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43 Meditation Exercises
Image Pose Description
yoga pose Attune To Touch MeditationSit with legs crossed, or on a chair. Close your eyes. Bring attention to the surface you're sitting on. Become aware of how it supports your sitting bones. Expand your awareness to feel the touch of your clothes against your skin.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Sensitizing to touch increases body awareness.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/kmpMS59Fwa4
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Awareness Of Gifts MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. In your mind's eye see yourself saying: "Well done" to each of your gifts. Recognize them as gifts given to you for the benefit and enjoyment of yourself and others.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Learn to appreciate what we already have.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Balance MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently digest this quote from the Bhagavad Gita: "Harmony is eating and resting, sleeping and walking, balance in all you do. This is the path to peace."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Inner peace.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Be Like Two Trees MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder what the poet Kahil Gibran says about lovers: "Let there be spaces in their togetherness. Be like two trees: grow side by side, but not in each others shadow."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Love.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Blue Forcefield MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. In your mind's eye imagine you are enveloped in blue light. It's your force field that keeps out all negative energy. Feel your shoulders lowering and your breath slowing down as you feel secure in the knowledge that your force field is protecting you.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Prevent energy from leaking.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Caged Bird MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Think about one of your fears. Observe how you feel without wallowing in it. Imagine the fear is a caged bird. What are the colours of the feathers? How big is it? What does its call sound like? How does it move? See yourself opening the cage and setting the bird free, releasing it from your mind. As you watch your fear flying away, experience a wave of acceptance bathing you.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Releases fears.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Calm Reservoir MeditationSit with legs crossed. At your core lies the calm of our true nature. To access this inner calm, imagine yourself diving into a warm, calm lake. You glide through the water in profound silence. As you reach the sea-floor, you are awed to see it carpeted with stunning white pearls. You float quietly observing the pearls. See yourself returning to the surface of the lake. When breaking the surface, you realise that the white pearls of calm you have just discovered lies within you.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Increase calm.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Celtic Seer MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. In your mind's eye imagine you have a Seer who is a beautiful women dressed in an owl's cloak. Whenever you have a problem consult your Seer. Imagine yourself in a moonlit glade. Before you is the Seer. Tell her your problem and listen for an answer. Return at any time to ask for help.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Change Of Focus MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder this quote: "To change a relationship, we must change ourselves, not the other person."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Be the change we want to see in the world.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Child Within MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. 99% of our emotional wounds come from childhood. Imagine yourself as a child standing in front of you. Gaze down at the child. Kneel down and introduce yourself. If the child comes towards you, hug him/her close to your heart in a long, warm, loving embrace. Say to the child (silent mantra): "You are safe. You are loved."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Release emotional wounds.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Crying Child MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. In your mind's eye see your emotional pain as a crying child. Imagine holding that child with unconditional love until all pain melts away.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Destiny MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Repeat this quote from The Bhagavad Gita: "It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Empty Cup MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Contemplate this story of a Western scholar who visited a Zen Master asking to receive teachings. The master invited the scholar to tea, then proceeded to pour a cup for him. He did not stop when the cup was full but continued pouring until the tea overflowed. His point was that if a seeker's mind is preoccupied, there is no room for wisdom. To gain insight you must empty the cup of your mind, rather than pour instruction into it.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Evergreen Love MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder on the evergreen tree as a symbol for the consistency of your love. Visualise an evergreen standing in the midst of a forest of deciduous trees. As autumn arrives, watch the other trees lose their leaves, while the evergreen remains green. Practice this meditation to help sustain the love in your relationship through good and bad times.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Love.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Follow Your Path MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Imagine the Buddha is speaking these words: "On life's journey some gather wisdom, some gather stones and some gather nothing. To gather wisdom you must follow your own path. If you rely solely on wise teachers, their wisdom may weigh you down, like stones in your pockets and impede your way.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Give Without Expectation MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Giving without expecting anything in return instantly invokes spiritual and emotional well-being. During your morning meditation, prepare for the day's giving by feeling cosmic energy flowing into you. Reflect on the day ahead and feel yourself giving energy, attention and appreciation without the need for anything in return.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Non-attachment. Release of ego. Spiritual well-being.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Golden Birds MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. In your mind's eye you see two golden birds perched in a tree. The first bird eats the sweet fruits of the tree, while the second looks on without eating. Thinking you are the first bird, the ego, you feel attached and fall into sorrow; realizing you are the second bird, the Self, we are freed from sorrow, for the Self is the source of all light and love.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Excerpt adapted from Bhagavad Gita.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Healing Arrows MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Sit is silence until you become aware of a deep emotional wound. Imagine an arrow there, embedded deep in your flesh. As you pull out the arrow it turns into a magic wand. Visualise someone who is in emotional pain, and touch them with your healing wand. As soon as the wand touches them, their wound begins to heal.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Suffering is part of life and can be used to heal others.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Healing Temple MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Visualise a place you find healing - perhaps your local park, a childhood bedroom, a waterfall, a stream. Visit this place in your mind to comfort you when you feel anxious or ill.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Self healing.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Heart Rhythms MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Place hand on left side of chest. Become aware of your heart's beating. Hear the sound of blood pulsing through your ears. Visualise your heart as it pumps oxygenated blood all around your body. Be grateful and in awe of the pulsating energy of life-force coursing within.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Gratitude. Awareness.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Inner Smile MeditationClose eyes. Feel happiness coming from the backs of your eyes. Let the smile radiate down the backs of your eyes like a waterfall. Visualise this meditative stream flowing down the centre of your spine, to your heart and lungs, then into your stomach and spleen (under left lower ribs), and liver (under right lower ribs). Let it run down through the kidneys (back ribs), the colon and intestines (belly), down and out into your legs and feet. Repeat visualisation several times. When you've finished, bring hands together in Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) and complete your meditation with a moment of gratitude to seal the energy of your meditation into your life. Cultivate your inner smile anytime throughout the day to fill your heart with compassion.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Inner and outer smile.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/9jda3VKEwxM
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Karmic Laws MeditationSit with legs crossed. How more enjoyable would your life be if your actions were filled more with compassion and acceptance of others rather than judging faults? Close eyes. Make a commitment now to spending less time judging and more time compassioning.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose What Is False MeditationSit with legs crossed. Meditate on this quote on wisdom. "The first point of wisdom is to discern what is false; the second to know what is true."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Raise awareness.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Lao Tzu MeditationSit with legs crossed. Repeat this phrase from Lao Tzu for the duration of the mediation: "Whoever holds in their mind the great image of oneness, the world will come to them, in safety, oneness and peace."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Calms the mind.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Light Sharing MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder this quote from Margaret Fuller (19th century women's rights advocate): "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Sharing is caring.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Listen MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder this native American proverb: "Listen, or your tongue will keep you deaf."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Listening. Observing.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Little Actions MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Repeat this quote by Edmund Burke: "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little." Allow feeling of success enter your heart.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus
Benefits: Releases fears.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Love Another MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder this quote from Rainer Maria Rilke (poet and novelist): "For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Love.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Mandala MeditationSit with legs crossed. Print out a Mandala and give to each of your students. Ask the students: "Focus on the mandala, moving mentally toward the centre. As you move deeper into the centre feel your deep connection with the universe."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: A mandala is a great mediation aid.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Mandala TalkMandala is the sanskrit word for sacred circle. For thousands of years the creation of circular, often geometric designs has been part of spiritual practices around the world and almost every culture has revered the power of the circle. Eastern cultures have used mandalas for visual meditation for centuries; the Tibetan Buddhist Kalachakra, also known as the Wheel of Time, is probably one of the most famous mandalas and symbolically illustrates the entire structure of the universe. Circular forms are found as early as the prehistoric Stonehenge monument. Spiritual seekers have consistently created mandalas to bring forth the sacred through images and have evoked the circle in ritual for purpose of transcendence, mindfulness, and wellness.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Uncover meaning of mandalas.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/G58Pujijsqc
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Mind Massage MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Imagine a masseuse is massaging your shoulders. Feel the tension release and feel your shoulders drop. Now ask the masseur to massage other areas of your body that feel tight.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Release tension.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Potential Seed MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Visualize an acorn growing into a great oak tree over the course of decades. Focus on the limitless potential within yourself. Each time you sit in silence you allow that potential seed to grow. Playing small doesn't serve the world. Remaining a potential seed doesn't serve the world. The world needs your unique gift.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Inner peace.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Sense Your Body MeditationLie on back. Arms by sides. Eyes closed. Become aware of your toes. Tense them for 5 seconds. Release. Repeat with legs, arms, abdomen, chest, shoulders, neck, checks, forehead.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Release tension.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Shame Sham MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Shame is a sham. The definition of sham is to "falsely present something as the truth". Whenever you feel shame, become aware that it is something that you have falsely presenting as the truth. To release a shame sham that has wiggled it's way into your emotions, visualise the thing you're ashamed about as a disgusting green toxic ooze. Imagine white light pouring into your crown and flooding through your body reaching every nook and cranny. Feel the shame being washed away.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Release the toxic emotion of shame.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Silent Mind Retreat MeditationRepeat this quote from William Penn: "True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Release tension.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Inner Eye MeditationSit with legs crossed. Concentrate on an object in front of you. Close eyes. Draw intention inward. Use your inner eyes to sense the object. What can your inner eyes see?
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Access spiritual insight.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Spiritual Wisdom MeditationSit with legs crossed. The purple Third Eye chakra is located in the middle of the forehead, just above eyebrows. It is the centre for spiritual vision. Visualise a purple sphere spinning in the middle of your forehead.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Tap into the wisdom of the cosmos.
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Still Breath MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Repeat this quote from the 14th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika: "When the breath is irregular, the mind is also unsteady; but when the breath is still, so is the mind."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Awareness of breath.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Emerson Success MeditationRepeat this quote by Emerson: "Leave the world a bit better. To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Releases fears.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Third Eye MeditationSit with legs crossed. Open eyes. Turn pupils upward so they are looking at location of the third eye (centre of forehead). You'll see a V shape from your eyebrows. Don't strain eyes. Chant OM.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Greater inner awareness.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/AvtkRP0vnIM
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Throat Chakra MeditationClose eyes. To help express yourself verbally, visualize a blue spinning disk at the front of your throat.
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Remove blockages from Throat Chakra.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.
yoga pose Walking MeditationWalk with soft vision. Relax your eyes. Focus upon nothing while aware of everything. Smile softly with your eyes. Gradually allow the smile to spread from your eyes, face, and throughout your body. Imagine every cell of your body smiling softly. Let joy, happiness, gratitude, and self-worth enter your body with each breath. Repeat this mantra silently: "Each footstep becomes a step into deeper inner peace".
Benefits: Turn walking into a meditation.
yoga pose Be Vulnerable MeditationSit with legs crossed. Close eyes. Silently ponder this: "To love and be loved we must allow ourselves to be vulnerable."
Alternatives: Hero. Perfect. Lotus.
Benefits: Love.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bb5OOO_0HXs
Modifications: Folded blanket under buttocks.

 

Pick one mediation a day for 43 days. And on day 44 keep going (unless you hate the feeling of being calm and at peace).

“Does meditation help with emotional health?”

Yes. Meditation helps practitioners cultivate a more balanced outlook on life (accepting the positive and negative as part of life). One scientific study followed 18 volunteers as they practiced meditation over three years. The study found that participants experienced long-term decreases in depression. Inflammatory chemicals called cytokines, which are released in response to stress, can affect mood, leading to depression. Meditation helps reduce depression by decreasing these inflammatory chemicals.

“Does meditation help with self awareness?” 

Yes. Meditation helps to cultivate an understanding of yourself, and how you relate to those around you. Some forms of meditation increase your awareness of self-defeating thoughts. As you gain a deeper awareness through meditation, you’re able to say silently to yourself: “A ha, that was a self-defeating thought”, and then feed your mind a new thought (e.g. saying “I’m a bad friend” is a sweeping generalisation which may be true sometimes, but almost certainly not all the time. If you catch yourself saying something like that, you could replace the thought with: “Oops, I haven’t called Bob for a few months, I’ll call him now“.

“Will meditation help reduce feelings of loneliness?” 

Yes. In one scientific study, 40 senior men and women who took a mindfulness meditation program experienced reduced feelings of loneliness, compared to a control group that had been placed on a wait list for the program.

“Does meditation help cultivate creative problem solving?” 

Yes. Albert Einstein used to do Thought Experiments – which was a fancy way of saying he meditated.

“Does meditation help reduce memory loss?” 

Yes. Slowing your brain waves down is a surefire way to improve attention, clarity of thinking, and keeping your mind youthful. Meditation can also help to improve memory in patients with dementia.

“Does meditation help reduce addictive behaviour?”

Yes. The discipline you cultivate with a meditation habit helps break dependencies by increasing your self-control and awareness of what triggers the addictive behaviour. No matter what your addiction is (drugs, alcohol, fatty or sweet foods) meditation helps redirect attention to a positive habit.