The heart beats 103,680 times per day on average and over 2 billion times in an average lifetime. How strong the heart is determines much about an individual’s physical and emotional health; these two elements inevitably influence the mental and spiritual health of a person as well.
Do you run from task to task, eating smoothies on-the-go and answering emails during your commute? Are you constantly ticking things off your to-do list and multitasking a mile a minute? Whoaaa, Nelly. Give yourself a break! Get your head out of the stress cloud and your feet back to the ground by allowing yourself to just exist in the area around you. Slow it down. Breathe. Sit back down in your office chair, and feel your feet in your shoes, on the wood floor, or in your rainbow toe socks. Close your eyes. Hear the sounds of the office, the commuter train, or the birds. Feel the breeze.
Hindu and Buddhist thought are based on a different set of assumptions than the Semitic religions. One major difference has to do with the meaning of rituals. A ritual in the Vedic traditions (Hindu and Buddhism) is spiritual because it demands mindfulness. In the developed world especially, rituals often lose their spiritual meaning and decay into meaningless routines.
Yoga itself is very uplifting, with its overall intention to bring the body, mind, and soul into divine union. The practice is a wonderful element for helping you achieve a healthy, balanced life. Alongside our yoga practice, we can always use a few words of encouragement. Here are twenty-one empowering yoga quotes that are sure to encourage as well as inspire your inner yogi.
In order to live a peaceful life, one must learn to find harmony in one’s daily routine. A good way to find harmony is to try and work three important factors into your daily life: meditation, yoga, and a healthy diet. By combining these things, and incorporating them into your life, you are adding a form of balance to your life that will make you feel at ease. There are many benefits that come along with all three of these elements, including relaxation, energy, and good health, so adding them to your schedule each day should be a pleasure, rather than a burden!
Everyone’s meditation practice is deeply personal depending on individual needs, and certainly it helps to have the advice of a qualified meditation teacher. But our most profound guru dwells within us.
Whether or not your company has incorporated meditation into the workplace routine, there are several ways for you to practice mindfulness during the workday. These five meditations can be done at your desk during a quick, couple-minute break to reboot your mindset and help you release stress when you need it most.
1. Breath Meditation
Frying an egg while standing on your head in a bathtub is virtually impossible; it’s certainly not the best posture or venue for cooking. Similarly, there are practical considerations for physical space and posture to enhance all levels of meditation experiences.
Pranayama is a powerful Yogic practice that clears physical and emotional blockages from the body, breathing peace into the mind.
“Yoga citta vritti nirodhaha.”
“The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is yoga.” - Patanjali
Martial arts training is considered amongst the healthiest and most comprehensive forms of exercise today, and when used properly, can do wonders for one’s physical and mental state. Here are five unique reasons to practice martial arts: