Meditation(Dhyana) disciplines, rejuvenates, heals, energizes and calms an overworked and overexcited mind. Once the mind learns to calm down, it will slowly start letting go of all tensions, stress, frustration, unhappiness, and impatience.
The question is how do one start meditation and how is yoga linked to meditation. This first thing to learn to start meditation is to learn to sit. It can be a challenge for most people, to sit in one position for more than 5 minutes. And that’s where Yoga comes into play. It makes your body stable and flexible enough to stay in a position for long without discomfort, where you can forget your body and start concentrating on your mind. Yoga also align your body and breath. Yoga in itself is a moving meditation. Therefore, yoga prepares your body for Dhyana.
It’s difficult to meditate in any position if, after a minute of sitting your leg, back, knees or shoulders hurt. Once you are able to sit with no discomfort we can start meditation. You can sit on chair, on your heels or crossed legged. However, the best way to sit for meditation is padhmasana (lotus pose). You will ask why padhmasana, because once you master this crossed leg sitting posture your spine feels stress-free, it opens the hips, ankle and knees, there is no muscular tension, it calms the brain and restores the energy flow.
Once you sit comfortably the next and the most difficult part of meditation comes now – to turn off the mind. It is easy said than done. For beginners, we start by watching our thoughts and diverting our concentration on to a physical object. It can be a flame, a deity, water or even a stone, anything you can look at long enough to retain the image when you close your eyes. Once you close your eyes concentrate on the image and breathing. Once the image is lost open your eyes and gaze at the object again. This is an easy exercise to remove your mind from all the wandering thoughts – the pretty girl you met on the way home, the food you will eat for dinner, bills you have to pay, the crazy guy at your office etc. Start with 10 minutes a day and work it up.
One day you realize that you don’t need the object any more to calm your mind and freedom from all thoughts.
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By: Simy J. Hammer
Simy is a certified yoga instructor from Mysore Mandala Yogashala specialized in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Yoga Therapy, Pranayama, Meditation and Prenatal Yoga. She is passionate about practicing and teaching the most proven, powerful and popular methods of Yoga.
The way she approaches yoga is to make it a complete mind-body practice that changes the way your mind relates and reacts to your body. https://www.simyhammer.com