Meditation/pranayama advice

Mindfulness Meditation
#1

Hi everyone,

I am new here and learning so much. I wonder if I may ask for advice?

I have been practicing asanas for years and really enjoy it, but I want to go deeper now and create a regular meditation/breathing practice. I suffer anxiety, insomnia, jaw tension, stress over making decisions in life… so I know it would help. I think I am very vata and need to ground, calm my mind. I am also very emotional and sensitive, and it all gets stuck in my body, as I have a hard time expressing myself.

Can anyone recommend a very simple meditation/breathing routine to start? I want to start simple and not too long and build from there. Is breathing more important to start first, meditation, or both?

Thank you!!

Bluesky

#2

[QUOTE=bluesky;54386]Hi everyone,

I am new here and learning so much. I wonder if I may ask for advice?

I have been practicing asanas for years and really enjoy it, but I want to go deeper now and create a regular meditation/breathing practice. I suffer anxiety, insomnia, jaw tension, stress over making decisions in life… so I know it would help. I think I am very vata and need to ground, calm my mind. I am also very emotional and sensitive, and it all gets stuck in my body, as I have a hard time expressing myself.

Can anyone recommend a very simple meditation/breathing routine to start? I want to start simple and not too long and build from there. Is breathing more important to start first, meditation, or both?

Thank you!!

Bluesky[/QUOTE]

Breathing exercises or pranayama aids meditation. Hence first breathing exercises then meditation gives excellent results. I recommend Anulom-Vilom and Kapalbhati pranayams. Both are extremely effective to stabilise the mind

You could start practicing it for just about 15 min every morning and within a month you will start experiencing the benefits. You could meditate using mind blanking technique. In this technique no thoughts are allowed to enter the mind. It is difficult at the beginning as mind wanders but can be perfected with regular practice.

[B]Do not practice mind blanking after mid-night! [/B]

Early morning is best time for yoga & meditation. Mind blanking causes sub-concious mind to open up and accepts positive vibes from the spiritual realms and the soul.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Shahvir

#3

[QUOTE=b.shahvir;54411]Breathing exercises or pranayama aids meditation. Hence first breathing exercises then meditation gives excellent results. I recommend Anulom-Vilom and Kapalbhati pranayams. Both are extremely effective to stabilise the mind

You could start practicing it for just about 15 min every morning and within a month you will start experiencing the benefits. You could meditate using mind blanking technique. In this technique no thoughts are allowed to enter the mind. It is difficult at the beginning as mind wanders but can be perfected with regular practice.

[B]Do not practice mind blanking after mid-night! [/B]

Early morning is best time for yoga & meditation. Mind blanking causes sub-concious mind to open up and accepts positive vibes from the spiritual realms and the soul.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Shahvir[/QUOTE]

Dude a cul.

I think you are a nice example of the “superstious indian.”

With your funny pills and no mind blanking after midnight.

I’m sure your got more nuggets up your sleeve. Lets hear em!

Tell me - Whens your birthday?

[B]To the OP.[/B]

Intro to Meditation and Energy Control.

[B]Surf the Breath.[/B]

Take a comfortable position. Standing. Sitting. Walking. Lying down. etc…

[B]RELAX.[/B]

The object is your breath. You follow it with your awareness as it travels. Your goal is to become absorbed and concentrated into it. You want to feel it move in and out. You want to feel it. Follow it. Surf it. Feel it. Get all involved in it.

The mind starts babbling away from the object - which is the breath - take the mind away from thinking - back to the object…

Do this for 10, 15, 30, 60, 90 minutes or however long is comfortable.

This will strengthen mental concentration, pacify the discursive mind, engender introversion of the senses, and other goodies . . .

Surfing the Breath is a gateway…

Surfs up DOOD.

#4

bluesky,

“Can anyone recommend a very simple meditation/breathing routine to start?”

Before seeking to find a method - one should first ask whether one is sincerely interested in practicing a discipline. If one desires to solve a problem completely, it is usually not a quick fix. Man’s programming is very rigid and stubborn, and our system is not interested in anything else except working according to it’s programming. To come to a certain freedom from one’s programming requires a certain discipline and commitment. All of your problems have definite solutions - but it is just a question of whether you are willing to channel the time, effort, and energy into dissolving the obstacles which are preventing oneself from coming to more awareness. A discipline means that regardless of one’s likes and dislikes, one continues practicing the method with consistency and one-pointedness.

#5

Once again Amir goes against the grain by not answering the question, and bringing the OP’s intentions into question, and eveybody else answers the question :wink:

#6

[QUOTE=bluesky;54386]Hi everyone,

I am new here and learning so much. I wonder if I may ask for advice?

I have been practicing asanas for years and really enjoy it, but I want to go deeper now and create a regular meditation/breathing practice. I suffer anxiety, insomnia, jaw tension, stress over making decisions in life… so I know it would help. I think I am very vata and need to ground, calm my mind. I am also very emotional and sensitive, and it all gets stuck in my body, as I have a hard time expressing myself.

Can anyone recommend a very simple meditation/breathing routine to start? I want to start simple and not too long and build from there. Is breathing more important to start first, meditation, or both?

Thank you!!

Bluesky[/QUOTE]

The introductory practice of Siddha Mahayoga would be ideal. It is given in an article in yogaforums and titled [B]“From Peace to Knowledge of Reality to Freedom, Mahayoga Enables The Human Journey”[/B]. Try it out regularly for some days. regards. Anand

#7

Start with the focus on breath , keep it simple , Love the exhalation , and as scales said surf the breath , or ride the breath . You can start getting fancy if you acheive some measure of calm . Also be kind to yourself you are not trying to do anything so dont over effort but witness whats going on , you will be disturbed in the mind this is normal and does not mean you are good or bad at meditation , the nature of the mind is to take us away from our present experience so keep coming back to the present experience , eg the breath.
Find a supportive guide teacher and like minded people would be helpful.
Start with short periods and build up , dont be hard on yourself . Its wonderful news for you to be making this enquiry.

#8

[QUOTE=The Scales;54415]

I’m sure your got more nuggets up your sleeve.[/QUOTE]

Forget the nuggets, I’ve the guts…dude!

[B]P.S.[/B] I like ur posts… keeps me entertained :smiley:

#9

Have you tried yoga nidra? That was my gateway into meditation. There are several itune downloads that I found simple and gentle. I kept coming back for more. PM me if you’d like specific recommendations but your best bet is to just listen to some of them and find a ‘voice’ that you like.

I agree with Charliedharma - keep it simple. Maybe try just simple breath counting (count your breath -in and out- backwards from 27) or perhaps try some alternate nostril breathing.

Meditation doesn’t need to be complicated and you don’t need to do it for a long time. Just keep it simple and start with perhaps 5 minutes. Develop your habit. Experiment with different methods. There is no right or wrong - just what works best for you right now.

#10

I am hoping you are already “breathing” in your practice and thus referring to some sort of control of the breath a.k.a. [I]pranayama[/I].

If that is the case then I would recommend beginning with radiant breath, ujjayi, or viloma I as these are actually calming AND appropriate for your particular constitution. In my previous career as a basketball coach we abided by the rule “never mix in to another coach’s argument”. That having been said and with no disrespect to my peers, I would not suggest kapalbhati as that particular pranyama is ill-advised for vata and tends to create woozy practitioners high from oxygen deprivation.

As for meditation, that is difficult to provide as meditation techniques vary greatly from that which only stokes vital force in the pelvis to that which confuses meditation with stilling the mind. One of the things I try to focus on as a teacher is to provide teachings based on the student and their level. Yoga is vast, there’s a lot of it, and to simple dump all of it on a neophyte is akin to turning a fire house on a garden flower. In our work the meditation is active (rather than motionless) and is specifically “designed” to bring the mental force and vital force into the heart center for transformation. For a beginning student we teach meditation snacks for gathering that mental and vital force. Of course that mandates an in-person session.

#11

If you have all those issues you mentioned you should first take stock of your asana practice. Asanas should relax you and help you cope with stress. Pranayam will work on increasing you energy levels…that can have an adverse effect if not learned from an expert…so instead of taking advice from folks on the internet about techniques you should find a good teacher who can guide you with appropriate techniques and advice, in person.

Without relaxing physically one cant really increase Ebergy levels. Without good clean energy one cannot meditate

#12

Wow, thank you to everyone for your great replies!

I go regularly to a vinyasa yoga class. We do use ujayi breath throughout the class, but there is no meditation or other breathwork incorporated. I practice at home with cds and dvds as well. It only recently clicked to really focus on the breath throughout the whole class, before my mind just wandered like it always does. I focused only on physically being in the pose, but not mentally. Doing this has transformed my practice and made me want to incorporate this focus in other parts of my life.

I have a very hard time sitting in stillness. I am addicted to multi-tasking, overthinking, like probably so many people who work in office jobs, so I think I will greatly benefit from this. But it is not easy to get started…

I really appreciate your wonderful tips. I will order a yoga nidra cd to listen to before bed. And I will try the techniques mentioned here each morning and throughout the day.

I will also see if I can find a teacher here to work with me on this.

Thanks so much!

#13

bluesky,

“I have a very hard time sitting in stillness. I am addicted to multi-tasking, overthinking, like probably so many people who work in office jobs, so I think I will greatly benefit from this.”

Then if you want to come to know of the stillness that arises in a meditative consciousness, then you will, at least temporarily, have to do away with all of the cd’s and dvd’s. They will only continue preventing you from If you are going to practice, practice in absolute silence. Because if your tendencies are already extroverted, then something like using the aid of cd’s and dvd’s are only going to stimulate the mind into activity rather than bring the activity of the mind to a silence. The first step in the process of turning your awareness inwards is pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses from external stimuli.

#14

Pranayam is more powerful. I had tried it and found many changes in my body and it improved my health. One who practices Pranayam will have good appetite, cheerfulness, a handsome figure, great strength, courage, enthusiasm, a high standard of health, vigour and vitality and good concentration of the mind. All these information I found at: daily3tips.com/search/label/Pranayam . If anyone going to practice it, follow the instruction carefully. Have a great one!

#15

You go ahead and buy your Yoga Nidra cd. Yoga Nidra is a highly effective program which takes you into a very deep state of consciousness and energises our body. It balances the flow of energy in the body, improves ones visual memory and breath control. It is a very powerful practice.

#16

Hi Bluesky,
If you are interested i have a Yoga Nidra cd at
http://www.burrenyoga.com/about-yoga/yoga-cds-and-audio.html

>>I suffer anxiety, insomnia, jaw tension, stress over making decisions in life

I would suggest gentle yoga, using reasonably gentle but reasonably deep yogic breathing throughout your asana practice… not trying too hard with the breath but being mindful of it… definitely not trying too hard with the physical postures… keep it gentle.

Too many people in the west… especially those with busy minds or who are too ambitious… bring this attitudeto their yoga practice… and instead of ‘letting go’ within the practice… they bring their usual western habits to influence their yoga practice.

And unfortunately many yoga teachers cater to this obsessive ambitious approach to yoga asana, and it is all to easy to find classes that will overly challenge the participant to ‘achieving postures’, rather than utilizing their more subtle inner effects, and particualrily ‘letting go’.

There is also a gentle yoga CD at the link above.

But you may find this CD quite challenging… as it will keep ‘bringing your mind and awareness back’ to this ‘letting go’.

But the longer term benefits will be a relaxing of the mind, a more familiarization with this ‘letting go’ and hopefully eventually leading to a peaceful, joyful… living in the moment’ and tuning in to a more heart felt relaxed awareness.

Swami Satyananda was the yogi who studied the ancient scriptures and brought Yoga Nidra to the west.

If you are not interested in the CD, then i would suggest that you try to locate a Satyananda yoga teacher in your area.

Best Wishes,
Dave

#17

Meditation and pranayama are the two main ways to regulate your mind in order to achieve peace of mind. When you meditate, you control your mind and thoughts so that you can achieve inner peace.

Pranayama is a breathing exercise that calms the mind and body down. You can do it by inhaling slowly through your nose and exhaling slowly through your mouth. It also helps reduce stress and anxiety.

While most people believe that meditation is only for monks or those who are religious, this practice has tons of benefits to it. Some benefits are:

-Reducing stress

-Relaxing the body

-Improving moods

-Relaxing muscles

The reason why meditation gives such positive effects is because it allows the brain to focus on its breathing patterns as opposed to other distracting factors in life. This will give you a chance to focus on yourself and everything that is happening around you. If you have time, then I highly recommend doing meditation at least once a day!