Yoga And Mental Health

Yoga is becoming very popular through out the world though it is of Indian origin. All of us know that Yoga helps us gain good health and physical fitness but not many know that it also promotes good mental health. Strange physical postures alone do not constitute yoga, there is another major aspect to yoga which is meditation. Yoga meditation is very popular in the eastern traditions. You will be able to achieve mental peace and equanimity through yoga meditation.

Yoga is very closely related to human psychology in the sense, it helps people achieve psychological fitness. Though yoga does not have diagnostic theories and treatment procedures, yogic meditations help people in centring and in gaining more focus. Many of the psychological problems such as stress, fear, restlessness, anxiety, etc., can be addressed very

One of the most popular postures for yoga meditation is the lotus posture or padmasana. This posture gives you stability and the body forms a virtual triangular or pyramidal shape. Squatting in this posture for long hours require a lot of practice and for the westerners, it can be a problem as they are not accustomed to squatting on the floor because of the cold weather conditions that prevail in the western countries. However once accustomed to squatting in this posture, you will find that this is a very comfortable and stable posture which helps your body to maintain equilibrium.

The next important aspect of yogic meditation is proper breathing cycle. We often hear people say take a deep breath when we are restless or when we are in a shock. There is lot of wisdom in this. When we take deep breath brain gets good supply of oxygen which helps us gain back to our senses and think clearly. Yoga mediation goes one step further and concentrates on the breathing cycle and makes tries to make your breathing deep and uniform. This helps you calm down and your body is at peace.

The third important aspect of yoga meditation is the object of meditation. In normal conditions our mind hops from one thought to the other and our mind is often compared to a monkey that is restless and hops from one tree to the other. It is very difficult to stop these stream of thoughts. This is the biggest challenges of yoga meditation. You will have to attain a state of blankness by calming your mind. There are several levels in yogic meditation and the advanced stages of yoga meditation involves mystic stages.

If practiced regularly yoga mediation can help you concentrate better on your daily tasks and at your work. Many athletes and sportsmen and sportswomen use practice yoga meditation to improve their performance. You just need to learn the basics of yoga meditation and you will be able to master the art of yoga meditation easily with patience and consistency.