Practicing Meditation

If you are familiar with yoga, you know how important it is to find a tranquil place to meditate.  Also, you know how meditation is really a personal practice.  Meditation does not necessarily need to take the form of sitting and closing your eyes.  You can take more energizing forms of meditation, such as running, walking or just standing still listening to and observing your surroundings.  

Meditation can improve mental and emotional health, in addition to physical health (i.e. beautiful skin).  It helps to reduce stress, improves sleep, reduces anxiety, may help decrease blood pressure, and helps us gather more mindful thoughts.  The key benefits that I see meditation having on the skin are that it helps to relax the muscular tension in the face, which has an impact on the formation of wrinkles.  Also, the deep breathing that your body can achieve in meditation increases the oxygen supply to the skin, which can help improve the healing of skin conditions in the face.  Also, increased oxygen can help provide your complexion with a beautiful glow.

My definition of meditation is taking the posture that allows you to achieve a higher sense of calm and release in both body and mind.  For me, going for walks or runs and listening to flowing water is what really helps me achieve a meditative state.  Now, think about what activity makes you most calm. Is it sitting, walking, running, listening to nature?  It’s important to connect with the meditation that speaks most to you and once you do, try to practice it regularly.  Your body and mind will benefit.

Yoga Journal has a great article called “A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation”.  It is a great read and goes more in depth about different meditation varieties and their benefits.  You can find the article here.