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Now we relax in the tiger position. The tiger position is still; you are resting on the navel. Bend your leg, and as the leg moves, you may touch your elbow. Take one deep inhalation and exhalation. Take one more deep inhalation and exhalation. Now we will slowly stand up. Today we practice āsanas from the standing position. When we are standing, it is always very important to consider the position of our pelvis—just as when we are in Ānandāsana. In that pose we try to press the low back into the floor for stabilization. Here, too, be aware that you do not have too much lordosis in this area. It is also very important that your knees are not locked. When you lock your knees, immediately you create a little problem in the knees, and at the same time the pelvis shifts backward. Imagine this alignment like a zipper, or imagine that your pubic bone is moving slightly toward the navel. Now we will stretch the body upward. Especially when we reach the hands up, the pelvis tends to go too far back. Try not to let that happen; this is one of the main points. Inhale, come onto the toes, and stretch your body up. You may interlock your thumbs and exhale down. Inhale, rise on the stretch, body. Exhale down. Once more, nice and slowly, together. Inhale, stretch. Stay in the position. Breathe normally, enjoy the stretch, and at the same time you are strengthening the muscles of your legs. Especially when you sit for a long time at work, you need to stretch your body. When you are curved and not in a good position, instead of reaching for coffee, do a little Tāḍāsana: rise nicely up, stretch, come down. Inhale, hands move a little further back, back... Exhale. Once more: inhale, hands move back, exhale, hands down. Try to feel how you are breathing now. We are standing in a nice, straight position. Also try not to let the shoulders lift too much. Again, interlock your fingers. Heels and feet remain on the floor. Stretch, stretch, and your hands go back. To the right. Inhale, exhale. Inhale. Inhale, exhale, but do not let your pelvis drop. When you practice this, try not to look around, because here we have movement all the time. You may not be very flexible in the thoracic area, so try to invite movement there. This is the beginning of practicing for Trikoṇāsana. Inhale, exhale, stretch. Now to your right side. Exhale, inhale, exhale. Nicely stretch your body. Inhale, aware of the position of your pelvis. Inhale, exhale, inhale, inhale, and third exhale. Inhale and exhale. Inhale to center and exhale. Now relax in this standing position. Also be aware of how you are standing on the floor. What does “on the heel” mean? You feel the weight of your body. After that, you feel the outer part of your foot. Then slowly, under the big toe—not on the small toe. If the weight falls on the small toe, you will have more outward movement, and you may feel pain on the outside of your knees. Try to feel: heel, outside, and under the big toe. Also, do not lock your knees, and be aware of the position of your pelvis. Now the shoulders settle into the right position, and the head as well. Imagine a wall behind you and that your neck is resting on that wall. What does this mean? Ideally, the ear, shoulder, and hip joint will be aligned. That is the standing position. Standing like this is not easy. If you have flat feet, you will now feel something in your feet, some muscles inside. Now we will do Pavan Mukta Sāhne, but in the standing position. Right leg: inhale, and exhale, lift it up, up. Inhale, two. Exhale, and up, more up, more. Inhale, three. Inhale, four—excellent for concentration. Inhale, five. Inhale, and down. Inhale, and once more. Then inhale, and now we are relaxing in Ānandāsana. Relax. Just standing in the right position is not easy. Try to feel your foot now. How is the circulation in your foot? Your legs? Feel your whole body. It is very important to strengthen our legs. It is also very important to have a good, stable position of the body, because the condition of the mind is reflected in the body. And through the correction of our body, nicely, as Vishwagurujī said, “Nar se Nārāyaṇ,” from human to God. Start with āsanas, prāṇāyāma, concentration, meditation. But the most important is bhakti. Now, once, deep inhale and exhale. Slowly stand up. When you are changing position and when you try to stand up, you may go to one side with a little help from the hands. Now, slightly separate your legs, place the palms on your pelvis, and first look. Now we will go down on one side, slowly up, and then on the other side. This is very important. When you go down, notice that the line between the big toe and the second toe is also the line of your knee and also the hip joint—everything is in one line. If you let the knee go in or out, you will create a little problem. You know, when you are skiing and the knee goes inward, you will injure it. And that is the rule, the principle of all practice. Aśva Sañcalana Āsana, Maṇḍūkya Āsana—everything, all āsanas are here. Between these two toes, the knee comes. Also, do not let the knee go too far forward, but position yourself nicely. And you will feel all these muscles. Okay, now we will start on your right side. I will go to the left, like in a mirror, but you are right. Position the pelvis. Straighten your body. Here is the inhalation, and nicely exhale. Let’s stay in this position. Inhale, slowly up. Exhale down. Inhale, three. Inhale, four. Nice. Feel your muscles. Inhale, five. Inhale, six. Inhale, seven. Inhale, eight. Inhale, nine. Inhale, and once more, ten. Excellent. And relax a little in this position. If you are only looking at the Swamiji TV, maybe you will think that it is so easy, but try to practice with us, and you will see and feel your muscles. Also, when you have any problem with a joint, we need to strengthen the two neighboring muscles. Now we will do another variation. The first was more for the thigh muscle; the second will be more for the calf muscle. Again, first look. Like before, this position, but now the heel will lift, and you are not changing the height of the body. Nicely press the knee down, heel up. Heel down, and up, but you are not changing the position of the upper part of the body, and you will feel all this in the middle, hip joint and everything. In the same way, you will feel your heart beating a little, and because of that, you will not do ten repetitions. On the right side, slowly back, down, and heel up. Inhale, inhale, two, up, three, position of pelvis, four, but do not straighten the leg, five, and up. You go into this position, and you remain in this position. Just stay in this position, and the heel is up. One, two, three, four, and once more, five, center, and relax. Ānandāsana. Going into Ānandāsana and coming up is also practice. If you have pain in your knee, be gentle. Maybe only do it three times, but after one week, five times. And slowly, slowly, as you strengthen your muscles, you will be able to do more repetitions. Always practice. Also, all these āsanas that strengthen the legs will make us stronger, more present, more here and now. Now slowly stand up. We will practice Maṇḍūkya Āsana, also from the first level. But if you have a problem with your knees—not because you are thinking that you have problems and you avoid practice, but really, if you have problems—in that case, you may practice Marjārī. Everything is good, but Ānanda Āsana is not when we are practicing, yes. Also, the same principle applies, but now the foot is turned a little, something like 45 degrees. Parallel, but now, and you go down. Look where the knee goes in relation to the foot; not so much. That is just to look. When you go forward, you will not go backward. Also, when we practice this āsana, try not to practice in a way that compromises the alignment. If we want to practice in this way, we would practice differently. But try this: inhale, stretch up, separate your legs, and imagine that here somebody is pressing your thoracic area—same as in Marjari, and also… sorry. Also, what we talked about yesterday, about the head: it is not good for this part, but imagine that you have something here. If you look, everything is connecting. Daṇḍāsana practice with the head—the same is true in this position. Marjari or this position, same principle. And we need to understand this principle, and through that principle, practice āsana. What does this mean here? Look up, and when we go, it’s exhale, just exhale. But try with your knee. Press your upper arm and squeeze, and the exhalation will be better. You squeeze like a lemon. And now, come, inhale, and open your heart. It is such a good āsana for your low back. Now we will go together. Try to keep the heel on the floor. If you are not able to bring the heel to the floor, separate your legs a little more. Okay, inhale. Nice. And exhale. Two. A little more separation. Exhale. Three. Up. Exhale. And once more, inhale. And relax in this position. Mostly in the world, this position is for relaxation. In India, everything is done in this position: cooking, selling fruit, vegetables. Also, going to the toilet. Yes. Giving birth to a child. In Europe, now it’s only in Eastern Europe. But people used to sit and drink coffee in this position. And if you are in this position, you will not have problems with your hip joints. And when you breathe in this position—because of that I am talking, stay a little longer—when you breathe, you feel abdominal breathing, and you feel the stretching and relaxing of the lower back. Now, the second part: here is inhalation, but here it is inhale, look up, straight, and with exhalation, stretch your legs. With inhalation, down; inhale, exhale, stretch your legs. And once more, inhale and exhale, and remain in this position. Nicely relax, relax in this position. Let gravity become your best friend and relax. If you relax your head, you will feel a nice stretching in your neck. Relax your hands and head, and you feel the nice stretching in your neck. And relax, and go from the hip joints. Also, do not lock your knees. Your legs are straight, but do not lock your knees. What does this hyperextension of your legs mean? And now, slowly go down. To feel all this āsana, go into Ānandāsana. Relax in Ānandāsana. Why are we always sad about the heaviness of our body? You have experience with a small child. You know when a small child slept in your arms, how in that moment, it becomes so heavy. And immediately you think, “Oh, this horse is heavy,” and you see, oh, it’s sleeping. And also, you have the experience when you are in the dentist’s chair. You almost don’t feel heaviness on the chair; you are like levitating because you are in stress and contraction. And now feel the heaviness of your body, which means that you are completely relaxed. You are surrendered to the floor. Now, try to feel the circulation in your legs. Circulation in your back, low back, and abdomen, but also feel your pelvis. Especially this area, the pelvic diaphragm. You may feel your anal muscle, this perineum muscle, and try to feel a nice, warm feeling and circulation. When you are in stress, all these muscles down there are contracted. And you will also start to feel irritation in your joints and nervous system. You will feel that something is irritating you. And this āsana is nicely relaxed, and immediately you will see that your mind is coming down. In this position, you can realize that the tension, the nervous excitement, is leaving you and you are calming down. Be aware, be here and now. To keep awareness, your body is the great tool. Now, take a deep inhale and exhale. With the help of the hand, slowly sit in Daṇḍāsana. Half butterfly. I hope you feel a nice circulation in your legs, and it will be a little easier to sit. Half butterfly: especially if you have cold feet, this exercise will help you. If you have not so good balance, this āsana will give you more strength and more balance. Now, three times down. Excellent. Nice. And now slowly come back and exhale. Now change and also try to be straight. Exhale, inhale, and once more, exhale, inhale, and exhale. And butterfly: again, nice straight position, but also relax. If you are too forceful, it’s not good. That is only for a photo. Nice, relax. And the secret of this āsana is that your tailbone is not on the floor. If your tailbone is on the floor, the position of the pelvis will be such that you are not able to go down. I am not joking, but you can’t. Only the position of the pelvis, and maybe one finger’s difference. It’s not important, but your tailbone should be above the floor. Inhale, and imagine that somebody is pulling your chin, and you will go down. Again, inhale, but stretch. And slowly up. And stretch your legs. Stretch your legs. Feel the circulation in your legs. If you are thinking of something else, and your awareness is somewhere else, you will not feel the body, but try to keep awareness here and now. And through feeling your body, what happens with your body also practices your awareness. Slowly sit in the position for prāṇāyāma. You may choose which position you want. Sit nice and straight. These āsanas were also from the first level. Sarva hita āsan. Do sarva hita āsan. And we will also practice Nāḍī Śodhana first today. Twenty inhalations and exhalations through the left nostril. Close your left, twenty times inhale and exhale through the right. When you finish, put your hands down and relax. “Nenapíšete dopis.” But you, hello, how are you? I hope this letter will end. You have this first part. For everything in life, in sport, if you immediately start to practice, you will injure yourself—before bhajans, before prayer, before invocation. For everything you have in the book, you know this interval. Yes, how is it? Yes. And first this. And that is for us to relax your body. I am now practicing, and I will practice prāṇāyāma. I will practice Nāḍī Śodhana first. Relax, my friend. Relax. And after that, we chant “Om” three times, and we start with the prāṇāyāma. We will chant only once. Relax. Nice, pleasant position. Also be aware that our body is straight. It is very important for our breathing. And be aware that we are breathing with our abdomen also. Now we will chant Om once. Be aware: I am inhaling and I am exhaling. Enjoy your prāṇāyāma. When you finish your prāṇāyāma, breathe relaxed with both nostrils. Feel your whole body and be aware of the position of your body. Be aware of this wholeness, and be aware of your friends around you. Once, deep inhale and exhale. Inhale Nāḍī Om: Nāhaṁ Tati, Tati, Śaḥ. Fingers, shoulders, rub your palms, place them on your face muscles, and slowly bow down. Stretch your spinal column. Greet your master, your gurudev. And slowly come back. Carry on. Carry on. So, all is good?