Both Yoga and Meditation are trainings and discipline. Others label them as existential or spiritual union. They do have similarities and distinctions.
I can still remember, way back 2020, when Coronavirus started hitting our lives and everybody learned to love and enjoy every corner of their own houses. The government required us to stay at home for us not to acquire the said virus.
Although we were able to avoid contracting the virus, we did not manage to escape its outrage [even until now]. We are beset with different problems. Some lost their jobs, their businesses, and unfortunately, their loved ones.
These problems inevitably caused stress and anxiety, not just to every individual suffering from it, but also to the people surrounding them. This COVID virus is getting worse causing us so much fear of what might happen in our lives.
However, let us be reminded that we are not powerless. We cannot just sit down in a corner and let this anxiety attack kill us. There are so many things that would help us divert our fear, stress, and anxiety, during this pandemic.
Though things may feel uncertain and unsure right now, we need to take a moment for ourselves. We can do yoga and meditation every day.
These two were proven to be beneficial not only to our physical aspect but also with regard to our mental health. These exercises can be done anytime and anywhere inside our houses, without spending any single cent.
Some of us may not know that yoga and meditation, although often interchangeably used, are two different words. Yoga is a training that involves physical exercises, breath control, and concentration.
On the other hand, meditation is a practice that trains the mind to manage stress and to increase calmness in handling situations. Despite not having physical poses, mediation provides almost the same benefits with yoga.
Both are proven to be beneficial to the mind and body. Thus, doing proper yoga and meditation every day is advisable and helpful as it can reduce stress and anxiety caused by the virus.
Which is better meditation or yoga?
Meditation and yoga are almost the same, it benefits the physical and mental wellness. These two practices serve as a self-concentration and to get rid the negativity that somehow controls our body as well as our emotions.
In order to classify which is much better from the two, let’s differentiate them. Meditation is a mental exercise which enhances attentiveness and awareness to those individuals whose doing this kind of practice.
The primary goal of meditation is to freshen up one’s feeling or thoughts. It focuses on concentration and methodical breathing.
Thus, meditating alone may be an effective way to decreases anxiety and depression. The common way of meditation is to have a sit where you are comfortable, then, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing.
You should never think about what stressing you so much. You just have to strategically breathe. In yoga, there are what they called holistic and mindful practice.
It includes here the physical movements, breathing, meditation and relation. This practice not only targets internal landscape or the emotions and thoughts, it also includes the physical postures.
You may have to move your body to feel relax not just in thoughts but also in your body movements. So, in this matter, yoga may be better than meditation alone.
In fact, meditation is also included in yoga, thereby, helping an individual in both mental and physical levels.
What comes first yoga or meditation?
Yoga or meditation, despite being connected to each other, can work well even without the other. However, accomplishing both activities in a day can give more significant results.
If accomplished separately, each exercise had been proven to improve health and well-being. The decision as to whether to meditate before or after your yoga session solely depend upon you.
Nonetheless, many people suggest that doing yoga before meditation gives the most benefit.
As suggested by many yoga instructors such as Monique Derfuss, a KRI-certified Kundalini Yoga instructor, meditation is best after yoga.
This is for the reason that the mind has already been relieved from stress, making the mind less distracted when the time for meditation comes.
It is more advisable to do yoga first because the mind will release stress, making it easier for an individual to mediate.
Meditation is the time where we have a complete and direct relationship with ourselves. It allows us to relax and surrenders all our desires, expectations, and failures.
Moreover, it permits us to reflect about ourselves and everything that is happening around us.
The best way to stay focused in meditation is letting go all our stress and anxiety by doing different breathing exercises and poses through yoga.
Does yoga have same benefits as meditation?
Yoga and meditation are two different terms that are often interchangeably used by many. While yoga involves physical and mental exercises, meditation, on the other hand, focuses only on the mental stability of the person.
Given that these two words are connected to each other, it is to be noted, that they somehow share the same benefits.
Both are beneficial to our bodies. However, what sets yoga apart from meditation is that the former involves physical exercises that improve our flexibility, balance, and strength.
Moreover, yoga supports cardiovascular health as it involves breathing exercises that improves our breathing, keeping our lungs and nervous system healthy.
It also relieves us from anxiety, thus, lessening the risk of having any heart disease, and most specially, helping us sleep better at night.
In meditation, what is exercised is the mind rather than the body. If there are physical movements involved, the same are minimal because the focus is more on our mental aspect as an individual.
Meditation is often used as a mode of relaxation that keeps you away from stress and anxiety as it brings calmness and peace in our lives.
It trains our mind to handle things positively despite all the negativities. It also clears our mind from any distraction keeping us more focused and motivated in life.
What is the connection between Yoga and meditation?
If we feel like we are stressed or having anxiety attacks, then stand up and grab a mat and give ourselves some yoga and meditation.
Such activities are age-friendly since it can be easily done by anyone with any age, including the elderly.
Since both exercises train the mind to be stress-free and body to be healthy, they instill in us confidence as we face every single day.
Because these are trainings and disciplines that we need to learn and familiarize ourselves, they likewise teach us to persevere, be patient, and work towards our goals.
Doing body stretches and poses in yoga have been proven to improve body performance, body flexibility and stress reduction.
That is why it is suggested by many yoga instructors that yoga should go first before meditation. In this kind of set up, the mind is already stress-free before starting to meditate.
It would be much easier for us to stay calm and focus while we meditate. These two activities work well together.
Hence, it is, likewise, advisable that they should be done simultaneously so as not to stop the momentum that we had started.
Final Thoughts
In our present situation this pandemic, thousands of lives are lost. Little do we know that not only the virus is killing us, but also the fears, anxieties and stress caused by it.
A lot of us cannot go out of our houses without overthinking that we might contract the virus elsewhere. Consequently, we are somehow forced to stay at home.
Yoga and meditation are training exercises that help reduce our stress and anxiety. They relax and calm the mind as it is trained to stay in focus and to choose positivity.
Likewise, they can develop proper posture and build up physical and mental balance. It also gives strength to the heart as they enhance the nervous system.
Yoga and meditation may bring so much advantages in our lives, either physical, mental or spiritual.
Unaware of its benefits, people often decline these kinds of exercise, not knowing that through these, we can escape the anxieties and stress we are suffering from.
For sure, these are some of the helpful things we can do for ourselves during this pandemic.
Doing both exercises do not require spending a single cent because we do not need to get out of our houses just to enjoy their benefits.
Life is becoming more and more depressing lately. Thus, it is important to choose ourselves over anything else that is bothering us. Life is short, enjoy it by being stress-fee.
