Outdoor Yoga and Meditation: The Ultimate Relaxation

By Jasmine Clark, Live Well Enhance You Contributing Writer

When your day-to-day life is stressful on an ongoing basis, it may feel like there’s no escape. But there are ways to lower your stress and bring back those happy feelings… you just need a little ancient wisdom.

The popular practices of meditation and yoga have the potential to transform your mental state for the better, especially if you practice these things outdoors! Keep reading if you want to start a new healthy habit that can help you find the peace and healing you’ve been looking for.

Meditation basics

Meditation is the act of setting aside time to relax and concentrate on the present moment. When you meditate, you’re not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future – you’re just letting yourself exist in the present. Meditation is often practiced with breathing exercises, which are deliberate patterns of deep breathing that help your body and mind relax. 

There are lots of ways to meditate. You can meditate for just a few minutes or for much longer. You can sit, lie down, or even walk. You can listen to calming music or a guided meditation audio that helps you think peaceful thoughts, or you can choose to have no sound except the sounds that naturally exist around you. Some people like to think of or say a positive affirmation while meditating, but this is optional.

The main benefit of meditation is that it can melt stressful thoughts out of your mind so you’ll feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Instead of having a racing mind of fast-moving thoughts, your mind will feel still and peaceful. There are many studies proving the benefits of meditation. It can reduce the effects of depression, anxiety, and trauma. It can also give you comfort from physical pain! Plus, it can sharpen your cognitive skills, allowing your brain to memorize and process information better.

What makes meditation so relaxing is that it doesn’t involve trying to do a task. It doesn’t pressure you to prove yourself or accomplish anything. It’s a time to pause and let yourself be instead of do.

Yoga basics

Like meditation, yoga is something that has powerful calming effects, which is a big reason it’s so popular. Yoga is a set of physical, mental, and spiritual practices, and many people especially like the physical aspect, which involves positioning the body in different asanas, or poses. This physical type of yoga is called hatha yoga.

You’ve surely seen people on Instagram do incredible yoga poses, and you’ve probably wondered, “How can they be that flexible?!” Don’t worry… you don’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel. Yoga isn’t about trying to force yourself into painful positions. It’s about listening to your body and doing asanas that feel comfortable to you. It’s also about breathwork – breathwork is a fundamental part of yoga.

You can do yoga at any age or body size unless you have a severe disability. Start out with simple beginner asanas and eventually move on to more advanced moves when you’ve built up the strength and flexibility. But in addition to increasing your strength and flexibility, yoga can ease your back pain, help you sleep better, and yes, lower your stress. 

To learn more about yoga, it’s best to watch videos of it so you can get a better understanding of different asanas. Check out yoga for beginners videos on YouTube and see if yoga seems like something you’d be interested in. If so, give it a try yourself! Then you may want to go to an in-person class in your area so you can be taught by an instructor.

Why outdoors?

You can always practice yoga or meditation indoors, but outdoors may be a lot better. If you have a job that keeps you indoors all day, doing yoga or meditation outdoors completely changes your surroundings, making it easier for you to feel separated from your work. Also, sunlight helps your body make vitamin D. (Don’t forget to use sunscreen and go outside in the morning or evening so you’re not out when the sun is strongest.)

There are mental health benefits to being in nature, so that adds to the mental health benefits of meditation and yoga. The stress relief effects can be incredible. You might want to practice outdoor meditation and yoga while traveling, because you can find beautiful outdoor locations that you normally don’t see because you don’t live there. For example, you may feel a deep sense of restoration at a beach, lake, forest, pond, or another place that’s a real treat to go to. It doesn’t have to be faraway travel – you can still get this benefit even if you just go to another location in your city.

Like any healthy habit, you’ll get the most out of it if you do it repeatedly and not just every once in a while. You can set aside a specific time each day to meditate, and some people like to do it twice: when they wake up and before they go to bed. As for yoga, going to a class each week is a way to make yoga a habit. It’ll probably be indoors for the most part, but you can still find outdoor yoga sessions too. A few places to search for yoga and meditation events are Meetup.com, Google Maps, Facebook events, and Facebook groups.

You don’t have to feel like you’re stuck in stress with no way out. Developing a habit of outdoor yoga and meditation can make you feel calm and in control. It’s all about breathing deeply, connecting with your body, and giving yourself permission to pause from your busy life. Create your very own outdoor oasis with these stress-busting habits!

Jasmine Clark is a freelance writer from North Carolina. She enjoys writing about topics such as stress relief and positive thinking. She likes to encourage others to find ways to calm down and relax. In her spare time, she loves to write fiction stories and watch TV and YouTube. You can find her on Instagram @cozysachi.