The Home Yogi.

www.thehomeyogi.com

“Fill your bowl to the brim

and it will spill.

Keep sharpening your knife

and it will blunt.

Chase after money and security

and your heart will never unclench.

Care about people’s approval

and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.

The only path to serenity.”

– Lao Tzu (poem 9 from the Tao Te Ching)

When you feel unfocused, stop what you’re doing, close your eyes, and watch your breath. Try this for just one or two minutes, and see how you feel after this simple mini-break.

Pranayama is the name for the breathing practices of hatha yoga.  Prana is your vital life force, much like chi, qi, or ki, for those of you familiar with tai chi and qi gong.  Prana is energy, and yoga affects the energy in your body.  How you breathe is intricately connected to your energy level, and how your energy moves.

This 5-minute practice is called alternate-nostril breathing.  In this pranayama, you will breathe through one nostril at a time.  Alternate nostril breathing balances the energy in your body.  According to yoga philosophy, when you breathe through your right nostril, you activate the warming energy of the body.  When you breathe through your left nostril, you activate the cooling energy of the body.  Warming energy is active, and cooling energy is passive.  But, too much of one energy is not good.  We want to find balance between the two.

To begin, sit on the floor, keeping your spine straight.  As an alternative, you can sit on the edge of a chair, with your back straight, and your feet flat on the floor (or on a book or block if your feet don’t reach the floor).

*  With your right hand in vishnu mudra, gently close the right nostril with your thumb.

*  Inhale through your left nostril.

*  When the inhalation is complete, close the left nostril with the ring finger.

*  Remove the thumb from the right nostril.

*  Exhale through the right nostril.

*  Once the exhalation is complete, inhale through the right nostril, keeping the left nostril closed with the ring finger.

*  At the top of the inhalation, close the right nostril with the thumb.

*  Remove the ring finger from the left nostril.

*  Exhale through the left nostril.

*  Continue the pattern: inhale left, exhale right, inhale right, exhale left, inhale left, exhale right, inhale right, exhale left, and so on. . .

*  When you’re ready to stop, exhale through the left nostril, rest the right hand on the right knee, and relax.

Begin with 5-10 rounds (one round = inhale left, exhale right, inhale right, exhale left).  As you become more familiar with the pranayama, you may increase your practice time to 5-10 minutes.

Whether you’re feeling keyed up or lethargic, alternate nostril breathing will bring you to a more balanced state.

By Jennifer Clawson, RYT

This is a good yoga sequence to do when you’re feeling quiet and subdued. This practice is meant to embrace where you are right now, not to stimulate you. It allows you to relax, while maintaining your quiet, introspective disposition.  Take as much time in each position as you wish.  Feel free to repeat or modify some sections to fit your needs.

Begin in child’s pose (garbasana).

Stay here as long as you wish, releasing all of your tension into the floor. When you’re ready to move on, roll up your spine to sit back on your heels in hero’s pose (virasana).

Extend your legs forward and stretch your entire front body into upward plank (purvottanasana).

Release into staff pose (dandasana).

In staff pose, let your spine lengthen as you inhale. Let your chest lift, and as you exhale, allow your shoulders to soften down away from your ears. Let your legs and seat remain firm against the floor. As you inhale, sweep your arms out and overhead. Join your palms above your head, and as you exhale, draw them down into prayer position in front of your chest.  Repeat this movement several times.

prayer position

Next, inhale your hands over your head, and as you exhale, fold forward into janu sirsasana (seated one-legged forward bend).

The above photo is an ideal janu sirsasana. But, since yoga is for everyone, no matter how our bodies may be limited, you can modify the pose by using a yoga strap (a necktie or a bathrobe belt are good substitutes). Place the strap across the ball of your foot (the mound just below your toes, above the arch).

Don’t strain to reach your foot. The point here is to extend your spine and relax, so if you can only fold forward two inches, that’s where you need to stay. Each time you exhale, let go a little bit more. When you feel complete, inhale back to staff pose, then take janu sirsasana on the other leg.

Settle back into staff pose. Keeping both legs extended, stretch forward into paschimottanasana (seated forward bend).

Think of extending your chest toward your feet. Just like in the one-legged seated forward bend, don’t strain. Use a strap if you need to, placing it across the balls of both feet. Let your eyes gaze over the tops of your toes. Hold for several breaths before returning to staff pose.

Move onto your back, with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent in the air. As you inhale, lift your pelvis into the air.

As you exhale, release your spine, from top to bottom, one vertebra at a time. Your hips should be the last thing to hit the floor. Repeat several times, lifting slowly with each inhalation, and lowering slowly with each exhalation.

** note: The lifted position looks like bridge pose. However, since you are moving into and out of the pose with each breath, it is actually a vinyasa called dwipada pitham.

Next, hug your knees into your chest and rock from side to side, massaging your spine. Make your way into savasana (corpse pose).

Stay in savasana for five minutes or more.

Remember, yoga is more than just poses (asana). Meditation (dhyana) is the seventh limb on the eight-limbed path of yoga. Your daily yoga practice can consist solely of meditation.

There are many different ways to meditate. You can meditate on a mantra, a word or phrase you repeat over and over in your mind. You can meditate on a spiritual passage that resonates with you. You can listen to a guided meditation on CD. You can stare at a candle. You can visualize colors, nature, etc.

When you strip all of the techniques away, meditation is really just the act of sitting still and being quiet.

Sit on the floor in a cross-legged position. If this is uncomfortable, you can meditate in a chair (sit on the edge of the chair with your feet flat on the floor; if your feet don’t reach the floor, place a stack of books beneath them.) It’s important to keep your back straight, so if you need to, you may sit with your back against a wall for support.

The most basic way to meditate is to simply watch your breath. When a thought intrudes (and it will), gently guide your attention back to your breath. Try this:

When you breathe in, mentally say, “I am breathing in.”

When you breathe out, mentally say, “I am breathing out.”

“Thinking” your breath this way helps to keep your mind focused on your breath.

You don’t have to empty your mind to meditate. People often believe they can’t meditate because they can’t stop thinking. It’s normal for our minds to jump around from thought to thought all day long. Meditation is the practice of detaching yourself from your thoughts. If a “to-do list” pops up in your head, you don’t have to ruminate on it for the next ten minutes. Meditation practice trains you to acknowledge your thoughts, then let them go.

Try meditating for just five minutes, every day. You can do it first thing in the morning, or fit it in whenever you can. The important thing is to be consistent. Notice how you feel before and after meditation, and I think you’ll see quite a difference. In time, you can lengthen your practice to 20 minutes or more. Just relax, and don’t judge your progress.

If you’re brand new to yoga, you’ve probably already done the most important pose, without even realizing it.

This is savasana (pronounced sha-VAH-suh-nuh), also known as corpse pose. If you only have time for a five minute yoga practice, spend that time in savasana.

Lie on the floor, flat on your back. Let your arms rest along the sides of your body, and separate your legs, just enough so that your feet naturally fall to the sides, and your legs feel completely at ease. Like a corpse, remain perfectly still, and allow your body to melt into the floor. Now close your eyes. . .

In savasana, the idea is to simply do nothing. Don’t try to control your breath or your mind. The point of savasana is to experience the simple act of being, not doing.

Even though it looks simple, savasana is actually the most difficult pose of all because it forces us to be quiet. When we’re still, we come face-to-face with with our thoughts and feelings, some of which aren’t pleasant. We don’t have television, email, music, errands, etc. to drown out our thoughts. But, after just five minutes in savasana, you can begin to feel peaceful.

Savasana should always be done at the end of asana practice. An active practice stimulates your nervous system, and savasana calms it down. If you skip savasana, you can end up feeling hyper and unbalanced.

Remember, if you only have time for one pose, make sure it’s savasana.

By Jennifer Clawson, RYT

Obstacle #2. “I don’t know what to do.”

So, you don’t practice yoga at home because you don’t know what to do. . .

Guess what? You do know what to do. Your brain may be confused, but your body knows. Listen to what your body tells you it needs.

There is wisdom in our bodies, but we ignore them all the time. We eat foods that mess with our digestion. We feel awful in the morning because we’ve stayed up too late at night. We keep working when we need to rest. Our bodies crave water, but we drink soda instead. We’re hungry for real food, but we fill up with junk, or skip eating altogether.

Your body knows what to do. You just have to listen to it.

Try this: Get down on the floor in child’s pose.

Just breathe, and stay there as long as you want. If your body craves that position, stay in child’s pose. If your body wants to move, let it move as fast or as slow as it wants, any way it wants. Don’t think about trying to “do” a particular yoga pose. Just take some time to experience movement or stillness. Keep your focus on your breath, and don’t think about what you’re doing. It may help to close your eyes during this process. When you’re finished, lie on your back in savasana (corpse pose).

What you just did was a yoga practice. When you start a personal home practice, begin at the beginning. Take the first step, and then just go with the flow. If your body wants to stay in child’s pose for ten minutes, let it. If it wants to move through seven different standing poses, let it do that. The point is, your yoga practice should give you what you need. In a class, you do what the teacher has planned, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, a home practice can open you up to true freedom. When you can adapt yoga to your everyday life, you will get so much more from it.

Remember, asana practice is a part of yoga; it is not all of yoga. So, don’t let uncertainty about what to do keep you from your practice. Let your mind go, and let your body and your heart lead you.

I woman once told me that she had tried yoga before, but lying in savasana (corpse pose) at the end of class drove her crazy.  She enjoyed the physical activity, but the effort of lying still was more than she could take.  Another person I know won’t even try yoga because she says she “can’t relax.”

These women are not uncommon.  What I wish they would realize is the more uncomfortable you are with being silent and still, the more you need to be silent and still.

Why is it so hard to be still?  Why is savasana so scary to so many people?

Savasana forces you to be quiet and still.  This is a foreign concept to many people, especially in America’s fast-paced culture.  Many of us run, run, run, filling each day with activities and noise from our Ipods and televisions.  Some live like this because they know no other way.  Some run because it keeps them from facing things in their lives they’d rather not face.  Whatever the reason, our society as a whole views silence and stillness as unproductive.

Savasana harnesses the power of silence and stillness.  It can be a practice in and of itself.  Taking 10 minutes a day to lie in savasana is as effective a practice as a strenuous class (if not more so).  If you have time for just one asana a day, make it savasana.