Why Try Meditating Outside?

What is yoga, it helps in improving physical and mental health. By the use of yoga, a person becomes physically and mentally strong and he has to face the problems of renunciation in his life and his thinking becomes positive.

 

Does it really matter where you meditate? I think it can. For some of us, being outside creates not only a different meditative experience, but a more profound experience. There are some good reasons for this. Meditating in a quiet room with no sounds and nothing to distract is probably the easiest way, especially for beginners.

 

It is quite difficult to calm your mind without constant input from your surroundings. Life, on the other hand, is constant input, so if you want the peace that comes from meditation to extend beyond your practice into your life, perhaps you should learn to meditate regardless of the sounds and motions around you.

Meditating outside is a high bank on a river where I lived years ago. It was five minutes walk from home. At the top is a flat meadow, with water visible fifty feet below. That's where I used to sit. There was often a breeze that I could feel on my skin and hear in the surrounding trees. I also heard the water as it was flowing from some dead trees on the bank of the river. I smelled the smell of fish from the dirt and water around me. Meditating there was enjoyable not only because of the atmosphere, but also different from meditating in the silence of my home.

 

There was more of a feeling of experiencing the world without thinking, without over-analyzing. Why? Perhaps simply because there was more to experience. There were sounds of birds and sometimes sounds like the splash of an animal in the river. There were things to smell and the sensation of grass. I usually close my eyes when I meditate, because I am a very vision-oriented person, and find it easier to meditate that way. When I finished my meditation on the bank of the river, I opened my eyes, but what I saw was always different from when I started. Of course it was the same, but I was looking at it differently, as if for the first time. Although difficult to explain, it is easy to recognize if you have experienced it.

 

It is wonderful to look around as if you are seeing it for the first time. You are watching without prejudice. I might see a deer on the opposite bank of the river, but the thought "deer" wouldn't cross my mind, meaning it wouldn't blur my vision with any idea what a deer is or should be. The sounds and sensations were also "new". I think this more direct experience of life is a profound demonstration of how much we normally "live" through our thoughts, , somewhat different from reality.

 

If you haven't tried it already, why not move on to your next meditation? Sit on a hill or in front of a garden, or try standing in front of a lake or pond while you meditate. When you open your eyes the view will be amazing. There is nothing like meditating outside.

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