The benefits of meditation are pretty clear.
More focus, more direction, less mind chatter, greater presence, greater attention span, and heaps of other stuff.
I know some guys struggle with the idea of sitting in a dark and quiet room for long periods of time whilst listening to the sounds of whales making love.
(Funnily enough, if you’re one of these guys, it probably means you have more to gain from meditation than anyone)
So, there’s an alternative you can do that has the same, relaxing effect and trains you to focus your attention, whilst giving you a bit more to do.
It’s pretty new but you might have heard of it.
It’s called: Yoga.
Now, before you climb onto your high horse, whinging about about how you don’t want to replace one piece of hippy shit with a different one, stop for a second and consider this.
Firstly, no, it’s not too easy for you.
It’s challenging and there are levels to push yourself that I KNOW you can’t do right now.
Check out this video. Yes, she’s hot, but look at her body control.
It’s ridiculous.
I don’t care how much you can bench or how much you can squat, this is on a completely different level.
Secondly…
Yoga doesn’t have to be all about channelling your chakras and chanting Sanskrit verses from some long forgotten text.
Just in the same way meditation can take a more grounded and western approach, so can Yoga.
I always stayed from Yoga because the brief samples I’d seen always asked me to surrender my inner fears to the divine princess of the universe and that just put me off.
But, at the start of the year, I stumbled across much less spiritual yoga practices and I’ve been doing it on and off for 6 months now.
When I do it, I feel relaxed and centred, just in the same way I do when I meditate, but I have the added benefit of feeling loose with stronger sensations in my body.
The specific yoga sequence I follow is done by a guy called Rodney Yee.
It’s called AM Yoga for your week.
It’s 5 separate 20 minute Yoga practices designed to be done every morning during the work week.
They’re non-spiritually focussed, simple, beginner work outs designed to give you a taste of what Yoga is like.
You can check out all the details here and pick it up for less than $15: A.M. Yoga for Your Week
(Yes, this is an affiliate link. If you purchase it through this link, you’ll be contributing about $1 to AI’s bottom line)
He’s also got some more advanced stuff for when you get this one nailed. I’m currently following his intermediate workout and it’s killing me in the best way possible.
Here’s a sample of the 5 days of the program that I’ve found on Youtube.
If you’ve never done it before and are keen to find a way to develop your concentration and focus and end the useless mind chatter, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out.
Here’s that link again: A.M. Yoga for Your Week