How TO
PRACTICE MEDITATION AND YOGA

When it comes to slowing down and getting centered, yoga and its partners in peacefulness, meditation, and deep breathing are hard to beat. These age-old practices also improve your overall health and well-being, immeasurably boosting mind, body, and spirit.

Try Meditation

Take a breath and hold for two or three seconds, observe your surroundings, identify how you feel, then exhale and proceed with your life. That’s all meditation is—easy and accessible to everyone, with impressive mind-body benefits, including clearer focus, reduced stress, and possibly even long-term mental acuity.

Better yet, you can reap some of these benefits by meditating during spare minutes throughout your day—as you’re waiting for the subway, walking the dog, or prepping the family dinner.

If you just can’t focus, try guided meditation. An instructor talks you through the exercise of clearing and centering your mind. Find a class at a gym or yoga studio, or listen to sessions—some as brief as five minutes—by downloading meditation apps.

If you can’t be still, try moving meditation. This popular practice says that if you can brush your teeth and sweep the floor, you can meditate. Indeed, a series of books by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh—including How to Walk and How to Eat—provides instruction on how to meditate while engaging in these and other everyday activities. Or see Sun Salutations, page 270, for another option.

If you don’t have time, try building in the deep-breathing exercises that follow throughout the day. Take one or two minutes out of every hour—it all adds up.

practice Deep Breathing

Breathing deeply lifts your mood and calms the mind—and helps ease headaches, backaches, and muscle tension, too.

basic technique

Conscious breathing is a two-part process: Breathe in, then breathe out. Long, slow inhalation creates energy and lifts the lungs, heart, and upper body, stimulating the nervous system and giving your body a needed boost. Similarly, taking time when exhaling—while keeping your tongue, throat, and jaw relaxed—will quiet your thoughts and alleviate stress.

Breathing exercises can restore calm or energize the body, depending on the technique.

For relaxation

• Sit with your back against a wall and your legs crossed comfortably. Inhale slowly through your nose for six seconds, hold your breath for six, and then slowly exhale through your mouth for another six. Repeat this exercise 20 times. You’ll feel your body unwind and your heart rate decrease.
• Another technique: Lie on your back with a rolled-up towel or a bolster pillow positioned lengthwise beneath your spine. Prop up your head with a folded pillow so that your forehead is just higher than your chin. Keep your arms out to your sides and your legs relaxed. This position opens your chest to maximize inhalation. Take smooth, slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

For energy

• Sit with your back against a wall and your legs together and extended in front of you. Take 50 short, deep breaths from your belly, exhaling more slowly through your nose. Repeat this exercise three times.
• This technique can sharpen focus and help with circulation—it’s a good exercise to practice before diving into an important task or starting an endurance workout.