Benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation in Yoga
Not only is yoga an amazing practice for building strength, flexibility, and balance, but yoga is also an amazing practice for mental health and mindfulness.
Yoga is a holistic practice, benefiting the body, mind, and soul, all through regular practice. Helping you build mind-body awareness while strengthening your body at the same time.
So, what exactly is mindfulness?
Mindfulness simply implies being fully aware in the present moment. Being fully aware of where we are, what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. It also means not becoming overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
The concept of mindfulness may seem odd at first, but many people have trouble being fully present. Things like technology can so easily pull us away from being fully aware and present in each moment.
It’s so important to take time to practice mindfulness meditation by itself, or along with the practice of yoga, to help train both your mind and body to become fully present in each moment in your life. It’s very easy to let your mind drift to what you want to do tomorrow or next week, and lose focus on the importance of the current moment.
Mindfulness involves:
- Setting clear goals and intentions for your mindfulness practice
- Relaxing your body in a comfortable position to let go
- Quieting your mind, freeing your mind from distractions
- Paying close attention to your breath
- Letting thoughts come and go, but not dwelling on anything in particular
After incorporating mindfulness meditation both into your yoga practice and daily life, you may notice some benefits.
Here are a few benefits of mindfulness that you might experience from practicing regularly:
Helps you refocus on your goals and intentions
Many of us carry thoughts of worry, frustration, sadness, and/or anxiety around with us each and every day. These feelings can fill our minds and drain out thoughts of goals, aspirations, and positive intentions for the day.
Practicing mindfulness can help you refocus your mind on your intentions and goals rather than being overtaken by negative thoughts that inhibit you from meeting your goals.
Improves your mood
Mindfulness helps you let go of frustrations and anger that you may have allowed to build up inside you. Letting feelings like this build can lead us to project our anger onto others who did nothing wrong.
Practicing mindfulness can help you let go of those negative feelings and emotions and improve not only your own mood, but also how you interact with and treat others.
Increases self-awareness
It’s incredibly easy to go through life without sitting down and contemplating your life itself. Giving yourself time to think about your accomplishments in life, your goals, and all that you’re grateful for in life can help you better understand yourself as a person.
Mindfulness is great for setting intentions for yourself and for understanding where you are in this exact moment. Even if it’s not where you want to be, understanding why you’re there, why you feel the way you do, and what you might want to change is so crucial in creating a deep self-awareness.
Boosts mental health
Practicing yoga and mindfulness will boost mental health by providing benefits such as relieving stress and helping with depression. Breathing deeply, letting go of your worries and anxieties, and simply focusing on your breath can greatly boost mental health by finding the release of negative and hurtful thoughts that you might have.
Mindfulness helps to create the all-important space and time to process and let go.