Meditation

Meditation, or dhyana, is the practice of seeking “total awareness,” a state of mind in which the yoga student focuses on one thing and blocks out all other mental or physical distractions. Yoga uses meditation primarily as a way to help students clear the mind to focus on breathing and posture technique.

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has many benefits beyond a heightened state of awareness. These include:

Reduced blood pressure and heart rate
An overall sense of serenity and relaxation
A clear, “clean-slate” state of mind

Meditation Technique

Beginners often mistake meditation for a way of shutting down the mind. Instead, meditation means focusing intensely, but on only one thing. Most yoga students learn to meditate as follows:

Choose the subject of your meditation (a color, phrase, thought, or just your breathing pattern).
Concentrate on your subject and breathe normally.
As you breathe, count to eight and restart at one each time a thought interrupts your concentration.
If a thought interrupts your concentration repeatedly, visualize it as an object, such as a cloud, and picture it floating away.

Meditation is typically integrated into yoga routines during postures that are meant to be held for a long period of time, often known as relaxation postures. Often, yoga classes include a lengthy period of meditation at the end, after a sequence of postures has been completed. In addition, many yoga students practice meditation throughout the day, whenever they’re able to attain a state of uninterrupted concentration.

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