Meditation

During your yoga holiday there will be a free session on Meditation.   Many people have never had the chance to fully understand what meditation is or the benefits of a regular meditation practice.   So we include an in-depth meditation session on our yoga holidays to help you learn the basics and benefits of meditation.    

If you've never tried meditation, the notes below will help you begin a basic meditation practice.    But, we do recommend that you find a local teacher to help you over the initial hurdle of beginning something new.    Meditation is absolutely amazing & can improve your health, relationships and success in many ways.  

What is Meditation?

The idea behind yoga meditation is to consciously relax your body and focus your thoughts on one thing for a sustained period. This occupies your mind, diverting it from anything that is causing you to feel stressed.   Simply by diverting your mind, your body has time to relax, recuperate, and eliminate stress hormones that are coursing through the body.

A Simple Meditation Exercise

There is nothing mystical about meditation.  On the contrary, it is something that you can do quite easily by following these steps:

• Sit quietly and comfortably.
• Close your eyes.
• Start by relaxing the muscles of your feet and work up your body relaxing muscles
• Focus your attention on your breathing.
• Breathe in deeply and then let your breath out. Count the seconds of your in breath and count the seconds of the out breath (this gives your mind something to do which helps to focus your mind away from any problems that are vexing you).

Do this for five or ten minutes - or longer if you have the time.

 Focusing on breathing and counting breaths is just one way you can occupy your mind during meditation. Other approaches are:

• Focusing on an object:
  Here, you completely focus attention on examination of an object. Look at it in immense detail for the entire meditation. Examine the shape, color differences, texture, temperature and movement of the object. Objects often used are flowers, candle flames or flowing designs, but you can use other objects equally effectively (for example alarm clocks, desk lamps or even coffee mugs!)
  
• Focus on a sound:
  Some people like to focus on making a quiet sound on the out breath.  A classic example is the Sanskrit word “Om”.  Whether or not you are happy with this word depends on you.   Other popular words would be "peace", "calm", "relax"
  
• Using Imagery:
  This can be a refreshing way of meditating. Here, you create a mental image of a pleasant place in your mind or, choose something intriguing & lovely to look at such as a flower, a photograph or your favourite painting.   Just sit & study your visual or imaginery object for as long as you can.
  
• Listening to Meditate Scripts:
  Most of these are chargeable, however you can listen to the free (and beautiful) "Secret Garden" script by clicking here.

However you do meditation, it is important to keep your attention focused. If external thoughts or distractions wander into your mind, let them drift out.

Summary:
Meditation is a useful and practical relaxation technique. To use it, sit in a comfortable place, close your eyes, relax your body, and focus your concentration on something for a period of time.

 By meditating, you rest your body, allow stress hormones to subside, and occupy your mind so that unpleasant, stressful thoughts do not intrude.

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