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Meditation and Yoga are perhaps two of the most powerful and well recognised techniques for the development of health, well-being and inner peace for the individual. Meditational Yoga combines these two into a single yoga practice that delivers the benefit of both (see below). The Mind is central to this practice in not only acting as a guide to as far as you can go into the postures but also to relax the muscles which are being stretched and exercised by using focussed breathing.
Meditation in simple word means 'to bring your mind to focus on one thing with the exclusion of all others'. One of the ancient India scriptures 'Katha Upnishad' describes Yoga as:
“When the senses are stilled, when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not – then, say the wise, is reached the highest stage. This steady control of senses and mind has been defined as Yoga”.
The practice consisting of asanas, pranayamas and limbering exercises gives it a totally holistic approach which forms the basics of traditional Yoga. Pranayama in Sanskrit is made up of ‘prana’ - meaning breath, as source of life and ‘yama’ meaning ‘control’ which combines into ‘controlled breathing’. These have a much greater influence in improving the health and functioning of the internal organs. The practice has a huge component of Pranayamas which include bahya, kapaal-bhati, anulom-vilom, bhramari and nauli (which could be also described as a ‘kriya’).
The practice would involve lying down in shavasana (Shavasana) and extending the breath into full yoga breath. Using visualisation with focussed breathing the muscles in the whole body are totally relaxed e.g. visualising the breath flowing in from the tips of the tows of the left foot, up the ankle, the calf muscles, the knee joint, the thigh muscles and finally reaching the hip joint while reaching the end of the inhalation. Visualising the breath traversing in the opposite direction and relaxing all the muscles in the process. This is repeated once more on the left leg and then followed twice on the right leg, the lower back, middle of the back, upper back and the neck, top of the head front of the face and facial muscles, front of the neck, upper chest, abdomen and finally the middle of the chest and the heart area. At the end of this process, the whole body will feel totally relaxed and brought into a near state of meditation. It will establish a direct communication between the mind and the body which will be retained during the course of the entire practice.
A number of limbering exercises will follow the pranayamas and asanas to also ensure the effective and efficient functioning of all the joints of the body.
The asanas in the practice will cover all parts of the body but will be kept simple to bring these within reach of people of all ages and abilities. Using the traditional yoga principle of ‘using breath to relax the muscles being stretched during the asanas helps to deliver the maximum benefits form these. Example of asanas include the bridge, spinal twist, bhujangasana, vajrasana, cat and dog pose, shalabhasana and surya-namaskar.
Experience has shown that carrying out yoga postures of a simpler nature, performed to the full ability of the practitioner, provides similar benefits to carrying out some of the more rigorous postures. What is important is that these are carried out correctly, with focus and using breath for relaxation of the muscles that are being exercised and stretched.
This simple practice would help you develop not only a healthy and balanced body, alleviating or even eliminating some of the chronic medical conditions but also develop peace of mind and an attitude of positivity.