Falling In Love with Yoga and Meditation

Let’s talk about two of my current loves that our keeping me sane; yoga and meditation.

I’ve been well aware of the benefits of meditation for a long time and have dabbled in it here and there. It wasn’t until this last year that I decided to really take my meditation practice seriously and the benefits have been massive! I have always suffered from anxiety it has almost become a personality trait for me and the thought of being able to quiet my mind sounded like magic. The only time my mind got quiet was when I smoked weed so to be able to do that completely free of a substance seemed impossible.

I quickly found out what meditation is NOT. Meditation is not ‘not thinking’ that’s impossible, we’re humans we have thoughts. I have a lot of them. Meditation is NOT some hippie new age stuff. What meditation is to me is the ability to notice my thoughts. I prefer guided or semi guided focused meditation where I am reminded to continuously detach from my thought and focus my mind on one thing. In my attempt to shift my focus from my thought to my breathing or mantra I’m able to clearly see them. During meditation I can notice that I’ve thought about work five times which to me indicates that it’s a stressor in my life. I’m able to notice when my body is tense (another indicator of stress.) I become aware of what state of mind I’m in. If I’m not aware than I can’t work through it. When I’m able to notice my thoughts I’m able to replace them with more positive ones. For example if I notice a repetitive thought like “work is so stressful I can’t do it today.” I can replace it one like “I have a lot on my plate but I can delegate some of that work and prioritize what’s important so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming.”

That is a basics of cognitive behavior therapy and the only way I can successfully do that is by first noticing the thought, which I achieve through meditation.

My second love is the beautiful art of yoga! Much like meditation I’ve tried yoga here and there but never really got into it until a friend invited me to a yoga studio to take a class. After the class I felt AMAZING! The class was awkward and at first, it was very intimate. We all laid down on our mats and stretched together in sync with our breathing it’s definitely a intimate experience but despite that I knew I had to go back again. I started going every Saturday and my anxiety decreased expectantly. Yoga forces me to continuously be mindful, to stay in tune with how my body is feeling and adjusting as needed. It also reminds me to be grateful, grateful that my body is able to move the way it does and that I’m able to gift myself the hour long class to work on my anxiety through my yoga practice. I occasionally do yoga poses and movements at home when I’m feeling stiff but for me the weekly one hour session is enough to get me feeling good. It’s a refresh and I’ve never came out of a yoga class in my bad mood.

Yoga and meditation have been my savors when it comes to treating my anxiety. Of course it’s just one component of my anxiety treatment plan but if you are suffering with mental health issues or your just plain stressed out and need some time to yourself than I’d highly recommend giving yoga and meditation to try. The headspace app is a great starting point for meditation and there are a ton of free yoga videos online you can try if there’s not a studio near you.