Meditate...Who me?

Meditation stills the mind of its bubbling emotions and thoughts, removes distraction and mental discord and produces composure and tranquillity.

How many times have you thought about meditation, or even tried to meditate? If you are like most yogis the thought has probably crossed your mind many times usually followed by a quick dismissal with thoughts like “I could never sit still or I can never get my brain to turn off even for one minute. If you have been thinking about meditation you are on the right track in your yoga journey. Experienced and new yogis alike both meditate or ponder meditation. It is an essential element of the yogic lifestyle as written in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali.

Yoga encompasses many integrated parts of your life practice. In fact, the sanskrit word “yoga” means union. Union of your body, mind and soul. Patanjali outlined eight branches (sometimes called limbs) of yoga. . The practice of the Eight Limbs of Yoga is referred to as practicing raja yoga, or the Royal Path, named to distinguish the practice from hatha yoga, which came later. Raja yoga creates stillness and contemplation as the path unfolds throughout the eight limbs which then folds back to the first couple of verses in the sutras, from prakruti back to purusha. Dhyana is the seventh branch of yoga and focuses on the “state of meditation”

Meditation is an important part of your yoga practice! The practice of meditation encourages us to look within. To find happiness and contentment within ourselves and not from the outside world or all of our worldy possessions. Your mind is a living organ with billions of molecules--an organ that is constantly working and processing sensations, thoughts, memories etc. If your brain stops this processing like Davidji says you flatline and die. But meditation is the process of beginning to control the thought processes, to slow the thought process down and to explore the space between the thoughts. This space between the the thoughts is referred to as the “gap”. Getting in the gap even briefly results in a unique and serene sensation. Just learning to slow you mind down and turn off the endless chatter is a relief that builds to joy,

Tula is offering meditation workshop in Spring 2017. I encourage you to attend, or just think about it for now. It is a three-hour workshop that will explore pranayama and meditation beginning with a very short, light practice. Typically we practice three separate meditation sessions and three breathing techniques to prepare our body and mind for meditation. I look forward to seeing you there. And until then I’ll see you in the gap.

http://sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=935. Accessed 27 Feb. 2017.

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