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Meditation Revolution - Yoga Journal Yoga is a transformational tool that can help you in every area of your life. But to experience the benefits, you need to get on your mat every day. That's what this challenge is about. Now, get ready to grow!

My first attempt to meditate was under the guidance of my high school boyfriend, a brilliant soul who, in his quest for enlightenment, practiced yoga naked in the backyard and meditated by a tree à la Buddha - By Janice Gates.

His instructions were simple: "There is nothing to do. Just sit back, relax, and be present." Within minutes, I was anywhere but present, my mind like a ping-pong ball bouncing between thoughts about the past and thoughts about the future.

After a few years of studying with others who offered a little more in the way of technique, I came to realize that the state of meditation—what my old boyfriend described as doing nothing and enjoying a deep sense of presence—is different from the practice of meditation, which involves training the mind so that it can more readily slip into that state of meditation.

No doubt, you've experienced a meditative state even if you've never "meditated": It might have happened while you were walking in nature, making love, or looking into the eyes of a child—moments when all your worries and rambling thoughts lost their grip and you could just be. For a lucky few, that state of meditation is something easily available, to be slipped into spontaneously, any time. But it's likely that to enjoy that state on a regular basis and be able to access it whenever you want, you'll need to start with a regular meditation practice.

Many studies have pointed out the benefits of a regular meditation practice: It can ease anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and myriad other physical and mental health issues. It can increase creativity and productivity and foster a general sense of well-being. But the greatest benefit it offers may be freedom from the tyranny of thoughts that occupy the mind. You know, those negative thoughts that tell you that you aren't good enough, or that there's only one way to do something, or that he's wrong and you're right, or that you don't have time for yoga and meditation in your busy life.

Even the mundane thoughts about groceries, the project due next week, and the vacation you're hoping to take can trap you in an imagined future or a remembered past instead of allowing you to savor the richness of the moment.

But no matter how much we relish true presence, for most of us staying present for even a minute is challenging. That's why the meditation tradition has borne so many mind-focusing practices—tools that cultivate the conditions for a meditative state to arise more frequently and fully. These practices include focusing attention on the breath, reciting a mantra, or gazing unwaveringly at a candle flame. There are hundreds if not thousands of such techniques, all asking the mind to give up its independent, wandering ways and instead focus on the one task it has been given, no matter what other ideas come into it.

«Практика с новым партнером может открыть чувствование силы ярче, прозрачней. Поэтому мы оставляем Мирозданию задачу поиска партнера, и направляемся в йогу без лишних мыслей и оправданий», - призывает Ана.

3 июня – ЙОГА в ПАРЕ
«Практика чувствования». Ана Шейн
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