Yoga
&
Mindful Meditation

Derived from the Sankrit word ‘yuj’ which means ‘to unite or integrate’, yoga is a 5,000-year-old Indian body of knowledge. Yoga is all about harmonizing the body with the mind and breath through the means of various pranayamas, yoga asanas (yoga poses) and meditation.

Mindfulness meditation is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Nearly every task we perform in a day—be it working at office, eating lunch, talking with friends or exercising—can be done mindfully.

When we are mindful of our actions, we pay more attention to what we are doing. It’s the opposite of going through the motions—instead, you are tuned into your senses, noticing your thoughts and emotions. In the process, we need to be aware first externally and then move the awareness inwards towards every thought, action, emotion, and response.

A few years ago, a study by Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and assistant researcher in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, was the first to document that mindfulness meditation can change the brain’s gray matter and brain regions linked with memory, the sense of self, and regulation of emotions.