Are you looking to calm your mind and body from daily stress? If you are, then this is the book for you. In "The Power of Yoga and Meditation" you will not only learn Yoga and Meditation but also learn about a variety of related issues:
- The purposes and history of yoga and meditation.
- The scientifically proven benefits of yoga and meditation.
- How you can achieve a peaceful mental and physical state with yoga and meditation.
- How you can find inner peace and balance in your life.
- Correct methods of breathing during yoga and meditation.
- How to practice yoga and meditation at home.
- How to stay in top physical shape with yoga and meditation.
- Music and visualization suggestions while performing yoga and meditation.
- How yoga and meditation can alter your moods and attitude.
- How yoga and meditation can be used to treat depression, anxiety, tension, insomnia, high blood pressure, and other physical and psychological problems.
- How to combine yoga and meditation with other exercises.
What is Meditation?
As a general definition of the practice, meditation is a method of focusing and training the mind, with the ultimate goal of achieving a more conscious or perceptive level of awareness. The practice itself is a personal practice, inwardly oriented, which generally involves quiet periods of attending to the breath and thought with a conscious effort at awareness of one’s own inner workings.
Many practitioners of meditation use tools or ritual objects like prayer beads, music, incense or scented candles, or a focal point on which the meditating person focuses during the period of meditation. Meditation itself has long been a component of spiritual practice in almost every named religion, including the Baha’i Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, and a number of others. The practice is mentioned in ancient texts ranging from the Hebrew Old Testament (the basic text of both Judaism and Christianity) to the scriptures of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism--all dating back millennia before the present.
Even practitioners who don’t subscribe to a specific religion often adhere to a philosophy of spirituality--the idea that there’s something bigger than our physical selves with whom we can connect as individuals. Whether that “something,” in a particular individual’s mind, is a version of a deity or even a connection with nature, meditation can be used in heightening awareness of the spiritual aspects of that person’s life.
Meditation is also used by secular practitioners as a form of improving mental focus and achieving a state of awareness and connection with mind and body. Medical studies have proven the physiological effects of a practiced meditation system, in lowering blood pressure, altering metabolism, and controlling heart rate and respiration, among other things. In short, meditation is a mental practice which incorporates the body along with the mind, and has effects on physiology as well as psychology. Used with practice and direction, meditation can change a person’s outlook on life, as well as physical health.
Meditation is also the central aspect of every form of yoga practice, so yoga and meditation have been paired together for millennia.
What is Yoga? A Brief History and Background
In its purest form, the practice of yoga is a discipline which combines mental, spiritual, and physical elements, with the goal of achieving tranquility and spiritual insight. Although many western practitioners have skimmed over the spiritual aspect to focus on the mental and physical, even the “partial” practice of yoga has its benefits. A relaxed, more fit, and more flexible body and an easier mind are some of the primary results of practicing yoga and meditation. Add in the spiritual element, and the practice of yoga becomes one of the most complete and fully satisfying forms of exercise available.
The word “yoga” itself is from a Sanskrit word meaning “yoke”--to join or unite, in reference to its underlying philosophy of uniting mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of a person’s being. The practice of yoga dates back for thousands of years. Even before written history, archaeological sites in the Indus Valley show carvings of figures positioned in yoga and meditation poses.
The word “yoga” in reference to the practice first appears i n Buddhist scriptures dating back to 400 B.C. In centuries following, the yogic practice of spiritual contemplation developed in both Buddhist and Hindu traditions, solidifying in the second century B.C. when a man known as Patanjali compiled a written work of yoga sutras (aphorisms, or thoughts). Patanjali’s sutras became the basis of the Ashtanga Yoga system, also known as “eight-limbed yoga” due to its eight component elements (which will be detailed later, under Types of Yoga), and remains the core characteristic of the Raja variations of yoga still taught today. The asana, or seated meditation posture, has been developed over time into the various poses recognizable to yoga users today.
Sometime between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. the Sanskrit Scripture Bagavad Gita was introduced, describing yoga and meditation with three branches: action (Karma yoga), devotion (Bhakti yoga), and knowledge (Jnana yoga). Around the fifteenth century, Hatha Yoga made its appearance, with a focus on purifying the physical body as a method of purifying the mind. In addition to the asanas, or poses, of earlier forms of yoga, Hatha Yoga included a focus on prana--the idea of a vital energy which can be directed in its flow through the use of asanas and meditation.
In the nineteenth century, western practitioners were introduced to yoga a s a form of exercise, also used as an alternative medicine. The form of Kundalini Yoga, often referred to as the “yoga of awareness” focused on the multiple elements of developing physical strength in tandem with character, awareness, and consciousness. Kundalini Yoga is often considered a more advanced form of yoga and meditation, requiring focus on the part of the practitioner and reaching beyond the mere “exercise” of asana poses.
The majority of yoga classes offered in western health clubs is of the early Raja variety as set out by Patanjali centuries ago. A practitioner can also find classes, however, in the specific disciplines like Hatha Yoga and Kundalini Yoga.
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