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<\/p>\nAs a yogi, meditation has come up quite a bit in my practice over the years. My teacher has advocated for at least 1 hour of meditation time in a day, where in that hour I learn to still my mind, chant mantras and quiet the world outside so that the inner self will emerge.<\/p>\n
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It may seem easy. After all, how difficult can sitting in\u00a0sukhasana,\u00a0<\/em>closing\u00a0your eyes and focusing your thoughts be?\u00a0There is no need to work on your core strength, or your\u00a0flexibility. All you need to do is breathe and focus. But meditation is hard. And as hard as an asana can be, meditation is still harder. This is because meditation is stripped of all physical embodiments. In an asana, I can focus all my thoughts on grounding my feet. Or pressing my palms down on the mat. My focus is, for the most part, external.<\/p>\n But in meditation, my thoughts are on nothing.\u00a0My mind is quiet. There is no need for me to focus on something external to keep the mind still because the mind is already void of thoughts and emotions.<\/p>\n For most of us, that seems like an unachievable goal. How can we quiet a mind that is so full of thoughts and opinions? How can we meditate?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s accept that it is difficult<\/strong><\/p>\n The first thing to do is to accept that meditation is difficult and a lifelong process. In the\u00a0eight limbs of yoga<\/a>, meditation or\u00a0dhyana<\/em>\u00a0features as the 7th limb before enlightenment or\u00a0Samadhi.<\/em>\u00a0This means that the practitioner would have ideally achieved the previous 6 limbs before even attempting\u00a0dhyana.<\/em><\/p>\n True meditation is difficult and probably is one of the most difficult things you would do in your life. Understanding this is the key to helping you move forward.<\/p>\n Practice Pranayama, Pratyhara and Dharana before Dhyana<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re practicing yoga, chances are you\u2019re already practicing\u00a0asanas<\/em>\u00a0on a regular basis. Where you can, you should also try to incorporate the practice of\u00a0pranayama<\/em>,\u00a0pratyhara<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0dharana<\/em>, and do it in that order.<\/p>\n Through\u00a0Pranayama<\/em>, you will learn to connect breath to movement so that your breath flows in a harmonious way. Pranayama is a yogi\u2019s first contact with meditation, as it requires the yogi to consciously focus on breath<\/a> and nothing else.<\/p>\n Pratyhara<\/em>, which means withdrawal from the senses, requires us to disassociate from our sense of touch, taste, feel, sight, and hearing. When practicing\u00a0pratyhara<\/em>, it is not to say that we don\u2019t experience these senses, rather, we make a conscious effort to withdraw and to detach ourselves from them. We may feel happy or sad, but the emotion does not affect us in any way. We become observers of our own emotions instead of participants in it.<\/p>\n Dharana<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 one pointed concentration \u2013 is a crucial practice to master before one begins to think about meditation. In\u00a0dharana<\/em>, we bring our focus inward to focus on a single mental point. Through this concentration, the mind and its ever-flowing thoughts slow down and eventually quiet. In\u00a0dharana,\u00a0<\/em>we begin to bring our focus inwards towards the mind.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve mastered these three practices, the process of meditation not only becomes smoother, but also more effective.<\/p>\n Once you are ready to meditate, keep your first few sessions short. Start with 10 minutes each time and then build from there. It is better to be fully still in 10 minutes than to meditate for an hour where only small fracture of that time is spent in true meditation. With practice, you will eventually be able to lengthen your time spent meditating.<\/p>\n Meditation is the only thing that will actually refund you the time you invested in it, as it has reversal effect on our ageing processes on cellular level. According to a study<\/a>, people of average age of 50 who meditate regularly have bodies and minds as if they were 7,5 years younger.<\/p>\n So no more excuses that you don\u2019t have time to meditate!<\/p>\n Practice, practice, practice!<\/strong><\/p>\n The work to quiet the mind is no easy feat. Like the muscles in our body, we can strengthen the mind through practice. It is a myth to say that meditation means to not use the mind at all. Separating your mind from the senses, and disassociating it from the external world is hard work!<\/p>\n According to a Harvard study<\/a>, trying to focus on one thing for five minutes inevitably leads the mind to wander off to other things, but at the same time trying to suppress a single thought about something forces the mind to keep thinking about it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.evivenutrition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/9328923194c2c54af423e4a088b62dce.jpg\")
\nBegin with short periods<\/strong><\/p>\n
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