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Welcome to Svijet Duhovnog Razvoja Jašan, Zagreb. Today we will have the fifth-level class, Yoga in Daily Life. Lie down in Ānandāsana and let us relax. Make yourselves comfortable, palms facing the ceiling, legs slightly apart. As you know, everything we practice in yoga has its purpose, and if we ask ourselves why, we must receive an answer. That is why we say that yoga is the science of the body, mind, spirit, and soul. In science, you must always have an answer for why you are doing something. The palms are turned towards the ceiling so that our shoulder blades rest on the floor, our chest is open, and we can breathe more fully. On the other hand, this allows our shoulders to come closer to the ground, thus relaxing the shoulder girdle, the nape, and the neck. The important thing is that throughout the entire day, when we are stressed, the shoulders slowly tense up and rise upwards. Now it is time to lower them down. The legs are slightly apart. Why? In this way, your pelvis is relaxed. Then you have good circulation in the pelvis and your abdomen is relaxed. Because one of the most important things is, especially when you return home after work, the breathing. We need to breathe again, because due to stress, tension, and the turbulent rhythm of life, we simply forget to breathe. And if we breathe, then we breathe only with the upper clavicular part or the chest. To relax, the prerequisite is that we breathe with the abdomen. Abdominal breathing, essentially diaphragmatic breathing—breathing with the lower part of the lungs—works well to massage the internal organs and calms our emotions. It works well on the rhythm of our heart, calming the heart’s rhythm, and it also effectively aids the venous circulation from the legs towards the heart. Take one breath a little deeper in and out. Let us move the fingers on our hands and feet, stretch with the inhalation, and relax with the exhalation. Rub your palms together and place them over your eyelids, then open your eyes and lower your hands. Let us remain in this posture. Before we begin the fifth part, we need to stretch a little, so it’s not too strenuous right away and to prevent any injuries. Everything you practice, you should practice relaxed; you should practice without effort. It is said: up to the limits of comfort. However, not to the point of comfort where we are lazy and unwilling to practice, but to the point where we understand our body and when we feel that our body is telling us this could be dangerous, it could get injured—do not go beyond that. Pavanamuktāsana: Nose to the Knees Right leg: inhale, exhale, squeeze the knee as much as possible, nose to the knee. Inhale, lower your head to the floor, and exhale, stretch out the leg. The second leg: inhale, exhale, inhale and exhale. And now we will perform the second cycle. Inhale, exhale, inhale, and exhale. Inhale, exhale, inhale, and exhale. Complete one more cycle on your own, at your own pace. Pavanamuktāsana is one of the very important āsanas, which is why it is largely a part of your kriyā. So, if you have an increased lordosis, an exaggerated arch, then with this āsana we compress and stretch the lower part, then stretch the cervical part, the thoracic part, stimulate digestion, and likewise with this posture you stimulate complete yoga breathing. So what we do at the beginning is gentle stretching, but on the other hand, it is also the activation of complete yoga breathing. Feel now the legs, the flow in the legs. Often, poor circulation is precisely why we have tension in the hips, groin, and pelvis, and with this āsana, we manage to remove it. And now you can feel a freshness, a circulation in your legs. Let us slowly settle into Vajrāsana. Marjari Āsana (The Cat Pose) The next āsana we will perform is the cat, Marjari. Regardless of the level we are at, it would be good to start with the cat pose, as it mobilizes the spine in this way and stimulates complete yoga breathing. You know, Marjari, however, a couple of things that are important. First, do not rise in this way and descend in that way. Lean back slightly and lift and lower yourself using the thigh muscles. In this way, every day when we perform the cat pose, we strengthen the thigh and muscles under the knees, stabilize the knee, and will not have problems with the knees. The second thing: when we are in this position and when we tense up completely and exhale, we can just slightly contract the perineum. In this way, we will deepen the exhalation. And the very next movement is to relax the torso so that air enters the lower part of the lungs, then the thoracic and clavicular, noting that this is not the correct position because in this way we cannot have clavicular breathing, only thoracic. Only when we push off with our hands and make this movement does the air naturally enter this upper clavicular part, and then you very effectively stimulate the activation of the entire lungs. And not just vertical breathing with this chest part, but you have the entire abdomen, actually the lower part of the clavicle, the middle, and the upper clavicle. Cat, Marjari: one, two, gaze into the navel, then we shake ourselves off; three, the spine is like a saddle, we shake ourselves off, look up—in this way we also work on the thoracic part; four, exhale; five, six, seven, eight, nine, and the vertical spine. Slowly, slowly we descend down so that we feel the thighs. Excellent. Second cycle: one, two, exhale, we shake like this, gaze at the navel, slightly contract the transverse abdominis; three, relax the transverse abdominis—essentially we do not inhale, but the movement causes the air to enter inside; four, as we begin to move, an automatic exhalation occurs; five, six, seven, eight, slowly we rise up; nine and sit down ten. Excellent. We will do another cycle on our own, at our own pace. You may begin. So what is most important is: do not try to inhale and exhale, but allow the movement to cause the air to enter and the movement to cause the air to exit. In this way, the movement itself will be much slower, you will have a fuller inhalation and exhalation, and that is what is called the harmony of breath and movement into one whole. And in that way, in the fastest possible manner, we remove stress, what we have managed to accumulate during our working day. And every time you are stressed, just try to feel how you are breathing. You will notice that you are breathing with the clavicular part, and from that moment try to tell yourself to relax, breathe with the abdomen. Relax your forehead and you will see that you automatically calm down. Let us remain in Vajrāsana, breathing normally, the spine straight and the abdomen relaxed. Allow there to be a single movement of the navel, so that with the inhalation the abdomen moves forward, and with the exhalation it contracts. Palms are on the thighs; this way the shoulders are relaxed, the shoulder and neck area are at ease. It works well on the occiput, the neck, and it is good against headaches. This Vajrāsana posture affects the Maṇipūra Cakra, Anāhata Cakra, and Agni Cakra. It is good for digestion, helpful for directing emotions, and clears the mind. We will relax a little in Vajrāsana and then slowly begin with the fifth stages. Paścimottānāsana Let us slowly sit down in Daṇḍāsana, sitting with legs extended. And the first āsana from the preparatory stage that we will practice is Paścimottānāsana. When practicing Paścimottānāsana, try to imagine that you have a kind of clasp, like a compass, a single fold. We do not bend in this chest area, but it would be very good if we could curl the abdomen downwards. In this way, the stretching of the lateral side occurs; we effectively influence the Maṇipūra Cakra; we effectively work on dissolving fat deposits in the abdomen; we stimulate digestion, Agni; and then there is improved circulation of the lumbar spine—but not only improved circulation of the lumbar spine, blood, but also prāṇa—and we act upon the Suṣumnā. So, let us look. Here, we should proceed in the following way. Always in the initial position, a moment to relax. We are aware of how the āsana will look; we are aware that we will perform it, and at one moment you can visualize yourself perfectly executing that āsana. And then simply do that. So, we breathe normally, observe first. Then the inhalation comes, the arms go up, the gaze is upward. And then from the hips we go down, exhale. Let us hold onto our knees and lower ourselves down to the ankles, breathing in this posture. When we breathe in this position, we will feel abdominal breathing and sense this lower part due to the diaphragm expanding and contracting with the breath, and in this way, we will have... With abdominal breathing, a massage of the lower part—when we return, imagine someone pulling your hands forward, and then we go up, inhale, again straighten the chest, and lower the hands. When we perform the āsana in that way, we will feel a stretch from the area of the perineum, the region between the anus and genitals, all the way upward. It will be very good for our Mūlādhāra, very good for the female reproductive organs, and also very good for the prostate. The entire torso stretches. We can begin. Inhale and with a straight spine, we go down. Let us remain in the posture, breathe normally, hold onto the heels without any jerks, pulling, or twitching, but simply stay in the posture. And when we are in the posture, let us be aware of the breath and how in this lower part, with the inhalation there is a stretching, and with the exhalation a lowering. And the whole time, the principle is not to go down, but rather it is as if we are constantly stretching forward. And in this way, we feel this field. Then, slowly we move upward. Inhale, as if something is being drawn upward. Excellent. And inhale, and lower your hips onto the floor. How long we remain in the posture depends on our daily practice on that day. At the beginning, we can stay briefly, then exhale two or three times. Or later we can stay in the posture once for two, three, five minutes. And we will do it one more time. Inhale, because the arms go up. We breathe, with a straight spine, we go down. So imagine as if someone is pulling you forward. Excellent. And let us relax beautifully. Breathing is essential. Do not forget to breathe. And then it feels as if someone is pulling your hands; inhale, we go up, and exhale with the palm on the thigh. And lie down in Ānandāsana, let us relax. In āsanas where we remain in the posture for a longer time, it is important that afterwards we lie down in Ānandāsana. Not too long, just a few moments. Because āsana does not act only while you are in that posture, but it also has some time afterward to act. And then, if you remain in Ānandāsana, we have a few things. First, feel your body. Feel what is happening with your body, how the āsana has affected you: the circulation, the breath, the heartbeat. Āsanas do not act only on the body. They are also a correction of our behavior; they act on our consciousness; they affect our entire being. And now try to feel how you are. Be aware of your thoughts, how you feel, and what is happening within you, not only in your physical aspect but also in your mental one. Often, when we experience depression, tension, nervousness, we don’t know what is wrong with us; we feel bored, but in a strange way, try practicing Paścimottānāsana then. And you will see, after that āsana, when you stay for a longer time, the circulation in the legs will improve, you will feel life in your legs, you will feel your Maṇipūra Cakra, and the state of consciousness will automatically change. Because the Maṇipūra Cakra, the level of consciousness of the Maṇipūra Cakra, is the level of consciousness of rajas. So if we say that our Maṇipūra Cakra is active, our consciousness is—we feel perfect. As if we were in paradise. And then, when we feel so good, we will do the next āsana. Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana Let us sit down slowly. Upaviṣṭha Koṇāsana. This is a slightly more demanding āsana. We spread the legs. If we don’t have space, we sit a little zig-zag, and the most important thing about this āsana is that we sit upright. If you can, feel your tailbone, your little tail. If the tailbone is about two fingers from the floor, you will normally feel this part stretching nicely. But then you can sit upright. The moment your tailbone is on the floor, you can no longer sit upright; you fall backward, the thigh muscles are tense, the abdomen is tense, and our entire descent is like this. So, to perform this āsana, you need to execute the position from the pelvis. So the tailbone is slightly raised. And this is the starting position. At the same time, the abdomen is relaxed. The thigh muscles are completely relaxed. And you too can be in this position. Place your palms here, not with arms spread wide like this, but joined together. Can we sit here or do we fall and tremble? If we tremble, it is because these muscles, which try to keep us upright, are overstrained. This is the beginning. Feet, pull the heels towards yourself, not inward, not outward, but vertically. And then, just like a moment ago, inhale, first look, raise your hands up. Again, imagine someone stretching you upwards, bending in the chest area with your gaze directed upwards. Imagine as if you have a shawl around your neck. That is the posture. Why? Because in that way the back muscles take on the force, not the spine. And in that way, we slowly move downward. Let us grasp the feet and slowly the abdomen, the chest, and finally the head may follow. We breathe in the posture. If it feels comfortable, we can even lower our hands. But the spine is straight. Do not do this. Say, let us warm up. When we rise, the same way. Inhale and exhale. We do everything with muscles that must be strong enough, but they must also be sufficiently flexible. This is a slightly more challenging āsana. The most important thing must not be jerks or sudden movements, because that leads to strain and we will not be able to perform this āsana for a long time. Inhale, as the arms go up, and exhale. This āsana works similarly to Paścimottānāsana; however, it affects a different group of muscles in the legs. It works more on this inner part; it works very well on your hips; and also when you manage to lower yourself into that position, besides stretching the leg muscles, it also works very well on your digestion, especially because it stretches the area around the anus, which is good. It is against hemorrhoids; that area is stretched. And now again, slowly we go up. Inhale and go, and place the palms on the thighs. It is important for all āsanas to practice every day, but especially with this āsana you can notice if you have skipped a few days. It immediately shortens. Jānu Śīrṣāsana (Side Variation) The next side is also from this position; then we will relax into Ānandāsana. Jānu Śīrṣāsana: clasping the wrists behind the back, turning to the left with a straight spine downwards. The same: the chest on the floor, actually on the hip, on the chest, and it would be good if the forehead is on the root of the hairline. We breathe as we rise; as if someone is pulling our head forward again, we go up; inhale and exhale, palms on the hips. You should be upright, yet at the same time relaxed—not upright in a stiff, rigid way. The entire time is relaxed. On the other hand, a turn. And likewise, imagine someone grabbing their chin and pulling it forward. And in that way, we go down. Slowly, we go up. Rise and breathe with your palm and on your thigh. Now surrender to feeling the abdomen, but perhaps a little more on this side. Do you feel increased circulation there? The same goes for the kidneys. You will notice that it is always easier to go to one side, and more difficult to the other. But that does not mean that we then perform more frequently and longer, or more on the harder side, nor that we extend the time of external resistance longer on the easier side. We are already trying to discipline ourselves to stay an equal number of times and for an equal length on both sides. In this way, we will bring the body into balance. One more time, and then we will relax and feel the effects of these āsanas. Inhale, turn to the left, straighten your chest, imagine someone pulling your chin, excellent, let yourself down, slowly come up, inhale and exhale. And to the other side: inhale, turn, and exhale. Feel the groin, the natural stretch of the legs. In this case, since we are on the right side, we will feel the right leg, the right groin. We will feel the right kidney, but the left one as it stretches. Slowly we go up and exhale with the palm on the thigh. And we lie down in Ānandāsana. Just two or three inhales and exhales. Even with this āsana, we can feel the inner side of the legs, but you can also feel the knees. This is because the strongest stretch is perhaps felt in the tendons, ligaments, around the knee itself. If you only have stretching, but no muscle strengthening, then we again face great problems. Because stretching alone without strengthening leads to injury even with the smallest movement. If you have again incredibly strong muscles, but they are short, we are still stiff and problems arise. Mṛgāsana Now we will slowly turn into the Vajrāsana position. And since we were able to feel the stretch in the previous two āsanas, especially in this part here—the stretch around the knees—the next āsana will be very good: Mṛgāsana, precisely for that area. So, look. In Mṛgāsana, we lie on the abdomen. What matters is how we have positioned the head. If we place the head in this way, then what happens? At the very moment, your neck can become stiff; now just imagine someone stretching you there. It’s as if you are doing a waking step. We stretch the arms forward and bend. So, it’s as if you have the chance to return like this once again. See how much space you have between your chin and your palms. You are not passive and thus injure and stiffen your neck; instead, you stretch upward. You will have a beneficial effect on the chest area, you will strengthen the neck muscles, you will strengthen the chest area. Your neck will not hurt. That is the first thing. Then, slowly, we start with the legs first. Look once, then again. It appears to be an incredibly simple āsana. Do not do this. Do not do those things. But slowly and just as slowly back. In this way, you strengthen the musculature. You distribute to the knee. The greatest is this soft part here, actually the guard part of the knee. You will feel the cruciate ligaments. You are stabilizing the knee. The slower you work, the better the effect. You also apply pressure on the cross, and this posture, since it is a stretch from the chin to the pubic bone, affects digestion. This āsana is very good if you experience an attack of a duodenal ulcer and also if you have heartburn. Try it and you will see how it calms down. So we can slowly begin. In this way, we increase the blood flow to the knee, warming it up; if we have a repetitive movement for a longer time, it leads to even better lubrication, and naturally, it is without strain. First, slowly one leg, and then when we lower that leg, we proceed with the other. Why? Because in that way, when you lower one leg and move to the other, first you will feel one side of the back muscles longer near the sacrum, and secondly... Not the whole time one or the other. We breathe with the abdomen—not just the abdomen, but complete yoga breathing. How long? You can practice for about 5 minutes or more. In this way, you work on strengthening the knees. I say exercise, because this is also used after knee surgery; therefore, it is not an āsana, but for loosening up and, naturally, to strengthen and fortify the knee. However, Mṛgāsana is not only beneficial for the knee, but it also works very well on our entire nervous system. It calms and enhances concentration. However, much better than having someone explain to you what an āsana affects, try to move inward and feel what it influences. If you feel a kind of clicking in the knee, there is no need to be afraid; it is a perfectly normal thing because of these circumstances. Let us release the leg. Let us also release the head in the same way. If your neck hurts or feels stiff, it is a sign that you have not properly aligned the āsana. However, if you do not feel any issues with your neck, then that is excellent; you have done well. As I mentioned a little earlier, we need to continuously work on strengthening as well as stretching the muscles.