This is the third part to our Beginners Yoga Series. Be sure to check back often for new instalments to this series.
In the first two parts of this series, we talked about how a beginner could begin Yoga, and also about the different styles of Yoga. In this instalment, we’re going to discuss one of the five principles of yoga: meditation.
The other four principles are proper exercise (also called asanas), proper breathing (pranayama), proper relaxation (savasana), and proper diet. Meditation, or dhyana, is the act of concentrating on an object, mantra or your own thoughts. Meditation relaxes your body and mind, and also sharpens your thinking.
There are three principles to keep in mind when learning the art of meditation. The first is that in order to concentrate, we need to focus on one object. That object could be your breathing or a word that you repeat or even a sensation within your body.
The second principle is that when your mind starts to wander you need to be able to quiet your mind and bring it back to your focus object. This is not as easy as it sounds, so give yourself a break if it doesn’t come quickly or easily. One way that you may want to deal with your noisy mind is to acknowledge the fact that you are having other thoughts and try to let them pass.
The third principle is to ignore irrelevant thoughts and sensations. Even though this sounds like a contradiction to the previous paragraph, it really is not. What I mean is that when you are meditating, you will be able to hear everything going on around you but you must try not to let it distract you.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
• Practice in a clean (uncluttered) and quiet place.
• Wear comfortable clothing and sit in a comfortable position and place.
• Perform some simple stretches to warm up your body.
• Try to empty your mind of all thoughts and try to prevent any other thoughts from entering into your mind.
If you find this exercise difficult, you can use a prop, such as a candle or other object, which you can focus and concentrate on. Again, don’t beat yourself up if you cannot master meditation right away – it is something that is going to take a lot of practice, but I promise you, once you have mastered it, the feeling that comes from meditating is something that cannot even be described by words.


