What is there in Yoga and meditation?

I am going to discuss here what are the benefits of Yoga and Meditation and why we all should do it everyday like we do any other daily activity. I have always been amazed by seeing how these ancient Indian  practices have survived so long and still being practiced throughout the world.

People all over the world now recognize the importance of yoga and mediation and it has become popular as one of the best stress reliever technique.
These practices have always existed in ancient India  and nobody gave them proper respect and encouragement.

Nobody promoted yoga in India like it should have been but it is practiced by the whole world which is miracle in itself. I have lot of respect for our forefathers who have given us the gift of knowledge which unfortunately we don't believe is good enough.It is said in Geeta that "All the material things in the world are perishable . You are running behind the material things but they will not follow you when you leave the world." The only happiness you can gain is by changing your way of thinking and not getting involved in the worries of the world . All the resources required to make yourself happy are there in your head with you only. We didn't know what worry is when we were born . We learned to worry through our experiences in the world. Yoga and meditation will helps us achieve this happiness which we have forgotten is nowhere in the world but inside us. It is only in our head. I remember watching a movie where the lead star travels all over the world to do the research on what makes people happy. There is no need to go all over the world to find happiness. The real happiness is there with you . You just need to find it within yourself and unlock it. Your soul is the best friend of yourself .

Meditation is for your brain like physical exercise is for your body. It calms the mind and clears the unnecessary chatter of thoughts going on inside the mind. This helps to focus on our daily work. All the students should be taught the importance of  yoga and meditation from the early age.

Fact of life is that it is hard to do meditation .It is easy to learn but it is difficult to keep  going . But in the end it is worth the effort you put in.

Good news is that like any other activity it comes with practice. It takes lot of time  and a strong will power to keep yourself engaged at doing mediation.It can be frustrating at times , you will feel like you are not getting anything out of it and think of abandoning it to do something more meaningful.

If you have learned to play any musical instrument  in life then you know how important the persistence and hard work is .

Think of doing meditation as learning to play a musical instrument. It comes with practice .It takes time to learn and to concentrate on something for so long but we all are humans and we  all have all the resources required to learn it.

Once you pass the initial stage , you will start reaping the benefits very quickly.

Both yoga and meditation should be performed one after another so that your body is stretched and ready . Meditation involves sitting in the same posture for long time .Yoga helps with that. Yoga and mediation both go hand in hand. Yoga relives the physical stress by the stretching exercises whereas meditation relieves the mental stress.

Here are the tips for yoga for beginners (I consider myself among one of them).

1. Set aside a time daily for doing yoga. Its better to keep the same time daily.

2. Don't overdo it if your are a beginner . 15- 20 minutes is more than enough.

3. Start by doing the simple  stretching exercises. Don't try to do very difficult asanas in the beginning.

4. In the morning the the body is rested and the mind is calm. It is the perfect time for doing Yoga .

5.Buy some good CD or use some apps on the phone for training yourself the yoga asaanas. Always go for the beginner stuff if you have not practiced it ever  in life or starting it after a long time.

Tips for doing meditation:

1. Meditation should be done after the yoga. Because mediation involves sitting in the same posture for long time and the body is relaxed after doing yoga.

2. Concentrate on the breath (inhalation and exhalation )while doing the meditation. Don't breathe deliberately. Keep it natural .

3. There will be thoughts coming to your mind all the time .Don't get carried away with the thoughts .If you get carried away,come back and again start focusing on your inhalation and exhalation. There will be distractions like somebody walking heavily on the floor or some baby crying somewhere or the honking on the road but keep your attention focused on the breath. If you get distracted come back to your breath.

4. Don't try too hard to focus on the breath. Thoughts will keep coming and going. The idea is not to get involved with your thoughts.

5. After finishing the meditation give yourself 2-3 mins to think of the good work you have done for your body and thank god for giving you the opportunity .

6. Usually its better to do the meditation after yoga but you can do it anytime .Set aside 10 mins for it when you want to do it. At some places it is said that you should do it for 15 mins but I think for beginner 5-10 mins is good enough.

7.  Use the timer on the phone for keeping track of the time. Put the phone in airplane mode if you don't want any distractions.

8. Sit on the blanket/pillow  or mediation mat while doing mediation.It will keep your body in better posture and you will feel relaxed while doing mediation.

9. Most importantly don't lose hope if you don't see the benefits in the beginning .You will start realizing the benefits  if you keep doing it. At least keep focused for one year.

I hope you will enjoy doing  yoga once you get a hang of it.If there are any questions please post it in the comments section.