The Origins of Meditation and Yoga
Yogiraj is considered an illumined living master and solar seer, and helps sincere practitioners of yogic meditation awaken to higher levels of consciousness through chakra awakening and esoteric practices of Himalayan yoga.
Meditation Music
This is the music acclaimed worldwide by great Yoga practitioners and masters of meditation. This pure and relaxing music is just the beginning. Experience the complete album available at Apple iTunes; YMU, Yoga Music Unlimited ~ the First Gita’s NOTE:The color red within this meditation music mandala video represents the first chakra’s color and the “key” of the song uses the official first “key” of the 1st Chakra.
How To Cleanse Your Chakras
Just like cleansing other parts in the body, cleansing the seven chakras are extremely important to our health. Not only does this benefit our physical health, but also our mental and emotional health as well. It is important to cleanse all seven chakras, but in this article i will show you how to cleanse the Root and Heart Chakra using a yoga exercise.
The Yoga Crow Pose
1. Begin by squatting on the floor, with your legs about shoulder width apart. Make sure your toes are completely flat on the ground with your toes pointing outwards.
2. Reach forward with your arms with your index fingers pointing straight ahead, and the rest of your fingers interlaced together.
3. Look straight ahead and stare out into infinity.
4. Make sure your back is as straight as possible at this point. And begin to take deep breaths. Inhaling through the nostrils and exhaling through the mouth.
You can hold this posture for as little as 15 seconds or as long as three minutes.
By cleansing the Root Chakra, we will be improving our health, build a strong sense of security, connectivity to our surroundings, and remove fears. By cleansing the Heart Chakra, we are allowing love and compassion to flow through us. This exercise also improves flexibility in the groin and hips, is good for the health in the knee and ankle joints, and is very great for toning and healing the elimination system in the body.
If this pose feels too difficult or uncomfortable for you, don’t be discouraged it takes practice to get use to this!
PowerOfChakra.com
The Benefits of Meditation Part 1
The word ‘meditation’ conjures a variety of images in people’s minds, depending on their experiences, beliefs and prejudices. For some people the word stirs deeply spiritual ideas, whilst for others, images of calm tranquility and deeper self understanding. For those new to the idea of meditation, it may be associated in their minds with purely religious practice, although this is certainly no longer the case. There are many benefits of meditation which have well established backing in the medical world, and there are many types of meditation to suit all individuals, regardless of religious beliefs, or even if they have no religious belief at all.
Much of the practice of meditation can be traced through the traditions of yoga, which were brought to the West from India, and so there are deep roots within Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and other Eastern traditions, but in fact the practice of meditation predates this introduction from India, and the concept flourished in the world of martial arts, where focus, concentration and the health benefits were long recognized an essential part of the training.
The idea of using meditation to relax the muscles and calm the mind has long been used in counseling procedures, and with an increase in the amount of stress and chaos of our modern daily lives, these techniques have been shown to have a dramatic effect. Those who work in psychotherapy see people every day who are suffering from the stress of work, family, finance or other concerns, and consider meditation in one form or another to be an integral and essential part of not only the healing process, but in providing a way of dealing with the continuing life after the counseling is over.
Meditation has many forms, and the purposes of meditation and the benefits depend upon the type of meditation performed. The medical world, in particular those who work in both psychology and physiology agree that the practice of meditation actually has a measurable effect on the brainwaves, and that we enter a state of consciousness which is distinct from our normal everyday awareness. It is believed that this changed state of awareness not only has health benefits that are physical, such as cardiovascular health, but can lead to a deeper understanding of oneself.
Within this context of both physical and mental well-being, there are two main types of meditation, although each may take on different forms, and the benefits of meditation may vary depending upon the type practiced. One type, usually referred to as ‘mindfulness’ has the person focusing on keeping an open mind, and not focusing on any one particular thing. Instead, they try to shift focus so that no particular concentration on a problem, question, object or concern occurs, but instead the mind is repeatedly brought back, and encouraged to skim along the surface. The other type is quite the opposite, and encourages the person to focus very deeply on one object or thought, to the absolute exclusion of anything else.
Both of these types of meditation share the same general benefits, of taking the mind, or at least the conscious mind, away from the everyday troubles and concerns, and into a place that is calm. In so doing, the body responds by relaxing the muscles, and if performed for a reasonable length of time, and regularly, the long term health benefits for the body are very established and meditation should be considered as beneficial physically as it is for the mind.
People often assume that in order to meditate it is necessary to sit on the ground, in a form of yoga position, but this is not the case. Certainly there are forms of meditation based in the yoga tradition that do encourage this method, but it is by no means the only form, and not always the most practical either. It is perfectly possible to practice meditation whilst walking, or doing some other repetitive task – even knitting!
John Culbertson
