Like mental body practices, yoga And meditation offer many advantages. However, if you practice one without the other, you might not get the most out of one or the other habit. You can really improve your experience both on the carpet and on your pillow By combining both.
Here’s how meditation can deepen your connection with your yoga and vice versa practice.
Why should you practice yoga and meditation together?
Meditation and yoga work together in synergy to benefit each other. Certain types of yoga, including Kundalini Yoga and some forms of Hatha Yogaalready include meditation in practice.
“In yoga, meditation is everything,” says Sam Rudra Swartza certified meditation teacher and Hatha Yoga instructor. “The poses prepare the body, breathing practices help prepare the mind, then you spend this time alone with your [thoughts] where you make efforts to focus exactly on something ”, be your breath, a mantraor sensations in your body.
In addition, the physical practice of yoga can help you be more attentive in your meditations. “A coherent practice of Hatha Yoga is important in order to be able to sit in a high and right alert installation which will facilitate this concentration for meditation,” explains Swartz.
Yoga also focuses on breath through pranayamaWho are breathing techniques that keep you calm and concentrated. With a coherent meditation practice, you prepare your body and mind for this respiratory work during yoga poses and build concentration and concentration through each flow.
Practice these exercises enough and you could also start to notice their effects in your daily life.
“We are told that yoga concerns a calm and concentrated spirit, so that everything you do throughout your day is a meditation,” says Swartz. “Your whole day can be part of your practice.”
Do you meditate before or after yoga?
“There is no constant rule for whether or not you practice one or the other first,” says Swartz. However, traditionally, a yoga practice has a meditation practice. In the authority text, Yoga sutrasPhysical practice (Asana) is supposed to be stable and comfortable, to prepare for longer and seated meditations.
However, Swartz says it is normal to be flexible on the one you do first. Some meditations work better First thing in the morning When life is calm and the sun rises. “If you are an early program and you want to align yourself with the deeper traditions of spiritual practice, meditate as soon as possible,” he said, then make a soft practice.
Later in the day, you may want to flow before you sit down. “If your practice is quite rigorous, you would like to put an end to your physical practice with at least a few minutes of deep relaxation and meditation,” he said.
What are the advantages of yoga and meditation?
Yoga and meditation have many documented and sought -after advantages, many of which overlap. Whether you are engaging in one or the other, your mind and your body will thank you for adopting these old practices for your modern life.
The advantages of yoga
The advantages of meditation
- Meditation can stimulate your well-being and offer Additional advantages For your mind, like helping to raise mood and facilitate stress.
- Researchers now know that meditation can change the structure of the brain and thus help keep it healthy. Data from Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences suggests that meditation could help preserve gray and white matter in the brain, which can help slow down age -related decreases in both.
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Combine one class per week with meditation. If you are new in practice, Bodi offers guided meditation programs in Healthy meditation Or Non -stimulating This varies from 10 to 45 minutes.
