If you’re not already practicing meditation as part of your yoga practice or yoga class, I highly recommend learning how to sit with your eyes closed and practice meditation techniques. It takes persistence and consistency to develop the habit of daily meditation to supplement the physical practices present in yoga poses.
Once established, the combined yoga and meditation practice bears fruit in the form of deep focus, increased productivity, and peace of mind. The mind and body are balanced. Here are a few ways meditation will improve your life in 2021.
The rate of change will only speed up, not slow down
Our world is changing overnight. Advances in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information sharing, and radical automation are speeding up. The self-driving car is on the way, the internet of all things will gather data about every aspect of our lives, and some folks who can afford it will even have access to upgrades in medicine that were once the subject of science fiction movies. Now is definitely the slowest rate that change will occur.
Things will speed up! Meditation offers a chance to fix our internal rhythm so that we become masters of time. When we are internally grounded, we can respond to the outer world with less vacillation. Our minds are able to hyper calibrate when it weighs the pros and cons of a choice. By “getting out of our heads” we can make clearer decisions, faster.
Going back and forth on a potential choice wastes valuable brain fuel on overthinking. Meditation makes us masters of reading the present moment so that we can see exactly what is required of us in that very second.
Meditation shows us that we are whole and complete, NOW
When we begin a meditation practice, no matter what form of meditation we choose -- it’s normal to have ups and downs. One day the mind feels steady, and the next it can feel agitated with stress anxieties. Sometimes we can even feel sleepy when we close our eyes. The key is to keep going, until eventually, the good days will become more consistent.
It’s important to stay consistent and not be attached to the results, or become a “bliss junkie”.
What we are ultimately doing is learning to sit with ourselves. We are learning to embrace the dark and light sides of our nature. It’s fine to struggle. However, every now and then, there is a transcendent peace that we tap into when we meditate. In this deeper state, we feel the purity of a concentrated mind and we see that under all the physical sensations, mental noise and voices, that there is a perfect emptiness.
There are no ripples on the water, as we look out on the lake of our own mind. This aspect of practice is very personal, healing and helps with reducing stress. It can cause us to drop limiting beliefs, release shame, guilt, and anger that we have been carrying for many years.
Read more: How to practice yoga outdoors
Ecstasy is within grasp of the ordinary person
Meditation creates a deep sense of self-reliance, as you find the teacher within. You become your own guru. Stepping outside of time, feeling a perfect unity with all things, and a sense of hyper-reality characterize the “altered state” that is the result of a concentrated mind. Adding the seated, cross legged position to the moving meditation part of our practice -- yoga, we can harness powerful benefits.
For most of our history, access to this state occurred in a “top-down fashion”, meaning you needed to be in the presence of the priest, shaman, or tribal elder to experience their blessing and feel the depth of your own being. Now we live in a world with biofeedback meditation headbands that measure EEG, heart rate variability, and skin temperature. Feedback data can let the meditator know when they have “slipped out of the zone”. This way one can simply re-focus quickly, rather than drift off as the mind wanders.
Using this technology is a way the modern meditator might achieve in three years, what it took 30 years to do in the past.
Mindfulness practices strengthen the immune system
As the mind becomes focused, we take better care of our mental and physical well-being. The use of alcohol, stimulants and emotional eating can be trimmed away. There is a natural draw towards better rest, keeping positive company, and healthy nutrition. The lifestyle changes that accompany meditation practice, creates a shift in how our genome expresses itself.
We literally “flip switches on” the DNA molecule that have powerful positive effects. Benefits of this epigenetic effect include reduced inflammation, maintenance of the telomere length, and reduced risk of cancer. Consistent rest and regular exercise are two habits that cause our DNA to strengthen the immune and nervous system. A strong immune system is able to fight pathogens from the environment. In our daily life, we become more resistant to colds, flus and harmful bacteria. The benefits of yoga and meditation combined practice is truly transformative.
Your personal relationships become infused with more meaning
After my first Vipassana Meditation training I realized how hard each individual’s personal journey is. We each have different fears, limiting beliefs, and personal traumas from childhood. After Vipassana, I started being less judgmental towards others. I became more loving and accepting. Anger took a back burner to compassion.
When we understand that each living being is on their own personal, ancient journey, with a unique set of challenges, we take things less personally. I am not as easily offended by other people’s actions and ideas as I once was. When we study the mind through direct observation, such as mindfulness meditation, we can develop a great deal of compassion for others. After many years of practice, I now have a respect for all living beings on our shared planet.
Daily practice is a reminder to treat people with kindness.
Read more: Finding comfort amidst the chaos
Related Resources:
- Eco-friendly yoga mat for meditation
- Impact of a Yoga and Meditation Intervention on Students’ Stress and Anxiety Levels
- Meditation: Process and Effects
- Mindfulness meditation and the immune system
Author: Jai Sugrim
Jai is a yoga teacher, healer and guide with 26 years of professional experience. Jai hosts a podcast called The Jai Sugrim Method, teaches five live yoga classes per week, and coaches students who want to weave spirituality & health into their daily lives. Jai is steeped in the Jivamukti and Ashtanga Yoga lineages, and has a 15 year history of studying shamanism with master curanderos of the Peruvian Amazon. Jai has worked professionally with the New York Yankees, with whom he won a World Series Championship Ring in 2000, as well as many entrepreneurs and leaders across multiple fields. Jai was honored to teach yoga to high school students, for two years at Frederick Douglas Academy in Harlem, from 2014-2016. He has also been featured in the New York Times, The Huffington Post, and Psychology Today.
