By Sanjeev Patel, CYT
Within Hatha Yoga is meditation practice. Of all the techniques taught in a typical 200 – hour Yoga teacher training intensive, meditation is often left to self discovery. Many teachers and interns realize that students will not appreciate the deeper aspects of meditation, until years of practice. A deeper secret of the Yoga masters is that, advanced students and teachers, devote more time to meditation the longer they practice.
In the Yogic context, meditation, or dhyana, is defined more specifically as a state of pure consciousness. We can also clearly define meditation as a mental hygiene. It is the seventh stage, or limb, of the yogic path, and follows dharana, the art of concentration. Dhyana, in turn, precedes samadhi, the state of final liberation or enlightenment, the last step in Patanjali’s eight-limbed system. These three limbs—dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (ecstasy)—are inextricably linked, and collectively referred to, as samyama, the inner practice, or subtle discipline, of the Yogic path.
Benefits provided by meditation are endless. Regular meditation will cleanse the mind, clarify consciousness, lighten the spirit, develop poise, and enhance equanimity. Meditation calms and tones the nervous system, relaxes, harmonizes psychic energies, recharges psychic batteries, and cultivates serenity. Yoga meditation protects against the stress of modern life, which destroys health and happiness, and is, indeed, a major killer in civilized society.
Meditation offers the possibility of our opening up, as a flower to the sun, to the bright emotions of love and joy, even of ecstasy; of enriching immeasurably our relations with wives, husbands, children, parents, neighbors, and workmates. Also, practicing Yoga meditation will benefit the Yoga student with mental power.
© Copyright 2010 – Sanjeev Patel / Aura Publications
Sanjeev Patel is a certified Yoga teacher and an exclusive author for Aura Wellness Center.
//www.yoga-teacher-training.org/
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