The spiritual aspect of yoga may seem like an obstacle to people who don’t consider themselves “religious” or “spiritual,” but an open mind on this matter can lead to unexpected benefits.
The practices of yoga and meditation have been associated over the centuries with nearly every established religion, but you don’t need to identify with or have any affiliation with an established religion, or even believe in any version of a deity, in order to tap into the spiritual benefits of yoga and meditation.
The practice of yoga (uniting body, mind, and spirit) has at its heart the aim of samtosha, or contentment--an overall feeling of serenity and joy. A practitioner who meditates seriously and develops skills of attention to mind and body, in the process discovering what might be called “soul”--the non-physical aspects of yourself which make up your personality, ethics, emotions, intelligence, thought, and connectedness to other people, to nature, to the world around you... in short, to spirit.
If you are willing to treat your yoga and meditation practice as more than merely a set of physical exercises, you leave yourself open to the experience which ancient yogis called samadhi--a higher-level state of meditative consciousness which might be translated as transcendence. This state might manifest itself as a trance-like concentration on a focal object, on a feeling of connectedness to nature, or even a feeling of nearly-tangible energy. If you earnestly wish to pursue the spiritual aspects of yoga and meditation, the guidance of a yogi is invaluable as you navigate a yogic and meditative journey. Yoga classes offered at a health club or gym may focus primarily on the physical poses, or asanas, but a search for additional yoga offerings will provide you with options of various branches of yogic practice that enhance the physical exercise with the meditative and spiritual approach.
Thank you for reading the article about Spiritual Aspects of Yoga and Meditation in blog Soft Meditation and if you found this article useful please bookmark this page in your web browser, by pressing Ctrl D on your keyboard.