Stilling the Mindstuff

If you read the last post about When to do Yoga, this will help you to understand meditation and begin to incorporate it into your healthy lifestyle. If you haven’t, check it out “When is the best time to do yoga?”

We talked about yoga being a restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff in that last post, and I could easily replace the word yoga with meditation, (or even pilates, but I will address that in another post).

The first image most have of Meditation is sitting cross-legged, with hands poised and the eyes rolled back in the head while whoever is inside the body is off in outerspace somewhere. While that image is not necessarily wrong, its what it sends you looking for that is off-kilter.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is where you will read “The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga.” Knowing that, we can see that yoga is a form of meditation. We could also see that cooking or playing with kids can be a form of meditation also. A conversation could be. Consoling a friend could be. All of these as meditation, all of these as yoga.

These things can also be done without the presence that would make them meditative as well, and those we are plenty familiar with. Playing with the kids while worrying about the chores, or consoling a friend while you’re uncomfortable with their grief. These are what we heal so we can meditate, or be present, so we remember who we are at out core, and also what we use meditation to heal.

Understanding this and reflecting on the when to do yoga post, you can develop a meditation practice in a similar fashion. A natural way. A way that makes sense and has an inherent motivating factor within it. When your mind is astray with worries, wants, anger, that is a good time to meditate. Meditate with yoga, or meditate with a sitting or lying down practice of breathing and observing the mindstuff that arises until it moves through on onward.  Meditate while cooking and focusing wholely on the task, or while playing or listening.

This is yoga, this is meditation. This is a simple way to incorporate them both into life, and begin a process of creating meditation as a way of life. As you gain benefit from the practice, you will find yourself doing it more often. You will find presence becomes the norm and when you’re full of mindstuff, it is more apparent and you’ll have a tool to work with it.

Good luck, and reach out with questions or to share your success anytime!