Apparently has great mental health benefits and it's something I want to start doing....I try to read about it and watch videos to copy etc but, it's either really boring or I struggle to keep attention.
I think in a direct, just get to the point kind of way. That's my vicious circle, I need to be more patient.
Does anyone do yoga or meditate and is it all its cracked up to be?
Any advice for a potential beginner?
1
Comments
If it's to try and make you relax try some exercise.
Also actually going to a yoga class is completely different to You Tube. There are lots of different types though. I found it very relaxing, the one I went to was also surprisingly hard work in a good way, gives your body a right good stretch.
I'd say get down to a class, as other have suggested. It is useful to have someone to help you out if you can't quite manage a move and I find it a lot more enjoyable doing it somewhere other than a room at home. It gets you out the house, amongst like-minded people and gives you a place you can go to chill out. There are always distractions and things you could be getting on with at home.
It is a lot harder than it looks!
buggangels down before bed and it's really good exercise.Like you I don't have a great deal of patience but I also realised I'd been doing it incorrectly.
I used to think it was about emptying the mind, which for me at least, is near impossible.
But actually what it's about in my understanding, is not emptying the mind but about awareness and that includes the hubbub going on in the head.
But the importance is to allow these thoughts, sensations, reactions to flow but not dominate and to always return to the breath, when they begin to do that. a very simplistic interpretation.
I've started meditating again in earnest for the past three weeks. I use a couple of free apps, headspace and calm, they help me keep focus.the narration can be a bit, well you know but that's all part of the practise, to not react.
For me, someone who gets stressed very easily and on a daily basis, I do think it's a good discipline to meditate daily. Just to give myself 10minutes and be in the moment, as they say and not ten years in the past or future but in the here and now and to recognise, that what I'm stressed or fearful about, often don't have any foundation and that I'm over reacting, as usual!
Give it a good go and do it daily,don't get put off, things rarely improve overnight and it might just surprise you.
Good luck.
In regards too meditation its finding what suits you. There are a lot of guided meditations around. They can be a little airy fairy though.
Abraham Hicks is one I use. You can check them out here...
Again, it's not to everyone's taste.
I'd also suggest a reiki session. It has done wonders for me so much so that I'm now trained as a reiki practioner and do some volunteer work with it. I swear by it. Reiki Changed my life considerably.
My Mrs is a Reiki Master and she's been practicing for years. I dont know how the hell she does it but its almost like Mr Miyagi-style healing going on.
I've been in a lot of discomfort recently with a double hernia waiting for my op and she sorts me out every time.
(Not like that, before anyone says anything!)
She also swears by the use of various crystals to help wih various ailments.
I still lose the will to do it and go weeks without it, but I always feel more sort of present and more aware of my own BS when I do it. I've been through periods of doing 2x 40 minute sessions a day. If you really want to get into it then http://gaiahouse.co.uk/retreats/group-retreat-programme/
is a good place to go in my opinion. They have silent weekend retreats. Challenging but I have always felt sad to leave.
Boredom is what your mind does to stop you letting go. It doesn't kill you to be bored for 20 minutes!
I agree with what people say about Headspace. Good grounding and very accessible.
You could go to a class at the London Buddhist Centre, but they are a bit culty and have a weird thing about their bogus guru. But their basic classes are fine.
PM me if you'd like further info.
What a load of old bollocks.
That is simply an electronic post it app.
Here's a link to a summary of the proven benefits http://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/ if you Google you'll find many more examples quoted.
The program I've been following is by Jon Kabat-Zinn http://www.mindfulnesscds.com there's lots of interesting material on this site.
I went to classes to learn how to do it and would suggest it's by far the best way to start. I don't think it really matters which style of meditation you follow, I guess just find what's readily available to you locally and go with one.
Like fitness, it requires regular practice, around 20 minutes a day they say. In time you'll find it easy to fit it into any routine you have, you really will.
Also like fitness, it will take several weeks before you feel any benefit, after all you can't just get on an exercise bike for 20 minutes one time and be as fit as a fiddle can you.
Please keep us updated as you progress, it will be good to see
It's deliberately done at very high room temperatures and that means you get more flexible, it also means you have to focus your mind on more than just the exercises because you have to try and keep your body temperature down, the room is heated to around 40 degrees C, there is a place in London Bridge.
It takes quite a long time per session and that's why I didn't carry on.
I would go back though.
Will try and make time next week now I've remembered that.
good that it shows not all football fans are mindless morons, though I may be :-)
I do yoga but it's a high intensity workout rather than the spiritual type so I don't think it counts for this thread.
Could not imagine for one second that I'd ever do it properly on my own, but the physical part was very good (hamstrings are in bits today).
The meditation bit at the start and end was probably pretty good, they did it at the start and end. But actually, I spent the beginning bit panicking about looking like a tool, and the end just lying down thinking "thank f*ck that's over" and wondering how much easier it'd have been without a hangover - so not much "mindfullness" went on in all honesty.
Also spent the meditation at the start hoping I'd be near an absolute rocket to copy from, and was dutifully rewarded.