Slow Down
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
In our hyped-up and caffeinated culture, who doesn’t want to do more faster? But you may also crave a break from your over stimulated mind and aspire to a calmer, more intuitive, and present state. It’s easy to lose sight of your main purpose amid the distractions of a frenzied mind. Slowing down brings you back to the here and now.
Many meditation techniques use one point as an object of concentration. Whether it’s the breath, a mantra, sensations, the thought of love, or awareness itself, the object of concentration can be a doorway to the moment. But sometimes this single focus is too subtle for the mind to track easily. If that’s been your experience, you may find that slow-motion movement, which begins with attention to strong sensations in the body, to be a more tangible and satisfying focal point.
This process of gradually shifting your attention from the large movement of the asanas to the small movements of the breath is the essence of raja (or classical) yoga. As you attend to the postures, you encounter and release deep-seated tensions. You also refine your awareness by concentrating on the subtlety of your breath and turning inward. YJ 2009