TV Channel

Take your mala in your hands. If you have a mantra, repeat your mantra, and relax your body—your back, your neck, your shoulders, your arms, your hands, your head, your face. Relax your facial muscles, your eyes and eyelids, your tongue, your throat. Be aware of your body, and simply relax. Be aware of your breath. You know that you inhale and you exhale. Bring your awareness to the condition of your breath. How deep is your inhalation and exhalation? Just observe. Is your breath flowing easily? Is there any tension? How long is your inhalation and exhalation? Just observe; do not influence. Relax your abdomen. Be aware of your inhalation and exhalation. Just observe, do not influence. Keep your body relaxed. You are aware that you inhale and you exhale. Now slightly deepen your inhalation. Let the exhalation be very gentle; exhalation happens automatically. With inhalation, you deepen your breath. With exhalation, your breath flows out of your body. Imagine that with inhalation, your body expands slightly and gently. With exhalation, your whole body contracts. Imagine that with exhalation you relax more and more. Your body relaxes; your mind relaxes. Continue to inhale and exhale with awareness. Inhalation—your body expands; exhalation—it contracts. When you exhale, let your breath flow. Go deeper and deeper. Be aware of all the movements in your body, the condition of your body, the nature of your breath. Just relax. Try to keep your body firm yet relaxed. When you feel any tension in your body, use your exhalation to dispel that tension. You are still observing your breath. Find out if there is any difference in the condition of your breath between five minutes ago and now. Are there any changes? And imagine that with your inhalation, you inhale light through your whole body—front side, back side. With inhalation, you inhale light. With exhalation, you dispel all the used energy, all tension, all your unwanted qualities. With inhalation again, you take the light in—the light that purifies your whole body and mind, that nourishes you. That is your own prāṇa. With exhalation, you exhale all your unwanted qualities. This energy is very subtle, fine, like a refreshing fog. It gives you strength, vitality, health, positive vibrations. It is part of you. This prāṇa surrounds your whole body. Try to discover its quality: Is it light or heavy? Does it have any color? Does it have any sound? Keep your body relaxed. Try to dive deep into that light that surrounds your whole body, your entire being. Feel the light all around you, like a cloth, like a blanket. It surrounds you, covers you, protects you, and nourishes you. Try to feel that. And imagine that this light surrounding your whole body slowly focuses toward your heart, toward your Anāhata Cakra. Try to imagine how this light that surrounds your body concentrates and bundles itself in the Anāhata Cakra, toward your heart. Feel how this light travels to your Anāhata Cakra with your breath. Slowly bring your attention to the center of your chest and reside there. Observe once more any movements in your Anāhata Cakra. Whatever happens there, be the observer. You are residing there with your mantra and your Iṣṭadevatā. Try to go deeper and deeper into your heart. Let it flow. Let it grow. Let things go, and allow your heart to open like a flower. Let your own divine flower blossom there. Let everything reveal your own beauty and the divinity of your Iṣṭadevatā residing there. Just relax and let it happen. Allow it to happen. Try to remain in your heart and experience its qualities. It is your true nature. Try to allow yourself to experience your true nature. Try to discover what it is and what its qualities are. Let your awareness be still in your Anāhata Cakra. Be aware of the presence of the light. Feel how slowly this light spreads throughout your whole body and beyond your body. It penetrates through all your kośas, illuminating your whole being. Try to extend this light further, toward the whole creation, toward all beings. Make yourself aware of your breath. Find out the relationship between your breath and this light. Is there any difference in quality? And as you are aware of your body, find out what the difference is between your gross body and that energy. You are aware of your breath, you are aware of your body, and you are aware of that light that unites—the source of your whole being. Take this light with you. You are aware of my voice, your body, and the place where you are sitting. Feel your contact with the floor through your body. You are inhaling and exhaling. Take one deep inhale and exhale; with the exhalation, really exhale all the tension you still might have. Inhale and exhale. Be aware of your body, your breath, your thoughts. And with the next inhalation, we will sing Oṁ three times together. Deep inhale; put your palms together, cover your face, and massage your facial muscles, your eyes. And slowly bend forward. Hari Om. Now we continue with the physical practice. Seven, eight, nine, and slowly sit back on ten. It is very important that the first and last movements be performed correctly. Try to slowly go up, and then slowly go down—not quickly. All the time your pelvis must go forward, and you slowly go down. When we practice this, we will feel the muscles. Slowly up and slowly down. We will practice this a few times. If we start and go quickly, it is not good. A little back, slowly up, go together, and slowly down. Sit. I know it feels easy, but it is not good. Why? If we practice every day like that, we will not feel our muscles, and then we will say, “Oh, I have a problem with my knees.” But if we practice with control, our muscles will be strengthened, and we will not have knee problems. Slowly go up, and slowly, slowly go down. You feel the muscles working. Once more: slowly up—not good—and slowly down. Now warmth builds in your body. Once more: slowly up, and on the halfway point we will stop. Stay and enjoy. Then go down. Now we will continue with the Smārjanī. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, slowly… ten. Excellent. Once more in your own rhythm. Now feel your whole body—feel your muscles, your thigh muscles. If you feel a pleasant, warm sensation in your thigh muscles, it means you practiced correctly. Feel your spinal column, also a nice warm feeling, and your abdomen. But we are still just warming up. First we will practice Kaṭu Praṇām, where we will stay in each position for some time, and afterward we will practice it with the breath in one soft, continuous flow. We will practice together because you know this. Every position must be completely correct, and then we will receive good benefit. When each position is one hundred percent correct, the effect will be very positive. Slowly inhale; with inhalation, hands go up and stay in this position. Breathe normally. Open hands. Two: slowly go down. Relax in Śaśāṅkāsana. Three: slowly, slowly go up and stay in position. Breathe normally in this position, but try to relax your abdomen. This is an excellent exercise for relaxing the pelvis and all organs in the pelvis. Slowly—but remember, not like this; your pelvis must be on the floor. If you have a problem with the spinal column, your navel must still be on the floor. We practice with the muscles, not with the hands. Try to raise your arms. Now we know the strength of our muscles, so go a little further. Hands down. Five: heels on the floor. Patañjali. Six: right leg. Seven. Eight. Nine. And now we will relax in this position—completely relaxed. Relax your whole body, but keep your legs straight; do not bend the knees. Completely relax; gravity helps us. Feel the stretching through your body, especially the legs. Breathe with awareness and feel the movements of your abdomen. And the most important thing: enjoy this position—do not suffer, but enjoy. Now slowly go up; stretch your body upward, look slightly up. Again slowly go down, look straight ahead—not down. Yes. And relax. Left leg. Stay in this position, and right leg… go back. Completely relax in this position. Be aware of your breathing process, the breathing of your abdomen. In the knee position, just stretch up; do not let the knee go outward. Stay up and enjoy. It is really good; you feel your whole body. This āsana is also excellent for strengthening the body and the breathing process. In this position, breathe, stay a little longer—a few minutes more—and slowly go down. Fifteen and sixteen are very important. Slowly, slowly go down into Bhujaṅgāsana; your pelvis must stay on the floor. Imagine that someone very heavy is sitting on your back. Baka; eighteen: Śaśāṅkāsana; eighteen and twenty. Two times make one round. Now we will practice on the other side. One—stay in position. Three, six, and relax. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. It is excellent to start and finish in the same place, without shifting forward or backward. It would be ideal if we begin and end at the same spot. Now we will practice Kaṭhu Praṇām with breathing in one continuous exercise—but correctly. Every movement must be one hundred percent clean and correct. We must ensure all positions are precise, and then we will have excellent results. Inhale, exhale, inhale, kumbhaka, exhale—right leg. Inhale, right leg, exhale, kumbhaka also. Inhale, exhale—left leg stay, left. Inhale, exhale, empty. Empty. With inhalation, slowly go into Bhujaṅgāsana. Exhale, back. Inhale, and exhale—another side. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. That is one round. Two more rounds, but in your own rhythm—altogether four rounds. When you finish, lie down in Ānandāsana and relax. Feel your whole body. Feel the benefit of Kaṭhu Praṇām and Agnisāra Kriyā. First feel the abdomen—a lovely warm feeling in your abdomen, as if you just drank a nice, hot cup of tea. A pleasant warmth and relaxation spread from your abdomen. Now feel your legs, hands, arms, palms, and spinal column. Be aware of the breathing process—the complete yogic breath. The abdomen holds three levels, but mostly we will feel the movements of the abdomen. Deep inhale, exhale, and prepare for Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā. A few very important things about Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā. Watch for a moment: if we place our hands in one position, we will constantly feel that we might slide down. If we adjust them differently, the abdomen stays completely relaxed. In the standing position, stay still. No movements—just stay comfortably for a long time, and afterward slowly go down. But constantly maintain control of your muscles. The head must stay on the floor as you descend; everything is done with your muscles. Now, for Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, slowly go up, stay in position. If you have high blood pressure, high eye pressure, or are menstruating, do not practice this mudrā. Stay in the position without any movement; this is very important. If you have any problem with the glandular system, however, practice it every day. As we know from Swāmījī’s lecture and from the book Yoga in Daily Life, one section explains prāṇa. It describes the five prāṇas and the five upa-prāṇas, and we know which exercise corresponds to each prāṇa. We begin with Agnisāra Kriyā and Nauli, which purify and strengthen all ten prāṇas. Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā is also vital; its influence on Udāna Prāṇa is important for awakening Kuṇḍalinī, because that prāṇa travels from the heart to the brain. So this is very significant. If you have read the chapter on prāṇa, five prāṇas and five upa-prāṇas, you know it works on Udāna Prāṇa, which is important for raising Kuṇḍalinī Śakti as it moves from heart to brain. If you feel any discomfort, slowly return to Ānandāsana. Stay still; do not move the head. It is essential in Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā to remain motionless. Only the abdomen moves because you are breathing. So do not move the whole body; just breathe. Now slowly come back to Ānandāsana and relax. This mudrā is also excellent for blood circulation. If we sit all day, it is wonderful for the brain, memory, and eyes. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Now sit in any comfortable position, but a few things are very important. First, it must be comfortable so you can sit for ten, fifteen, or even half an hour without moving. We will sit for five, ten, twenty, or thirty minutes completely still. Second, do not harm your knees. Do not perform Padmāsana if you feel pain in the knee all the time; it is not good. Sit comfortably. We will practice Nāḍī Śodhana—Nāḍī Śodhana, purification of the nāḍīs. The second very important point is that we sit with the strength of the spinal column. Why? Keep asking yourself, “Why?” If we ask why, we will go further and further because we want to understand why we sit in this position. If we sit slumped, it is almost impossible to breathe with the abdomen and full chest and lungs; the breath becomes quick and very short. But if we sit erect, we breathe normally. Moreover, when we sit in a good posture, we feel inwardly like a king. Slouching makes us feel like a beggar, and that is not yoga. The positions of the body influence our thoughts. Therefore, we must sit like a king. What does Nāḍī Śodhana mean? Inhale through the left nostril, exhale through the right; inhale through the right, exhale through the left. That is one round. We will do ten rounds on one side, then relax and breathe normally with both nostrils. After that, inhale through the right, exhale through the left; inhale through the left, exhale through the right—another ten rounds. We will do this once, completing prāṇāyāma. Sit comfortably, but also feel within yourself softness, kindness, love—not pride. Even though you sit like a king, inside you are a kind, loving person. And maintain Madhu Mudrā. Always, Madhu Mudrā is important—that honey-like quality at the base of the face, not a slack expression. When you do this, you will experience a completely different quality of thinking and feeling, and then prāṇāyāma will be excellent. If we sit like that, prāṇāyāma will be complete. Take a deep inhale and exhale; with that exhalation, completely relax the whole body. It is like stepping into a warm, nice bath—with one exhalation you feel totally relaxed. Be aware of the movements of your abdomen, which means complete yogic breath: inhalation and exhalation in all three parts. Now we will chant three times Oṁ. During the chanting of Oṁ, slowly withdraw into your inner space. So, while we are singing Oṁ, gently go inward. Inhale. Oṁ. Naham Karata Prabhu Dip Karata. Place your palms on your face; warm your facial muscles, and slowly bow down. Hari Om.