The practice of meditation has been around for thousands of years, particularly as a part of spiritual or philosophical practice. It has gained widespread popularity, becoming more secular and mainstream and gaining traction in Western medicine and practice, picking up speed over the last several decades.

Meditation: Overview, Research, and Effectiveness

Meditation is the process of attuning one’s focus to a single object, sound, concept, or experience. It encapsulates several techniques, such as contemplation, concentration, and meditative movement, allowing people to achieve this deep connection.

Meditation: Overview, Research, and Effectiveness - The Human Condition

While <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/mindfulness/">mindfulness</a> has been practiced for millennia, over the past 30 years it has experienced a surge in popularity, becoming more widely practiced in both clinical and non-clinical environments. This is likely due to an increase in scientific studies about the process and effects of mindfulness, as well as increased popular media coverage. Mindfulness can improve individuals’ mental and physical health.

Mindfulness: Overview, Research, and Benefits

Mindfulness maintains attention to the mind, body, and behavior; is a state of attention and awareness of the present moment; and necessitates a nonjudgmental attitude toward one’s thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

Psychology

Mindfulness: Overview, Research, and Benefits - The Human Condition

Ahimsa is an ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in the Dhārmic religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Ahimsa Explained

The options to interact with nature are plenty, select one that is easily available to you, like gardening, swimming, or hiking for example. You need to realize the beauty of nature, get attached to it. Once that happens, you will automatically be considerate and compassionate towards it. Ahimsa teaches you to be kind to the entire universe because you too are a part of it.

1 - Mingle more with nature

Your food is either plant-based or animal-based. An unfortunate truth of life is that for you to live, another living being must die. You cannot alter it, but you can ensure that your diet motivates the most humane process available.

2 - Focus on your food

In the pursuit of caring for others, you must not starve yourself of caring. An individual fighting a battle in his head will lose the ones outside. Following the path of Ahimsa will put you up against a lot of challenges, to successfully overcome such challenges, you will need a level head.Make it a practice to regularly confront your fears, inabilities, shortcomings, insecurities, and failures. Acknowledge and accept them but do not judge yourself too harshly; forgive what can be forgiven and forget what can be forgotten.

3 - A little love for yourself

Your passion is your deep burning desire for something. And when you feel that burning desire to help someone in difficulty, it becomes compassion. And compassion is a must when practicing ahimsa. Secondly, you will have to practice listening; truly listening. We are always lost in our head, always revisiting the thoughts on our head, even when someone else is sharing their problem. Almost all passionate people who are good listeners, end up being compassionate people.

4 - Turn your passion into compassion

Steady deep breathing, calms your nerves, eases your blood blow, and increases the level of oxygen in your body.Steady deep breathing before each Asana, will make your muscles more supple, and prepare your mind to deal with the turmoil(s) of the pose. Over time this practice will become an integral aspect of your personality. And in this way, you can incorporate Ahimsa while doing any yoga practice. Even off the mat, you will easily find yourself taking deep steady breaths and keeping yourself away from inflicting harm.

5 - Ahimsa In Yoga - Steady your breathing

Meditation is already a separate limb of yoga. However practicing it before and after your yoga session, will help you train with ahimsa. Meditation is when you turn into an ultimate observer of  the universe, and all you do is absorb all that the universe has to offer.While meditating, your mind will be flooded with thoughts. You will constantly struggle to put a stop to this flow of thoughts. With sufficient practice, you will eventually succeed. And when you do you will learn to put a stop to all types of thoughts, including the harmful ones.

6 - Ahimsa In Yoga - Commence and conclude with meditation

The hand and limb movements, the arches, the bends, the twists, and so on, are all physical movements of yoga. At a beginner level, these movements are just abruptly formed and practiced. However, they are meant to be in smooth and constant flow.The flowing movement of the asanas are wondrously beneficial in calming your mind and cleansing it of all agitating thoughts. The breathing combined with the flow is just the perfect tool for ahimsa.

7 - Ahimsa In Yoga - Focus on the flow of yoga

What you must remember is that yoga is not a competition. You are on the mat to train, thus the practicing part is important; the success is not. Be patient with the final pose and let it come in time. The majority of himsa in yoga is from the frustration of the inability to perform a pose. So let go of the stubbornness that pushes you to get the final pose at a single attempt.

8 -Ahimsa In Yoga - Remember Yoga is not a competition

“Ahimsa is not mere negative non-injury. It is positive, cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. Ahimsa is true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength.”-Sivananda

Cosmic Love

The practice of Ahimsa is not only a fundamental requirement to improve your yoga routine, but improve your everyday life in general. Here are 8 actionable ways to practice ahimsa in daily life and in yoga.

8 Actionable Ways to Practice Ahimsa in Everyday Life and in Yoga - Fitsri

Mindfulness is simply focusing and guiding your attention. And while it may sound easy, it isn’t just a pop culture buzzword. It’s one of the best ways to help your brain adapt to and manage stress.“This is not just some passive breathing exercise. It is a significant brain-training resource, Achieving control of your thoughts so that your thoughts don’t control you can be a super-power for many people.

Mindfulness

The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.

Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

When you’re feeling frazzled, put all of your attention on the breath. It’s a portal into the present moment, the best remedy for stress.

Mindfulness clears the windshield of the mind so that we can see things as they really are.

Mindfulness is a simple practice, but not an easy one … but you are worth doing hard things.

Practicing a mindful moment in the middle of the day, helps to bring you back to center, reset, and move into the rest of your day with greater clarity and focus.

Nothing is forever except change.

Be where you are, otherwise you will miss your life.

For what it’s worth, it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.

The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.

Mindfulness quotes inspire and motivate, and sending them as reminders can even be a valuable intervention. Here are 76 powerful ones!

76 Most Powerful Mindfulness Quotes: Your Daily Dose of Inspiration

Nature is always changing, evolving, letting go, surrendering, adapting, dying—revealing to us how it is to be alive. These are beautiful lessons. If we are present in our lives, we can awaken to our own true nature and experience being more fully alive. Think of a time recently when you were touched by an experience of being with nature. Maybe you noticed the bud on a flower just about ready to burst into bloom, or the stillness and solidity of a tree you stood next to, or the gentle flow of water.

"The Nature Fix"

As you connect to and learn to become fully present to these experiences, you can begin to feel that you, too, can experience a sense of innate well-being. The potential to bloom and open, the solidity and fluidity you perceive in nature are all present within, for you to connect with and experience. By calling these qualities to our attention, nature supports our intention to be present. It allures our attention and invites us to be with this moment as it is.

A Sense of Well-Being

The heart of mindfulness practice is establishing a clear and kind relationship with what is here in this moment, skillfully responding to and engaging with life. Traditional mindfulness practice is intended to support the development of awareness through specific meditations that emphasize cultivating awareness of the breath, the senses, the body, mind, and heart, and openness to all things. Students are often encouraged to explore these practices indoors, in a group setting.

Awareness

For some people (especially those who have experienced trauma), this learning format can be challenging, requiring more effort and giving rise to feelings of being stuck or unsafe. Practicing mindfulness in the support and community of nature can alleviate some of these difficulties. Practicing mindfulness in nature also allows us to practice mindfulness with nature. Learning to experience awareness of the breath, the senses, the body, the mind, and the heart in a natural setting gives us greater access to our inner experiences.

Inner Experiences

We are likely to feel more naturally present and curious about our inner landscape when we are supported by a natural landscape. Nature herself provides the container for a mindfulness practice that reduces the need to try or “do” and instead helps us to sense and receive what is arising and present within and around us. (I refer to nature as feminine because I experience her as a divine presence. You may choose to replace nature with another word or concept that resonates with you.)

Natural Landscape

We know that being in nature can slow the heart rate, reduce levels of stress hormones, and help our brains to orient to calm and natural alertness, all of which are conducive to the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness practice can be both formal and informal. For formal practice, you designate a specific period of time to meditate, during which you may sit, move, walk, stand still, or lie down to focus your attention in a particular way.

Formal & Informal Practice

To develop your informal practice of mindfulness, you bring mindful awareness to activities throughout the day, such as eating, drinking, showering, dressing, cooking, talking, driving, texting, and sending email. Nature supports both formal and informal mindfulness. Beautiful outdoor settings can help us sustain and extend a formal mindfulness practice. Nature also draws us in with its colors, textures, and scents: We tend to be more present in an activity when we can feel the texture of leaves, smell the flowers, and appreciate the fine details as well as the vastness of nature.

Vasteness of Nature

Awareness of nature supports our informal practice of mindfulness, teaching us to be present in our day-to-day lives. Mindfulness in nature gives us the opportunity to awaken to what is within us as well as around us, to heal and live skillfully. By practicing mindfulness in nature, we begin to feel more fully alive and embodied—at home in the body. Many of us also often intrinsically feel at home in nature, and this sense of ease can help us learn to be present in all aspects of our life.

At Home in Nature

As this sense of embodiment grows, we develop an increased ability to be kindly present to all that is arising in our inner landscape—in our sensations, body, mind, and heart—as well as in the external landscape, responding to what is happening as it unfolds. Mindfulness in nature gives us the opportunity to awaken to what is within us as well as around us, to heal and live skillfully. If you have a history of unhealed trauma, it can affect your physical, emotional  and relational experiences. Feelings of being disembodied and disconnected may impede your ability to make wise decisions.

Our Inner Landscape

By practicing mindfulness in nature, you awaken your inner sense of safety, well-being, and connection. You can learn to step out of patterns of reactivity and into patterns of healing, wholeness, and healthy living.6 Ways Nature Boosts Our Mental and Emotional Health The average American spent 4.2 hours per day using mobile devices alone, plus another three hours per day watching TV, according to data collected between 2019 and 2021. Meanwhile, as of 2019, nearly half of the US population didn’t take part in outdoor activities even once that year.

Practicing Mindfulness

This disengagement from the natural world is associated with increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, among other problems. At the same time, interest is growing in the ways nature can restore our health and well-being. Research has shown that nature can improve vision, memory, and concentration; restore mental energy; relieve stress; reduce inflammation; sharpen thinking; and expand creativity. Returning to nature can help us experience ourselves and others more deeply and enjoy renewed feelings of health and wholeness.

Returning to Nature

Florence Williams, in her book The Nature Fix, reports the following findings from research into the benefits of nature for humans:After five minutes in a forest surrounded by trees, the heart rate slows, facial muscles relax, and the prefrontal cortex quiets.Water and birdsong improve mood and alertness.

Spending 15 minutes in nature can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.Spending time in natural landscapes increases alpha waves in the brain, which are associated with calm and alertness.Spending an hour and a half in nature reduces rumination and helps us to be less preoccupied with problems.Spending two hours (120 minutes) per week in nature can make us happier and boost overall health and well-being.

Benefits for Humans

Being in nature releases us from needing to “try” or “do,” so that we can feel more connected to the world around us.

Meditation: Overview, Research, and Effectiveness - The Human Condition

Mindfulness: Overview, Research, and Benefits - The Human Condition

8 Actionable Ways to Practice Ahimsa in Everyday Life and in Yoga - Fitsri

76 Most Powerful Mindfulness Quotes: Your Daily Dose of Inspiration

What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature - Mindful

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