What should yo do more to awaken, yoga or meditation?

[AminB501]

Let's say you're given 2:30 hours a day for spiritual practice, how would you distribute those along yoga and meditation? Would you do 1h of meditation and 1:30 of yoga? or the opposite? or 30 min of yoga and 2h of meditation?...

[caspex]

Hatha Yoga done properly does take a long time. 1 hour to 1.5 hours if done nicely. And it's best to end with shavasana at the end of the session, that is a meditative state itself. Every pose is. 

I'd say 1 - 1.5 hours of yoga, and after that rest for meditation. 1 hour should be minimum for meditation ofcourse.

[Pallero]

Are you asking what I would do or are you trying to decide for yourself? What works for one person will not work for another.

[levani]

kundalini yoga is the one i hear

 

however be careful what you wish for

[Nahm]

Do so as it calms the mind and fills the body with feeling. The thinking ‘to awaken’ is counter productive to awakening. Awakening already is, and is covered with misunderstanding, beliefs, misidentification, and misinterpretation. When all else is let go (that’s what meditation & yoga are for) only wakefulness, or being, remains. Then it is the most obvious ‘thing’.  The thinking, or, making the primary point ‘to awaken’ reinforces the belief paradigm of the separate self. (Careful not to go down the thought story road of there is a ‘you’ which will awaken, or that there are ‘higher conscious’, or ‘enlightened people’, etc) Make the primary point what resonates, which can not be from anyone else. Deconstruction, inspection, investigation...not obtaining, achieving, becoming. 

[flyingwhalee]

If you can do 1h- ish Kriya including 3 Kriya supreme fire (IF you can), 3 Maha Mudra, 72 to 108 Pranayama and 3 Yoni Mudra, then allocate 30 min to 1h to "meditate" in parvastha (post practice state), really you're golden. 

You can also self inquire in parvastha. Your mind is clearer, hence sharper. 

Edited December 6, 2020 by flyingwhalee

[AminB501]

@Pallero i think it should be obvious for you that I don't really understand in which cases to use which method.

[AminB501]

@Nahm I understand what you mean. I don't really think about wanting to awaken, what I think about is being empty and in "living without a center" as krishnamurti calls it. 

I was doing like 2 hours of meditation and 30 min of yoga but i have so much discomfort in my legs now that Im tired of meditation, and i no longer reach that calmness of being aware only. 

So that's where I'm coming from, now in my life I need to be almost empty or very conscious all the time because of stressful demands. 2 hours of meditation and 30 mins of yoga gave me amazing days before, but now I can't do 2 hours of meditation and i feel it in my days very strongly. I'm feeling very limited by my thinking, and my awareness is no longer behind my thoughts but comes filtered by my thoughts.

Edited December 6, 2020 by AminB501

[Forestluv]

5 minutes ago, AminB501 said:

 

I was doing like 2 hours of meditation and 30 min of yoga but i have so much discomfort in my legs now that Im tired of meditation, and i no longer reach that calmness of being aware only. 

I’ve found yin yoga with 4 minute positions to be a great alternative for extended static seating - which is not good for my body long term. With the right mindset and environment, yin yoga allows for surrender, calmness and meditative states. And it’s very good for the body. There is some ‘discomfort’, yet transcending into the comfort within discomfort is part of the benefits for me. As well, extended shivassana after yoga can go into deeply relaxed, calm spaces

[Nahm]

@AminB501

I’d do some untangling of that part about ‘need to almost empty all the time, because of stressful demands’ by scrutinizing how you’re filling up what you’re emptying. Potentially a bit of an emotional rabbit hole, but I’ve have been pleasantly blown away many times over at how different experience as a whole can be, specifically in terms of stress & energy, from such scrutiny, or untangling of interpretation.