meditation
Meditation is mindfulness or present moment awareness. Experiencing the beauty of each moment is the route to fulfilment. Present moment awareness helps to lower your stress and anxiety levels and keep depression at bay.
The single most effective meditation technique is to watch the breath. It is easy to understand why; your breath is the only thing you truly control throughout your whole life and it is the only thing that truly remains with you for the whole of your life.Life is fast and sometimes you forget to stop and appreciate the world that is slowly evolving around you especially the natural world.
A poem by William Henry Davies (1871-1940) profoundly encapsulates this human condition:
LEISURE
What is this life, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to burn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Your life will always be full of worry and concerns. Releasing an attachment to the future and bearing misfortunes with equanimity is a resolution but a skill you can only learn through present moment awareness. Setting time aside to meditate once a day or even just once a week will help you to develop this skill.
In the whYoga meditation classes, the warm up will change each week and so will the focus of meditation. These will include heart meditation, listening meditation, walking meditation, visualisation based meditation, breath awareness meditation, contemplative meditation and candle watching meditation.
If you would like to set up a small meditation group then please contact Vicky.
