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Close your eyes. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Another deep inhale. To begin, for a moment, settle into Ananda Āsana. Become aware of your position, close your eyes, and relax your entire body. Become aware of your breath. Slowly deepen your breath into a full yogic breath: breathe from the belly, through the chest, into the collarbones. And exhale again from the collarbones, from the chest, and finally from the abdomen. With each exhale, deepen your relaxation. With each inhale, receive the energy of prāṇa from the surroundings. Keep your attention focused on your breath and your body. Throughout the entire practice, strive to maintain your attention within yourself. Feel your body, your movement, your sensations. We add the movement of the arms to our breath. With the inhale, the arms rise overhead. With the exhale, they return back down along the body. The hands are raised for the entire duration of the inhalation and return back for the entire duration of the exhale. Slowly finish. We will continue with stretching. With an inhalation, raise the right hand and stretch behind the right hand and the heel of the right foot. With the exhale, return the hand and relax the body. With the next inhalation, raise your left hand and stretch the left side of your body. Continue in the rhythm of your breath. We continue by stretching diagonally. That means behind the right hand and the left foot, and then behind the left hand and the right foot. Become aware of the distinct effect that stretching has on your body. We will stretch a few more times with both arms and both legs, as far as you can go, but in such a way that you do not arch your lower back. Try to keep the lumbar area close to the mat. Slowly finish. With the next inhalation, once again raise your arms and join your palms together. We will be rolling over from one side to the other. Try to make the movement slow and controlled. Feel the stretching of the muscles along the spine. Again, you slowly finish. Return your hands back alongside the body. Align your position so that the spine is straight. We will continue with Pāvanamuktāsana, by drawing the knee towards the forehead. With the inhale, lift the leg, bend the knee, and hold the knee with your hands. With the exhale, draw the thigh toward the chest and lift the head toward the knee. With the inhale, return your head and hands to the mat, lift your leg toward the ceiling. With the exhale, slowly place the extended leg on the ground. Then the same with the other leg. Practice in the rhythm of your breath and with full concentration on the movement. Slowly finish so that you perform the same number of repetitions on both sides. Then slowly sit down and take Vajrāsana. We are going to practice the third part of the system of Yoga in Daily Life, and it begins with Vajrāsana. First, let’s align our starting position. Stretch upwards through the crown of the head. Bring the shoulders back and down. On the inhale, we move into a high kneeling position. Exhale to all fours. Bring the knee closer to the forehead. With the inhale, we gently extend the leg backward, but in such a way that the pelvis does not twist to the side. With the exhale, bring the body back toward the knee. Inhale, arch. Exhale, round. Last exhale, return the knee, rise up, and with the exhale come down onto the heels. Let us become aware of our body. We will do it on the other side as well. Inhale. Exhale on all fours. Clasp your hands to the forehead. With the inhale, we move into the backbend. The body remains in the lower level. It is not about extending the leg as far as possible, but about properly arching the spine. Now perform one more round in the rhythm of your breath. Try to arch the spine in the thoracic region. When you arch your back, try to arch in the area of the lumbar spine. Focus on the area of the spine. We try to bend the leg or to cross the legs along the body’s axis, as if we wanted to step on the ceiling. Once you complete the second round, lie down in Ananda Āsana. Once again, become aware of your entire body. Relax your entire body. Be aware of the effects, the āsanas. Completely relax. Take a breath in and out through your block. Wiggle the fingers on your hands, stretch your feet. We will continue with Skandharāsana. Bend your legs, with your feet about 40 cm apart. Hold your heels or ankles. If you do not have problems with your cervical spine, then with the inhale, lift your pelvis as high as you can and remain in the position with breath retention. If you have issues with your cervical spine, do not lift the pelvis too high. With the exhale, we slowly return vertebra by vertebra back to the mat. The pelvis is placed down last. We will do it two more times. The moment you get into that position, try to relax all the muscles you can relax. When you finish, once again lie down on your back. Mentally prepare yourselves for Viparīta Karaṇī Mudrā. If you have high blood pressure or tend to feel dizzy, do not practice it. If you do not know this āsana, then take a look. We begin lying on our backs. Then we bring the knees closer to the forehead. We can pull them towards us with the elbows. Then we place the pelvis into the palms and lift the legs, stretching them perpendicular to the ceiling. The entire weight of the body essentially rests on the elbows. The head and neck are hardly burdened at all. We will remain in the position as long as it feels comfortable to us, about two to three minutes. So, either you have not started practicing yet, so please move into the posture. And you, who are already practicing, stay a little longer. It is not a candle; it is not a shoulder stand. If you are already coming back, then come back slowly and in such a way that your head does not lift off the mat. Then just observe the effects of the practice for a while and feel how the blood circulation returns back. Slowly, we all return to Ananda Āsana. The movements of inhalation and exhalation. Stretch and move into Vajrāsana. Before we continue with the next āsana, I will try to demonstrate the difference between Viparīta Karaṇī Mudrā and the Candle. As I was observing, many of you were practicing more of the candle pose. When using a candle, the entire weight rests on the shoulders. During Viparīta Karaṇī Mudrā, the weight is wisely shifted onto the elbows. In a certain sense, I actually sit on my hands. In the candle, the spine, the lumbar spine, is straight, and I basically don’t need my hands. In Viparīta Karaṇī Mudrā, I slightly arch the lumbar spine, and here again, I don’t need the head. So this is the Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā. Both of these positions are indeed inverted postures, so certain effects are similar. Both increase blood flow to the head. But with that candle, there is greater pressure on the thyroid area, whereas with the Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, there is no such pressure. Now we will begin Uṣṭrāsana. Let’s adjust the set again. With the inhale, we move into a high kneeling position. You can place your knees a little apart. Now we will move into a backbend. We will hold the left heel with the left hand. We breathe normally. We press the palms above the knees, and the gaze follows the hand reaching upward. With the inhale, return and settle onto the heels. It is not advisable to practice that posture after abdominal surgeries or in cases of problems with the lumbar spine. We will perform it on the other side. The fingers are placed on the inner side of the heel, so that the chest opens up. We try to arch the entire back along its full length. With the inhale, return again. This means that we do not bend only in the lumbar region, but we also strive for a bend in the thoracic area. The more you allow your thoracic spine to arch, the more comfortably you will be able to perform the āsana. So, the second option. Inhale upwards. We catch the right wrist with the left hand. Inhale, then return again. The other side. Do not forget the full yogic breath. The third variation: we hold both hands behind the heels, and if you have no issues in the cervical area, you can let your head hang back. Upon returning, first lift the head, then the body. We continue with Garuḍāsana, so let us move into standing. We become aware of our position. And now we shall partake. We will cross our arms and join our palms. Now become aware of which hand is at the bottom. Find a fixed point in front of you and focus your gaze on that point. Now, shift your weight onto the same leg as the hand you have forward in the pose. We wrap the foot so that the instep goes behind the calf. With a straight back, we then slowly move into a forward bend until the elbow touches the knee. We will remain in the position for a moment. Then slowly return with the inhale. It is good to practice this on a firm mat. It is better not to stand on a mat or a blanket, but directly on the carpet. In order to properly wrap that leg, it is necessary to slightly bend the standing leg. Because if you keep it stretched, it won’t work; you have to bend it. We extend our arms again, cross the hands in reverse, again to the side that is underneath, and shift the weight. To every side, try to perform the exercise consciously and with concentration. For all balancing postures, it is essential first to calm the mind, and only then can the balancing postures be performed well. In that forward bend, try to keep the spine extended and aligned. At the feet, if you manage to wrap the foot so that you hook the instep behind the shin, the posture becomes more stable. If you just leave the foot like that, the position itself doesn’t hold. If you hook the ankle, that is, if you get the foot there, then the legs hold by themselves. So if you can do it like this, the position is much more stable. Last repetition. Now one back. Try to withdraw inward. Slowly we come into Vajrāsana. We will continue with Vīrāsana, the hero’s pose. Place your right foot on the toes. Place the left foot next to the knee and sit on the right heel, so that the heel is between the buttocks, and rest the chin on the palm. Fix your gaze again on a steady point in front of you, or you can close your eyes and find an inner steady point. Relax in the posture, smile, and hold for a moment with normal breathing. It is not advisable to practice this posture immediately after a fresh foot injury. We will slowly return and perform it on the other side. You do the āsana on the other side. This āsana is good for practicing tapas, the ability to endure. But of course, if you feel pain, then do not practice, or practice with less endurance. But if it is just discomfort, then endure it. We will return again. Let us return once again to standing. Stand with your feet apart. We will practice Trikoṇāsana. Again, a full yoga exhale. First variation. With the exhale, slide the right hand down towards the ankle and the left hand up towards the armpit. Gaze upward towards the elbow, and with the inhale, return to the center position. Exhale to the other side. Inhale. Twice more to each side, but try to keep it a pure lateral bend, avoiding forward or backward bending, and also approach the position with relaxation. Do not try to force the body into that position. Relax in that position, and that relaxation will help you deepen the bow. Once you have finished, remain standing. We will continue with the second option. With the inhale, we extend the arms to the sides. Again, exhale to the right. We look upward toward the hand. Inhale to the center, exhale. Let us relax the hands. Inhale and exhale. Try not to rest that lower hand on the leg, because the moment you lean there, the position can no longer progress. The hand slides along the leg, or you can simply let it hang completely free. The third option. Again, with the inhale, we contemplate. With the exhale, we move to the right and the arm goes over the head, as far into the distance as possible. Try to stretch that arm all the way to your ear and pull yourself up by the fingertips. In this variation, the gaze is directed forward. We breathe with full yogic breath. Again, once you have completed three times on each side, remain standing for a moment. So once more, when you have finished the third round, center yourself in the middle posture. Now the fourth variation. Reach your hand toward the right feet and come up with the right hand to the right foot. The right hand is raised, and the gaze is directed beyond the right hand. With the inhale to the middle position. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale to the other side. Inhale. And exhale. This is how you are, just by bowing forward. You can rotate further by drawing the shoulder toward the foot. Try to keep the arms aligned in a straight line, just as you have them here, so that they remain aligned in the rotation as well. Again, when you finish, remain standing. The last variation of Trikoṇāsana. We will hold the left wrist with the right hand. With the exhale, we turn one leg out. In doing so, we also turn the body. With the exhale, we bring the forehead or nose closer to the knee. Inhale to the neutral position. Exhale and return the leg. We turn to the second one. Again, with the exhale. The second leg remains bent, and try to go into that forward bend with a straight back, and only in the final phase bring your head closer to the knee. When you finish, pause again for a moment in the middle position. Stand up with your feet. Close your eyes and relax for a moment. Bring your attention back inward to your breath. We are about to enter another balanced posture: Kapotāsana. If you have a knee injury or knee problems, then do not practice it again. Feet together, legs to the groin. We press the knee backward. We raise our arms overhead and join the palms. We place our hands over the abyss, bowing slightly forward. Then we will gradually move into four counts, four beats, into a straight forward bend. We will stay there for a moment. Then slowly return with the inhalation back. Once more to each side. Again, we keep the back stretched during the forward bend. Once you have finished, remain standing for a moment. Full yogic breath. Feel your body. The last balanced posture: Haṃsāsana, swan. Once again, we shift the weight onto one leg. Let’s hold the instep. Inhale and raise your arms. We move into a gentle forward bend and stretch the leg as far away from the body as possible, opposite to the hand. With the inhale, and with the exhale back. We remain in the position with the breath held. On the other side. You should feel a stretch in the front of the torso. Again, you should not rotate the leg outward during the stretch. It should remain aligned in the same axis, not sideways like this. That would be more like a little dog afterwards. Try to feel like that swan. Nobly, calmly, you glide upon the surface. In the third part, there is also Sūrya Namaskāra, a salutation to the sun, but we will save that for the afternoon. So now lie down on your back and relax briefly. Then we will continue with Prāṇāyāma. Become aware of the support of your body. Become aware of how the hands are placed, how the feet are positioned, what is the posture of the torso. Alternatively, adjust your position so that the spine is straight, so that you lie down comfortably. Completely relax. Take a deep breath and with the exhale, relax your entire body. A deep inhale and exhale. One more deep inhale and a long, slow exhale. Move the fingers on your hands and feet. Stretch as you do when you wake up in the morning, then slowly sit down and prepare for Prāṇāyāma. Sit properly with a straight back. Close your eyes and direct your gaze and attention to the breath. We will chant Oṃ once. A deep breath. Oṃ. Focus your body so that the path remains upright. Focus your attention on the breath. Be aware of every inhalation and every exhalation. We will practice the third stage of Nāḍī Śodhana. Place your right hand in the Prāṇāyāma Mudrā: the index and middle fingers on the center between the eyebrows. We will begin the inhale with the left. Exhale through the right nostril. Inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left. We continue further: inhale through the left, exhale through the right. On the exhale through the left nostril, we return the hand back to the knee and breathe for a moment through both nostrils: calm, full yogic breath. Once again, we place the hand in the Prāṇāyāma Mudrā. We begin with an inhale through the right nostril, an exhale through the left, an inhale through the left, and an exhale through the right nostril. After the exhale through the right nostril, we return the hand back to the knee and breathe through both nostrils for a moment again. To conclude, we will chant the Oṃ mantra three times. A deep breath. Use your palms. Place your palms on your face. Warm up the muscles of your face, then spread your palms apart and bow forward. And thank you.