a funny thing is that we put [or many of us do] a lot of effort in cleansing and training our physical body, but almost never do this for your inner self your mind

during a yoga class [asana practice] the more time you spend within your body, even if it feels like many things to handle with positions and breath..
the more time with less activity in your mind of all other thoughts in life you think about all day, the more mentally recovered you will be after class.
so that is also a reason why all things should be done with awarness:
your deep breathing both in and out,
your details and alignment of your body in your asana, and your awarness within to be able to "controll" these things and to know what you are actually doing.

it is also like you are occupying your mind to not have time to think about all other things, but you are occupied also within yourself isntead of spread out everywhere like so many of us often are in the state of "monkey mind" where our thoughts jump from one to another and back again etc

meditation is good for many reasons really. but especially a mental practice.
so without needing to go to deep into yogic or other tradtitions you will still benefit a lot from meditation.

we need to collect our mind, so not as many think shut of our mind ha ha
meditiation is more to collect and to in the end have a one-pointed focus.

most practitioners in the beginning and for a long time never even comes to the actual state of meditiation - "Dhyana"
but never the less it is still very good for you even in the states before actual meditation.

in the early states there will often be a frustration, since to be able to meditate correctly you need a straight long spine, and for most people to sit with an errect spine will only work a very short time, maybe less then a few minutes.
this is also why yogis do "yoga" or asanas to strengthen their bodies, to balance their bodies and to clean the body to be able to sit in a meditiation postures for longer periods, since that is where they can go on to higher states of mind.

anyway so meditiation will actually gradually also affect your general posture.
in the start there is a lot of awarness on the physical body since it will take a big amount of your focus as you cant sit for a long time without felling stiffness and getting uncomfortable,
this is normal, so in the start maybe more a physical thing to practice to sit correctly.

then after a while if doing it regularly it will be easier and you can start with next steps like more conssious breathing end then withdrawal of the senses etc.

but.. with time you will slowly be more aware of your thoughts and your inner self,
that can also be frustrating, and some people feel sad or even angry after meditiation. this is not that unusual, so dont give up.
in time you will be more cleansed and then the more peaceful feelings come and then also in life in general.

a Swami I took a course with explained in her blog [parts of it]:
"Meditation works to purify your mind.
We all have thoughts that we don't want to have and emotions that we don't want to express, etc, so we suppressed those, like sweeping dirt under the carpet.
But, meditation is like an intense spring cleaning:
you pick up the carpets and give them a good shake and all of the hidden 'dirt" come out.
I think it is a necessary part of the purification process.
However try to learn to witness your own thoughts (and emotions), observe the negative thoughts, but do not act on them."

the key for succes in meditation is regularity better to do 5-10 minutes everyday then one longer session just once a week.
and if possible same place & same time everyday
[but to do it all everyday is importent even if not able to do sam time & place so tat shouldn NOT be a reason to not do it ha ha]

and go slowly step by step, meditation is like sleeping, if you want it to much and search for that state of mind you get the opposit reaction..

follow the steps and let all naturally come, no stress!

so lately during classes I have tried to use the metaphor of our bodies being the vehicle for our mind, a common expresson within yoga.
but I try to get them to understand for example in the surya namaskar [sunsalutations] that as any driver of his car if going in a okey speed doing different movements you need to be calm and focused as a driver to make it thru safely.

equally in surya namaskar you need to strive to be calm in your mind even if your physical body starts to feel slightly more tired or so.
to be able to be calm with awarness within our challenges as for example our asanas, and to be able to help the body instead of competing against it, then you need to learn how to breath more correctly.

with a stressed mind & a fast irregular breath you will mainly end up with a more forceful & perhaps straining effect to your physical body where you tense up even more since the muscles are going in to protection mood and contracting.
you will use mostly your big explosive outer muscles and quickly you get lacto acids aswell since these muscles have less endurance.

most people dont have a to good connection with inner smaller stabilizing mucles, so when you wnat to much you send all signals to the outer parts and then mostly just block yourself from getting deeper into a asana, and instead competing with your bodies unbalances and your limits.
instead if you went only as far into the position where you start to feel challenges, and stay there and start to breath deeply and slowly get your inner awarness and calmness then you will be able to start opening your body, you can feel where the tensions are and try to release them at the same time you are still in the same position.
you tell your body to relax instead of "cramping" as it does instincivly when you pull or push forcefully.

with experience later on you realize how much you can affect your body and regulate it just with our mind and inner awarness.
and suddenly with less effort you will be able to come deeper inta a position and stay for longer time, wich means more time to open up the stretches, more time for all inner effects wich is also a very importent part of your yoga asana practice.

asana is the general name for the positions in yoga,
but translation from sanskrit asana means "steady comfortable position"

once on a small talk at an satsang in a ashram i visited some great yogi said something like this:
asanas should be done with good technique, inner awarness & with a humble attitude.

so please, remember we do yoga to feel & become better,
we dont do yoga to wear out our bodies..
it is quit scary to hear more and more how so called yogis need to go therapy to rebuild their bodies after overstraning in their far to much competetive yoga practice.

remember to breath, that is your link into inner awarness