Meditation and yoga are principles that go hand in hand. In fact yoga can be regarded as the offspring of meditation since proper yogic practices can help you meditate better. With yoga you can gain knowledge of breath control, endurance, concentration and focus that can help you when meditating. In this article, you will discover what yoga is, whether meditation is a part of yoga training and how meditation relates to traditional yoga postures. This knowledge will help you to discover more about meditation and yoga.
What is Yoga?
Yoga came from the Sanskrit word ‘yuj’ which means ‘union’ and it originated in India over 3,000 years ago. This union refers to the unity of body, mind and spirit that will enable you to experience life at its fullest potential. This means your emotion, intelligence, actions and spiritual life must be in harmony. Yoga postures help the body to be in excellent condition while meditation helps the mind and spirit operate at their fullest capacity. Yoga helps you to have physical well being and better relationship with God and your fellow human beings.
In order to achieve yoga objectives yoga is divided into eight limbs. Each limb builds upon each one before it. After going through the eight branches or limbs, you should be balanced in spirit, mind and body. This is why yoga is very popular. Now that you know what yoga is, let’s find out whether meditation is a part of yoga training.
Is Meditation a Part of Yoga Training?
To gain an understanding whether meditation is a part of yoga training, we have to first analyze what yoga training is and why people train in various styles of yoga training. Yoga training is all about developing physical competencies by mastering postures that are also known as asanas which helps the brain and glands to work better. By doing so the asanas cleanse the chakras, develop mental concentration and skills that help to prepare practitioners for the next step, which is meditation.
Breathing techniques like deep breathing and mantras are used to assist participants to meditate better. Meditation is an important part of yoga training because without meditation, the main objectives of uniting the mind, spirit and body will never be achieved. This is why yoga training is divided into stages. For example, you cannot perform breathing meditation without first learning how to breath properly. Meditation is not only a part of yoga training, it also relates to yoga postures. Let’s find out how meditation relates to yoga postures.
How Does Meditation Relate to Yoga Postures?
Meditation relates to yoga postures in many ways. They relate in terms of posture, mind training and concentration. When you learn all the yoga postures perfectly, you will find that sitting in any given posture becomes very easy to do. Proper posture is emphasized during meditation because it helps the body organs to be properly aligned so your internal energy circulates properly. When you practice yoga postures, the meditation postures like lotus, half lotus and seiza will become easy to do. Otherwise they will be more difficult when starting out unless you practice regularly for a long period of time.
Apart from proper meditating posture, yoga postures also help you to concentrate your mind while meditating. The hormones, the endocrine gland, the lymphatic gland and other glands all work behind the scenes to help your mind stay on your meditating practice. They also have the subtle effect of energizing you physically and internally. Since yoga postures are mainly done in clean airy environment, this will also help you while meditating so that you can breathe clean fresh air properly whenever you are meditating.
People who go through yoga training normally learn to meditate easier and faster because of the way the training is organized. You have seen what yoga is, how meditation is a part of yoga training and how meditation relates to yoga postures. If you have been feeling that yoga is just another workout, this article will help to change the way you feel about yoga from now on.