Feelings Fitness: Yoga to prepare for meditation!

Have you given meditation a try? If so, did you begin with yoga first? Traditionally yoga precedes meditation, it gets the body ready for seated meditation. There are so many postures/poses(called asanas in Sanskrit) that there really is something for everyone. Even the most basic poses are beneficial & many advanced poses can be simplified.

I love to do the sun salutation series before a meditation session. The picture below shows the whole series which is a flow of 12 yoga postures.

​(https://healingyoga2.wordpress.com/tag/surya-namaskara/)

 Breath awareness is a key component in yoga. Be sure to pay close attention to the placement of the inhale & exhale. The breath will truly bring the most benefit to your postures & will really connect mind, body & spirit.

Although the main purpose of yoga is to prepare for meditation, it has so many other applications. Feeling anxious or nervous, feeling depressed or sad, feeling tired or did you happen to overdo it at the gym & now have sore muscles, or are you having trouble getting quality sleep? Although yoga is not a cure, any of these conditions can be helped with specific yoga postures. With a simple google search you can locate detailed instructions on yoga poses that can help with whatever ails you!

If that google search you just did overwhelms you with all of the hundreds of poses, don't let it!  There is no need to know everything right out of the gate. You can take it slow, choose poses that meet your needs & skill set to begin with. If you are feeling brave find a yoga class in your area to attend. If you are willing to embrace your growing edges, you can really reap the many benefits of yoga. Don't be shy, give yoga a try!