm mind, the body must be exercised with awareness of one’s physical self and the body’s relationship to the mind.  For example, when practicing yoga, one begins in seated position, slowly counting the breath as it rises and falls from within the body.  Think of this meditative state as the beginning of a mindfully aware relationship with the body.  Yoga meditation begins with focus on the physical self, the inner workings that allow the body to function.

As the practice continues into the physical work of yoga as it is most commonly thought of, the mind must always stay attuned to the physical practice.  That is, while doing a sun salutation (the most common yoga sequence), the mind should be focused on the breath, the stretching of the body, the placement of feet/arms/head.  In short, one should not be thinking about the groceries they plan to buy on the way home, or the conversation they just had.  Naturally these extraneous thoughts pop up, but as a yogi (a practitioner of yoga meditation), it is wise to simply acknowledge these thoughts, but not to dwell on them.  Whenever these distractions arise, a return to yoga meditation, an awareness of the present experience and the physical sensations of the body is the best way to return to a blissful state.

The term mindful meditation, closely related to mindfulness meditation, refers to a meditation technique and a larger goal of being mindful in one’s approach to life. In other words, mindful meditation is a way of meditating and a way of approaching life – some might say the truest way to interact with the world.

Mindfulness refers to a balanced way of dealing with a great challenge mankind has always faced. The human mind is powerful and vast in what it can perceive and carry out, but it also has the power to lead us to destructive behaviors. Mindfulness is a state of awareness in which one is not encumbered by judgments, predispositions, and other thoughts promoted by the ego, but happily and freely observing our thoughts and maintaining peacefulness.

Meditation doesn’t only define the eyes closed, legs crossed, seated form of meditation which is the most well known. There are numerous kinds of meditation techniques, including more physically active ones as walking meditation. Also, different techniques can certainly overlap, as is often the case with mindful meditation. For example, mindful meditation can be practiced during walking meditation or sitting meditation. Therefore, mindful meditation is a technique that can be used in different ways and at all times.

Mindful meditation can be used in the short term, for clearing ones head, or as a larger aim for how to view the world. The Noble Eightfold Path is a main Buddhist code of conduct created by Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, or the first Buddha. The eight principles are: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. While mindfulness is one of these principles, mindful meditation arguably describes the mind state of one who is observing the tenets of the Noble Eightfold Path. When practicing mindful meditation correctly, one’s views, intentions, speech, actions, livelihood, effort, and concentration will be in line with the happy and peaceful mindset of mindful meditation. Being at peace though mindful meditation allows us to interact with the world from a peaceful place from which we can evaluate our actions, responses, and thoughts, and be a more positive participant in the world.

During this practice one’s mind is cleared from distraction. It can be done while eating, for example. Truly experience what it feels like to chew your food, to taste it, to swallow it. With each bite focus your energy on the act of eating, rather than thinking about what you have to get back to after lunch or the phone call you’re expecting, or the traffic on the turnpike this morning.  Mindfulness is about being focused on the present moment: the smell, the taste, the texture of all that you encounter. This mindful approach can be carried through every moment of your life: from eating lunch, to seated silently in the act of mindful meditation.  When seated, allow your body to focus on the breath, and survey your body, remaining present in your physical sensations. For more information and a practical guide to mindful meditation, see my “Meditation Essentials” in the sidebar.

In the beginning of yoga, you will practice what can be referred to as “yoga meditation.” Be it in a class or at home, the experience should start in seated position on the floor, your legs folded in a comfortable position.  Make sure to have your spine elongated and aligned with your neck. You can allow for a slight curve in the spine as you sink into your seat. Place your hands comfortably in your lap and angle your head slightly downward, your eyes either completely closed or slightly open and gazing softly downwards.

With yoga meditation, you will begin to follow your breath, tracing the rise and fall of your chest with your mind. Yoga meditation unites these two practices, developed in tandem in India over 2,000 years ago.  The practice of yoga meditation allows your body to become calm and grounded, your thoughts to be centered on the inner workings of your body.  In this way you can center your mind and body to be ready for the physical practice of yoga.  Remember that this form of exercise is meant to not only stimulate your body, but to calm and center your mind.  As you begin this process of yoga meditation, you will find that the two become intimately interwoven.

You should begin by scanning your body: start at the top of your forehead and think of a wave of calm, warm, peaceful energy slowly flowing over your body from top to bottom.  Bring this energy from your crown to your eyebrows, then down to your nose, your lips, your chin, your neck, your shoulders, your chest, your trunk, your hips, your thighs, your knees, your shins, and then radiating downwards through all of your toes.  You can picture it as a force field of energy, choosing a color to counteract your mood. Perhaps red if you feel sluggish, or blue if you feel agitated.  This energy will help to realign and center you as you begin your yoga practice.  Yoga meditation is an essential first step for practicing physical yoga, which asks you to move your body in line with your mind and breath.  This practice can be more fully explored in my “Meditation Essentials,” located on the side bar of the blog. Namaste.

Dhammapada or Loving kindness meditation is one of the simplest forms of Buddhist meditation. This practice serves to bring about feelings of happiness and evokes positive sensations about ones self and the living universe that surrounds us.  The goal in the practice of loving kindness meditation is to engender feelings of love and well being, and can be practiced by members of all religions.

In Pali, thecentral Indian language of many of the most important Buddhist texts, lovingkindess is condensed into a single short word: metta, which has no direct translation into English. In the Pali canon, a 2,000 year old text, the Buddha recommends this practice to his followers It summarizes the feelings of well being, interconnectedness, kindness, and love that is meant to come about through the evocation of this practice of spreading positive energy to yourself, others, and eventually out to all living creatures.

Loving kindness meditation, however, differs from Western prayer because it is not practice with expectation or desire for specific action.  Instead it is meant to create a feeling well being within yourself and your relationship with all sentient beings.  Traditionally, the practice begins with a seated meditation in which the practitioner sends loving kindness first to themselves, building on ones own self esteem.  From there one can send metta out to others, often beginning with a person for whom we feel strong affection.  After this, we are to send out loving kindness to a neutral person. Perhaps someone who we do not know well and have neither positive nor negative feelings towards.  Then, one should radiate out this loving kindness to a person with negative charge, perhaps an enemy, or person with whom one has had negative experiences. Allowing the equal amount of love to radiate to yourself as to others teaches a valuable lesson about the interconnectedness of all beings. Sending love to ones self and others unconditionally begins the powerful process of cultivating positive energy into the universe.  The practice continues by sending metta out to the four directions. Start with the largest of beings, perhaps the whales in the sea or elephants on the Savannah, and radiating this same loving kindness to the tiniest creepy crawlys on the earth.

This type of meditation must be practiced without any expectations. This is truly unselfish practice that results in ideal or pure love that each of us is capable of. We begin with loving ourselves and then extend this pure love to include others, starting with people special to us and eventually extending it to all living things.

“Om” is a sacred incantation developed in India and related to the principle religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. These three traditions have all contributed to the development of meditation practice over the millennia. Om Meditation, however does not need to be religious in nature in order to benefit the practitioner. The sound of “om” is said to be a universal syllable, one that echoes and reverberates with perpetuity across the cosmos. It has been called the sound of the universe, the root of language, the origin of life, and the source of all cosmic energy.
Om can be broken up into three parts, roughly corresponding to the letters A, U, and M. Om meditation practitioners will often begin their practice with a long, drawn out incantation of om “aaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm,” often in series of three. Before chanting om, it is useful to take a deep breath, on the exhale the practitioner will begin with the first syllable “A, which tend to be the most drawn out, slowly while losing breath, the practitioner will sound U and then, M, which allows for a full release of the breath and contraction of the diaphragm.
One is meant to feel the vibration of om within and then reverberating outwards from the body. Om is the white noise that exists throughout the universe, in the parts that are both known and unknown to us. With om meditation, one comes closer to the pulse of the universe.

In our frantic modern society, it is surprisingly hard to stop the constant stream of thoughts pulsing through us and simply find our inner peace. In this high speed, money-oriented culture, we often neglect our basic need for a clear and peaceful mind. Have you ever noticed you mind rushing through a battery of negative thoughts that ultimately feel foreign to you? Calming the mind becomes difficult to do while keeping pace with the demands of our busy modern lives. In such situations, we can all benefit by looking the tenets of Eastern philosophy: yogic meditation.
Yoga refers to the mental and physical exercises that originated in India. Though we often only think of the physical side of yoga, there is a mental aspect of it as well, that is part of the physical practice, but also can be practiced in a seated, still position, meditating. “Yogic” simply means relating to yoga, there fore yogic meditation is the conscious act of centering the mind and body in a still and grounded posture.
The ancient practice of yogic meditation allows us to halt the rootless stream of negative thoughts and realize that thoughts are not reality, but rather perceptions of reality. For example, habitually negative thoughts lead to negative perceptions of the world. When we use yogic meditation to calm the mind, we cease to view life from a biased, negative point of view, and instead begin to enjoy life and interact with the world from a balanced point of view.
The physical practice of yoga encourages balanced awareness of and better management of our bodies. While the mind and body work together, it is challenging to quiet the mind if the body is unbalanced. Yoga helps us to keep our bodies balanced, flexible, and loose. In our modern society, little emphasis is placed on balance, while strenuous exertion is common – be it for demanding careers or attaining a socially desirable body type.
If the above information is relevant to you, and if you too seek a more balanced, peaceful mind and body, I recommend you begin by checking out my “Meditation Essentials,” available in the sidebar. There you can begin using yogic meditation to achieve measurable, positive effects in your life. By employing the specific meditation and yoga practices mentioned on this site, you can erase the detrimental effects of our modern society and begin to view the world from a calmer, more peaceful viewpoint.

Namaste and welcome to Holistic Mind & Body. My name is Ella Ford and I have a lot of exciting information to offer you today.  Here you will learn tried and true methods for improving your mind and body using natural techniques.  I have studied yoga, meditation, and holistic health, and have compiled a number of different guides to help you get started on the path to a peaceful and healthful life.