All you need to know about meditation and yoga
Today we want to go deeper into a couple of subjects we love talking about, meditation and yoga. Combining exercise take the right supplements is the best way to look and feel at your best self. Let’s explore its origins, dip into its benefits and suggest where to begin, how to move forward and make it a part of your everyday life.
Yoga
Young or old, fit or not, a connoisseur or just a beginner, yoga is a practice. What does this mean? It means that it is not meant to be mastered but to be practiced, making every appointment with the mat unique and humbling. Through poses and breathing techniques, this ancient practice is ever changing and as such, deeply human.
Yoga for Beginners
Are you just starting out? Curious but frozen about where to begin? Here we share some resources to help you start your journey:
To master all the different poses and yoga tips, read the NY Times article here.
If you’ve decided to go beyond the concepts and are faced with the mat, we encourage moving over to youtube.com where you can find classes for beginners. This 20-minute class, is a great way to dip in. Find more content in other channels like:
Yoga for Intermediates
Once you start your yoga practice, it becomes a fulfilling journey where small gains and consistency help you develop skills and flexibility that were beyond your imagination. To continue on this path, we suggest honing down on your skills with workshops and classes to master poses. Here we share some great videos that have helped us with common poses like:
Advanced Yoga
Because it is a practice, there is always room for improvement in yoga. Adding steps or complexities to certain poses and overstretching are ways to master and bend your body. It is important to track your progress and work consistently. Even seasoned yogis, those with decades-long practices, constantly find ways to challenge themselves and work on reaching new poses. Here are some classes to expand your practice:
- Advanced Power Yoga for Incredible Strength | Breathe and Flow Yoga
- 60-Min Advanced Yoga Flow with @nicolewildcollective
Yoga Apps
Apps are also a great way to work on your yoga practice. Options like Down Dog, AloMoves, Glo, Peloton and Nike Training all include a vast selection and will let you customize your experience according to duration, level and even the use of props and limitations.
Meditation
Much like yoga, meditation is a practice and is an activity that we perform to lead richer lives. Yoga can be considered a physical form of meditation and is a great way to focus on the present, one of the premises of meditation itself. Meditation is about becoming aware and present, so that our thoughts and feelings can be observed, and we can focus on the present moment.
Meditation can be guided or unguided and can include mantras or music, however, no matter the type of practice, meditation comes back to stillness and breathing. Through meditating we learn to train our minds to avoid distraction and cultivate awareness.
What type of meditation should I do?
There is no right answer to this question, rather the answer lies in what works best for you. Do you feel better with a guiding voice? Do mantras help you remain in the present? Since each person is different, each practice will be different as well.
How do I start meditating?
To start meditating, you have to do just that, start. There is no right place or right time, there is just taking action, or in the case of meditation, the act of stillness. Some apps that can help are Insight Timer, Calm, Chopra App and Headspace. These offer free trials and free tracks where you can start of your practice. Other resources include YouTube as well, where you can find videos like these:
If you’ve been considering yoga and meditation, we want this post to be your sign to start now! There is no time like the present to live more conscious lives. Leave behind the second guessing and comparisons, with yoga and meditation it is about you and your journey, so what are you waiting for? No one else can do it for you!
