Mind and body are connected through yoga. Meditation is a part of Yoga. The Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali speaks about eight “limbs” or steps of yoga which are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. The first thing we are taught when we start pranayama is how to sit straight with the spine erect. This is known as Asana Jay (i.e. perfecting of posture). Pranayama is control of prana or vital breath. Pratyahar is withdrawing the senses inward. Dharana is fixing the attention on a single object i.e. concentration. Dhyana is meditation or becoming thoughtless. Samadhi is the experience of unity with God and a kind of superconciousness.

Meditation is a technique that we can use at any time and place to quieten the mind and restore peace and harmony within ourselves. This subsequently gets manifested in our outward life as well. Meditation is intended not to stop us thinking but to help us to produce order in the midst of our confusion. By relaxing our mind through meditation, we can clear the chatter for a time and experience a renewed sense of energy. This enables us to bring identity, clarity and freedom to take control over our lives to become healthier and happier.

Accumulated stress is the root cause of a high proportion of illnesses, including many common and serious conditions. By eliminating stress, meditation offers important benefits for the cure and prevention of a wide range of health problems and allows the mind and body to function with maximum effectiveness. This leads to good health and longevity.

The manifold benefits of meditation can be categorized as under:

• improved hearing and mental performance
• improved memory
• improvements in psychosomatic and stress related disorders
• benefits for mother and child during pregnancy and childbirth
• improvement in heart disease
• reversal of tumours
• disorders of the nervous system can be improved
• nose, throat and lung problems can be minimised
• increased muscular tone and flexibility
• Posture gets corrected, allowing deep breathing
• Resetting of the navel point to strengthen the lower triangle
• Strengthening of the nervous system
• Bringing normalcy to the glandular secretions of the endocrine system
• Improving resistance to stress and disease
• Opening of the chakras, rendering you more loving and open to others
• Deep relaxation and spontaneous healing

Meditation can also be termed as an energizing practice that strengthens the body and improves concentration abilities.

Pranayama and meditation correct basic faults within the body system, remove energy blockages and stress, improve blood circulation and enable higher level of oxygen intake. Pranayama helps us in removing symptoms of irritation, anger, listlessness, and lack of energy through retention of breath, both inward and outward (kumbhak and rechak). Meditating twice a day helps in prevention, regression and reversal of ageing. Meditation is the perfect medicine. It is thousand times superior to medication. It helps in coping with negative stress which accelerates ageing whereas positive stress helps in reversal of ageing. Meditation can help us in changing our physiology, biochemistry and improve our immunity to combat diseases.

Meditation enables us to remain in the present and removes regret for the past and anxiety for the future.

It is said that the deeper the meditation, the deeper would be the healing. The mind and body are intimately connected, and the relationship of the mind to the body in meditation is very interesting. The mind creates a situation in which we see the body as peaceful and beautiful. By creating peaceful feelings in the body, the mind is absorbed in those feelings. So although the body is the object to be healed, it also becomes the means of healing the mind – which is the ultimate goal of meditation.