Why is it sometimes hard to stay still and meditate?
I’ve experimented with different ways of meditating over the last say 3 to 4 years. Some worked, some didn’t, some worked in a particular situation, well, you get the idea, depending on the situation, meditation may or may work as you think it should at times.
The bf and I recently did a yoga session together, and at the end of it while doing Savasana (Corpse pose), I decided to do a little guiding meditation, combined with what some will refer to as ‘reality creating’ techniques. And as I’ve mentioned before, I do some energy work with Quantum Touch, I used some of that too.
So while bf was sleeping lying in savasana, I started by guiding him to first bring his awareness to his breath. (I’d earlier shared with him about diaphragmatic breathing.) And then, I guided him to relax the soles of his feet, all the way to the top, the crown of his head. After that, I proceeded to ’spin’ his chakras with my mind, in particular his heart and third eye chakras. And then I led him with some guided imageries, being mindful to speak in present terms. All this while, I imagined in his heart area, a UNAN symbol. This symbol comes from quantum touch, and it represents the life force energy.
I’m not going too much in detail about the techniques, will do so in future posts. So in short, that was what I did, and bf reported that the result was a very relaxed body and mind. On a normal day, I probably couldn’t get him into that state as easily, but because we had just done yoga, his body relaxed much more easily.
If the body is in a state of tension, full of those ‘fight or flight’ hormones, then it is very difficult to get into a state to meditate. This is where yoga comes in. Reading Iyengar’s ‘Light on Life’, he says that the mind and the body are connected. Affect one, you affect the other. Well sometimes there are too many voices trying to be heard in the mind, that it is hard to affect the mind. So what can one do? Well, use the body to affect the mind. Bring the body to a state of strength and ease, at peace with itself, and the mind will follow. Yoga is meant to prepare the body for meditation.
That said, you don’t need to do yoga in order to meditate properly, but it really really helps put you in the ideal state to meditate. There are times when I get so ruffled up that it is hard to sit down and think ‘OM’(Peace, that is). But when I do yoga regularly, I don’t even get to the state where I am easily agitated(as so many of us are these days!).
I have recently joined a new yoga class that has a strong focus on meditation, and hopefully, it will add another tool to my meditation toolbox 
Once I’ve grasped it, I will share it here as well 
Stumble It!
September 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
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October 11th, 2008 at 4:51 am
[...] your heart and soul? There’s probably a lot of noise, so it would be good if you can learn to quiet yourself and really listen. If you can learn to listen to your intuition, then the possibilities probabilities are really [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Yoga practice can include the use of meditation, reflection, study and other classic elements, but the emphasis of the Yoga and Meditaton practice is on coordinating breath and movement. What is commonly referred to as “yoga” can be more accurately described by the Sanskrit word “asana”, which refers to the practice of physical postures or poses.