Learning about the fundamental practice of yoga and meditation is integral to the way you can benefit from it in the long-term. Making yoga and meditation a daily habit will help develop your inner awareness for everyday life.
By: Donna Scro Samori - MYX Coach
What is Yoga?
When we think of yoga we might visualize a person doing yoga poses, however, yoga is a much broader study than just the physical practice. To practice yoga means to be in conscious relationship to some part of ourselves and the world around us. A physical practice is the practice of being in conscious relationship to the body using the yoga poses (asanas) as the vehicle of conversation.
Through the practice of these poses we develop a deeper understanding of how our body works. Breathwork (pranayama) is performed to create a conscious relationship to our breath, the bridge between our minds are our hearts.
Defining Meditation
Mediation is the conscious relationship to our minds and our inner self. Mediation is a practice designated to develop a deeper and more profound relationship with our inner world. Many people have a misconception of mediation and think the goal is to have a still mind. The truth is our minds are not still, nor do we want them to be! Mediation is used to enter into relationship with our minds so that we can be more familiar with how they work.
If we approach a mediation practice expecting to enter into some zen like state, we will be quickly disappointed. We need to enter a mediation practice with curiosity and wonder of what is going on with our thoughts and feelings. We can sit with a question or consideration and to listen to what comes up. We don’t need to over analyze it, we just need to be open to receive whatever may surface.
There are no good or bad meditations, they are an opportunity to just sit with ourselves and enter into a conscious relationship with the beautiful, complex workings of our inner world.
The 5 Minute Meditation
My mediation suggestion is to sit quietly for 5 minutes or more. Do what feels right. Don’t try to achieve some peaceful state, just sit and be curious. Perhaps, ask a question and then just be open to receive. If your mind really becomes agitated, know that is normal and turn your awareness to your breath to center yourself.
Practice Makes Perfect
There is no right or wrong way to meditate. Just find a way for you to connect within. The byproduct of any yoga practice whether it be asana, pranayama or meditation is that it can help us feel more connected and less stressed. However, yoga is a practice and a process that must be repeated in order to achieve this state.
Sit with yourself everyday, and over time your mediation practice can become a source of comfort and way to connect to yourself. You will be in conscious relationship with all aspects of yourself. When we are more aware of the way we work, we can be in a better relationship to the world around us.
Yoga is to be conscious relationship with anything; our bodies, breath, minds, people, nature, etc. When we develop a sense of turning in, we become much better at being mindful and aware of everything around us. This is how our yoga practices go beyond the experience of the mat and into the richness of our lives.
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A note from MYX: Donna is one of our esteemed fitness coaches who specializes in all things yoga, meditation, barre and core. If you’d like to learn more about Donna, check out her coach profile and take a look at everything she has to offer on The MYX app.
