Many of us take up the path of yoga to heal, both physically and emotionally, and each of us should pursue the practice of seated meditation for the same reason. Because the benefits from each meditation will be immediately noticeable. You should feel better, lighter, freer, regardless of whether you were able to keep your mind focused and neutral the whole time.
It’s not about each little moment. The benefits of meditation come from the accumulation of all your time spent in the practice. Each hour of meditation is a practice in calming the mind. Each hour of meditation means more time spent between the thoughts rather than inside of them.
What we learn from yoga is that we are not our thoughts. What we learn from meditation is how to get into that space between our thoughts. That in-between state of mind - the one that almost feels like you’re about to fall asleep - is where you need to be to achieve that serenity we seek through our practice.
Of course, we aren’t going to master this overnight. It takes 10,000+ hours to achieve mastery, and sitting continuously for hours is more daunting than it seems. Even if you meditate for one hour every day for ten years, you’d barely be a third of the way there!
But that’s not the point. The point is we keep going.
The journey to inner peace is slow and steady. Both yoga and meditation are lessons in patience, and through meditation, we are better equipped to face the hardest lessons on this path. Those lessons in loss and letting go are important and only get harder the farther this journey takes, and it takes a great deal of strength and patience to face them.
What lessons have you faced on the yoga mat? Send an email at info@kinoyoga.com. You could be invited to guest spot on The Yoga Inspiration Podcast.
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