CityLife Magazine Second Quarter 2020

BE HERE
NOW
WITH JAY FROM THE
WILD HEART YOGA TRIBE
Namaste “The highest in us
honours the highest in you”
Jay and the Wild Heart Yoga Tribe team.
: www.wildheartyoga.com.au
It’s so easy to be overcome by fear, stress
and anxiety on any given day but with
COVID-19 we are all easily experiencing at
least one of these a day if not more. Now
is the most important time to embrace a
practice of wellness and self-care and one
of the best and proven methods is through
Meditation and breath work.
Why meditation and breath work?
Because when we still our minds and bring
oxygen into our bodies we find a place
of clarity and mindfulness to move in.
meditation is often thought of as a white
box you go in where there is nothing but
yourself to experience and this just isn’t
true and wouldn’t be helpful for the real
world. Meditation is where we come fully
into the moment and let go of everything
and anything that isn’t happening presently.
This frees up our attention to focus on
what’s right in front of us. When we look to
far forward or back this can trip us up in the
moment because there’s nothing we can do
about the past and there’s no way of telling
what the future holds but if we focus in on
the moment we are able to wisely move in
a direction of growth. It’s in this moment
we have the most capabilities to change our
course in life and with meditation we can
find the course that is most positive to our
overall health.
Think about it. How often have you been
overwhelmed by everything going on in
your life? Meditation is often recommended
as a morning practice because it is such a
beneficial way to start your day. When we
start the day fully present we can check in
on what we really need in life rather than
just what we want. Slowing down really
does win the race. When we take the time
to sit back and let go of our impulses
and reactions we can do what is best for
ourselves in this moment such as eating
healthy or exercising and having meaningful
conversations. It’s when we rush that
usually we do things, say things and react in
ways we regret. Taking the time to sit back
and open our mind up to what’s going on
now, and what we really need to take care
of today gives us clear guidance and clarity
which enables us to move forward without a
cluttered mind of what comes next or what
happened before. We are left with just this
moment to act upon. When we meditate,
we also naturally slow the breath, which
has a very powerful effect on our nervous
system, for example when we are in our
head in our stress we are usually shallow
breathing this type of breathing has us
function in our sympathetic nervous system
which is our fight/flight response, when we
slow the breath down we transition into the
Parasympathetic nervous system which is a
where we move the body back into a place
of peace, calm and healing.
How to meditate
If your new to meditation here are some
very easy ways to begin.
When you wake up take 20 mindful breaths,
make sure you can feel, hear and time your
breaths. I recommend trying to take 4
second inhales, have a conscious pause and
CityLife WELLBEING
then exhaling for 4 seconds pausing again
before your next inhale, but ensure that it
is slow conscious belly breath, think inhale
belly, ribs, chest pause exhale chest, ribs,
belly pause. The next thing I recommend
especially for those who struggle to sit still
is to go for a walk in nature without your
phone. After a while find a place you feel
connected to and sit and try focusing on
the moment, maybe it’s a bug, a leaf or a
cloud and focus on what’s happening in
front of you for a while and I guarantee
you will feel connected and even amazed at
what happens when we really open our eyes
to the moment. Other ways to meditate is
to repeat a mantra or a phrase a number
of times, it can be simple like “I am at
peace” or perhaps spiritual like reciting
the Yantra Mantra 108 times if you’re
into that. Chanting, singing, painting,
gardening, yoga and playing games are all
other great ways of taking your mind into
a natural meditation and you will receive
many of the benefits. You do not need to
sit still to meditate but there is a benefit and
something to just sitting with yourself so I
do recommend you try it eventually and
maybe just start with 5 minutes. One of our
favourite sayings is “If you don’t have time
to meditate for 5 minutes, then meditate for
an hour”.
The scientific benefits
Studies have shown that when you give
yourself some headspace from meditation
it will improve your memory, mood, focus,
compassion, work and will relieve stress,
depression and aggression. There are
many more benefits that include feeling
connected to the whole and being able to
more genuinely connect to those around
you. There is no doubt that if you dedicate
yourself to meditate daily you will see your
life change for the better. Thea hardest part
is creating the habit. We recommend setting
a 2 month goal or 67 days to be precise of
some sort of regular meditation practice
to really get the benefits. Recoding these
experience in a journal can also really add
to your experience and will show you how
much changed during the process.
At Wild Heart Yoga Tribe we incorporate
all kinds of meditation techniques from
breathing, to movement and stillness. Yoga
is intimately connected to mindfulness
and meditation and can be a great way
of learning how to focus on the moment,
calm the mind, and gaining full body
awareness. If you enjoyed this article and
are keen to give it a go we would love to
help you out. Currently you can join us
on Facebook though the Wild Heart Yoga
Tribe Members group. We have all types
of classes so you are guaranteed to find the
one that suits you. We offer 21 live stream
classes a week that are then posted and able
to be re-watched at any time for $15 a week
and are working to release a high quality
app soon.
Thanks you so much for taking the time
to read this and we sincerely hope you can
find hope and inner peace even in these
challenging times.
CityLife 53 Magazine