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Part 1: A Guided Yoga Practice for Balance and Awareness Lie down on your yoga mat with your head towards me. Place your hands beside your body with your legs slightly together, not too far apart. Keep your palms open and facing towards your body—not completely towards the ceiling, but halfway to the ceiling and halfway to your body—so that your elbow and toe joints are relaxed. Relax your shoulders. Close your eyes for a while and take one deep inhale and exhale. Just relax. Say to yourself mentally, "Relax, relax, relax, my friend." Relax the whole body from the toes to the top of the head. Each and every limb of the body is relaxed. Relax your stomach muscles. Relax your shoulders. Relax the back muscles. Relax your hips. Relax your knees and ankle joints. Relax your feet and feel your foot soles, as well as feel your fingers and palms. Relax your shoulders, neck, and stomach muscles. Relax your throat muscles and face muscles. Be aware of the whole body, from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head to the toes. Relax. Now, prepare yourself mentally for your yoga and life āsanas and breath techniques. To learn today, we will practice as well as learn. Deep inhale and exhale slowly through the stomach. First, inhale into the stomach, then into the chest. Exhale from the chest and then from the stomach. Move both your hands, close your fingers into fists, and then open your palms. Stretch your ankle joints and toes. Pull your toes towards the body and the heels straight outside, and again, the toes towards the body. Bend your left knee and slowly stretch your leg out on the floor. Bend your right knee and stretch your leg out on the floor. Slowly turn to the left side, and slowly turn back to the right side. Turn onto your stomach, place your hands near your shoulders or your chest, and raise your head. Make comfortable what we call the Bhujaṅgāsana or Cobra posture. This is the maximum. If you go more, then there is a risk of slipped discs. Now, remain as you are and bring your hands parallel to the body. This means your palms are touching the ground near the thighs. With your head, look towards the ceiling as much as you can. Breathe normally. Now, feel the back muscles from the shoulders, or the beginning of the neck, down to the buttocks. You see all back muscles; they are intense. Hold as you are. This is muscles contracting and relaxing. This we have to learn now. You stay as you are. Now, try yourself to see how long you can contract your buttock muscles. That’s the maximum you can contract, which is 15 minutes a second, sorry. And then the muscles again give up this tension and are very relaxed. So, remain where you are. We will do this now while counting. Ten seconds. Slowly, slowly contract your back muscles, your buttock muscles. Slowly. Ten seconds. When it’s completely there, you are already in the contraction. Purījī, Purījī... And slowly bring your chin to the ground and put one cheek on the ground. Similarly, now place your hands near your chest on the ground, palms touching the ground. Very good. Chin touching your yoga mat. Legs together, body nicely in one form, straight. Now we will count again, 10 seconds, slowly, slowly coming to the Pūjaṅga Āsana, but not too far. And now count 15 times, remain in the same position: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Now, 10 seconds going back. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. So, when you are on the 9th, count it 10, then don’t move further up, down, or to the side, and feel the tension in the muscles. If you go more up, then the tension comes on your hip joints and the lower part of your body and buttocks. But your back muscles, they are not anymore affected by this Bhojāṅgāsana, or to get strength in your body. Slowly, counting ten seconds, continuously moving. When the ten is finished, stop there. Go ahead yourself. After ten, remain in that tension and count fifteen seconds. And then, until 10 seconds come down. Now, the same thing we will do with the hands parallel to the body on the ground, palms touching the ground, chin on your yoga mat. You will see how good you will feel with your spinal column. So, you can look to me, put your hands or elbows on the ground, put your hands together, and place your chin on your body. And we do one exercise at the same time. I will tell you something. So, what you do is slowly bend your knee and relax. Bhrāgāsana, slowly, one leg after the other. Very comfortable, very relaxed. The doctors who have been working on the Yoga in Daily Life have, for different doctors to research. And they all came to the same point, and the doctors did not know each other, who is who and what they are doing. So they declared that yoga and their life are a scientific system. So, one of the doctors, a very famous one, was working in a very big spa. He does yoga every day, every morning from 3 to 7:30, or 3 to 7, anyhow. So he wrote his papers, and then the magazine came in, a scientific work in a science magazine. So he said that for up to ten seconds, you can take the maximum time to slowly contract the muscles. So, what it means is that from the muscles, all blood goes out, but you cannot hold too long; blood will again run back. So it will take 15 times. You can hold it, and then slowly, after 10 seconds, you release. That will improve your health. You will put your muscles in the best condition, and the muscles will be more relaxed and will have more strength in the body. So this is, he said this from physiology, from the viewpoint of physiology, that the flow of the blood, how long we can hold, and then it will go further. So the maximum was this second. So Bhojāṅga Āsana, for example, don’t do more than 15 seconds or this. If you go further, then these muscles give up. The muscles give up. So, the contraction of the muscles is very quick, but the relaxation of muscles takes time. So, slowly sit up, everyone, in Vajrāsana. So, when we do the exercise, this is from Saravittasana, like this, and everybody is doing it so quickly, like this. It does not have that effect, but if we do it slowly, this brings balance to the nerve systems. And the people who have this, some kind of always moving the hands, yeah? So, like this, when you are looking into something, what we call parīkṣaṇ, yes? So, this Sarvāṅgāsana, if you do it, you can train your nervous system. This is not only in the hands, but it goes from the brain, and so, equally. Now, you can close your eyes and stretch your hands up. At the same time, above the head, go up and slowly go back down. Now, with your open eyes, look at your hands, and just try to bring both hands together up. See the difference. If you are able to have both hands on the same level, or one goes like this, or one hand is going like this, and like this. So, there is an imbalance. Śravaṇāsana of Yoga in Daily Life, this can 80% correct or overcome this disease or this nervousness. The nerves are not in balance, so yoga is that very ancient science. Yoga is not for that kind of gymnastic or challenge or something. It is to bring body, mind, and soul to one level, to oneness. And that’s why yoga and their life are more practiced by those who understand. Others, they are torturing the body, and then after a while, they say, "Ah, it was very nice." But what happens after? It’s like you go in the sauna and there’s 108 degrees or 110 degrees, 115 degrees. And you are sitting in this, and then you come down outside, and you jump in the cold water, and you lie down and say, "Ah, God was good." But how long? That was, it’s okay, good for a little bit of shock for the body, but it’s not everlasting. But yoga is something that is a whole day. You remain on the same scale, on the same level of the condition of our body. So once more, look, check yourself. Hands, slowly look to your hands and go up and down. Just watch, observe yourself. Now, a few of you were again and again making corrections. You were going up like this, but there was turbulence in the aeroplane. So, though with our concentration we tried to keep it, we were still making corrections. But it should go without our awareness in this way: up and down, up and down, and down. So, these are the imbalances. So, we should have it up, down, up, down. So, try, we all try and slowly control consciously, okay? Then after, I will put on the scale, okay? So then I will see which one is going, okay? I will look, no problem. So, do it. Controlled mentally, consciously, so that your nervous system again comes into balance. Very good. Go ahead. Stretch your elbows completely. Now, exhale and press your hands on the thighs. Now, we do if we know that our hand is moving a little, or if I have no balance between both shoulders, or something. So, we practice now. So, generally, you will do Khāṭu Praṇām or Śaśāṅkāsana, and you will go like this and like that. But someone goes like this, and then the second like... So, months and months long. Whenever you go up like this, then do like that. Come up and then go like this. Make a beautiful heart, or like this. Interlock your thumbs so that both remain on the same level. Elbows straight. So again, hands on the thighs. When I say, "Hands up," then slowly I will count. There is nothing to do with the muscles, tensions, or contractions in the nerves. So I will count, and I will say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. And then we will remain there for five minutes; five times, I’m counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then 15. I will slowly count. There will be your muscles, or your hands will be a little tired and will move, causing imbalance. But you should stand straight and consciously, consciously give the balance on both palms, elbows straight. You come down and then bend the elbows. Not before. And when you go from here, go like this, interlock your thumbs, and then go above. Slowly, I will count. Straight, stretching your shoulders, muscles. Don’t go like that. No. We remain with our upper arms touching our ears, like this. Okay? So, hands on the thighs. Now, hands up slowly. I will count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, stretching, 13, 14, 15. Remain stretched like this. I will count five. One, two, three, four, five. Now go down. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. So, I will count, okay? My hand will go up, so you can look at the speed of the hands going up and down, okay? I will count. So, hands up. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Got it? Yes? So again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Now you do yourself, please, two times, once more. When your hands go up, remain up. When your hands come down, keep your arm muscles and arms in one strong line, muscles like that. Don’t leave them loose. If it is loose, then again, the hands will come to a displacement. Very good, perfect. Now, lie down on your back, bend your knees, interlock your fingers, and hold your knees. Part 2: A Guided Yoga Practice: Balance, Awareness, and Posture Press your knees towards the body with the strength of both hands. Now, observe, watch yourself, be aware, be conscious that both hands, both arm muscles, both knees’ strength have the same pressure, the same stretching. So, concentrate on your hands, both at the same time, and press your knees towards the body. Slowly release the stretch, the stretching of your hands, and now stretch the knees. Stretch the knees on the ground. Relax. Now, interlock your fingers and put your palms, or hands, under the head. Remain relaxed. Elbows on the ground. Interlock the fingers under the head. Legs are straight, slightly open, and completely relaxed. Try to relax the whole body, but keep the tension, concentration, balance, and control over both hands equally, and the fingers equally. Bring your awareness toward the head, the nervous system, and now something will come. Take a few deep inhales and exhales. Raise your right leg about 40 centimeters, that’s all, 40 centimeters, not more, not one meter, not half a meter, 40 centimeters. The knee should be straight, and toes towards the body. Yes, now I’m happy. Everyone has 40 degrees. Someone has only 30. That’s not good. But do not concentrate on your leg. Concentrate on your hands and your upper arm muscles, strength, and balance. This is a simple yoga and daily life exercise. Don’t worry, Durgā. Don’t move your leg up and down. Hold straight. Yes, Lakṣmī is very nice. I will choose her as a yoga teacher. And slowly bring your right foot down on the ground. Release the tension from your hands, but keep your fingers interlocked under your head. And relax the stomach muscles. Concentrate on the center of your body. It means your navel, the Maṇipūra Cakra. Balance is there. The balance is there, not in the brain center. In this case, it is in the Maṇipūra Cakra. Relax the stomach. If you relax the stomach muscles, then your back muscles will be relaxed. Now, again, become aware of your arms, your elbows, your fingers interlocked, head relaxing, comfortable in your palms. Yes. Relax your stomach muscles and back muscles. And then slowly stretch your back muscles and slowly lift your left leg up. Slowly. Only 40 centimeters. No, you are 50 centimeters somewhere. That’s too much. I have to bring this measurement tape. Matajī, you should go and measure, okay? Now, this posture should not be done too long if you are pregnant. So, give the pressure on your palms with your head. Concentrate there and press your elbows down, with your elbows touching the ground. Relax means not going down. Feel relaxed, mentally. Mother, yesterday I told one story. Can I tell you again? Yes, that’s a very good story. It’s a very, very nice one. It’s a story about a monkey and a bear. So slowly, legs down. Relax. Normal breath. Give up the tension from your shoulders, your hands, and your legs. Feel your navel relax. Relax the whole body. Deep inhale and exhale, and press your elbows on the ground. Keep your neck very comfortable. Your hand is resting in your hand. Your head is resting in your hands, and both legs are together. That is something. How will the balance be? One was perfect. Now, the second. So we can have, let’s say, 35 centimeters up. Five centimeters I give you gratis, that you don’t do. But your pressure is on the hands from the neck. Yeah, that. Both legs together. Now it is like this, that on the navel, that is the center, and all the nerve system is corrected. Every nerve system is in the stretch, like in the military, it is at attention, all in attention, alert, aware. So it is in the stomach, yes, the neck. Yoga in daily life is very simple exercises. Remain there, don’t worry, don’t move up and down. If 35 is too much, then only 30 centimeters. And bend your knees, and place your feet on the ground with the knees slightly apart. With both hands, pull them out from under your neck and head, and hold your knees. Hold the knees separately; don’t interlock your fingers. Keep your foot soles on the ground. Yes, relax. Finally, hold your knees. That’s it. Knees, knees, not ankle joints, yes. So, if your knees are too far, then put your hands on the stomach, knees apart, slowly, legs apart, and touch your knees together. That’s a very relaxing posture, just relax. Hands on your stomach. Don’t put pressure on the stomach. Just relax. Feel your breath, ascending and descending breath at the navel. Hands beside the body. Turn a little to the left side. Roll left side a little bit, and sit up. Stand on the toes, knees on the ground, sit on your heels, and place your hands on your thighs. Keep your balance with equal weight on your thighs. Press down and give the weight to your thighs. Keep your elbows straight, and now slowly raise your hands up while crossing and interlocking the thumbs. Go up. Now you can look up more, as much as you can. Hands slowly down. Your feet a little apart, 10-15 centimeters. Okay. And slowly raise up your knees. Hands can be resting on the knees. Let’s concentrate on one corner of your yoga mat or your neighbor’s mat’s corner. No movements. If you have too much movement, then close your eyes. Hands up above the head and try to stand up on the toes as it is. Try to stand up, come up, and put your hands down, with your heels down, balancing on the whole foot. Keep your legs straight, legs apart, hands on the waist, keep your spine straight, and relax. Feel the balance so that you can close your eyes for relaxing, and open your eyes, hands down, legs together. Now again, in the standing posture, the hands will go up again without crossing the thumbs. But observe that both hands are moving up equally and are balanced on both sides. Now, interlock the thumbs. Tāḍāsana, one, go up on the toes, two, one, two, one, two. Open your hands and slowly go to Pādāstāsana, Hastapādāsana. Go down, down as far as you can. Touch your toes or the ground, but your knees should be straight. If you can’t go very far, then you touch maybe only your knees, or you hold your lower arm or your legs; your calf muscles you can hold. Try to relax your head and bring your nose or head towards the knees. Slowly come down, bend your knees. Yes, come, like bending knees, yes, like sitting. Okay, very good. And relax your legs, stretch your legs. How are you? Good? Now, if it’s possible, hold your toes and look up. That’s it. Just relax. Everybody is admiring in Europe that, oh, Swāmījī is teaching āsanas today. Now, slowly raise your hands and touch your fingers to your shoulders. And now, with great balance, slowly rotate the shoulders. Make a big zero with your elbows. It’s too quick. Slowly go ahead in the same direction. Same direction. And now, the other side, the other direction. And now, raise your hands up and then place your hands sidewards on your thighs. Sit in a yoga posture, a meditation posture, just to relax for a while. And now, lie down on your back. So, uh, yes, you can. Come more higher, okay, yeah, remains there. Go more higher, okay. You go a little back, down, okay. You go a little up. You go a little back, yes. You go up, alright. Similarly, look everyone, one is a little more upside and one is down, so the hand can... Go sideward, doesn’t fight our hands. So, okay, you come ahead. Okay, you go a little back. Number one. Number two. If your hand touches others, please don’t mind. Thank you. So, legs together. Bend your left knee and place your left foot outside of the right thigh on the ground. That’s it. And hold your left knee with your right hand, looking to your left hand, which is straight on the ground. And slowly bring your left knee down to the right side on the ground with your right hand. Slowly, as far as you can. No force. Just as far as you can. Remain there, relax, but do not relax too much on the hip joints because of the spine. But use more your shoulders and your chest muscles. It is very comfortable. Have a normal breath. Yes. Close your eyes and slowly release your tension from the knees. Your hand on the side of the body. Stretch your leg out, please, and relax. And now, bring your right foot towards the left thigh on the ground, outside of the left thigh. Hold your right knee with your left hand and bring it down towards the left side, and look to the right side at your right hand. Stretch, and slowly release your hand from the knee. Let your knee come down. Relax. Relax the whole body. Now slowly roll your body to the left and to the right. A few times, just roll your body to the left side and to the right side, and sit up. Siddha in Vajrāsana. Everybody knows what is Vajrāsana? Yes. Who doesn’t know? No. Okay. That’s very good. Now we do the Marjari, but not so quickly. Slowly first, hands go up like this. Then you stand up on the knees, as it is not going forward but straight. Then you go down. Swami Vivek Purī has taught you this, yes? Okay, so go: one, two, three, back up like a mountain hill; the cat; four, look up to the altar. There are three pictures, three photos on the altar; five, six, seven, eight, nine, up. Just you can raise your hand up. Do you want to have an interval or to go? Go outside to visit some small room. Nobody is in a hurry. Okay. So the second variation of the Khāṭū Praṇām. Who knows this? Nobody knows? You know, Sobhā? Okay. Khāṭū Praṇām. Okay. Durgā? Perfectly. Okay. Then we will do. I will guide you. Okay. So, like normal: one, two, three, four. Interlock hands on the back and legs up, five, six, heels touching ground. Next, one leg in the front. Next, hands on the back, hold your elbows and look up. Next, release your hands and hands up, hands coming down to your foot, front. Next, both legs close together. Next, support your hands on the knees. Bend your knees a little and look up front to the altar. Elbows straight. Next, hands up. Hands on the knees again. Keep your back straight. Knees a little bent, if it is possible. Otherwise, you can have it straight. No problem. Hands down on the ground, touching the ground with the toes of the feet. One leg back, back, hands on the back, look up. Release the hands, hands up, hands down. The front foot goes back, go down, look up, hands on the... Back, interlock the fingers or interlock the elbows. Legs up, hands down. Legs down, hands up. Hands down, hands up. Hands... up. Now, next, chin on the ground, raise up, back up, buttocks, chest on the ground, knee on the ground. Now come back to the Bhujaṅgāsana. Śaśāṅkāsana like this, back, inhale, come up, and exhale. Got it? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Did I forget? Number? I forgot, no? Which number? Yeah. Next, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, and twenty-seven. How? Quarter mala. One mala has one hundred and eight. So when we have a quarter, then twenty-seven comes. Okay? And then it comes with mantras. Okay? The mantras, speech mantras. So, next time, now we have a little interval.