If youve ever tried meditation, youll most surely agree that meditation enriches your spirit like practically no other action, or inaction can. A meditative state is a state of pure bliss, a state of peace that exists from doing nothing more than bringing awareness to your own breath, physical body, and spiritual self.

Yoga and meditation are directly related. The place of calm that we seek from meditation is brought to our awareness when we practice yoga, and we are left after practice in with sheer contentment and ease.

Yoga meditation can be achieved with a variety of asanas, or poses, and there are no prerequisites except for a willingness to accept ones body and spirit exactly as they are in any given moment.

Yoga meditation has many benefits for the mind, body, and spirit, including

Improved overall wellbeing
A sense of being whole, healthy, and healed
Focused intention on maintaining health in or remedying certain parts of the body
Acceptance of our selves as perfect just as we are
Enhanced concentration

Yoga and meditation are largely spiritual modalities for holistic healing and overall health, yet these practices provide tangible steps or actions that anyone can follow, regardless of age, weight, height, endurance levels, or mental or physical capacity.

Yoga meditation offers wonderful benefits for the soul, like strengthening of the mind and reduction of stress. The health benefits of yoga and meditation are just as relevant and possibly more numerous, however.

Yoga and meditation helps to

Regulate blood pressure
Aid the body and muscles in relaxation
Decrease respiratory rate
Lower oxygen consumption
Increase blood flow
Slow the heart rate
Increase exercise tolerance
Decrease muscle tension
Remedy asthma
Increase serotonin, which manages mood and behavior

Yoga and meditation help to build self-confidence, especially with asanas that encourage the practitioner to open up and expand the chest cavity. Yoga meditation is used by many holistic health practitioners, naturopaths, and lifestyle coaches to help patients manage life-threatening disease, reverse mental illness, and transform the bodys molecular structure, which can cure some dangerous health conditions.

Here are some of the best yoga meditation poses, or asanas

Full Lotus Pose
Mediation has been noted as one of the 5 principles of yoga, and seated poses like Full Lotus Pose help to bring the mind to a state of awareness, and keep it alert yet still at the same time. Practice Full Lotus Pose by sitting down on the floor in a cross-legged position, and bring the left foot to the upper part of the right thigh. Then bring the right foot on top of the left thigh. Keep your spine lengthened and rest your hands on your knees with palms facing up. Breathe.

Easy Pose
Easy Pose is a variation of Full Lotus Pose, and is designed as a foundation for meditative yoga that is required as part of a more advanced series of yoga postures. Sit on the ground with legs crossed, right ankle over left and spine straight. Place your hands gently on the knees, palms facing upwards. Bring the right and left shin as close to the ground as comfortable, and meditate in this pose for a moment before switching legs to left ankle over right, for an additional minute of meditation.