{"id":59,"date":"2022-08-12T07:41:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T07:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/?p=59"},"modified":"2023-03-11T07:47:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T07:47:45","slug":"i-started-meditation-yoga-this-year-the-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/i-started-meditation-yoga-this-year-the-results\/","title":{"rendered":"I started Meditation &amp; Yoga this year, the results&#8230; ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I hate stretching, I can&#8217;t touch my toes, I can&#8217;t blank my mind and not think for a minute. Those were things of the past since a few months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this year, I started doing some Meditation to reduce stress and to help me gain new perspectives after countless advice from friends. It was high time to be serious about it as I was facing difficulties keeping myself motivated and &#8216;at peace&#8217;. I was angry most of the time and moodless, there were signs of burnout on top of the whole COVID Pandemic distributing my usual stress releasing rituals such as doing things with the communities, camping in the nature or traveling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A simple Google search will return you these benefits of Meditation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Building skills to manage your stress.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Increasing self-awareness.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Focusing on the present.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Reducing negative emotions.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Increasing imagination and creativity.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Increasing patience and tolerance.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/tests-procedures\/meditation\/in-depth\/meditation\/art-20045858\">https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/tests-procedures\/meditation\/in-depth\/meditation\/art-20045858<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>hence, I gave it a go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As usual, I did it the DIY way, reading up about meditation and watching YouTube videos. I started with a simple breathing exercise, more known as Mindfulness meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Mindfulness meditation.<\/strong>&nbsp;This type of meditation is based on being mindful, or having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In mindfulness meditation, you broaden your conscious awareness. You focus on what you experience during meditation, such as the flow of your breath. You can observe your thoughts and emotions, but let them pass without judgment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As an ADHD, I can&#8217;t sit still or get my mind to not wander off. However, I find it useful to just focus on something; breathing. Either in lying down position or just sitting cross legged, relaxed and still, I just focus on my breathing and concentrate on &#8220;the tip of my nose&#8221; where the warm air is leaving my nostrils. Listening to the rhythm and the sound of the air, feeling the temperature and the velocity of the air. Of course, doing this in a quiet, undisturbed environment helps a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/C4E12AQFSt6bXGTMH9w\/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232\/0\/1628780806532?e=1683763200&amp;v=beta&amp;t=KtU63oPXJ8F4RCn07kJMh7MXrV5BLe9laVUsm3SGwKg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In just a few sessions, I am able to just forget everything for once and relax. I am meditating&#8230; Then I started to experiments with different body positions and situations. Taking a few minutes sitting at the desk, before sleeping (or when I woke up middle of the night finding myself hard to get back to sleep), Meditation helped me :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Have better focus and concentration<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sleep without brains thinking 101 things<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gain better self-esteem and self awareness<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Greatly reduce stress<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Manage anxiety attacks and depression<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be less angry and have more patience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It gave me new perspective in life and in work. The results are proven in the recent months! So I pushed myself a step further to do the same physically for my body as well, by picking up Yoga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we are in COVID Movement Control Order, and I don&#8217;t like the idea of exposing my body to public classes anyway, I happily DIYed my own research and routine of Yoga. For this, I owe it to Garmin workouts on top of Google and YouTube. The built in Yoga Workout on the Fenix 6X comes with video instructions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/C4E12AQHqRga5qOOTLQ\/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232\/0\/1628781249397?e=1683763200&amp;v=beta&amp;t=xr1A80J1PttBw26Od5rnvpCCx1UXhTotu8WxigtAmxo\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I realised that with a help of a Yoga instructor I would have progressed much faster and got my body position corrected instantly instead of learning from mistakes the hard way; however by doing it alone, I learned to &#8216;listen&#8217; to my body and I am less conscious of my body and performance (Performance Anxiety much&#8230;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoga complimented my Meditation and helped me even more on the physical side. After over 20 sessions now, I noticed these changes in me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Increased flexibility (I can touch my toes easily now)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Increased core strength and balance (Planking is part of my routine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improved energy and stamina throughout the day<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improved breathing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I suffer less pains from my sporting activities (Running, Road Biking, Crossfit trainings)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And above all, my mind is much clearer, less wandering off and I sleep better at night. I tracked my progress using Garmin Connect and my Garmin Fenix 6X watch (which is on my wrist 24&#215;7 except for charging) Everything from my Heart Rate, Stress Level, Sleep Quality, VO2 Max, SPO2 improved tremendously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/C4E12AQFnpZsAOuxhNw\/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232\/0\/1628780840445?e=1683763200&amp;v=beta&amp;t=OYf_jyUjr5e7UJib5XHuspBRxRL08cpQ7Eva17p35jY\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/C4E12AQGKY-GPCWD4BA\/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232\/0\/1628781286263?e=1683763200&amp;v=beta&amp;t=ojmVY6aYn81_qeDHhJ_ZB7gt5OHcuQgHusByYWlAOyE\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this article referenced a lot to Garmin&#8217;s Fenix watch, it is not a sponsored post. I am a big fan of the Fenix series and I owned 4 generations; It&#8217;s a great health tracker, workout, trainer, race indicator and exploration tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I hate stretching, I can&#8217;t touch my toes, I can&#8217;t blank my mind and not think for a minute. Those were things of the past since a few months ago. Earlier this year, I started doing some Meditation to reduce stress and to help me gain new perspectives after countless advice from friends. It was&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10,3],"tags":[6,13,12,7,11],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-health","category-inspirational","tag-events","tag-garmin","tag-health","tag-inspirational","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jl.com.my\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}