Art of Meditation

Meditation is like the art of the musician
and the science of sound vibration.

Meditation deals with Senses, Body, Breath, and Mind. There is an art in the process of observing, accepting, understanding, and training each of these various aspects of our being.

In observing the senses, one becomes increasingly mindful of the way the mind is drawn here and there by smell, taste, touch, sight and hearing. One comes to see the many ways in which the body cleanses and eliminates, the elegant force of  our sensual drive on actions and artistic expression, the beautiful varieties of motion and dexterity of holding objects, and the awesome process of speech. To observe, accept, understand, and train these faculties is most definitely an art form.

In doing yoga postures, one learns with heightened awareness and concentration to let the body flow into the postures. This is an art.

With breathing practices, one may spend many minutes seeing how very smooth and slow one can make the breath, while eliminating jerkiness and pauses. This can bring calmness to the physical body and stillness to the mind. This too is an art.

Once one gets past the initial frustration with quieting the conscious mind, the mind is seen to be an awesome instrument, with many currents and cross-currents. Yet, the meditator comes to see that “who we are” is beyond this mind, and that the gentle examination of thoughts and emotions is an intriguing and joyful part of the journey to the center of consciousness. This exploration too is an art.

Science of Meditation

Yoga meditation science is complete in itself. It deals with all levels of ones being, and provides a vast array of detailed explanations and practices to go along with those concepts. Yoga meditation is a science, providing a blueprint for the architecture of consciousness, and a roadmap to the center of consciousness.

Highly useful among the texts on yoga science are the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, and the Upanishads, which are said to be the distillation, the “juice” of the Vedas, among the oldest teachings known to humanity. Seen through the eye of the yogi or the mystic, many of the books of the worlds religions are also guides in the science of yoga, of the wholeness of the inner journey.

The science of yoga meditation is taught in oral tradition by thousands of people around the world, as they have for thousands of years. Among those are a handful of enlightened ones, called by such names as saint, sage, seer, yogi, or master (of themselves). Preeminent among them are the sages of the Himalayas.

Does yoga help breath cancer patients?

University of Alberta research fellow Amy Speed-Andrews has examined how a specialized Iyengar yoga program for women currently in the treatment for breast for breast cancer, and who have completed treatment, makes a difference in their recovery.

For two years groups of study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their physical and mental health at the beginning of a 10-week session of Iyengar yoga and again at the end. After analyzing the data that was collected, Speed-Andrews, from the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, found that after yoga 94 percent said they had improvements in their quality of life; 88 percent felt better physically; 87 percent reported being happier and 80 percent were less tired. Other improvements were reported in body image and in decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression. This is significant, considering breast cancer treatments often leave women in pain, immobilized, tired and depressed.

Many of  the yogi’s in who come along to our London classes ask us why yoga makes us feel happier and more energetic. Well here’s a little insight.

Researchers at Boston (BUSM) were interested in finding out what exactly does happen to the brain after a yoga session compared to another physical activity, in this case, walking?

The team studied two groups of participants for 12 weeks. One group practiced yoga and the other group walked, both for an hour, three times a week. Prior to the study period, the researchers took a brain scan using magnetic resonance spectroscopic (MRS) imaging, then compared it to a second brain scan taken after the participants’ final session of either yoga or walking. The scientists were particularly looking for the gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) levels in the brain. Low GABA levels tend to be found in those with depression or anxiety, therefore generally the higher the GABA the better the well-being.

The results, which are published in the current issue of the Journaly of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that the GABA levels were higher in the group of yogis versus the group of walkers.

Study participants were also asked to evaluate their state of well-being at various points during the 12 weeks. Those spending their time moving through asanas claimed to have seen greater improvements in mood and reduced anxiety levels compared to those who hit the pavement.

The research team hopes this is a starting point for more studies into yoga as therapy for people suffering from mental disorders.

Yoga therapy is finding more and more demand in the marketplace. But yoga continues to grow amongst the generally busy and stressed consumer as well.

Many of our clients come from the corporate world, and they seek yoga to as a way to restore the balance in their life.

Whenever I ask my yogis before class if they have any requests, I’m asked about hip openers. Hip openers may be challenging, but they can also be incredibly satisfying, both physically and emotionally.

If you’re like most students, you probably feel as though someone poured superglue into your hip sockets. There are perfectly good reasons for this. First, modern life requires sitting all day, which keeps your hips from the rotation, flexion, and extension they need to remain agile. Second, common sports such as running and cycling—and even an everyday activity like walking—demand hip strength but not flexibility. The third culprit is stress, which creates tension in your body, especially in your hip area, which is a complex cluster of powerful muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Even a little bit of stress-induced clenching can really lock them up.

So, short of tossing out your chair (which could lead to other physiological problems), and entirely eliminating stress from your life, what can you do to unstick your hips and get them gliding freely again? For starters, you can start to incorporate Pigeon Pose into your daily routine.

This pose is perfect for tight hips because it stretches the hip rotators (the buttocks area) and the hip flexors (the long muscles that run along the front of your thighs and pelvis). It also requires substantial external rotation in the front leg and substantial internal rotation in the back leg. If you practice it consistently, you’ll notice an increased suppleness throughout your practice. You may also find that your body moves more easily even after class, since your pelvis is the central hub of movement.

All you have to do is be attentive to the many—and sometimes difficult—physical sensations that arise. Your ability to observe and be with these sensations and the accompanying cacophony of thoughts and feelings may be just as rewarding as the physical benefits of the pose.

Yoga Wellbeing teachers create a range of restorative practices that help clients deal with insomnia. Insomnia—the inability to get to sleep or to sleep soundly—can be either temporary or chronic, lasting a few days to weeks. It affects a whopping 54 percent of adults in the United States at one time or another, and insomnia that lasts more than six weeks may affect from 10 to 15 percent of adults at some point during their lives. To get a decent night’s sleep, many people are turning to pills.

“Sleeping pills are not always a cure; they treat the symptom but not the underlying problem,” explains Sat Bir Khalsa, a Kundalini Yoga teacher. Beneath the symptoms of insomnia are the anxiety, fatigue, and stress that our increasingly fast-paced world seems to be creating. These days, who hasn’t worked long hours without taking a break?

You may feel that you’ve adapted to the intense rhythm that modern life requires, but if you’re experiencing sleepless nights, your nervous system is probably rebelling. It may be stuck in a state known as arousal, where your sympathetic nervous system is triggered. In this state your mind will race or your palms might sweat. Your body will secrete more stress hormones, and your temperature and metabolic rates will rise, as will your heart rate. “There is very good evidence that people with chronic insomnia have elevated levels of arousal in general,” Khalsa says. “And some insomniacs have higher levels right before they go to sleep.” By creating a routine of soothing rituals, you can bring your nervous system back into balance and transform your sleep patterns for good.

Rituals for Relaxing

Whether it’s yoga to reduce muscle tension, breathing to slow the heart rate, or an herbal massage to calm a racing mind, a simple routine can be the most effective and safest road to a better night’s sleep. There is growing evidence that small behavioral changes can make a big difference in getting some good shuteye. A 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that participants who made modifications like reducing stimuli in the bedroom and learning relaxation techniques improved their sleep more than those who took drugs.

Know Your Timing

The first step to feeling well rested is to institute a regular bedtime. Maintaining consistency will help keep your circadian rhythms—the biological changes that happen every 24 hours—steady. Eventually, your body will naturally understand and crave sleep during these hours.

Tuck in Early

Although eight hours has long been considered the ideal length for a night’s sleep, Douillard says that it’s not just the number of hours you sleep that matters, but the time of day you go to sleep as well. He insists that our bodies naturally want to arise around 5 a.m., since humans started their day around daybreak before the advent of modern technology.

These are just a couple of ideas to get you started.

Anthony Paul Moo-Young, known as Mooji, is a direct disciple of Sri Harilal Poonja, the renowned advaita master. In 1987, a chance meeting with a Christian mystic was to be a life-changing encounter for Mooji.

In late 1993, Mooji travelled to India. He had a desire to visit Dakshineswar in Calcutta where Sri Ramakrishna, the great Bengali Saint, had lived and taught. The words and life of Ramakrishna were a source of inspiration and encouragement to Mooji in the early years of his spiritual development. While in Rishikesh, a holy place at the foothills of the Himalayas, he was to have another chance encounter; this time with three devotees of the great advaita Master Sri Harilal Poonja, known to his many devotees as Papaji.

Mooji has been sharing satsang in the form of spontaneous encounters, retreats, satsang intensives and one-to-one meetings with the many seekers who visit him, from all parts of the world. Few amongst the modern teachers of the advaita tradition expound the ‘knowledge of Self’, and the method of self-enquiry, with such dazzling clarity, love and authority. There is an energy that radiates from Mooji’s presence, a kind of impersonal intimacy, full of love, joy and a curious mix of playfulness and authority. His style is direct, clear, compassionate and often humorous.

Currently Mooji shares satsang in Brixton, London, where he lives. He also travels regularly to Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brasil, North America and India where he conducts satsang meetings, intensives and retreats.Yoga Wellbeing is really excited to go along to his next meeting and learn more from the Brixton guru.

Yoga Wellbeing offers classes throughout South London throughout Clapham and Brixton. Our classes incorporate Hatha Yoga that share the benefits of breath control, guided relaxation and yoga postures.

People come to yoga for various reasons

to improve their physical health, to relax, to relieve stress, to calm their mind, to feel more peaceful – and others come along just to find out what it is all about. Yoga is concerned with all the above and much more, so whatever your reasons are for coming along they should be fulfilled.

Yoga means ‘to unite’ and is a way of restoring a healthier balance to body and mind

By concentrating on the postures one calms down, therefore by stretching the body is relieved of tension and one is ready to relax. The good thing about yoga is that you are never too old or too young to feel the benefits. Vigorous exercise may make a fit and healthy person feel good about their body but it is not suitable for everyone and does not always provide the relaxation which people need. With yoga it doesn’t matter how stiff or out of condition you are, as long as you are dedicated and patient. The postures should be done with care and without straining, so by taking your body to its natural limit you will, in time, see an improvement. The postures and sequences of postures have different effects – stimulating, calming, energising, building stamina, concentration, promoting sleep, etc.

Most yoga classes begin by very gently working through the postures which are called asanas, starting with those which are simple and progressing on to those which are more advanced. The sessions will include warming up, practising the asanas, breath awareness and deep breathing, and relaxation. Although there is a need to work seriously to feel the benefits that yoga has to offer, there is usually some fun too.

Unwinding with some rejuvenating supported postures for an hour and a half sounds perfect. But moments after you close your eyes and immerse yourself in the first pose. The pose feels as though it’s going on forever, and although your body isn’t moving, your mind won’t stop racing. You feel restless, agitated, and out of control. This is supposed to be “restorative” yoga. What happened?

Restorative yoga is a passive practice

Poses like Reclining Bound Angle Pose or Legs-up-the-Wall Pose are held for several minutes at a time, propped with blankets, blocks, and bolsters to minimize the amount of work that the muscles are doing in the pose. A restorative practice can rest your body, stretch your muscles, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, and calm your nervous system, moving you into a peaceful state of deep relaxation. But while the practice of restorative yoga comes easily to some people, it can present real challenges for others.

The practice of being still and restful provokes anxiety for many people. And during times of extreme stress, such as illness, a difficult transition, or grief, releasing control of the body can overwhelm the nervous system. Passive postures can evoke feelings of discomfort for myriad reasons. On a physical level, Pransky says, the body is in a vulnerable state: You are releasing control of all your muscles, lying with your eyes closed and your chest and abdomen—the location of your vital organs—exposed. In many restorative poses, the body is also splayed out, and often the bones are not resting in their sockets, which can leave you feeling physically unstable or insecure.

On an emotional level, restorative poses can be challenging because, when the body is in a passive posture, the mind has fewer physical tasks and sensations to focus on than it does in more active poses, making your attention more likely to turn inward. Any emotions you might have been suppressing throughout the day—fear, frustration, sadness, anxiety—are likely to come to the forefront of your mind once your body begins to relax.

Finally, if you go very deep into the meditation of the pose, says Pransky, you can lose a sense of your physical shape. If you are in a content and secure frame of mind, this can deepen your experience and provide a sense of bliss.

Is restorative yoga for you?

But just because restorative yoga can trigger anxious or uncomfortable feelings doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. In fact, times of high anxiety or stress are the times you can most benefit from the healing aspects of a restorative practice. The solution is to support passive postures with props in such a way that the body and mind feel grounded, safe, and integrated. That way, you can still experience the benefits of restorative yoga, and can eventually learn to use the practice as a tool for being with all those feelings.

The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a goodness within each of us. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. “Nama” means bow, “as” means I, and “te” means you. To put it simply Namaste means “I bow to you.”

How to perform Namaste

To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart charka, close the eyes, and bow the head. It can also be done by placing the hands together in front of the third eye, bowing the head, and then bringing the hands down to the heart. This is an especially deep form of respect. Although in the West the word “Namaste” is usually spoken in conjunction with the gesture, in India, it is understood that the gesture itself signifies Namaste, and therefore, it is unnecessary to say the word while bowing.

Why do we perform Namaste?

For a teacher and student, Namaste allows two individuals to come together energetically to a place of connection and timelessness, free from the bonds of ego-connection. If it is done with deep feeling in the heart and with the mind surrendered, a deep union of spirits can blossom.

Ideally, Namaste should be done at the beginning and at the end of class. Usually, it is done at the end of class because the mind is less active and the energy in the room is more peaceful. The teacher initiates Namaste as a symbol of gratitude and respect.

Western scientists are proving that meditation helps combat stress and benefits immunity, as well as the soul. MRI scans show that meditation can physically change the brain’s neuron system and stimulate the areas associated with compassion and empathy, showing that certain human qualities can be cultivated through mental training.

A meditation teacher could be essential to our overall wellbeing

Meditation is a way to train our brains. We spend years learning to read and write or professional skills beacuse we feel they will benefit us in the long run. Working with the mind follows the same logic.

It can improve your quality of life

We spend alot of time trying to improve the external conditions of our lives, but in the end it’s the mind that creates our experience of the world and translates it into wellbeing or suffering. If we transform our way of perceiving things(via meditation) we can transform the quality of our lives.

Twenty minutes a day can change your life

Meditating first thing in the morning has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, anger, and risk depression. It can also improve your ability to focus, lower blood pressure and strengthen the immune system.

You can get it on the NHS

If you’ve had depression, the eight week course can reduce the likelihood of you developing the condition again by 30 per cent.

The mind is like a unruly monkey

It ties itself into knots the more it jumps around. People think that to control the mind is to put it in shackles, but it’s the ultimate freedom.