your own body. Know that you can return to the phrases anytime you wish.
Gently open your eyes.
When you have gotten the hang of this meditation, you may extend the loving kindness to others in your life, especially those toward whom you feel tension or anger. Imagine the person you are frustrated with and repeat the same phrases: May he/she be safe, May he/she be peaceful , and so on. This exercise in compassion will help to ease the tensions in your relationships, and fill you with greater understanding.
HOW TO F IT MEDITATION INTO DAILY L IFE
Meditation can sound daunting at first. Don’t let it intimidate you. After all, it is meant to calm you! Start with just five minutes before you drift off to sleep at night, or a simple walking meditation during your usual activities. Then, build up to a more purposeful meditation time every day, starting with just five minutes, and working up to twenty minutes, or half an hour.
Most often, as you finish your meditation, you get caught up in the same mental junk occupying your mind, with all the worries, anxieties, regrets, and expectations. That’s why I invite you to treat your meditation sessions not as a “mental spa detox,” but rather a part of your personal transformation process.
Take a cue from Buddhist monks and choose a sound that you hear at a regular interval, for example, a church bell, or a sound of an elevator. Take two deep breaths each time you hear this sound. You can also take two deep breaths before you answer a phone call, or open your e-mail.
Do not limit your meditations to your living room floor or your garden, if you are blessed with some peaceful outdoor space. You will be surprised to see many opportunities to meditate as your day goes on. Any repetitive task or a waiting time can be turned into a meditation. You can count your breaths while doing dishes, vacuuming, or sorting your laundry, for example. You can turn exercise into meditation byfocusing on your movements, steps, or breathing. Any chore that is automatic in nature will work—but don’t try meditation as you drive your car.
THE YOGA WAY TO BEAUTY
Wouldn’t you be excited to try a simple exercise routine that helps you lose weight, feel more in control, combat stress, and lift and tone your skin? Achieve it all with yoga. New research suggests that people who practice yoga regularly have lower levels of inflammation-causing compounds in their blood. These compounds, called cytokines, and particularly an inflammation-triggering, obesity promoting hormone leptin, can lead to heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and diabetes. Studies show that yoga practitioners are less likely than non-practitioners to use medication for metabolic syndrome, mood disorders, inflammation, and pain. 33
Yoga is extremely helpful to reduce both anxiety and depression. Just two sessions of yoga every week can help you stay in control of your emotions and become more resilient not just to stresses of everyday life, but also to premature skin aging. Add just twenty to thirty minutes of light exercise a day to your yoga practice, and it will make a huge difference to break those anxious or moody cycles. Doing yoga outside is triply rewarding: you get a powerful oxygen boost that reaches every bit of your body; you feel grounded and more in control as you absorb calming nature’s imagery; and fresh air invigorates your metabolism, so you move one step closer to the lean, healthy-looking figure of your dreams.
The skin-rejuvenating effect is most profound in yoga inversion poses. Paul Smith recommends two inversions that are so gentle, almost anyone can do them.
Legs Up the Wall Pose: To do Legs Up the Wall Pose (known among yogis as Viparita Karani), lie on the floor with the hips up against the wall and your legs stretched up the wall toward the ceiling. Keep the lower sacrum and tailbone against the floor. For a slightly greater inversion effect, you can put a pillow or folded blanket under the hips.
Gently open your eyes.
When you have gotten the hang of this meditation, you may extend the loving kindness to others in your life, especially those toward whom you feel tension or anger. Imagine the person you are frustrated with and repeat the same phrases: May he/she be safe, May he/she be peaceful , and so on. This exercise in compassion will help to ease the tensions in your relationships, and fill you with greater understanding.
HOW TO F IT MEDITATION INTO DAILY L IFE
Meditation can sound daunting at first. Don’t let it intimidate you. After all, it is meant to calm you! Start with just five minutes before you drift off to sleep at night, or a simple walking meditation during your usual activities. Then, build up to a more purposeful meditation time every day, starting with just five minutes, and working up to twenty minutes, or half an hour.
Most often, as you finish your meditation, you get caught up in the same mental junk occupying your mind, with all the worries, anxieties, regrets, and expectations. That’s why I invite you to treat your meditation sessions not as a “mental spa detox,” but rather a part of your personal transformation process.
Take a cue from Buddhist monks and choose a sound that you hear at a regular interval, for example, a church bell, or a sound of an elevator. Take two deep breaths each time you hear this sound. You can also take two deep breaths before you answer a phone call, or open your e-mail.
Do not limit your meditations to your living room floor or your garden, if you are blessed with some peaceful outdoor space. You will be surprised to see many opportunities to meditate as your day goes on. Any repetitive task or a waiting time can be turned into a meditation. You can count your breaths while doing dishes, vacuuming, or sorting your laundry, for example. You can turn exercise into meditation byfocusing on your movements, steps, or breathing. Any chore that is automatic in nature will work—but don’t try meditation as you drive your car.
THE YOGA WAY TO BEAUTY
Wouldn’t you be excited to try a simple exercise routine that helps you lose weight, feel more in control, combat stress, and lift and tone your skin? Achieve it all with yoga. New research suggests that people who practice yoga regularly have lower levels of inflammation-causing compounds in their blood. These compounds, called cytokines, and particularly an inflammation-triggering, obesity promoting hormone leptin, can lead to heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and diabetes. Studies show that yoga practitioners are less likely than non-practitioners to use medication for metabolic syndrome, mood disorders, inflammation, and pain. 33
Yoga is extremely helpful to reduce both anxiety and depression. Just two sessions of yoga every week can help you stay in control of your emotions and become more resilient not just to stresses of everyday life, but also to premature skin aging. Add just twenty to thirty minutes of light exercise a day to your yoga practice, and it will make a huge difference to break those anxious or moody cycles. Doing yoga outside is triply rewarding: you get a powerful oxygen boost that reaches every bit of your body; you feel grounded and more in control as you absorb calming nature’s imagery; and fresh air invigorates your metabolism, so you move one step closer to the lean, healthy-looking figure of your dreams.
The skin-rejuvenating effect is most profound in yoga inversion poses. Paul Smith recommends two inversions that are so gentle, almost anyone can do them.
Legs Up the Wall Pose: To do Legs Up the Wall Pose (known among yogis as Viparita Karani), lie on the floor with the hips up against the wall and your legs stretched up the wall toward the ceiling. Keep the lower sacrum and tailbone against the floor. For a slightly greater inversion effect, you can put a pillow or folded blanket under the hips.
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