Malinda is a dedicated student of Yoga with a passion for inspiring others to realise their true potential. After years of battling chronic illnesses such as Epilepsy, Depression, Anxiety & Ulcerative Colitis, she stepped into a Yoga studio & found a new way of life. Read more on how she found her way into the TIY Family đź’›
Read More
3 Meditations To Enhance Your Communication Skills
Meditation is a practice that helps us accept the present moment—no matter what's happening in it. It allows us to be more open and compassionate with ourselves and others and can change the way we communicate for the better. That's because by meditating (witnessing and accepting thoughts and coming back to a point of focus), we are learning not only to speak consciously, clearly, and concisely but also to become more responsive instead of reactive.
Read More
What Are The Yamas And Niyamas?
In the Yoga Sutra, a collection of texts written between the second century BCE and fifth century CE, philosophers outline an eight-limbed (read post “What Are The 8 Limbs of Yoga?”), step-by-step path for purifying the body and mind. The ultimate goal: to help practitioners cultivate a steady mind, leading to calm bliss. The first two stops on the path are ethical principles that are supposed to guide how we relate to other people and how we take care of ourselves. They’re called the Yamas (social restraints) and the Niyamas (self-disciplines).
Read More
A Seeker’s Guide to Bhakti Yoga
The path of bhakti yoga allows us to use all of our senses, all of our emotions, and all of our actions to express love in our daily interactions and offer them to whatever form of God suits our individual personalities and cultural upbringing, whether it be Krishna, Christ, Allah, Yahweh, Hanuman, the Divine Mother, or some other aspect. In bhakti yoga, no form of God is superior to another. Each is equally respected as a valid manifestation of the one underlying principle of pure consciousness.
Read More
Loving Kindness Meditation - How To
Of all the different kinds of meditation out there, there's one that's especially powerful for cultivating compassion and extending the benefits of one's meditation practice to others. It's called loving-kindness meditation, metta meditation, or maitrī meditation in Sanskrit. Here's what this practice is all about, plus a guided loving-kindness meditation to try for yourself.
The origins and benefits of a loving-kindness practice
Loving-kindness meditation is thought to have originated in ancient India, before the time of the Buddha. Since then, it's become known as a traditionally Buddhist philosophy and practice, but the ideas of loving-kindness, compassion, or maitrī, can also be found in Hindu and Jain texts.
In these meditations, the object is to cultivate and send out compassion to the world and all living beings in it, including ourselves. According to Marci Quinn, spiritual author of A Teen's Spirit: Changing the World Through Love and Kindness, "A loving kindness meditation is a powerful tool to help you experience forgiveness and compassion for yourself, those you know, and even those you don't. By actively visualizing yourself extending love to people during your meditation, a deep sense of peace and calmness sets in."
This is a particularly beneficial meditation to try if you're looking to hold space for someone, enhance your communication skills, and deepen your relationship to yourself and the world around you.
"Aside from the sense of peace that you can receive," Quinn notes, "this practice can help improve your relationships with family and friends with whom you may normally have deep-rooted, recurring issues. Offering love and forgiveness to those who may not seem to 'deserve' it is one of the most transformational choices you can make in your life."
What to think about during your loving-kindness sit
This is, of course, totally up to you, and can change from day to day. But to help get you started, one common mantra that focuses on the metta, is: "May all human beings everywhere be healthy, happy, and free."
In addition to that, Quinn adds it's also beneficial to choose people that you may have negative feelings toward or unresolved issues with. "Bringing them into your meditation will help open pathways to actually feel forgiveness and compassion for them despite any of their perceived wrongdoings or shortcomings. In offering love and kindness to others, you can be sure you will receive it as well."
Once you can extend that love and compassion to those you may struggle with, it opens the pathway to healing. "A loving-kindness meditation practice will help shift your perspective of others (and yourself) from fear-based to love-based thoughts," she notes, "which helps open you up to receive all the blessings you deserve."
Tips on making your practice more effective
It's no secret that meditation can be a bit of a struggle for many people. Quinn notes you can make your loving-kindness meditation practice more effective by thinking about positive memories you have of others while you're meditating. Here are a few more meditation tips that can help guide and anchor your practice:
Feel the sensations that come up when you think about those you love.
When thinking about and sending love to those you might have issues with, notice which feelings come up then, too.
Picture two people side by side: one you love, and one you have past grievances with. Recognize they are the same and send them both love.
Try not to resist or fight any unpleasantness or thoughts that come up.
Be mindful of your posture.
Make it a walking meditation if you can't sit still.
Be gentle with yourself.
A guided loving-kindness meditation
Follow along to this loving-kindness meditation, created by certified yoga instructor, reiki master, and sound healer Susy Schieffelin.
A 10-minute, guided sound bath meditation for heart healing and loving-kindness:
Begin by finding a comfortable place of stillness.
Allow your eyes to gently close and bring your attention to your breath. Take a deep inhale through your nose and a full exhale through your mouth. Take another deep breath in, all the way down into your belly, and let it go.
Imagine going deep within your heart, until you find a place of stillness. A place of peace. And in that place, begin to call in a version of yourself. You might imagine yourself as you are today, or maybe you imagine yourself as a child, or at a moment in time when you felt sad or lonely. A time when you could have used a little bit more love.
Imagine yourself—notice your face, notice what you're wearing. Connect with how you feel in that moment, and then begin to imagine yourself at that moment in time, surrounded by white light. Become aware that this light is a very special light. It is a peaceful, healing light. A light of pure, unconditional love.
Imagine sending this light to that version of yourself, allowing the light to melt away any sadness, any loneliness or worry, any fear, any heaviness or heartache. Imagine the light melting it all away, enveloping you in a soft, warm glow of unconditional love. Allow yourself to receive that love, and with every breath you take, feel that light growing bigger and brighter. Imagine yourself melting and dissolving, becoming pure love.
Feel a sense of healing, a knowing that somehow everything is OK, breathing in love and kindness and exhaling to just let go.
When you feel as though you've fully received this love, maybe there's someone else in your life you'd like to send love to today. Someone who could use some extra love and kindness. Feel this person in your heart, and just as you did for yourself, imagine enveloping them in healing, white light. Imagine sending them so much love. Send them kindness and comfort. Send them the message that everything is OK. Feel them receive it.
And now imagine our whole world. Billions of people, animals, plants. Imagine our planet Earth, and surround the Earth in healing, white light. Imagine sending unconditional love, kindness, and healing. Imagine that light dissolving all the pain, all the heartache, all the suffering. Imagine this light of love filling our world with joy. Filling our world with peace. Filling our world with hope.
In closing, take a deep inhale through your nose. Sigh it out through your mouth. When you're ready, start to become aware of your body, wiggling your fingers and your toes. Circle your wrists and your ankles, maybe even stretch your arms up overhead as though you are awakening to a new day, a new version yourself, of your life, of this world. A world filled with love and kindness, hope and peace. Feel the openness of your heart, and when you're ready, gentle blink your eyes open. Welcome back.
The bottom line
In our humble opinion, there's never a bad time for more loving-kindness on this Earth, so give this meditation technique a try next time you or someone you know needs a little love—or you simply want to send the planet all the loving energy you can.
Read original article here
Article author: Sarah Regan
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM FOR HOW TO VIDEOS, TIP AND TRICKS, YOGA INSPO AND MUCH MORE!
Hridaya Meditation & the spiritual heart
Hridaya Meditation is also called the “meditation for the revelation of the spiritual heart” and is aiming on the direct experience of our true nature. ... By meditation on the “spiritual heart” we can experience this love and consciousness within ourselves and in this way bring more peace, love and joy into our being. Learn more about this style of meditation below -
There is an essential part of you. A place beyond the personality, beyond limitations, beyond suffering, beyond time. A home where you rest in the Infinity of Being. That essence is the Self, the Spiritual Heart. Although you are not and can never be separate from the Heart, that truth hides behind an identification with the ego and its stories. The good news is that it’s possible to transcend this condition. So, what is Hridaya Meditation? It’s a process of deconditioning that leads you back home to the Heart.
Technical Aspects
The practice of Hridaya Meditation has three main technical components:
The awareness of the Heart Center: Connecting with a spiritual “portal” in the middle of the chest, a little to the right.
The awareness of short pauses after inhalation and exhalation: Opening to the background of Stillness revealed in the gaps between breaths.
Self-Inquiry: Asking the question “Who am I?” and being present for what arises.
The Finger That Points to the Moon
There is a lovely metaphor from the Zen tradition that describes the relationship between the technical elements of practice and the Ineffable: “The finger that points to the Moon.” This suggests that you shouldn’t remain focused on the finger, but always look in the direction it points.
Similarly, these three technical aspects are like “fingers” pointing to the “Moon” of Consciousness. They are just pointers or doors to the vastness of your Being. They don’t have value in themselves, but only in connection with what they reveal.
For example, you can focus on the chest area, which can eventually bring an increased level of concentration, mental clarity, and awareness of the emotions. But these are limited to the domain of your personality.
When you understand that the Heart Center is just a pointer, you open to a new “domain.” The Islamic hadith describes this as “Heaven and Earth do not contain me, but I am contained in the heart of my devotee.” And, in Jesus’s affirmation, “The Kingdom of God is inside you.” In this way, Heart Center is not just a “point of concentration,” but brings the taste of Infinity.
Additionally, being aware of the pauses after inhalation and exhalation and asking “Who am I?” can lead you to that domain beyond personal limitations.
Therefore, Hridaya Meditation, while using these tools, finally goes beyond them, becoming a natural way of celebrating the Freedom and Joy of your true Self.
What is Hridaya Meditation? A path to the Heart.
Read the original article here
Article published by: Hridaya Yoga
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM FOR HOW TO VIDEOS, TIP AND TRICKS, YOGA INSPO AND MUCH MORE!