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The Space of Practice

A guided yoga and meditation session focusing on awareness and spinal health.

"For life and death, two square meters is enough."

"That is the beauty of yoga, Kāla and Deśa. And for that, we need a Guru to lead us through time and space and make us update and upgrade."

An instructor leads a group through a series of āsanas including Pavanamuktāsana, Bhujaṅgāsana preparation, Bhuñamānāsana, and Meru Ākhara Āsana. The practice emphasizes the principles of stretching and rotating the spine, correcting kyphosis, and cultivating body awareness. The teacher integrates philosophical teachings on time, space, and the need for a guide, alongside practical benefits for the back, shoulders, and digestion.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

What we learned from Viśvagurujī is that Mahāprabhujī said: for life and death, two square meters is enough. You see on the door a poster: we don't need to bring all our property here. Take your position and relax. Once, take a deep inhale and exhale, and we will shortly relax the whole body. We are all relaxed. There is no sense. Just feel the heaviness of your body, the nice contact of the body with the floor. Once, take a deep inhale, and with exhalation, feel that you are completely relaxed. You don't need to do anything. Just relax. And be aware of your breathing. You don't need to do anything. Just observe and be aware: "I am inhaling, and I am exhaling. With inhalation, my body is expanding, and with exhalation, my body is contracting." Be aware of how you feel. Just be an observer of how you feel physically and how you feel mentally, and be aware of your whole body. Be aware of the hole in which you are now, and be aware of the position of your body in this hole. Once, deep inhale and exhale slowly. Move your fingers, your toes, hands, legs, and with inhalation, inhale and stretch your body. And exhale, relax. Once more, inhale, stretch your body, and try to press your low back and neck to the floor, and exhale. And once more. Inhale, stretch your body, press your spinal column to the floor, and exhale, relax. We were sitting, and now we will start with Pavanamuktāsana. To move a little, right leg, inhale, exhale, but keep your shoulder blades on the floor. Inhale, head to the floor. And exhale, stretch your leg. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Nādech, videch, nādech, videch,... nādech, videch. And one round more. Ještě jedno kolo. Inhale, nadech, exhale, videch, inhale, nadech, exhale, inhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, inhale, and exhale. Relax. Now feel also your low back. With this āsana, you release almost all tension from the low back. Also, when we are sitting or in the seminar, anuṣṭhāna, at work, our digestion is also a little slow. And this āsana again makes our digestion start. And now, slowly sit in Daṇḍāsana. Yesterday evening, we practiced with the head, with the foot, yes. Here is some place for three people instead of the bhajan band. And now we will first move our hands, our palms, a little. First, separate as much as possible, and squeeze. It is excellent if you work with a mouse. Three, four, and once more. That is very important to understand, Kāla Deśa, time and space. Thirty, forty years ago, we shouldn't say that it's good if you work with a mouse. Because everybody will think that you are working for the ratification. The mouse did not exist at that time, but now everybody works with the mouse. And that is the beauty of yoga, Kāla and Deśa. And for that, we need a Guru to lead us through time and space and make us update and upgrade. Up and down. Two. Three. Four, but try not to make this always something like this. Try that you go from here down, and you will feel all these muscles. One more up and down and up. And now imagine that here is the wall. Not for the opening and closing of the water, but a wall, and our palms are on the wall. Now it's in, and you feel the shoulder. Do not bend the elbow, but try to have it straight and out. Imagine that somebody is doing this. And now, two, three, four, and once more. Palms on your knees, and try to feel the circulation. Also, you may feel a nice feeling in your shoulder. And it is also preparation for the next āsana. And the next āsana will be preparation for Bhujaṅgāsana. Now, put your fingers on your shoulders, and also try not to work this way. Oh, I am... No, this is okay, but try complete movements. With these movements, we will be more and more in the tension, but nice, like you are connected to your elbows, and now it's going in. Inhale. When you are in this position, you feel all these muscles, and imagine that your elbow is going more back. Immediately, in the thoracal area, you feel that you are stretching, and it's against the kyphosis. Inhale, inhale, and now start exhalation. Remain, again. Inhale, up, up. Exhale, full round, three, and exhale. And immediately, it starts to be warm in the whole body, back. Inhale, only through inhalation. Exhalation with real movements. And you feel not any more cold and in the tamas. Two. Up, up, more, more. Feel the upper part of the body exhale. And three. Up and relax. Always, we say that we have a problem with the shoulders. But mostly we have a problem with kyphosis. When we have kyphosis, we are not able to move back. And when we are able to go with the hands back, in that moment, we are immediately correcting our kyphosis. And because of kyphosis, we are not able to do. And we said, "Oh, I have a problem with the shoulder." Mostly, we have a problem with the kyphosis. Now, feel a nice, warm feeling in your shoulders. Also, try to have your head in the right position: ear, shoulder, hip joint. And that way, we will also have relaxed these muscles. If the ear is above the shoulder, in the good position, that we stretch our head, in that position we don't have tension of this muscle. But if the head goes more and more into this position, we will have more tension on these muscles. They said that in this position, when the ear is above the shoulder, that for our muscles the head has five kilos. But when we go forward, for these muscles, we have more and more weight of the head. They said when the head is at 45 degrees, or 30 degrees, the weight of our head is 27 kilos. And imagine the tension of all these muscles. And yesterday we talked about how Indian ladies walk like princesses. And that is the way how we will have relaxed these muscles. In our country, it's said that your ear should be above your shoulder. If it's in front, lady, it is not a princess. Completely other position on body and also inner feeling. Now we will do Bhuñamānāsana from this side first. When you do Bhuñamānāsana, try not to do like this, but here is your spinal column. Try inhale, exhale, and when you go down, do not break your head too much, yes, exactly. Your head is going to this palm, but try to stretch your body and try that your head comes here, not here. If your hip joints are going a little up, it's no problem. If it goes a little. Imagine that this leg is pulling a little on this side. And slowly go down, and you relax in this position. Inhale. And exhale, same inhale, exhale. Not weight of the body on this hand, but on this stretching and going down. Inhale and exhale. And in this position, if you relax, you will feel that you are completely exhaled, and also you are correcting the position of your shoulders, twisting, stretching muscles, excellent for everything. Now we will practice. For each āsana, we need only one hour to explain the benefit of the āsana. Inhale a little back, exhale, and try to have stretching of your spinal column and twisting. Inhale, and exhale. Inhale, exhale, stretch, and rotate. Inhale, and exhale. I have always had a strange picture in my mind. And when I practice this āsana, I have a picture, like I have, you know, for grinding, a mill. And these are two stones. And if it's too much pressure, it is too much. I don't know when you contact, but you little stretch and rotate. Stretch, come back, and relax. And on that way, you are completely safe. Inhale, exhale. And now, because of that, try to feel the stretching of your spinal column and rotate. Inhale. Exhale. Same in Ardha Matsyendrāsana. Always stretching and rotating. Principle of rotation. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. And once more. But now we will remain in the position. Inhale. Exhale. And now remain in the position and breathe. Try also to feel the heaviness of your buttock muscles. And the heaviness of the buttock muscle and this part of the pelvis is going down to the floor. And you feel more stretching. Inhale, slowly up, and exhale. Once more. Inhale, exhale, remain and relax. Try to feel with every exhalation that you are more and more relaxed, and as you are relaxed, you are going deeper and deeper into the position. It will be good that our buttock muscles are a little nearer to the floor. Inhale up and exhale into Ānandāsana, relax. Not because it was hard, but because we want to feel the effect of this āsana. Feel your shoulders. Feel this nice, warm feeling in your shoulders. Feel your spinal column. Especially, especially low back and this area of the sacroiliac joint. How you are breathing, how you breathe, because also we have influence on the muscles between the ribs. And now, once, deep inhale and exhale. Slowly turn on your right side, Meru Ākhara Āsana. It is an excellent āsana for the spinal column. We are going on the side. Like you are practicing in the third level Trikoṇāsana. Try to be in one line. We already said that if you want to stay in this position and not fall back, it is good that your foot, that the toes, are looking toward your head. And that you are on the edge of your foot. And that is from the middle foot till the toes, you are more on the floor, and the heel maybe a millimeter or centimeter is above the floor. And in that position, you will not fall back. Close your eyes, feel your spinal column, feel your side muscles, feel your kidneys; one kidney is stretching and the other kidney is contracting a little. The same thing is with your lungs. What does it mean when you are contracting? You make it so that the blood is going out. When you are expanding, fresh blood will come in. And that is the way we will stimulate that deep in the tissue, deep in the organ, fresh blood with fresh oxygen comes in, and everything that is not good goes out. And now stretch your arm, bend in the elbow, shoulder, hip joint, knee, ankle joint in one line. Now, bend your left, and if you are able, catch your toe. Or ankle joint is not so important, and now inhale up. Imagine that is the wall behind you, and you are not going back. Try, exhale, relax. If you have high blood pressure, breathe. Breathe in this position. If you have a big kidney stone, do not practice this āsana, because it makes activation of the kidneys, and in that case, the kidney stone starts to move. Second. Inhale. We have two forces. One force is pushing your hip in front, and the second is making your foot go back. And exhale. Down. Also, it's excellent for your pelvic diaphragm, for the iliopsoas, and for this sacroiliac joint. One more. Nāḍī. Remain in the position. And with exhalation down. And now, slowly turn to the other side. First, palm on the floor. It will be good. That is the 90 degrees. You may close your eyes and try to feel kidneys, lungs, spine, and also, when you close your eyes, you are working more on the concentration, because keeping concentration and stability. With the open eyes, it is much easier. Open your eyes. Stretch your hand. Bend at the elbow. Be aware that you are in one line. Now bend your legs. Inhale. You know everything. Just now, try to feel your body. And exhale. Two. Inhale. Exhale. And keeping kumbhak is also great exercise. Three, inhale. When we keep this air in, we have more influence on the pressing of blood going out from the organ, in this case, the kidneys. Exhale and relax in Ānanda. Also, kumbhaka is very important. Now, keeping air in or out, antar or bāhya kumbhaka. For our body, anamaya kośa, first for circulation. For the capacity of the breath, also for the vagus nerve. In Prāṇamaya Kośa, it is very important for strengthening Vyāna Prāṇa. And you have a nice chapter in our book, Prāṇa, Five Up Prāṇa. And read about this: how you will strengthen and how you will purify the five prāṇas. Especially Vyāna prāṇa for your nerves. And now, slowly sit in Vajrāsana. We will do one more āsana. It is excellent for your lower back. It is excellent for refreshing, and it is also good for your nose. When you want your nose to be open, people start to force it all the time, blowing their nose. And in that moment, your nose will be more plugged, but Sūmeru āsana is excellent for against iṣyās and for low back. When we practice Sūmeru āsana, try to practice not in this way. This is not Sumeru āsana; that is something. But try that you are going a little nearer than for Marjari, and you go up. Imagine that you are a book with a hard cover and want to close that book. And breathe in this position. Like that, somebody wants to close you. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale. You will feel stretching in the low back. Everything starts to move in your body. And immediately, both nostrils become open. From this side, not like this, but try to move, stretch your abdomen onto your thigh, look toward you, and down. Inhale and exhale. And breathing, everything will be completely different. No tamas. Inhale. Exhale. Imagine that somebody is taking your hip and pulling up. Look to your navel and slowly exhale down. Inhale up and exhale. Check your nose. Once more. Inhale. Exhale. Up. It's excellent for refreshing the body. Mind, breathing, that you are completely new. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. And Ānandāsana. Relax. It is not such an easy āsana. But now, try to feel what happens with your body. Just observe your body. Feel the circulation in your body. Be aware of your breathing. Do you feel some difference? How do you feel? Be aware of everything, not just practice. But awareness about body, breathing, mind, feelings. All five bodies, or one more. Because next year we will be exactly as good as I am. So, everybody will be doing exactly good. So I give them, everybody, till next year. Every day, evening and morning, then we are with one hand standing. And now, slowly sit. Okay, one more. One more, okay. Just sit in Daṇḍāsana. Yes. That is my favorite āsana, Meruvakrāsana. Why? Because usually I have a little pain in the place between the shoulder blades. Why? Because before I met Vishwagurujī, I was also practicing āsanas. And I was practicing halāsana in the wrong way. And something made a crack inside. Muscle, nothing else. But many, many years I had pain in that area. And because of that, I am telling you that this first level is so important: Sarvahitāsāna. Meruva Krasana. Nice sit. And first I will show you. When you do this āsana, try that your body is a little straight. And right leg, inhale. Exhale. But not in this way, what is usually visible in yoga class, but try to sit with the back right, not in this position. How yesterday somebody said, "I feel relaxed." Yes, that is the goal, but try what I said before all the time: stretch and imagine that one line is passing through your shoulders, and that line should be... Parallel with your leg, stretch your head and also rotate your head. And you will feel in this position stretching from the top of your kidney till the shoulder blades, nice stretching of your muscle. And after inhale and exhale. From this side, inhale. Not in this position, but rotate. Nice position. You will feel these muscles, especially this area. Inhale and exhale. Now we will go together, right leg. Inhale, exhale, stretch and stay in this position. We have also practiced for ladies who have cancer and after operation of the breast, and a lot of ladies have pain and this not so good feeling between shoulder blades. Inhale and exhale. And if they said to the doctor, they will immediately send you for an MRI and everything, because they will think cancer is going to the lungs. Inhale, and exhale. But because of the operation, especially when one side is removed, the static of the body is different, and because of that, the muscles between the shoulder blades are also in tension. And this āsana was so good against that pain and tension between the shoulder blades. Inhale and exhale, and once more. Inhale. Exhale. It is also good for circulation through the spinal column. And it's excellent preparation for the fifth level, Ardhamatsyendrāsana. Inhale. Exhale. And once more. Inhale. Exhale. Stretch. Rotate. Buttocks on the floor. Spine at 90 degrees. Inhale, and exhale. Ānanda Āsana. When we are in Ānanda Āsana, we need approximately five seconds, a little more. To start feeling the effect of the previous āsana. And try to feel now the space between the shoulder blades. And try to feel your spinal column. Nice warm feeling. Spinal muscles. And also, try to feel how you are. Be aware of your breathing. And now, once, deep inhale, and exhale. Once more, deep inhale and exhale slowly. Move your fingers, toes, move your body. Rub your palms, put your face muscle, and now we will slowly sit, or with the help of the hands, or just turn on the one side and slowly sit down. Either with your hand or turn to the side.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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