TV Channel

Part 1: Morning Yoga Practice: Marjari, Sumeru, and Katha Pranam Your back is straight, your shoulders are relaxed. To awaken our back muscles, Marjari (Cat Pose) is excellent. We will begin with that. Take a slightly deeper inhalation and exhalation, and we will start slowly. One, inhale as we come up. Two, exhale, rounding your back as much as possible. Try to round it as much as you can. Three, inhale. Exhale. Four. Five, inhale. Six, exhale. Seven, inhale. Eight. Excellent. Nine, inhale as we come up. Ten, exhale. We will also do a second variation with our palms and elbows on the floor. This variation works very well on the chest, opening it, and also works well between the legs. So, the second variation. Again, inhale, come up. Exhale, place your palms and elbows on the floor. Round your back as much as you can. Try to press away from the floor with your elbows as much as possible. Three, inhale. And, as if someone is pulling your chin up... It's like someone is pulling your chin down. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Then slowly come up onto your knees, and then exhale. We will be twisting today. We will change and do the third variation as well. This is when we go to the side with our feet. So, when we go with our feet to the left and right side, looking over our shoulders at the tops of our feet. Again, inhale, come up. Exhale, place your palms and elbows on the floor and round your back. Three, inhale. Three, so the same, put your arms up, put your feet on the floor. Exhale, we go to our left. See, we go to our left, looking over our shoulders at our feet. Try to look at your feet above your shoulders, not under your shoulders. Inhale, come to the middle. Exhale to the right. Easy to do. Inhale, middle. Exhale, we go to the left side. Inhale to the middle. Exhale to the right. Inhale to the middle. And once more, exhale. Inhale to the middle, and exhale. With inhalation, we come back to the middle. With exhalation, we put our feet on the floor, round our back, inhale, come up, and exhale, sit back in Vajrāsana. Please, if you could, turn off your mobile phones. Observe. Feel your back, feel your shoulders, feel your back muscles, spine, muscles around your spine. We continue with Sumeru Āsana. We all know that Sumeru Āsana is translated as Mount Everest. We will do Sumeru Āsana. In translation, it is Mount Everest. We all know that a mountain has a peak on top. Mountains, especially Mount Everest, have a peak on top. So, try to make that peak with your body, with your back from one side and your legs from the other side. Don't be like here in Croatia, we have a region called Zagorje, and it's all hills, and they are around... so don't be like that, be like a mountain. I will first show you, and then we will do it all together. With inhalation, we come up. Exhale, place our palms on the floor, bend our feet, and come up. In this position, try to push your stomach more towards your thighs and try to really make a peak. It is an excellent āsana against problems with the lower back. It stretches the backside of the legs. Again, it is an excellent āsana to awaken us because it is an inverted position and directs circulation towards your head, so it is very good for your memory and concentration. It's a good āsana for early morning to wake up. You can read newspapers in this position and enjoy. We will stay and breathe normally for a while. The pose is very good for stretching the legs, stretching the side of the leg, directing circulation towards the head. It is very good for memory and, in general, revitalizes the energy of the whole body. We will start all together. We start together. One, inhale, come up. Two, exhale. We put our hands under our shoulders, bend our toes, raise our toes, and come up. And we push off. Try to push away from the floor with your palms. At the same time, try to lift only your toes and come up only on your fingers and toes, so your sole is vertical toward the floor. And enjoy. I know we can't see each other's faces in this position, but try to have that madhurī mudrā. Try to relax your stomach. A little bit deeper inhalation. With exhalation, we go down, put knees on the floor, inhale, and exhale. For a moment, just try to feel your body. For a moment, just feel your body. And since we said that Sumeru Āsana revitalizes the energy of the whole body, it will wake you up. After you establish a normal breathing rhythm, we will continue with the Kāṭha Praṇām. So, as we said, it's an excellent āsana for revitalizing energy in our body. It awakens our body and is good preparation for Kāṭha Praṇām. But just for a moment, stay in Vajrāsana. If you want, you can close your eyes. Feel the breathing process: slow inhalation and stretching with inhalation from your stomach to your throat, and relaxing with exhalation from your throat to your stomach. Just feel the natural relaxation of that breath at the moment. Inhale and slightly spread your body with your inhale, from your chest to your throat. Relaxation during the exhalation from your throat to your heart. We will do three cycles of Kāṭha Praṇām. We will do them all together. So, we'll do three rounds of Kāṭha Praṇām. Slowly prepare, and we will start. One, inhale, and try to stretch up as much as you can. Your arms are straight at your elbows, and your whole palms are together. So, don't just make like fingers; really try to stretch up, and you're looking towards your palms. Look towards your palms. Hands are stretched, as if someone is pulling us towards the ceiling. Two. Slowly we open our arms. Two. We spread our arms slowly and do it straight back from our hips. We go down to Śaśāṅkāsana. We go down to Śaśāṅkāsana. Palms, elbows, elbows are on the floor. We lower our forehead on the floor. The forehead is on the floor. Three. Three. We slide forward. Bhujaṅgāsana. Try to put your shoulders a little bit more down and keep your elbows beside your body. And again, slowly, we bend our fingers. Try to put your heels on the floor. Six, six, right leg goes in front. This is usually known as the sprinter's position, but don't take it so literally. You don't have to round your back in this position, but try to open your chest. This will help you develop the position of a sprinter, but try not to form the shape of a thigh as if you are at a start; try to open your chest. So your thigh and hip are in one plane. So your back and your thigh are in one line. Seven, seven, palms together, nine, ten, just relax, feel the stretching of your back. Feel the relaxation in your neck and shoulder area, the circulation towards your head. Your feet are straight, your knees are straight, with a straight back. We come up, so from our hips, we are coming up. We close our palms. Stretch up, palms down, stretch, and try to push your pelvis a little bit more to the front. 11, 12. So, right leg goes back. 13, 15. Again. Try to press your heels more to the floor. And now, if you feel safe enough on your hands, or you have a problem with the lower part of the back... So now, if you don't feel safe on your arms, if you feel that you don't have enough strength... Or in case that you have a weak lower part of your back, you can first put your knees on the floor and then go down in Bhujaṅgāsana... 18, 18 we go to Śaśāṅkāsana. 19, 19 with straight back we come up, fold our palms, and 20 with exhalation we put our palms on our thighs. 20 seconds, and we go down with Lāṇovena Bedra. We will continue on the other side. Again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. With a straight back, we come up, then we go straight up: 10, and we tighten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20. A little bit deeper inhalation, exhalation. We will continue with the second round. We will continue with the second round. Breathe in a little deeper, breathe out. Feel that breath again. Spread your body and breathe out. Release all tension, breathe out. We'll start. One, three, four, six, seven. In this position, try to have your arms stretched, your elbows stretched. And put arms down. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. And once more. Inhale. Udīśe. 2. Exhale. 3. Inhale. 3. Uḍīse. 4. Stay with full lungs. Exhale. With inhalation, the left leg goes in front, stretch up, then hold your breath if you feel comfortable, exhale, with inhalation, left leg goes back, with inhalation, again we come up, exhale. So, we said we will do three rounds, so we will do one round more, but individually, in your own rhythm, in your own speed, how you feel comfortable. Just try to be aware of every posture, of every part of Kāṭha Praṇām. So, we will do one more cycle, individually, in the same rhythm of breathing, at the speed that suits you. Just try to be aware of every movement in Kāṭha Praṇām. And when you are ready, you can start. So, when you are ready, you can start. To finish, just stay in Vajrāsana until your breathing process becomes calm again. When you finish, just stay in Vajrāsana. Try to calm your breath. Then slowly lie in Ānandāsana. And then slowly lie in Ānandāsana. Care for your body. Try to feel the difference in your body after practicing Kāṭha Praṇām. Try to feel the difference in your body after the Kāṭha Praṇām exercise. Pavan Mukta Āsana. And we will continue with Pavan Muktāsana. So, put your hands beside your body. Put your feet together. Put your feet together. And we will do three repetitions of Pavan Mukta Āsana. So we raise our right leg. With inhalation, we raise our right leg. Exhale. Tie on the chest and lift the head up. Podignemo glavu. And just check that your shoulder blades are on the floor. Inhale. We put our head back on the floor. C-design. Spustimo glavu. And exhale. Relax. Spustimo nogu. Ljevo. Left. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. C-design. And exhale. Right side. C-design strana. Again. One. Inhale. Two. Inhale. Pull the leg to the chest. Inhale. Lower the head. Inhale. Spread the legs. Inhale. Left. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Inhale... And exhale. And we will do once more, one more time. Inhale, exhale, inhale, and exhale. Relax, leg on the floor, and on the other side, again. Inhale, come up. Inhale, raise your leg, two exhales. Inhale, exhale, and exhale. Slowly turn on your right side. We will do Meru Ākāra Nā San. Meru Ākāra Nā San. So put your palm under your shoulder. Your right arm is stretched in the elbow. Your fingers are facing up, the fingers on the hands are parallel with the body, in the same direction as the whole body, and try to push off a little with your hand. So, don't lean on your hand, but push off with your hand from the floor, as much as possible. Try to push away from the floor a little bit more; that way you can feel the stretching of your side muscles, and your whole body is in one line, and the whole body is in one plane. If you feel stable and comfortable, you can close your eyes for a moment or two. If you feel comfortable, stable, or if you have a neighbor close to you, you can close your eyes at any time. Slowly, with exhalation, we put our upper arm on the floor, our left hand is on the left thigh, still the whole body is in one line. Now slowly with inhalation, slowly with exhalation, we put our left leg in the knee, grab. The left one, and exhale, stretch our leg up. And exhale, spread your legs. Inhale, again we bend our leg, and exhale, we put it on the right leg. And we'll do two more times. We'll do it two more times. So again, inhale, grab the left one, and exhale, spread your leg. Leg, and try to push your hip, left hip, a little bit more to the front, and up. Inhale, and once more. And once more. And we'll stay in position and breathe normally. So inhale, exhale, we stretch our leg, and breathe. Try to feel the weight of your body on your side muscles. Again, with the next inhalation and exhale, we put the leg on the other one. Slowly. We turn on the left side. First, left hand under the shoulder, body in one plane. Don't forget to push away from the floor. Don't forget to push away from the floor. So, I want you to feel the stretching with each exhale. Slowly we go down. Slowly we go down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Hold the toes. Exhale. Try to push your hip a little bit more up and to the front, so your pelvis is straight. And exhale. And we will do once more. We will breathe normally in position. We will do it one more time. We will breathe normally in this position. So slowly inhale. Exhale. And breathe normally. And again, with inhalation. And just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda. Śānti. And just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda. Śānti. And just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda. Śānti. And just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda. Śānti. And just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda. Śānti. And just for a moment, lie down back in Ānanda Āsana, and just for a moment, don't drift away. Just be aware of your body, of the effect of Meruākaraṇa Āsana. Don't be distracted by thoughts. Focus on your body, watch the action of Merūkaraṇa Saṁ. Feel the action of Meruākaraṇa Saṁ. Stand up. If you have low blood pressure, be careful. Don't rush, don't stand up too fast. We will slowly stand up. If you have a little pressure, you don't have to hurry. Slowly, we will stand at a slightly smaller distance. In fact, for the width of the shoulders, we will do Hastottānāsana. Cross your hands above your head. We will do Hastottānāsana. Feet are slightly apart, the width of your shoulders. Again, your back is straight, and your pelvis is a little bit to the front. Part 2: Gentle Yoga and Prāṇāyāma Sequence Your legs are relaxed. Your shoulders are relaxed. With an inhalation, turn your palms. Deepen the inhalation, and exhale. Inhale, turn the palms down, and exhale. Inhale, turn the palms, inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale. Try to feel the entire clavicular region and the flow of breath there. Exhale, inhale, and exhale. This is also an excellent āsana for awakening. It is a very good āsana for connecting you with your breath, as you can truly monitor your breathing process: the inhalation from your stomach to your throat, and the exhalation the other way. Slowly, we bring our feet together. We will do Dvikoṇāsana. With an inhalation, interlock your fingers. Place your palms facing the floor and stretch upward, as if someone is pulling your chin up. So, interlock your fingers, the inner part of the hands facing the floor, and as if being pulled toward the ceiling, pull yourself up. Exhale from the hips as you go down. Keep the legs straight, go down. Raise your arms for a slightly deeper stretch, and relax in this position. Your knees are straight. Again, you can feel the stretching in your stomach, and how with that stretching, the torso lifts a little more. With exhalation, as your stomach empties, you deepen the position. You can follow the movement of the spine with the inhale, as the body is slightly raised, and with the exhale, as the spine empties, the position deepens. Ultimately, you reach the position where your stomach is on your thighs, your chest is on your knees, and your forehead is on your shins. In this way, you will reach the point where the hips are on the thighs, the chest is on the knees, and the forehead is on the floor. Now, slowly, place your arms back on your back. With an inhalation and a straight back, come up, and exhale to relax. We will do one more āsana before Ānandāsana. Since we are learning the second stage of yoga in daily life and are sitting for most of the day—or at least we should be—we will do an excellent āsana for our hips. It is also very good for the knees and upper leg muscles. We will do Uttānāsana. Squat. Spread your legs, ensuring your feet are slightly turned outwards. Go into the squat, with your knees following the line of your feet. Your foot soles are a little open to the side. When you squat, your knees should be in the same direction as your foot soles. Ensure the surface is not slippery so you don't do an unplanned split. Again, relax your back and shoulders, straighten your back, and push your pelvis slightly forward. We will do all three variations. With an inhalation, interlock your fingers. With an exhalation, go back to the starting position, lowering to the height of your hips, and enjoy. Try to feel the weight of your body on the soles of your feet, on your toes, the outer sides of your feet, and on your heels. Relax your back. Keep it straight; do not bend forward or backward. With an inhalation, come up. With an exhalation, go to the height of your knees behind you. But do not try to check if it's there. Now we can become familiar with some parts of our body we didn't know we had. We can sit on parts we didn't even know existed. Inhale, come up. For the third variation, we will go all the way down into the squat. The third option is to stand up and go down into a squat, but remember it should look correct. Do not make it like this, as that is not Uttānāsana. We should feel the weight of our body on the soles of our feet. Really try to push away from the floor with your feet, keeping your back straight. Try to push your feet away from the floor continuously while keeping your back straight. In this way, we have a movement where we bend at the hips, engaging the whole lower leg. With an inhalation, we will come up, and afterward, we will lie down. So, shall we begin? Inhale, interlock your fingers, and exhale. Go down easily. It is actually quite a pleasant position and very healthy for your stomach. Do not forget to breathe—abdominal breathing, of course. With an inhalation, come up. Exhale. Relax your arms. Should we do it once more, or shall we do Ānandāsana? Okay. Lie in Ānandāsana. Now you can feel your legs. You can enjoy feeling your legs. You can enjoy Ānandāsana. After all, it is the posture of bliss, so you can feel the position of Ānandāsana. You can feel the legs, enjoy that feeling in the legs and hips. When you feel tension in any part of the body, just try to release and let go of that part. Notice how the body is stretching, then release and let go. If you feel any tension, try to relax it with an exhalation. Feel the slight stretching with inhalation and complete relaxation while exhaling. Once, take a slightly deeper inhalation. Feel the contact of your body with the floor. Slowly sit up in Daṇḍāsana. Since we haven't done any twists, we will do Bhujamānāsana. While doing Bhujamānāsana, ensure both sitting bones are on the floor most of the time. At least, try to have both sitting bones on the floor while performing it. Prepare: back straight, legs straight, elbows on the knees. With an inhalation, raise your arms; exhale and rotate to the left. Place your palms on the floor in the range where your shoulders would be if you were in Āṇḍāsana. Put your hands where your shoulders are so we can understand each other. Go toward the floor. You do not have to touch the floor with your forehead or nose. Just ensure both sitting bones remain on the floor. What is important is that the seat remains on the floor the entire time. Inhale and come up. Exhale. On the other side. Inhale. Exhale, rotate, place your palms on the floor. Inhale, we come up. Exhale, second time. On the other side, inhale, exhale. We will do once more. Inhale, exhale. Breathe normally in this position. Again, "normally" means abdominal breathing. With an inhalation, come up, and exhale. And on the other side. Again, inhale, exhale, breathe normally, inhale and exhale. Again, slowly lie in Ānandāsana. Try to feel your back, the muscles around your spine. If you feel tension in the lower part of your back, you can do one cycle of Pavanamuktāsana. How many of you? So many people in the back. Slowly finish with Pāvanamuktāsana. We will do one more āsana. Actually, we will do Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā. Do not confuse it with Sarvāṅgāsana. In Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā, our spine is at about a 45-degree angle to the floor. When you do it, try to lift your legs. Interlock your fingers and bring your elbows as close together as you can. Then, with your palms, place your hands under your pelvis. Raise your legs, cross your fingers as if lifting a dream, bring your elbows closer as much as possible, and then lift your pelvis with your hands—not in the area of your hips, but more toward the center of your pelvis. Raise this central part of your pelvis more. In this position, your legs are straight, vertical toward the floor, and your spine is at about a 45-degree angle. Breathe normally. You do not have to move your feet soles, which you never have to meet. If your elbows are uncomfortable in this position, that is normal, at least in the beginning. The only thing that should not happen is that your fingers, especially your little finger and ring finger, become numb. If that happens, return to Ānandāsana and try again with your elbows a little closer. If you have tingling fingers, you can return to Ānandāsana and try to bring your elbows a little closer. Slowly return to Ānandāsana. Slowly lower your back to the ground, slowly place your legs on the floor. Feet are a little apart, palms facing upward. Feel your whole body, feel your breathing process, feel your breath. Once more, take a slightly deeper inhalation and exhalation. Again, slowly sit up in Daṇḍāsana. Slowly bend your fingers and stretch them. Your whole feet are going forward, rotate to the other side. On the other side, slowly stop. Place your right foot on your left thigh. Put your right foot on the inner side of your left thigh and gently push your knee toward the floor. Inhale, stretch up. With an exhalation, we stretch up, and exhale with a straight back as we go down. Inhale, exhale, fully rise up. Second time, exhale, inhale, exhale, and once more. Inhale, we come up. With an exhalation, relax your arm and stretch your right leg. When you exhale, lower your arm, slowly spread your leg, and then do the other side. Bend your left knee, place your foot against your hip. Try to stretch up; do not sit collapsed, but stretch up. Again, inhale, inhale, and exhale. Inhale, inhale, exhale. And once more, inhale, and exhale. With an inhalation, slowly come up. And, of course, before prāṇāyāma, we will do the butterfly pose. It is pretty funny. Just try to feel the difference when you bring your knees up and when you lower them. We try to go lower. Again, inhale, stretch up, inhale, exhale, inhale, and once more, exhale. With an inhalation, we come up and stretch our legs. If needed, you can shake your legs a little. Sit in the position for prāṇāyāma. Slowly sit in the posture for prāṇāyāma. We will do Nāḍīśuddhana second level. We will start by breathing through the left nostril. One cycle is: inhale through your left and exhale through your right. That counts as one, and we will do 20 cycles. First, we will do 20 cycles inhaling through the left nostril. After that, we will take a short pause, and then do 20 cycles inhaling through the right nostril. So, a short break and then the second part of prāṇāyāma: inhale through your right and exhale through your left—20 cycles. But just to begin, slowly close your eyes. Relax your forehead, relax the area around your ears, feel and relax your jaw. Just for the beginning, close and relax your eyes, eyelids, forehead. Relax your ears, the area around your ears, lower jaw. Relax your neck and shoulders, and what is more important, most important, relax your stomach. Relax your shoulders, your whole back, and most importantly, relax your spine. Just feel the flow of your breath, the gentle stretching of the whole body while inhaling. We will chant Oṁ once. One time we will sing Oṁ and try to direct yourself with the sound of Oṁ to your body from the inside, to your inner space. Try chanting the Oṁ. Try to feel yourself, your inner space, and just connect the Oṁ in your inner space. A little deeper inhalation. Slowly, when you are ready, raise your right arm in Prāṇāyāma Mudrā. As soon as you are ready, raise your right hand. The middle finger is on your forehead. With your thumb, close your right nostril. Breathe in through your left nostril. Close your left nostril. Breathe out through your right nostril. Follow the flow of your inhalation from your stomach to your throat, exhalation from your throat to your stomach. Again, be aware of your mantra flowing with your breath. Just follow the flow of your inhalation from your throat to your neck, exhalation from your neck to your throat. And just follow the flow of your mantra according to your breath. First part of prāṇāyāma, so 20 cycles. If necessary, briefly lower your right hand into Chin Mudrā, lower your shoulders, and relax. When you have done twenty inhalations through your left nostril, if you feel tension, you can, for a moment, relax your right arm in Chin Mudrā, relax your shoulder and elbow. Again, when you are ready, start with the other part of prāṇāyāma. For prāṇāyāma, just remain focused on your breathing process, be aware of your mantra. When you have finished with prāṇāyāma, just stay aware of the flow of your breath, aware of the flow of your mantra. A little deeper. Inhale and exhale. In the end, we will chant oṁ three times and "nāhaṁ kartā." Slowly take a slightly deeper inhalation. Bring your palms together, rub them to make them warm. Press your warm palms on your eyes, forehead, and your whole face. Warm up your face. Slowly open your eyes and bend forward. Slowly stretch forward, feel the circulation toward your head and the stretching in your legs. And we do the same thing again. Inhale and come up. Hari Om.