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Part 1: A Morning Āsana Practice at Śrī Devpurījī Āśram Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our morning session here at Śrī Devpurījī Āśram in Dungog, Australia. This morning's program will be an āsana practice. We have been asked by Swamījī to try some new variations in the program of teaching yoga and in the Yoga in Daily Life system. In this āsana class, we will be trying some of those practices. We will start, as we always do in yoga, with a short relaxation. Lie on your back in Śavāsana, with your hands beside the body and the palms facing upwards. Allow the feet to roll out to the sides and the shoulders to fall back into the ground. Start to take some long, deeper breaths and feel the breath moving through your body. Notice as you inhale, the body expands, and as you exhale, the body softens and contracts. Just notice the body moving as you breathe. Be in control of your breathing. Know that you are making each in-breath and you are making each out-breath. Then, come to the full yogic breathing practice, which helps deepen our breath, allows us to use all of the lungs to breathe, and helps strengthen all the muscles involved in taking a breath. Take a deep breath, bringing one hand to rest on the belly and the other hand at the very top of the chest. As you breathe in, breathe deep down into the bottom of the lungs and feel the hand on the belly rise up. Continue to fill the lungs and try to breathe into the hand at the top of the chest. As you breathe out, breathe out from the top of the chest all the way back down to the bottom of your lungs. Continue a long, slow, deep in-breath. Feel the belly rise, the ribs expand, and the chest and back expand. As you breathe out, feel the chest and back relax, the ribs move in and down, and the belly go soft. Stay aware and in control of each breath. Complete one more round and bring the hands back to the side of the body. Keeping your body relaxed, begin to stretch through the right side of your body as you breathe in. Raise the right arm above the head and curl the right toes back towards the face. Try to press the right hip down into the mat, open up through all of the ribs, and exhale, lowering the arm. As you breathe in to the left side, raise the left arm above the head, press the left hip down into the ground, and stretch open through the ribs. Then exhale, lowering down. Stretching through the whole of your body, take a deep in-breath, raising both arms above the head, and curl the toes back towards the face. Try to flatten the lower back into the ground, stretch out to your fingertips and down to your heels. Purījī, Purījī... Be aware of your breathing. Be aware of the twisting movement and its effect on your body and your breath. Bend both knees now and bring the knees to the chest. With the hands around the knees, gently rock from side to side. The movements can start quite small and then work towards making as big a movement as you can. See how far you can go to each side and still make it back to the center. The next time you roll onto your right side, stay there. Use your hands on the ground and help yourself up. Come to the back of the mat, sitting on your heels in Vajrāsana. We will go through some rounds of Kārtūparṇam to warm up. Just bring the hands onto the thighs, allowing your body to relax. Then, raising the arms above the head, bringing the hands together and looking up, stretch up through the sides of your body. Keep lifting and lengthening your spine. Then, bringing the hands apart and rolling forward from the hips, folding down, place the hands and forearms on the ground and the forehead on the mat. Lift the heels, hips, and heels, chin and chest to the ground into a caterpillar. Then, pushing off from your feet, sliding forward onto the hips, lifting the head and chest, come up into a cobra. Toes under, lifting the hips up into the air into a mountain posture, stretching back through your heels, extending back from your fingertips. Siddha Siddha... Stepping the left foot back, sitting up in the hips, raise the arms above the head, look up, bringing the hands apart, back beside the feet, back toes tucked under, and walking back to mountain. Coming forward onto the knees, roll the hips to the ground, keep the chest forward, looking up into a cobra. Chin and chest down, toes under, hips in the air, caterpillar, and then pressing up and back into hare posture. Āśram. Raising the arms and upper body, hands together, looking up, then bringing the hands apart and back down onto the thighs. Take a deep in-breath, and breathe out long and slow. Then another round as we raise the arms, just moving slowly, gently, reaching up, bringing the hands apart, rolling forward, softening down into hare posture, lifting the hips off. Purījī, Purījī... Chest up, looking up, rolling down, toes under, hips in the air, catapeta, and press up and back, hair posture. Breathing in, raise the arms above the head, hands together, looking up. Then, bringing the hands apart, lower them back onto the thighs, and take a deep breath. Sliding off the heels and bringing the legs out in front. We will bend the knees, Aśvasañcālanāsana, horse rider posture. It is working on the muscles through the back and the abdomen. If you have any tension or tightness in the abdominal area or back area, then go very gently as we go through these, keeping the knees bent all the time, or even just staying here in the starting position, which is still working the muscles of the back and belly. It is going into the movement. Bring the hands out in front, arms straight. Focus on your thumbs to keep your attention, to keep your concentration. Deep in-breath, tilt back, keep the spine long, and then extend the legs out in front. Curl the toes back, try to make your legs nice and active, lift long through the spine, and exhaling forward. As you come forward, reach forward, try to keep the knees together. Deep in-breath, tilting back, and extend the legs, exhaling. Deep in-breath, and breathing out. Then continue in your own rhythm, just as you go. Just keep checking in that the shoulders aren’t tightening up, that the face muscles aren’t tightening up. Try to maintain a long spine. We will do one more round, just a deep in-breath and exhaling. It is time to lie down in Ānanda Āsana. Become aware of your breathing and feel the warmth in your body from our last movements. Let your whole body relax. Come back to your full yogic breath. The next posture, Khaṇḍarāsana, the shoulder posture, is a half back bend. We will bend both knees and place the feet on the ground. Have the feet quite close to the buttocks, and the feet as wide apart as your hips. If you are working with any tension or tightness in your back, or you are working a little more gently today, then have the feet a little bit wider. Check that your feet are parallel to your yoga mat, and that the heels turn out a little bit. Reach down to take hold of the front of your ankles if you can. If you can’t reach, just keep the arms strong and straight beside the body with the palms facing downwards. Try to roll the tips of your shoulders out to the edges of your mat, as though you are bringing your shoulder blades together in your back. Start to press down through your feet, through your shoulders, and gently through the back of the head. Then, as you breathe in, lift the hips off the ground as though you are rolling your spine off the mat, and as though you are gently pressing your chest toward your chin. Then, as you breathe out, roll back down. Just take a deep breath and relax your body, just preparing for another round. Feet start to press into the mat, shoulders press down. Then take a deep in-breath and start to lift the hips. As you lift the hips, keep the downward movement through your feet and through your shoulders. If it feels comfortable for you here, you may be able to reach down and take a stronger grip around your ankles, and that will bring you a little higher up onto your shoulders. Then, with your next exhalation, roll back down onto the mat. Move with control, just lowering the spine. Then one more round. Just preparing, reaching for the heels or the ankles, rolling the shoulders out to the edges of your mat. And taking a deep in-breath, lifting the hips off the ground, and try to hold the posture, breathing deeply into your belly. Check the position of your feet, that they haven’t decided to change position. Then, as you press down through the feet, try to point your knees away from you, as though you are lengthening along your thighs, giving your hips a little bit more room to move. Then, tuck the tailbone under, lifting the hips a little higher into the air, and rolling a little bit higher onto your shoulders as you bring the chest towards the chin. Keep the chest broad and the shoulders pressing into the mat. One more breath here, and then slowly rolling down. Bend both knees to the chest. Grasp the knees, draw them in towards the body. Lift the head, bring the nose towards the knee. Then, roll the head back onto the ground and place the feet onto the mat. Straight legs. Ānanda Āsana, coming back to your full yogic breath. Be aware of the influence of khaṇḍharāsana on your body, on your breathing, and on your awareness. Bending the left knee, place the left foot on the ground, just roll gently onto your right side, helping yourself up, and then slowly come up into a standing posture. Kāṭhī Cakra Āsana: We will stand with the legs quite wide apart and have the feet facing forward, and then bring the hands together in front of the body. Turning the palms down, and as you turn the palms down, let the shoulders roll down, bring the chest forward, and stand tall. Looking at the hands as you breathe in, raise the arms above the head, and follow the movement of your hands with your head and your eyes. And as you breathe out, roll forward from the hips. Looking up, and keep reaching through the sides of your body. Press down through your feet, roll the hips up to bring your body forward. As you inhale big, turn to the left side. Keep the arms up at shoulder height, press into your back leg, breathing out back to the center, breathing in, raising the arms up, and as you breathe out, lower the arms. Again, following the movement of your hands with your head and eyes, bring the hands apart. Step the legs together and take a deep breath. Noticing the influence of the movement on the breathing. We will go through one more round. So, step the legs apart, turn the feet forward, and bring the hands together. Palms turn downwards. As the shoulders come down, try to lift long through the side body. Breathing in, looking at the hands, raising the arms, looking up. Part 2: A Guided Yoga Practice: Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, and Reflection And keep stretching up. As you stretch up through the hands, stretch down through your feet. Exhaling, folding forward, come onto the fronts of your feet with the heels still working strongly, and then take a big turn to the right side. Square up the shoulders so you’re not rolling out to one side. Come back to the middle, looking at the hands, raise the arms up and, exhaling, lowering down. Deep breath, and then one more round as we breathe in, raising the arms. Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā. And coming back to your breathing, close the eyes. Feel your body, feel your breath, noticing the influence of the posture on your body, breath, and awareness. Our next posture, Chhattisapadāsana: stand with the legs about hip-width apart or a little wider, either in the middle or the back of the mat. Raise the arms above the head and reach out as tall as you can. As you breathe out, come forward and lean over the front of your feet, and bring the hands to the ground in front of you. Then you may need to walk the hands out a little bit so the hands are about 70 to 80 centimeters away from your feet. Then, keeping the heels on the ground, bring your upper body forward as though the arms are directly under the shoulders. Now, you may need to have your arms a little bit wider if that feels tight or creates too much tension through the neck and shoulders. So, let the head relax now, back down to the shoulders, and lift up, raising the whole of the upper body and bringing the arms back down onto the side of the body. Take a deep breath. We’ll go through another round. As we breathe in, raise the arms up. Reaching up, roll forward. It’s going nice and slowly. Lean over the front of your feet. Bring the hands to the ground. If you need to walk the hands out in front, that’s fine. Check that the hands are wide enough now for the shoulders to be comfortable. Then bring your body weight forward, and keep your heels pressing into the mat. Shoulders roll down towards your hips. Lift the head and look up. Then press down through your feet, lifting the whole of the upper body and bringing the arms back down to the side of the body. It’s coming back to your standing position. Take a deep breath. Come to Haṁsāsana, a balancing posture, the swan posture. Feet can be a little closer together, just so you feel evenly balanced through both feet. Find a point in front of you, a dṛṣṭi point to focus on. Your gaze softens on your point. Notice your breathing and allow your breathing to relax. Feel your right leg supporting the whole of your body. Develop a sense that the right leg is lifting your body up, and then bend the left knee behind and take hold of the left foot. Take a moment to square up the knees, bringing both knees together. Now, that might feel like it tilts the hips forward, and then bring the chest forward so you’re creating a gentle curve through the spine. Just feel the shoulders roll back and the chest forward. Then, raising the right arm into the air, try to reach up and stand tall, and then tilt slightly forward. Keep both hips facing forward and start to take the left knee behind, so you’re lifting up through the thigh. Keep the hips square, and then raise the top arm a little higher, just keeping your concentration on your point and on your breathing. Siddha Purījī, Siddha Purījī,... Siddha Purījī. And then extend out to your toes and out to the front fingertips, training your point of focus. Slowly coming up, lowering the arm and lowering the leg. Deep breath. We’ll do one more round, finding your point of concentration, noticing your breathing. Right leg strong and active, as though you’re lifting up from the sole of your foot. Bend the left knee behind, raise the right arm into the air, and then slowly tilt forward. Find your breathing and your concentration. Slowly coming up, lowering the arm, and lowering the leg. The left leg is strong, lifting up from the sole of your foot, bending the right knee behind, and raising the left arm into the air. Step forward from the hips. Reach out to your foot and fingertips. Be aware of your breathing and your concentration. Breathing in, coming up, and breathing out, lowering the arm, lowering the leg, and back to your breath. Relax your body. And then we’ll come to lie down for a short relaxation in and under āsana. Let’s find a comfortable lying posture, just letting the feet roll out to the sides, palms facing upwards, and just noticing how your whole body feels after our postures. Noticing the effects of your postures on your body, on your breathing, and on developing your awareness and concentration. And then bring your awareness to your whole right arm, from your fingertips to your shoulders. Make a fist with the thumb inside the hand, and then, as you inhale, squeeze the hand, feeling the muscles around the fist and wrist tighten. The forearm, keep tightening right up into your shoulder, and as you breathe out, let all the muscles of your hand and arm relax. With the right arm again, make a fist, thumb inside the hand. Breathing in, feel the tension building through the whole arm, right up into the shoulder, and as you breathe out, let go. One more time. Deep in-breath. Make your in-breath long, and feel the tension building as you breathe. And as you breathe out, a long out-breath, letting all the tension go. And then notice the difference between the right arm and the left arm now. And then take your awareness to just the left arm. Feel the whole left arm from the fingertips to the shoulders. Make a fist with the thumb inside the hand, squeezing as you breathe in. Feel the tension, and as you breathe out long and slow, let the tension go. With the same arm, making a fist, deep in breath, breathing out, release. And once more, breathing in, feel the tension building, and then when you breathe out, let the tension go. Being aware of how the whole of your upper body feels, then bring your awareness to your right leg. Feel the whole right leg from the toes to the hip. Then, as you breathe in, curl the right toes back towards the face and push the heel away. Feel the calf muscle go tight, and the front and back of the thigh muscles tighten. And as you exhale, let all the muscles of your leg go. The right leg again, as you breathe in, curling the toes back, feel the tension building, and then, breathing out, relaxing. Then, one more time, long, slow inhalation and exhalation. Be aware of the difference between the right and left leg, and then bring your awareness to your whole left leg. From the toes to your hip, start to curl the left toes back towards the face as you breathe in, creating tension through all the muscles of your leg right up into the hip, and as you breathe out, release. With your in-breath, curl the toes back, push the heel away, create tension, and exhale, releasing the tension. Once more, taking a deep in-breath, feel the tension building, and exhale. Be aware of how your whole body feels now. And bending the left knee, placing the left foot on the ground, rolling all the way onto your right side. Use your hands on the ground and help yourself up. And we’ll come into a comfortable sitting position for our prāṇāyāma practice. Make sure you’re sitting comfortably, sitting up on something, so the hips and back are relaxed. Bring the hands to rest on the thighs or knees in Chin Mudra, and sit up tall, lengthening through the spine. Become aware of your breathing, and then bend the right elbow, bringing the hand into the Prāṇāyāma Mudrā. The first two fingers rest at the center of the forehead, and, closing the right nostril with the thumb, you breathe in through the left nostril. At the end of that breath, close the left nostril with the ring finger and breathe out through the right. Breathe back in through the right nostril, closing it with the thumb, and breathe out through the left nostril. And then, following that rhythm as you breathe in through the left and out through the right, breathing back in through the right and out through the left. Prāṇāyāma helps strengthen the breathing system, relaxes the body and the mind, and helps develop our concentration and awareness. You have completed one more round. It’s bringing the hand back onto the body and bringing your awareness to the breath as it flows through both nostrils. Feel the influence of our first round of prāṇāyāma. Notice how your body feels. Notice the effect on your breathing and the effect on your mind, on your concentration or awareness. We’ll begin our next round by bringing the hand back into the prāṇāyāma mudrā, and this time starting by closing the left nostril with the ring finger, breathing in through the right nostril, closing with the thumb, and then breathing out through the left. Breathe back in through the left nostril, closing it with the ring finger, and breathe out through the right. And then, following that rhythm from right to left and from left to right. Try to keep your breathing smooth and steady. Keep the breath even. Feel the flow of breath from nostril to nostril through the subtle energy channels called nāḍīs. Notice the influence of your control of the breathing. Completed the next round. Bring the hand down to the side of your body. It’s maintaining your awareness. Come to the end of our morning’s practice. You have time; you could continue your practice with a short meditation. We’ll finish our practice here this morning with a reading from the Yoga and Daily Life book from Swāmījī, who says: "Your heart is like the ocean into which thousands of rivers pour without overflowing. Your mind is like the clear sky, endless and free, raised high above this world. Your being is like the tree that gives its shade and yields sweet fruit to all. The tree does not cling to its fruit, nor does it withhold them from those who throw stones. Like your heart, the tree offers its fruit to all, no matter into whose hands they fall." We’ll bring our practice to an end by chanting Oṃ together three times and the Śānti Peace Mantra. Deep inhalation. Oṃ... Oṃ... Oṃ... Śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. Smooth the fingers and toes, and then bring the hands together and rub the palms. Then, place the warm hands over the face and massage all the muscles of your face. Then, slowly roll forward, relaxing all the muscles of the back along the spine. Bringing the blood back to the top of the head, blinking open your eyes, letting your senses... Thank you, everybody, for joining us for our morning practice here at Śrī Devpurījī Āśram Dungog in Australia, and we’ll be continuing our webcasts with a lecture tonight at 7 p.m. Thank you, everybody. Hari Om.