I am always reminded how much better I feel on all levels--physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually--when I practice yoga in the morning. I do not have to do it first thing, but if I do a full yoga practice within an hour or so of awakening, the day begins positively. Whether I carry out a long or short practice, it doesn't matter. A short practice could be one round of a sun salution, which takes less than 2 minutes. A long practice may include a sun salution and other poses, followed by pranayama and short awareness meditation, but I can still keep that to 10 minutes. Today, I completed two rounds of Surya Namaskar, followed by Pranayama (Kapalabhati, Bhastrika, Nadi Shodanham, 3-part diaphragmatic breathing, and 1:2 breathing), and ending with a few minutes of breath awareness and body awareness meditation. All of this took only 30 minutes. The point is, I do not currently have any major commitments, so I can certainly commit 10-30 minutes each morning to yoga practice. It's so worth it and my body is grateful. Then I can move into an upward spiral instead of falling down the black hole I keep tripping into. A slight edit to the sign, but hey why not!
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I am grateful for the new habits and rebirth of former good habits that have set me on my way down my path of evolution once again. Of course, I have always been on the path, I just became distracted now and then or got stuck in a mud pit for a while. Now I am out! I have been doing a bit of pranayama and meditation before bed. Rising and drinking warm tea before my feet hit the floor. The one change of drinking something warm to hot as I arise is a Life Changer itself! Both physically and energetically it stokes my life fire and starts my fires burning for the day. As the warmth spreads from the physical plane to the spiritual and emotional, I am filled with positive energy and a look-foward-ness to the day. Photo of Himalayan Institute ceramic neti pot kit. I have a plastic travel version that I have used since 2006!--I have been doing net jala daily as part of my morning ablution routine for 13 years! Fine sea salt or pharmacy grade salt works too. Nasya with Ayurvedic oil is a great addition to seasonal cleansing. After morning ablutions, including neti jala (nasal cleansing with salt water), I sit down on my yoga mat and begin my practice. Today, it lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes, which was wonderful! My goal is one hour each morning before work, excluding Mondays. On Monday, a quick round of OMs and sun salutations to start the day, and if there is time, prana and meditation.
I have modified my asana-pranayama-meditation routine to include some techniques I learned or was reminded of in Rishikesh by my wonderful yoga teachers, Vivek and Sanjay. Vivek reminds students to have a "smiley face" and begins and ends his classes with 11-21 OM chants. He reminds us at the end of this chanting periods to "Feel OM" and that "OM clears negative energy". As I chant OM to open and close my practice, I repeat the thought: "I am clearing negative energy. I am opening to positive energy." After asana, I did pranayama: khapalabhati, bhastrika, and nadi shodanham. Then I meditated on Saraswati, goddess of wisdom: "I honour my inner wisdom". Click "Read More" to the right for pranayama video and more! |
iGallivant... needs radical self-care! Getting a start on 2019 early, with a new self-care plan! Archives
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