Yoga Relaxation – Ananda

Relaxation is happening! The thing associated with yoga that people most often characterize as “what was always missing from my life,” or, “what I was always searching for,” has got to be relaxation. Or “the Relaxation Response,” as physiologists call it. You will hear that the purpose of relaxation in yoga is to “prepare” you for “meditation.”

Allow me to suggest that quite the opposite is true. Meditation is a set of widely disparate techniques from various places whose ultimate purpose is to get you to relax deeply. If you set meditation as a goal and “try” to “get there,” all you’ll get is a headache. If you learn how to let yourself relax (which is a learnable skill) then you will naturally and effortlessly slip into very deep “meditative” states.

Think of it as the human corallary to bear hibernation. In this state, the parasympathetics are in full swing repairing your body. And the sympathetics are shut completely off, freeing you from their abraision. The brain’s output frequency drops and it’s power output increases as neuronal activity finds greater coherence. Thoughts become vivid. Imagination soars. Creativity is accessed.

Yoga Meditation

Here are some of the most commonly used poses for Meditation:

Big Mind Meditation, Calm Heart Meditation, Cross Heart Meditation, Do The Right Thing Meditation, Intuition Meditation, I Want it So Bad Meditation, Loving Your Enemies Meditation, Matra Meditation, Practice Enlightenment Meditation and Self-Inquiry Meditation.