Meditation has been used for thousands of years for various purposes and continues to be a valuable tool for many. One issue with meditation (and yoga) that needs to be addressed in our modern times is that most that do meditate do so in their homes or another indoor space. That brings up the question of air quality and whether it’s helping or hindering your efforts associated with your meditation.
Why is air quality so important to meditation and yoga? There are several reasons, but one of the main reasons is that the deep breathing exercises cause us to inhale pollutants more deeply than usual–pollutants found in nearly every home such as chemicals, dust mites, bacteria, mold spores and more. And while the deep breathing is great for oxygenating the body, deeply inhaling pollutants and germs isn’t.
And that’s not the only issue. If you’re trying to meditate or do your yoga and someone in the home smokes, without a good air purifier running, you’ll be breathing those smoke pollutants, ash, tobacco pesticides, etc that aren’t good for you, either–more things to negatively affect your energy field, which is counterproductive. By using the right type of air purifier, however, you get a couple more great benefits. One is using the sound as something to focus on to help clear the mind. The other is the benefit of healthy negative OH- ions like those that are found in nature actually enhances the mediation experience.
Negative ions not only destroy airborne germs, but have also been shown in research to increase brain activity and contribute to a sense of well being, help reduce stress and more. So if you’re looking for a way to get more out of your meditation or yoga practice, breathing clean air can certainly help you do that–and help keep you from shooting your mental, physical and spiritual health in the foot by breathing germs and other pollutants. It makes no sense to work toward purification of body, mind and spirit while constantly adding pollution to our systems.
Do you have to choose an air cleaner that has negative ions? Certainly not. Cleaning up the air properly and using the sound to help with meditation and yoga is the main thing. A very good quality, affordable brand of air cleaner that does not release ions is the Austin Healthmate Plus series with quality HEPA, carbon and prefilters for real air purification. With these units, you also get 5 year filters and a 5 year warranty.
If you do want an air cleaner known for removing a large variety of pollutants (including smoke) while also providing the healthy negative ions, Blueair is an excellent brand. They offer good warranties, too, plus an air cleaner that is very quiet compared to others. Another great brand is Sun Pure TRIO with many of the same features, larger room coverage with one unit plus affordable pricing.
So give your mental, spiritual and physical health a boost by cleaning up your indoor air. Doing this has certainly worked wonders for me, and I think you’ll find it helpful also.