On meditation- do I have a homunculus in my head?

Know thyself- through yoga we aim to learn our true nature, and mediation is one part of this journey. 

I’ve been practicing meditation as long as I’ve been practicing yoga asana. 

Through practice I've found that meditation is like training the focus muscles of the brain. As well as being more calm, I’m unquestionably more focused when I’ve been practicing. We use strength resistance to train our muscles, cardio to increase the capacity of our lungs and hearts... meditation is training for the mind.

What is the mind, really, and what influence does it have over our sense of self? 

Meditation can influence how we process and react to emotions

Recent research has shown that meditation changes how we respond emotionally by affecting brain systems involved in emotional reactivity (1).

The 26 participants the completed the study had no prior meditation experience. To begin they undertook a two-week meditation-training course, in which they practiced breath attention meditation for 20 minutes a day.

Meditation- a journey into the architecture of the mind

Meditation is not only a contemporary topic of research, it's a research method. 

Meditation can be classified into different types, one form is opening monitoring- where we simply sit and observe thoughts and sensations that come to mind without becoming involved or attached with any one thought or feeling. Its likely that the introspection of open monitoring can give us insight into the organisation of our minds. 

Practicing ashtanga yoga after coffee, a personal experience

It would get me out of bed in the morning... My first morning coffee. But was it really helping my practice?

Reducing negative thinking through meditation

Research is showing that meditation can improve psychological health. Partly because it reduces our tendency to dwell on negative thoughts. When are negative thoughts really an issue and how can meditation reduce them?