Hello!
Today I will share how I meditate, how I found out about it and a little overall information about Yoga. I have been practicing Yoga for about seven years; however, not consistently. I still signed up for classes at Mang’Oh Yoga in New York when I was eight months pregnant – this is how amazing and good I felt. If you live around in Midtown Manhattan or a searching for a great Yoga studio, take a class at Mang’Oh Yoga! At the studio I highly recommend “Vinyasa Flow” with Chintamani Kansas. I followed her schedule at Mang’Oh and took as many classes with her as possible, just because she is an awesome teacher! So awesome, that I got out of bed on a Sunday morning to join her 8.45am class of Power Yoga, followed by a Stretch/Meditation. This was the first time I got introduced to meditation. I read a lot about it but the thought of sitting still for a period of time made me uncomfortable. I was a bit worried to join my first class but I finally signed up and I have practiced mediation ever since. Sometimes more, sometimes less but I do make some time and room for it at least before I go to bed every night. Tonight I was able to enjoy the mediation at the SEHES Haus in Rödental/Germany. I used to practice guided meditation with Martina Meissner every Wednesday at 6pm. If you ever get the chance, try it. It is special every single time. <3
What is meditation? If I meditate anytime during the day, I sit on a yoga mat in a quiet, decluttered room by myself. If you feel more comfortable you can sit on a pillow. Any position is fine as long as you are comfortable. My legs are crossed in front of me, hands resting easily on my knees, closed eyes and focus on my breathing while relaxing my body. You should not control your breath. Instead just observe it! That is it! Sounds simple, right? Well, there is so much more to it.
Meditation has definitely nothing to do with fantasizing or daydreaming. One of the main goal of mediation is to rest the mind and to achieve a state of consciousness that is different from being awake. Do you really know yourself? You can even find out who you are and learn self-control and so many other things. I love how clean, relaxed and focused my mind is after meditation. You are not sleeping; (well, sometimes it comes close to that stage with me ha!) you are fully alert and awake. When I first practiced, sitting still was the least of my problems. I sat down, closed my eyes and then all these thoughts popped up and did not stop. It was so weird and felt like I had a constant conversation with myself. You know this time at night when you cannot sleep and are turning and tossing in bed and so many thoughts and ideas bother you! We all do. Maybe, except men! 😉 The thoughts might stop or calm down if you meditate.
The key of mediation is to silence and still the mind so you are no longer distracted by anything. At this point you can deepen your mediation. It is amazing what the mind is capable of. Before I tried mediation I simply focused on everything external . Trying to get to know others was more important to me. But what we should really do is to look within us and see what we find and no longer remain strangers to ourselves. Meditation is a commitment you have with yourself. You do want to practice with the goal to get to know yourself but also to be calm and as happy and peaceful as possible.
Many thoughts will come and go when you start practicing. Let them! It gets better with a lot of practice. Many thoughts make you realize how restless the mind can be. It is important to have patience when you practice. I am not the most patient person but it has gotten better over time. I took my time and practiced whenever I thought it felt right. No rush, no stress and no pushing myself to anything. There were many others in my mediation classes who saw this and that and experienced great things and all I did was thinking about pretzels with butter for one hour. I focused on my goal of becoming better at this and it did work out over time. Society teaches us to go faster, bigger and better constantly. All this causes stress and it is very important to find a balance in life. It works for me with meditation and yoga.
I would love to hear your thoughts or any tips you want to share. Comment below.
On my bucket list is still the wish of going on a yoga/meditation retreat. Preferable Mexico or Italy. I also share a book recommendation on Meditation. Find it here.
Sometimes, I listen to this meditation music for one hour and I love it. But usually, I prefer complete silence to meditate.
Thank you for reading my blog.
