Entering the Spiritual Realm: 3 Main Differences Between Meditation and Yoga

Finding a way to get rid of the stress in your life is no easy task. Just when you think you finally have peace and quiet, something else comes along to disrupt your alone time. But what is the best way to provide tranquility for both your body and your mind?

There have been debates over whether yoga or meditation is better. In fact, many people think that the two are exactly the same thing but they couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Meditation Versus Yoga

Both practices provide benefits and are usually closely related, but there are some differences between the two, so they provide benefits in different ways. It all depends on which one ends up being better for you. Conservehealth can definitely provide some more insight to get you on the right track.

Meditation is Mental Training

There are several different forms of meditation that exist, but they all focus on mental training. Some forms focus on practicing present self-awareness, while others are more focused on practicing compassion. It all depends on what you want to get out of the practice.

During meditation, time and effort are dedicated to cultivating specific qualities of the mind so that we become more aware of them over time and include them more in our daily lives.

Yoga Encompasses Physical and Mental

Yoga is more about the physical aspects of the body but does include some mental training as well. Yoga includes stretching exercises, strengthening your core and increasing balance, and keeping the muscles in tune with each other.

However, it does incorporate the mind’s connection to the body as well. Those involved with yoga are trained to focus on breathing and how the body is acting and feeling when engaged in certain exercises. It’s not exactly the same as meditation, which is a purely mental exercise, but yoga has proven to be quite beneficial as well.

Differences in Difficulty

When just starting out, not everyone is going to perfect at either practice. Meditation can be hard to focus on because you have a wandering mind, or you may not be quite flexible when you just start with yoga. But that’s the point: with practice, you’ll start to get much better.

To be on the safe side, that’s why meditation is a much safer exercise to start with, especially for those who are not physically capable of going into certain poses. In fact, you don’t even really need an instructor to meditate. All you need is a quiet place in your home where you won’t be disturbed and the dedication to focus on the task at hand.

To be quite frank, neither yoga or meditation is actually better than the other, since it all depends on what you want to get out of either practice. It all depends on what works better for you in keeping your body and mind attuned to each other. To figure that out, you may want to try both and see which works best for your needs.