Yoga is about much more than twisting yourself into a pretzel — it’s an ancient discipline encompassing mind, body, and soul. The benefits can be worldly: a longer life, a strong, flexible body, a calm and focused mind, along with feelings of contentment and well-being. And beyond that, a connection with something greater than yourself, a unity that takes you out of your narrow, egotistical box and plugs you into the real world, where all is interconnected, magical, and purposeful.
The following is a meditation practice that integrates movement, relaxation, breathwork, and meditation.
1. Move Your Body
The Yogis of ancient India had lofty goals of transcendence and awakening, but they understood that we are in physical bodies that need to be prepared for such a process.
The asanas we do in classes today were originally designed to get the body into an optimal state for meditation — comfortable, energized, and stable. Physical exercise also energizes the body; it generates heat and gets the heart pumping. If you were to try to meditate right after waking up, you’d most likely fall asleep or find your mind fuzzy and difficult to focus.
So the first step is to do a short asana sequence. A number of sun salutations, the Five Tibetan Rites, or any sequence of movement that opens and awakens your body. Just 10–15 minutes is enough.
2. Relax
Most Yoga classes end with Savasana, lying on your back in the so-called corpse pose. This gives the body a chance to recover from the physical exercise. Your heart will slow down, and a peaceful state of consciousness will emerge. However, in this practice, Savasana is not the end — it’s more like the middle. Relax for around 5 minutes. You could also lie on your back with your legs folded and feet on the floor, or even lie on your stomach.
3. Breathe
Breathwork has become very popular in recent years, but in the Yoga tradition it shouldn’t be seen as a separate practice — it’s part of a whole. Spending some time focusing on the breath is a way to prepare the body for meditation. There are also specific breathing exercises you can do which clear the nose and sinuses and sharpen the mind, ready for meditation.
There is something quite mysterious about the breath. It happens by itself — you are breathing right now — or you can choose to take control of it. Other than the lungs, no other internal organs grant us conscious control; you can’t control your heartbeat or the speed at which your liver cleans your blood. But for some reason, nature has given us conscious control of our breathing. This makes the breath an interesting gateway between the conscious and unconscious mind, between doing and just being. Maybe this is why it has traditionally been seen as a gateway to higher states of consciousness. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras describe awareness of the breath as that which lifts the veil and reveals the true nature of things, preparing the mind for meditation.
A few breath exercises worth trying:
- Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing) — using the thumb and ring finger to close one nostril at a time, breathing slowly in and out through alternating sides. Balances and calms the mind.
- Kapalabhati (Skull-Shining Breath) — sharp, forceful exhales through the nose, squeezing the abdomen with each one, followed by a passive inhale. Heating and clearing.
- Bhramari (Bee Breath) — covering the eyes and ears and humming steadily on the exhale, feeling the vibration inside the skull. Settles a busy mind.
Or simply spend 10 minutes breathing with complete awareness of the breath, watching each inhale and exhale without trying to change it.
4. Meditate
If you tried to meditate right after waking up, working, or being engaged in a distracting task, it would be very difficult to keep the mind steady. But the above preparations will make things much easier.
There are many ways to meditate, but the principle is always the same: we keep the mind focused on a single object — the breath, a spot on the ground, a candle flame, the feeling of loving-kindness, a mantra repeated silently, or simply the space between one thought and the next.
In the Yogic tradition, sustained focus on a single object leads to a higher state of awareness that can ultimately take us beyond the narrow world of our everyday thoughts and feelings, into an awareness of an underlying unity that is impossible to describe in words. The idea is that once we have learned to suppress the waves of consciousness — the thoughts, feelings, and sensory impressions that make up our everyday reality — we experience ourselves as pure awareness, devoid of any ego identity.
If you find meditation a bit of a struggle, the transcendent state of egoless bliss can sound somewhat far-fetched. But it’s still worth remembering that such a thing is possible. What is certainly true is that, eventually, your mind will prefer to sit with a single object instead of endlessly running around the past and future looking for things to worry about or desire.
Try to meditate for at least 15–20 minutes. The above practices will have made your body more comfortable, and your mind energized and focused — ready to simply sit, breathe, and be.