Do you want to know the complete details of Yoga vs Meditation regarding benefits, types, and physical activity level? This blog is going to clear all your queries, so keep reading!
In the hustle of life, you might face days of stress and tiredness. To break out of the hectic routine of your busy life and give yourself a moment of relief, you always need some “me time”. You will always hear people suggesting you meditate or perform yoga. It gets confusing at times. So let’s solve this Yoga Vs Meditation riddle once and for all.
What is Yoga?
The word ‘Yoga’ has a Sanskrit origin depicting the union of your soul and the divine spirit. It acts like a bridge to take yourself on the journey to meet your universal self. The primary aim of performing yoga is to enhance your spiritual capabilities.
Apart from being a mere physical practice, yoga ensures promoting your postures, meditation, and breathing patterns. To gain a healthy lifestyle, yoga has become a perfect workout routine for people everywhere.
What is Meditation?
Meditation or dhyana is a limb of yoga. Its goal is to achieve a healthier mental state and awaken your consciousness. It helps you maintain your focus and keep your concentration in a better way.
Meditation also ensures that your body and mind are relaxed to the point that you can achieve your goals correctly, and there is nothing that can distract you anyway.
Moreover, when you meditate, it creates in you a positive attitude towards your life and the whole world. Meditation is a thorough mental exercise that is involved in stabilizing your mind.
How Can You Compare Yoga Vs Meditation?
There is no doubt both yoga and meditation have their own set of health benefits. But it might get trickier for you to choose what will suit you more. So, to elaborate on the main line of difference between these practices, you must give this topic a read to clear out all the fuss in your mind.
Yoga Vs Meditation: Physical Activity and Health Benefits
Meditation doesn’t involve physical movements; instead, it is a mental exercise. When you need to self-reflect on some things, you are exhausted, or your mind is caught up with chaotic thoughts, meditation can help you with it.
You can figure things out and get yourself a way out of trouble just by meditating for a while to get a stable mental state. Moreover, you don’t need to move or change your posture for it. All that you need to do is sit still and meditate. Hence, meditation can be highly beneficial in treating:
- Anxiety, depression and insomnia
- High blood pressure
- Headaches and migraines
- PCOS and Irregular Periods
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Disturbance in brain functions such as lack of concentration and memory loss
- Provide high self-esteem that leads to achieve life goals
Yoga, on the other hand, has quite a lot of physical exercises involved in it. You can say yoga’s activity level is relatively high compared to meditation. Along with a lot of concentration, you need to change your posture and keep your body moving.
The mental effects of yoga are not as effective as they are in meditation. So if you want to keep your body stout and physically fit, Yoga is the answer. It might be a bit challenging for you, but the results are worth it. Yoga can help you to attain:
- Proper breathing patterns
- Lose weight
- Maintain cardiovascular health
- Strengthen muscles
- Improves Sleep Quality
- Keep the body flexible
- Ensures proper digestion and metabolism
- Reducing headaches and migraine
- Helps get rid of body pain or stiffness
Yoga Vs Meditation: End Goals
Don’t be surprised if you get to know that yoga is way more comprehensive and holistic than meditation. It is because when you perform yoga, it stabilizes you mentally and makes you spiritually and physically very strong. Doing yoga will help you attain both internal and external fitness.
Meditation, on the other hand, focuses only on your mental wellbeing. So, if you are looking for peace of mind, meditation is what you need, while for physical health, you need to do yoga.
Yoga Vs Meditation: Performance Limitations
There are some restrictions on doing yoga or meditation depending on people’s physical health and age. Since significantly fewer or no movements are involved in meditation, there are negligible limitations on who can meditate.
If you are psychologically unstable or have mental issues, it will be hard for you to focus and concentrate. Your surroundings will also affect your meditation. Moreover, if you are in a noisy environment, it will disturb your concentration and distract you, which can ultimately affect your meditation performance.
The activity level of yoga makes it more complex as there is continuous physical activity, and you need to be very active to perform yoga. For instance, if you haven’t eaten anything, it’s not good to perform these exercises with an empty stomach as it requires a lot of energy.
In the same way, some postures might be challenging for you to attain because of your health issues. Similarly, aging can also pose a hindrance in performing different yoga poses. That’s why suitable physical activities, specifically yoga is essential for your healthy aging.
Also Read: Healthy Aging Tips to follow beyond 40
Restorative Yoga Vs Meditation
Restorative yoga is a meditative form of yoga that offers physical fitness and psychological relaxation. It is performed slowly and mainly focuses on maintaining breathing while relaxing your body.
Being highly therapeutic and gentle, it heals the body and improves its posture. Restorative yoga aids in inducing relaxation due to the longer duration of asanas and deep breathing. Thus, it can result in calm breathing, less blood pressure, and more at-ease sensation.
Tips to Perform Better Meditation
Here are a few beneficial tips to start and continue your meditation journey in a better way. So, let’s talk about them!
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Select a Peaceful Space
Designing a quiet and calm place for meditating is of great importance. Close your room windows and shut off all the electronic devices (mobiles, laptops, smart watches) that can interrupt a peaceful meditation process.
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Fix your Accurate Posture
Sitting straight, firming your feet along the floor, and concentrating on yourself are ideal requirements for a good meditation. Better posture can help circulate energy in your body efficiently and help to focus on mental peace.
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Regularize your Daily Timing
Fix a specific time in a day at which you can only focus on your exercise routine. This strategy can help you avoid delays and skipping of your daily meditation sessions.
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Be Patient and Work Slowly
At the start, meditation may cause restlessness and fatigue. You learn to manage these issues with time, so you have to keep patience while starting a meditation practice. Also, you have to start and continue slowly which will help you to resolve this issue efficiently. With time, you feel more contentment and psychological satisfaction.
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Use a Meditation App
Following a meditation app can help you develop a daily habit and help to take meditation practice to a higher level. You can check out various online Apps before selecting one.
Is Yoga and Meditation Same?
Not really; yoga is not a form of meditation; instead, meditation is considered a limb of yoga. They are two different practices. Yoga is a complete set of physical activities and breathing exercises, while meditation is about improving mental peace.
Should I do Yoga or Meditate First?
It’s better to meditate after yoga or physical exercise as this may help to release stress; thus, you’ll better concentrate on meditation.
Yoga Vs Meditation: Which One is better for me?
What is better for you, yoga or meditation? With both, you may efficiently reduce stress and develop a peaceful mind. Try both and decide which one suits you best. Yoga is a great physical activity that you may do at any time. If you wish to achieve inner harmony and calm, concentrate on meditation.
Concluding Remarks
Hopefully, this yoga vs meditation description will help improve your physical fitness and mental peace. Try them and you will definitely love to see their positive results.
