Meditation vs Yoga

 Hello everyone, welcome to What’s in the Middle?                                                                                 

If you don’t know me by now, I’m Gina, meditation, yoga teacher, personal trainer, fitness Instructor, with a love for self-care and betterment. Yoga has always played a prominent role in my life, ever since taking it up at University to help with the stress of study, a part-time job, and my father being ill.

It was overwhelming, to say the least, and I yearned for a release. My preconceptions of yoga - sweaty ho-hum in garish spandex - had put me off, and I so wish I’d discovered it sooner. After checking out a hot yoga session, my life was transformed! So deeply did that impact me that I travelled the world, to India, LA, Montreal, and more to take courses and learn more about yoga.

When discussing yoga, and the role it plays in my life, I also feel it’s important to mention meditation, as they are often bedfellows. Growing up in an Indian household, meditation was familiar to me from a young age. The quiet calm of a handful of minutes inside my head was a matter of instinct. And I enjoyed all forms of meditative calm, sometimes in a group, sometimes solo.

Meditation has become the growth discipline among health and wellness enthusiasts, and it’s never been promoted and embraced more than in the last decade.

I am often asked whether I would recommend meditation or yoga, what the difference is between the two, or if, indeed, there is a difference at all?! There is an answer to this, but it involves a journey of discovery, and it involves looking at how these two disciplines link and what is found in the middle.

Yoga is viewed as a way of life. A state of being. Something you base your life around that gives you all-round benefits to body, mind, and soul. Meditation can be a big part of yoga, but it is also something else in and of itself too. Meditating involved mental relaxation, concentration, and finding your sense of inner calm. Getting the right breathing is key, and this can make a massive difference to the benefits you will enjoy from your meditation.

I like to make both yoga and meditation a part of my work out regime, because it is important to me to enjoy the benefits of multiple disciplines, also including running, boxing, cycling, and dancing.  These all teach me different things, allow me to express myself in different ways, and work my body in areas often overlooked.

But returning to the important question, are yoga and meditation the same? Yes and no. In the same way as running and swimming are the same. Both involve exercising. Both help you keep fit and give your body a workout. But you are doing different things and working out in different ways, and the same is true of yoga and meditation. It’s important to find the middle ground between the two. To ask, what’s in the middle?

When you meditate, your mind is a blank slate. You think of nothing. You dwell on nothing. You are simply in the moment, clear and pure. Meditation allows you to switch your mind off to the stress and pressures of real-life and helps you make clearer and more enlightened decisions.

Much like yoga, meditation involves dedication and consistency, and you need to be disciplined about this. You can’t expect to master it in a single day, and you can’t expect a massive impact if you aren’t keeping up with it.

Yoga is a way of life (discipline, dedication, perseverance). Meditation is how you live your life (calm, measured, relaxed, at peace). You need to find what’s in the middle - that’s where your bliss lies.

Check out my stunning introduction to meditation video below; it will change your world!

Come back next time for more health and wellness conversations here at What’s in the Middle?! Until then, namaste!

 

Introduction to meditation