Tanja Alexandra Kern 
Are you ready to bring calmness, a deeper awareness, harmony and wellbeing into your life? If your answer is yes, I invite you to consider a regular meditation technique.
The practice does not have to be long, maybe even just a two to five minutes or a few conscious breaths with your eyes closed and you will immediately feel a difference.
Did you know that the physical practice of yoga asanas (postures) were invented to prepare the body to sit in meditation? You may be aware that meditation is usually part of a yoga class to shift your awareness to the present moment, your breath and your practice.
Meditation will bring you many rewards and you be able to reap them when you bring patience, compassion and joy into your practice.
The benefits of meditation are plentiful. Some of them are:
– Meditation balances your mind, body, spirit and emotions,
– brings harmony,
– decreases stress and tension (as well as tension headaches and other tension related imbalances),
– increases happiness by releasing serotonin which improves your mood,
– lowers high blood pressure,
– increases energy levels,
– sharpens the mind,
– awakens intuition and greater awareness, allowing you to gain insight into your life and purpose,
– and reminds you that happiness is determined by your attitude and thoughts.
Meditation is like planting a precious seed. With regular practice you are watering the seed unit it grows 
into a beautiful tree bearing plentiful and juicy fruit for you to harvest.
Feel the serenity that even a short mediation can bring to you by trying it out right now.
After reading the next couple of sentences please close your eyes and take a deep breath in, filling your whole body with your inhale, then pause for just a second and exhale fully. Take another deep, long, steady inhale, pause and exhale fully. Just concentrate on your breath as you repeat this step one more time.
You are now ready to open your eyes and notice how you feel.
How do you feel in this moment? Please feel free to leave comments for me on the blog or email me if you receive this newsletter by email. I would love to hear from you and learn about your experience.
How to start a home practice
Starting your home practice is simple. I would recommend finding a space that you dedicate to your regular meditation. The benefit of dedicating a spot to your practice is that is encourages you to set up a meditation routine without distractions. If that is not possible, don’t worry. You can easily mediate anywhere in your house (sitting up in bed, on your couch, chair, carpet, yoga mat, etc.), in nature (beach, forest, park, by a lake or pond, etc.) or find others to meditate with.
As you start your meditation don’t worry about having a clear mind. Thoughts will come in, which is totally normal, but meditation will make a difference for you by letting you become aware of the thoughts. You can then choose to just notice them and allow them to float away. As your mind begins to wander, simply remind yourself to come back to your meditation. There are many different mediation techniques and if you wish to learn more please come and join my upcoming workshop on Meditation and Pranayama.
The goal with your meditation practice is to make it regular, even if you just spend 5 minutes per day. Especially if your response right now may be “But I don’t have 5 extra minutes!” it may not only be a nice consideration to start a mediation practice but something to improve your life.
Know that mediation will help and support you in so many ways and that those 5 minutes are invested well.
May your meditation practice bring you deeper awareness, focus, calmness, happiness and joy!
“Breathing in, I relax. Breathing out, I smile.”
Thich Nhat Hahn
