Hi
I am just looking for yoga which I could do before my meditation. I am just changing my style of living and I do anapana and Vipassana meditation. I give up my previous swimming which I did regularly. Now I put 17 kilograms and I would like to sort it by yoga which I could do before my meditation.
I will appreciate any reply.
Take care
Ivana
I’m not in the business of prescribing asanas for people to do. I personally like to do sun salutations and standing asanas, and a few others. You should do asanas that are right for you according to your physical type and condition. If you are doing asanas to prepare for meditation then the basic criteria is that they should help you to relax all parts of your body.
The purpose of asanas is to purify chakras. It is like medicine and we need to take them with prescription.
Thanks but do not hesitate to prescribe something for me. I am a healthy woman who interested in meditation.
Take care
Ivana
Meditation starts when you get connected.
[QUOTE=Ivana;55871]Hi
I am just looking for yoga which I could do before my meditation. I am just changing my style of living and I do anapana and Vipassana meditation. I give up my previous swimming which I did regularly. Now I put 17 kilograms and I would like to sort it by yoga which I could do before my meditation.
I will appreciate any reply.
Take care
Ivana[/QUOTE]
I can give you very practical and realistic answer without getting into too many details. However, these are very much body, mind and intellect type specific and there is no one size fit all solution. We need many volumes to answer your brilliant question.
It is always good to chant mantra while doing all the following steps. If you are a Hindu there are many meaningful prayers for chanting while bathing and doing yoga, but not necessary.
A mantra is a powerful word to which you can always attach a single conceptually powerful, positive and mostly cosmic thought. Remember that it should be single powerful and positive thought to not to let your mind get judgmental and contradictory on your own concept and create thought ripples.
I do the following:
-
A warm/Moderately hot bath (because I live in upstate NY)
-
Two to five minutes savasana to withdraw your thoughts from without to within (Do not fall asleep)
-
Just five SuryaNamaskar to prepare your joints, limbs and the whole body (For physical, mental and spiritual practice, I do about 36 times at a stretch thrice a week)
-
Again two to five minutes savasana to withdraw your thoughts from without to within (Do not fall asleep)
-
Anulom/Vinulom Pranayama just 11 counts. (Breath control controls your thought to a vast extent)
-
Sit in any comfortable pose and quietly watch your thought for two minutes and be a witness to your thoughts. (If you are chanting any mantra during this whole process, now your thoughts should mostly confine to the mantra’s concept you conceptualized). Remember to breath normally and deeply during the following steps.
-
Now start slowly applying your intellect to bring back your mind from and mundane and stressful thoughts and also slowly arrest even your thoughts related to the concept of you mantra.
-
Start just meaninglessly chanting mantra for just few minutes.
-
Do not chant any mantra for few more minutes and see if you could be thoughtless for few seconds and slowly strive to increase this few second to few minutes to 10 to 15 minutes. No doubt, your random thoughts will start arising. Controlling and bringing back the monkeying mind is what is called meditation. Resistance gives persistence and that is true for even controlling your thoughts. So your intellect should be a gentle and kind witness and guide to your mind to bring back on thoughtlessness. This does not happen in days. Remember that ?Rome was not built in a day?.
-
Last but not the least enjoy and feel or imagine feeling a kind of positive stimulation happening in your body and mind. Just feel and do not get overwhelmed and lose your concentration. Initially start felling or at least imagining that you are getting calmer and more composed due to the meditation. In the long run it produces a cyclic cause and effect outcome.
-
Do savasana as much as you want and time permits.
-
Slowly open your eyes and cherish the positive attitude of meditation effects as much as possible for the whole day and go and face the world for the day.
Hello Ivana,
This is a video of the yoga and the teacher that I like. This is the first part of a series. It starts off a little slow but eventually gets into a very nice demonstration of the basic Surya Namaskar sequence. I like this because she does not rush through the sequence but moves gracefully and really emphasizes the long, deep ujjayi breathing. She also emphasizes learning the postures one at a time, so you should start with Surya Namaskar A and don’t move on until you build up some strength and can do it fairly well. If you can’t do it correctly at first, then maybe you will need to modify the sequence until you can. A good teacher can help with that. Also notice that she does not go into the full sequence right away but warms up a little first. I have found this to be helpful in getting rid of stiffness when first starting out.
You can find the rest of this series by typing ‘ashtanga yoga for beginners’ in the search box on youtube. As an afterthought, she also goes through the invocation that Ashtanga people recite before they practice. You can skip that if it’s not your cup of tea, but it doesn’t hurt to pay homage to the masters.
Actually I don’t normally do Surya Namaskar before seated meditation. That’s usually more of a starting out sequence. Before meditation you may want to do more of a finishing sequence. These are the kinds of things I normally do, but there are plenty of others and maybe somebody else will have some other suggestions.
Virasana
Sirsana (Headstand) (occasionally)
Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand)
Halasana (plough)
Bhujangasana (Cobra)
Marichyasana (Seated Lateral Twisting Pose)
Baddha Konasana (Cobblers Pose?)
Janu Sirsasana (Head to knee)
Siddhasana
You can find all these in Light on Yoga, by BKS Iyengar.
Good advices Asuri
I look at your prescription. I thank you very much. Sirsana is something what I do not understand how to do it and it is not important for me. But Siddhasana, it is what I would like to learn perfectly.
Take care
Ivana
Sahasrara
Thanks I am in the UK. Point number 1 is really the best one.
The others points are good as well.
Ivana
Even though I do not do if before seated meditation, I find Surya Namaskar to be very good for relaxing the body and focusing the mind. When you stand in Samsthiti after a few rounds, your body will relax from head to toe practically without effort. If you have been doing ujjayi breathing during the asana, your mind should also be calm and focused. So even though I am not doing a seated meditation immediately afterwards, Surya Namaskar definitely puts me into a relaxed and focused state of mind similar to what you would be trying to achieve at the beginning of your meditation. A good way to start your day.
Suryanamaskar done with proper focus on the appropriate chakras for each pose and proper mantra itself a great chakra activator which is the supposedly the path to the attain the goal of kundalini raising and thus the goal of meditation.
Ivana , It can be really helpful if you can find a classes in your area with experienced and dedicated teachers , try different classes , until you find something that resonates for you.
Going to class can really help to develop your home practise which is the important part.
But a few simple stetches will certainly enhance your meditation in my view.
[QUOTE=charliedharma;56045]Ivana , It can be really helpful if you can find a classes in your area with experienced and dedicated teachers , try different classes , until you find something that resonates for you.
Going to class can really help to develop your home practise which is the important part.
But a few simple stetches will certainly enhance your meditation in my view.[/QUOTE]
I agree that stretches are helpful. I will look at some yoga class.
Thanks
Ivana
Ivana,
As prescribing methods without being absolutely aware of your situation can be dangerous, I will not mention the names of any particular techniques. But generally, if you are interested in using certain methods as a means of preparation for meditation - you should, along with other methods, emphasize those techniques which seek to stimulate the sushumna nadi along the spinal cord.
“Sirsana is something what I do not understand how to do it and it is not important for me”
What is important or not important for you is irrelevant. Because if it were left into your hands, certainly you are going to choose what you like over what you dislike. And what you like may be a barrier for your expansion, what you dislike may be a skillful means to your expansion. If you seek to go deeper into the practice, then what is absolutely certain is that one has to be capable of seeing beyond one’s likes and dislikes. If you are really serious about your own liberation - then you will do the work that is necessary, even if it means being uncomfortable. Because the universe has no obligation to fit into your own perception as to how things should be, and unless you come to see things as they are - beyond the programming of your likes and dislikes - then one’s sufferings are bound to continue. The process, if you are really serious, has to be uncomfortable in the beginning, because as you are - your system is not interested in anything else except functioning according to it’s conditioning.
[QUOTE=AmirMourad;58398]“Sirsana is something what I do not understand how to do it and it is not important for me”
What is important or not important for you is irrelevant. Because if it were left into your hands, certainly you are going to choose what you like over what you dislike. And what you like may be a barrier for your expansion, what you dislike may be a skillful means to your expansion. If you seek to go deeper into the practice, then what is absolutely certain is that one has to be capable of seeing beyond one’s likes and dislikes. If you are really serious about your own liberation - then you will do the work that is necessary, even if it means being uncomfortable. Because the universe has no obligation to fit into your own perception as to how things should be, and unless you come to see things as they are - beyond the programming of your likes and dislikes - then one’s sufferings are bound to continue. The process, if you are really serious, has to be uncomfortable in the beginning, because as you are - your system is not interested in anything else except functioning according to it’s conditioning.[/QUOTE]
Hi AmirMourad
I really agree with your point of view. Reality is now that I can do Sirsana. So you can see I accept universe how it is.
Take care
Ivana
Hard work to be done?from perspective of humans, unimaginable amounts of time have made us present day products of the universe, are we not as the cosmos wants us to be at this point? Is it ego driven to believe we knows better than the universe as to what stage of the evolutionary process we should be striving? Some show no signs of suffering does this mean ignorance is bliss or lost in illusion, perhaps acceptance is the way to most benefit time in this world? Then again maybe we are suppose to use our bodies and minds (hard work) to fulfill lower needs allowing progression to the next level?eventually actualization?why then with the knowledge of yoga are so many from the past and present missing the bigger picture?
[QUOTE=ray_killeen;58431]Hard work to be done…from perspective of humans, unimaginable amounts of time have made us present day products of the universe, are we not as the cosmos wants us to be at this point? Is it ego driven to believe we knows better than the universe as to what stage of the evolutionary process we should be striving? Some show no signs of suffering does this mean ignorance is bliss or lost in illusion, perhaps acceptance is the way to most benefit time in this world? Then again maybe we are suppose to use our bodies and minds (hard work) to fulfill lower needs allowing progression to the next level…eventually actualization…why then with the knowledge of yoga are so many from the past and present missing the bigger picture?[/QUOTE]
Sorry I do not understand your reply, it seems that is not regarding my question what exercise to do before my meditation session.
But maybe you want to comment that I can not do Sirsana.
Take care
Ivana
I feel the very best advice in this thread comes from Sahasrara in post #6.
In fact I think they nailed it.