How To Keep A Mediative State While Doing Yoga

Ok, so you've rocked into class. Teach' has you sit cross legged with your eyes closed.

You're breathing through your nose and you are concentrating on your breath as is enters and exits your body. Congrats!

You are in a mediative state. Now.

What do you think is gonna happen the first time you fall out of a balance pose? Will you stay in the moment? Of course not.

You'll be all upset 'cause you fell, and all sorts of western, alpha competitive feelings will mess with your mojo. All designed to pull you out of the moment.

Here's how you keep your cool during and between poses:

1) Don't be attached to pose outcomes. 

Nail it or fail it. Don't show any emotion on your face. This in turn will stop your consciousness from moving out of the meditative state.

Being euphoric 'cause you nailed it, or disappointed 'cause you failed it, messes with your meditative state. Go into the pose not caring about the outcome of the pose. Plus, you'll balance better.

2) Don't be attached to the practice. 

Same as not attaching to pose outcomes, only here you don't care what the practice throws at you.

If the teacher has you standing in Tadasana for 60 mins. Don't care. Breathe through your nose. Focus on your breath. Meditate.

3) Soften your gaze.

You can physically do this by ever-so-slightly squinting, which will lightly contract the muscles around your eyes. Then focus on the contracted eye muscles. Especially the muscles under the eyes.

Then purposely relax them. You'll know it's working 'cause your eyes will widen. Congrats.

Gaze softened. 

4) Narrow your focus. Shut down your periphery.

Definitely more important in a class setting. Try to ignore what's going on around the edges of your vision.

5) Acknowledge and move on.

If your nose gets itchy during a pose, or if a drop of sweat breaks out on your brow, acknowledge it. Say to yourself. "I acknowledge that my nose is itchy", then move onto focussing on your breath. 

See how the itchy nose has the potential to break you out of the meditative state? Or if someone is fidgeting in your periphery, or how falling out of a balance can take you out of the moment?

Your job, is to practice in a manner, that prepares you for these eventualities, in such a way, that when they occur, they don't mess up your trance. It's all in the execution.

Fall over, get back up. No emotion required.

6) Dance in time to your breath

Poses are always dynamic. They are never static. The trick is to get the small movements you make in a pose, to expand and contract with your breath. You know what I mean.

Summary

So meditation is focus. Emotions have the potential to break focus. So do distractions, like sweat and the person fidgeting on the mat next to you. 

We remain focussed by withdrawing our senses, so that distractions are minimized. 

We also remain focussed by not caring one way or another about outcomes.

So, when you look at what we've just discussed, no senses, no caring, no thing.

Yoga is nothingness.

Make sense? Nah, me neither.

CU in class, J.