6 ways meditation can improve your yoga practice

Updated: February 28, 2023

Let’s be honest for a second – meditation and yoga go hand in hand.

And, practicing both meditation and yoga can help you deal with stressful situations in life.

So, before we dive into how meditation can improve your yoga practice, we need to understand some of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Take a look.

Benefits of meditating every day

Meditation allows you to be more self-aware.
When you learn about meditation, you’ll become more patient.
You get to work on quieting your mind so that you improve your mental health.
You’ll focus on the present rather than on the past or future.

Yoga, in turn, has always been one of the most recommended ways to become more physically and mentally healthy. So it makes sense that practicing yoga and meditation together is an efficient way to achieve physical fitness and inner peace.

But still: You may be wondering how meditating makes it easier to do yoga. Right?

In this article, we break it down by discussing 6 ways meditation can improve your yoga practice. Read on to learn about meditation, and how it can help your asanas!

1. Meditation makes it easier for you to focus on yoga

Whether you are doing a mental or physical activity, focusing can help you succeed.

Yet, it may be difficult to focus on yoga if you had a bad day at work or you’re not in the mood to work out.

Meditating before doing yoga, however, makes it easier for you to focus on the asanas. This way, you get more benefits from yoga without getting frustrated.

In short, just a few minutes of mindful meditation before starting your yoga session can help you clear your mind and focus on your asana practice. So, if you want to focus better, sit quietly and give it a try.

2. Meditation can help your balance

Believe it or not, scientific studies have proven that meditation helps you balance while doing yoga. For starters, some folks struggle to balance while practicing yoga because their minds are preoccupied with random thoughts.

Both yoga and mindfulness help you get in touch with your body and your thoughts. Meditation allows you to concentrate on doing yoga, which makes it easier to practice balancing postures and hold asanas for longer periods of time.

3. Meditation helps you breathe deeply

Many people seem to get out of breath easily after doing yoga for a short time. If this sounds like you, getting out of breath can restrict your yoga practice or even cause you to call it quits altogether.

But did you know that mindfulness helps you become aware of your breath and breathe more deeply? This is a good reason why you should learn about meditation and practice it before and during your yoga practice.

In fact, if you are passionate about yoga but can’t do it for a long period of time, you should learn about meditation to help regulate your breath.

4. Meditation allows you to understand yoga philosophy and lifestyle

It’s important to get yourself into the mindset of doing yoga.

And, although yoga helps you become physically fit, it can also help you get in touch with your philosophical side. For example, there are many asanas in yoga that you can’t experience fully unless you put your 100% in the moment.

The yogic lifestyle offers a myriad of health benefits – but, like anything, it takes practice. Meditation, in turn, can help you train your body, mind and soul to be present and not focus on your past stress and future wish list.

5. Do you sweat a lot while exercising? Meditation will cool you down!

If you practice hot yoga or vigorous vinyasa yoga, you might easily work up a sweat. While sweating can help you release toxins from the body, it can also be uncomfortable or make it challenging to practice yoga in the middle of the day (say you have to go back to work after lunch break yoga and you have nowhere to shower!)

So, why not try meditating to help cool down your body? Indeed, when your body temperature rises after doing yoga for a while, quieting the mind helps you to cool down from the heat.

Another pro mindful tip: You should also do meditation because it helps you control your heart rate and blood pressure.

6. Mindful meditation allows you to be more confident about your yoga practice

A yogic lifestyle comes with its share of benefits but it can also make you nervous to commit to something that seems like such a serious commitment.

Yet, when you do meditation, you become better at focusing your attention on yoga and thus can more readily practice the asanas of your choice. This way, you can leave your worries and stress outside of the yoga room.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to do meditation for a long time – which means, you get all the advantages mentioned above by meditating for just a few minutes.