Look at Your Mind

I wish my earliest yoga teachers had introduced me to the world of meditation, but I found it only when I began exploring different ways to connect to myself. It is said that the teachings appear only when you are ready—and it’s true.

I am glad and grateful that I learned postures and anatomy and that I became friends with my breath. Even though I was taught that yoga is a “way of being” and a dynamic meditation—and I did at times feel it in my heart and my body—for the most part the meaning and the feeling of true meditation were elusive, random, sporadic, and inconsistent.

It was only after I had been immersed in yoga for many years that I acquired a taste for sitting meditation. Even though I’m still a novice meditator, I can see how the practice is shaping me into a more conscious, healthier adult.

Here are some of the things I’ve noticed about myself that are changing, emerging, and dissolving since I’ve been maintaining a regular meditation practice.



1. I not only appear calm, serene, and peaceful (like most yoga teachers), but I actually feel calmer, more peaceful, more at ease with the incongruities of life.

2. I’m a better listener. I can listen longer and with less distraction.

3. I don’t bite or bark—I express my opinion. I don’t need to prove if someone is right or wrong. Mindful of my speech, I communicate from a more solid, neutral, and loving place.

4. There are more moments of pure beauty in my day when I pause, I reflect, I breathe.

5. There are more moments of genuine sadness in my day when I pause, I reflect, I breathe.

6. My approach to yoga has become softer yet deeper—and more sacred, in a way. My savasanas are luxurious.

7. I still experience bursts of anger in particular situations, but they don’t give me migraines or stomach-aches. They don’t last as long as they used to. They don’t end in altercations or hurtful words. For the most part, they dissolve in my breath.

8. I am more okay with the way things are and don’t waste as much time wishing the world were a different place, my partner acted differently, my schedule were different, the weather were different, my parents were different. I am more relaxed. I am more present.

9. I don’t know if I am actually happier, but I feel I am a happier human being. I feel more like myself. Genuine. Clear. Direct.

10. I don’t feel lonely anymore. The “me, me, me,” is losing its momentum. It doesn’t have me on a tight leash anymore. I have more space to think of others and to relate to them.

11. To my surprise, I am better at closing doors—letting go of friends who are no longer friends, relationships that no longer serve a purpose, that are not crystal clear. I owe it to myself.

12. I am aware that I am a work in progress, but knowing that I am working consciously on myself and changing myself for the better gives me a certain measure of peace of mind. I am more compassionate toward myself. I don’t hurt myself with my own thoughts. I respect myself. And perhaps out of that recognition, I am starting to treat others that way more often.


Want to give it a try?


    Five minutes in the morning.
    Five minutes in the evening.
    A comfortable seated posture (a chair is okay!).
    Take a few long, deep, slow breaths.
    Notice the feeling of your breath as it moves through your body.
    Thoughts will come. Thoughts will go. That’s okay.
    As you inhale make a mental note: I am inhaling.
    As you exhale make a mental note: I am exhaling.
    Every time the mind stumbles with a thought or a feeling, return to the mental notes.


It’s okay if you spend the entire five minutes becoming aware of the incessant flow of thoughts and coming back to the feeling of the breath. Probably the most important thing that you will be doing during those five minutes is becoming aware of how disorganized our thoughts are and how little control we have over them. Simply becoming aware of that, without the intention of changing them or modifying them, is meditating. Gradually, as your breath takes over, the thoughts will subside and you will appreciate the mental space that is created once the mind is not hijacked by endless chatter.

If you have never meditated or you’ve been putting off your practice, give it a try or give it another chance. Remind yourself that every great enterprise requires attention, dedication, patience, repetition, and faith. It is, after all, an act of love—of self-love, an opportunity to work on yourself to discover your true potential and, from that discovery, to benefit others and be of service.

 Adrian Molina is a yoga teacher, writer and meditation practitioner living in New York City. He developed the Warrior Flow style of yoga and teaches at Equinox fitness centers, in private sessions, and at retreats. He shares inspiration and teachings frequently on his web site Warrior Flow, his Facebook page, and his Twitter feed.