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Part 1: A Yoga Practice Session: From Relaxation to Trikoṇāsana In Om Viśvadīp Guru Goswāmī Maheśvarānanda Āśram, in India, Northwest India, Rajasthan, District Pālī, Village Jharā, in our Yoga in Daily Life Retreat Center, where we are just now having systematic yoga practice and sādhanā according to the system of Yoga in Daily Life. Every day we are going through certain levels of this system according to our book. Now we have reached the second half of level three, and we ended with an āsana called Vīrāsana. So today we will continue from this āsana with the rest of level three. Again, we start our practice with relaxation. And before that, we will chant the mantra "Om" again three times. So just relax, keep your seat comfortable, either in Vajrāsana or in some meditation posture. Keep your hands on your knees, nicely relaxed, either in Chin Mudrā or facing downwards on the knees. Keep your back straight, close your eyes, deeply inhale, and we will chant three times. Feel the vibration of this mantra and the calmness and concentration which it brings. Deeply inhale and exhale, and prepare for your yoga sādhanā. Lie down on your back into Ānanda Āsana, the relaxation posture. Your legs are slightly apart from each other. Hands are lying on the floor, apart from the body. Correct your position again. Move your pelvis and press your lower back on the floor so that you feel the whole lower back. Move your arms, move your shoulder blades. Press the upper part of your back on the floor and feel the touch of your spine to the floor. Feel your whole body from the tip of the fingers and toes to the top of the head, and relax it completely. Deep inhale and exhale. Relax the whole body from the toes to the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. Relax both legs. Feel the right leg lying on the floor. And feel how with every exhalation, the relaxation is deeper and deeper. You already know, after practicing two levels of Yoga in Daily Life, how to relax. And your relaxation is now much quicker and more effective than at the beginning of your yoga practice. Relax your lower back. Relax all the vertebrae of your lower back and lumbar spine. Relax all the vertebrae of the thoracic spine, twelve of them. And relax the rest of the spine, the cervical part. Seven cervical vertebrae. Relax all the small muscles in between the vertebrae. Ligaments and big, long muscles go from the top to the bottom along the whole spine. Feel and relax also the wide and big muscles of your back. Muscles in between the shoulder blades, and move your concentration towards the trunk of your body. Relax your lower abdomen, relax your pelvic bottom, relax your abdominal muscles. Relax all the nerves of your body. Become aware of your head and relax all the face muscles. Relax your jaw and your chin. Relax your lips and tongue. Relax the round muscles around your lips and eyes, as well as the muscles on your forehead and cheeks. Completely relax the space behind your forehead, and try to imagine and relax your brain and all the brain centers, which are very important for the function of your whole body and mind. Relax all the nerves which are coming out from the brain towards your face, as well as through the spine going sidewards towards your hands, arms, and legs. The whole nerve system is completely relaxed, and with every exhalation, the relaxation is deeper and deeper. Withdraw your concentration towards your breathing process. Be aware of your nostrils and feel the nostrils. Feel the gentle touch of the inhalation in the nostrils, and with exhalation, how the air is coming out from the nose. Follow the whole path of the breath as far as you can. And slowly, we will start with breath exercises. Take a little deeper breath. Inhale deeply and exhale, and feel how the air is coming out from the nose. How, with this influence of the breath? With inhalation, active inhalation, there is a slight increase of your energy in the whole body, and the feeling of your whole body is with the influence of your breath increasing. Deeply inhale and exhale, and with inhalation, put your right hand on your belly in the area of the navel, and put your left hand on your chest in the middle. Start breathing with the full yoga breath. You already know very well how it flows, so start consciously breathing by expanding the abdomen, expanding the chest, and lifting up the shoulders. Again, with the exercise of the hands together with the breath. Wait for inhalation, and with inhalation, start lifting your arms up above your head, and with exhalation, going down. And feel how your hands are helping the full yoga breath to be deeper. Feel the natural holding of the breath between inhalation and exhalation. Just explore it; do not influence it. Respect your body’s needs and add the movement of your hands into your natural and normal breathing process. With another inhalation, we will start again with stretching exercises. With inhalation, lift up your right hand above your body and stretch the whole right part of the body, behind the fingers and behind the heel. Feel the tension on the right side of the body with inhalation, and with exhalation, the relaxation. Repeat with another inhalation on the other side for the same practice. As far as you are advanced in yoga, you can try to feel the stretching or tension in one part of the body and try, at the same time, to relax the other part of the body which is not being used for the movement. Inhalation, just release the tension. With another inhalation, do the same on the other side diagonally. Feel the stretching of the opposite arm and leg as much as possible, and again try to relax the hand, arm, and leg which you are not using for the stretching. It is more difficult than in previous practice because the leg and hand come, the innervation comes from different parts of the brain. So continue your stretching and try to relax as much as possible that part of the body which is not being stretched. With another exhalation, put your hands again beside the body, deeply inhale and exhale. And prepare yourself for continuing the āsanas from the third level of Yoga in Daily Life. Wait for inhalation, and rise yourself into a sitting position by raising your head first, then your shoulders, then the trunk, and then come to the sitting position called Vajrāsana. We will now perform the practice which is called Vīrāsana, or the hero posture, the hero pose. It begins; it’s a very deep concentration technique, and it begins from the Vajrāsana. So sit in the Vajrāsana, with your hands relaxed nicely on the toes or on the knees, and concentrate on a non-moving point in front of you. With inhalation, slowly come up a little bit on the knees, put your right foot on your toes, and bring your left foot closer to the level of the knee of the other leg. Now, your toes are banded, and the weight of your body is on the heel. Put your arm on the heel, on the knee, and rest your cheek in your palm. The other hand is nicely resting and relaxing on the other knee. Feel the weight of your body on the heel and foot, so on the backside of the feet. With exhalation, come up, come back into Vajrāsana. Relax in Vajrāsana. Deep inhale and exhale, and we will perform this practice on the other side. So again, lift up your body a little bit, put your feet on your toes, bend the other leg, and put your foot sole close to the heel of the other leg. Bend your left hand, put your elbow on your knee, and rest your cheek in your hand. The other hand is resting on the thigh. Again, gaze on one point and be aware of the whole posture. Move the weight of the body if you do not have any problems with the ankle joints or if you are not recovering from a foot injury. So put the weight back side on your heel and feel the stretching of these muscles. In this position, just deeply inhale and exhale, and be aware of the posture. Mentally, you can become aware that this posture is a posture of a hero, and try to feel the feelings which it awakens in you. This posture is very much working on the level of consciousness, on the level of your mind and the energy in the body. With exhalation, come back into Vajrāsana again. Deeply inhale and exhale, and feel the effect of this āsana. Prepare yourself for another asana, which is called Trikoṇāsana. It is a triangular practice which has four variations. The beginning position is the standing position. The legs are slightly apart from each other. Not slightly, widely, sorry. Widely apart from each other, and the toes are facing sidewards. Deeply inhale, and with exhalation, pull your left hand beside the body and bend to one side. Bend the whole trunk of the body to one side. Pulling your palm up towards the armpit. Put your arm there. Your elbow is facing towards the ceiling, and your look is on the ceiling. The other leg is resting on the knee or on the thigh, wherever you are able to touch. And with inhalation, come back into the starting position. Relax both arms. Deeply inhale and exhale. Inhale, and with exhalation, do the same practice on the other side. Do not bend yourself backwards or forwards. Bend yourself strictly sideways and pull your hand towards your armpit as far as possible. In this beginning position, keep your elbow directed towards the ceiling and your look is on the ceiling. And with exhalation, come back to the starting position. Deeply inhale and exhale. Deep inhalation, and again the same practice on both sides. With exhalation, you are bending, and in the position, you can stay for a few deep inhales and exhales. Feel the stretching of your side muscles. Feel your spinal column. Feel your muscles on the side of the stretched leg. With exhalation, with inhalation, come back to the middle and exhale. And the same on the other side. You can deeply inhale and exhale in this position and fix yourself there. With inhalation, come back to the starting position. Deeply inhale and exhale, and rest with deep inhalation and exhalation in the starting position. Now we will start with the second variation. With inhalation, put your arms sidewards at the level of the shoulders. Wait for exhalation, and with exhalation, with arms still like that, start bending your body to one side. Touch your leg wherever it is comfortable for you, and pull your hand a little bit more downwards on the leg. Your other hand is facing upwards, should be straight, so that both hands are in one line, both arms are in one line, and the fingers are facing towards the ceiling. Turn your head so you can look at your palm. Your look should be on the palm. With inhalation, come back to the starting position. And with exhalation, your hands are going back to the starting position. To the starting position. Deeply inhale and exhale. Again, with another inhalation, put your arms on the side. With exhalation, start bending to the other side. Very consciously, you touch your leg wherever you are able, and stretch your left arm upwards. Turn your head to that direction so that you see the palm and the fingers are facing toward the ceiling. And your both arms should be parallel in one line. Inhalation, come back to the position with arms sidewards, and with exhalation, to the starting position, hands or arms parallel with the body. Deeply inhale and exhale. Another round on each side. So with inhalation, now just add the movement to your normal and natural breath. Wait for inhalation. And start the movement. The body already knows how to do it. You can do it as much as you are able, according to your flexibility. With exhalation, get into the position. And you can remain in this position now for a few deep inhalations and exhalations. And now, feel the stretching of the muscles on the side of your trunk. Feel your chest and chest muscles, how they are opening. Feel your spinal column, how it is bent and the muscles are stretched. Feel your leg muscles, feel your lungs, and feel your breath, and try to find out where the breathing is now more. How one part of the lung is opened and the other part of the lungs is more squeezed. With inhalation, come back to the position with arms sidewards, and with exhalation, to the starting position. Again, deeply inhale and exhale, and completely relax. With another inhalation, we will perform the other side. So again, very consciously, pull your arms to the sideward position, and with exhalation, start bending. As soon as you get into the position, you fix yourself in that position as it is comfortable for you. This āsana must be comfortable for you. Now relax in this position and breathe deeply. And feel again the stretching of the muscles, the strengthening of the leg muscles. Arms sidewards. With exhalation, again you start bending as before until you get the position, the previous position. But now bend your upper arm more so that it gets into a parallel position with the floor. Your look should be up. With inhalation, come back. Arms stretch sidewards, and with exhalation, down back. Deeply inhale and exhale. And perform this practice on the other side, according to your breath and according to your capacity. Do not overstretch yourself. Get into just that position which is comfortable for you, where you feel slight stretching but never pain. The hand and arm are parallel with the floor, and your gaze is upward or on the palm. Again, feel the position and the stretching of the muscles and the effect on your chest. With another inhalation, come back, and with exhalation, return to the starting position. Deeply inhale and exhale. The next variation is again with arms, with inhalation, with arms facing sidewards. Exhalation, you turn yourself, rotating so that your left palm touches the right ankle. Look up, the arm is facing, the arm is stretched, the elbow is stretched, the palm is opened, the look is on the ceiling or on the palm, and hold your ankle joint. Feel the rotation of the body, especially in the upper part of your back. With inhalation, come back again. With exhalation, relax. And with another inhalation, we will perform on the other side. Deep inhale, rotate your body as before. And if you are very flexible, you can even reach the floor. Part 2: A Guided Yoga Practice: Trikoṇāsana to Prāṇāyāma In this case, you can place your hand on the floor. With an inhalation, come back, and with an exhalation, return to the starting position. You may also stay in this position for a few deep inhales and exhales. We will now continue with another variation. This variation again begins from the same posture. But now, with a wide arc, place your hands behind your back and clasp the right hand with the left fingers. Turn your feet so that there is a 90-degree angle between the balls of your feet. On the right side, with an exhalation, begin bending so that your nose touches the knee. The other leg is stretched, and the other knee is stretched as well. With an inhalation, come back into the starting position. Change your hands and perform the same on the other side. Ensure that during the exhalation, your knee does not extend further than the level of your ankle joint. Do not pull your knee further toward the toes. This misaligns the ankle and the knee and can be damaging. With an inhalation, come back again and perform this practice on both sides according to your breathing rhythm. All these exercises, all these Trikoṇāsanās, are very beneficial for the nervous system. They balance the nervous system, increase the flexibility of the spine, stretch the muscles on the sides of the body and back, stretch the back of the thighs, and increase the stability of the legs. They deepen the breath and guide the breath to the sides of the lungs. They are also good for releasing and relieving constipation. For this purpose, it is good to drink one or two cups of warm water before the exercise. So, with an exhalation, we finish the Trikoṇāsanās, with a deep inhalation and exhalation, and feeling the effect of the practice. The next āsana is called Ekapāda Uttānāsana. It is a one-legged pose. The starting position is standing. The legs are slightly apart from each other. Feel your weight more on your left leg. Consciously place your weight on the left leg. Lift your right leg and place the foot as high as possible on the upper part of your thigh. Balance yourself in this position and fix your gaze on one point. With an inhalation, bring your hands sideways and continue the movement to raise the hands upwards. Place your palms together, and with an exhalation, bend your elbows so that your palms come to the area of the chest. With an exhalation, continue bending your body to a position parallel with the floor. You are still gazing at one point in front of you and relaxing in this position. Inhale and exhale deeply. Stop all movements in this position. Nothing in your body is moving, only your breath. Only your concentration is holding the position. Nothing else is necessary to hold the position except your concentration. With an inhalation, slowly come back up. Raise your hands above your head. Stretch yourself, keeping the palms touching each other. With an exhalation, using a wide arc, come back into the beginning position. Inhale and release your leg. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Now you are ready to perform this practice on the other side. So again, the same: place the weight of your body on the right leg. Lift the left leg up as before. Fix yourself in this position and make your body straight. Raise your hands sideways and continue the movement upwards. Place your palms together, and with an exhalation, in this position, bring your palms in front of your chest and continue bending with an exhalation so that the body is parallel with the floor, so that your trunk is... the body is parallel with the floor. In this position, stop the movement. Continue breathing. Fix your gaze on one point and feel the āsana and the motionlessness in the āsana. This concentration is a concentration technique. So it improves concentration and the sense of balance. It has a very deep effect on the whole nervous system. It also strongly strengthens the muscles of the legs and feet. This practice should not be done by those who have a knee injury. Inhale, come back up, and stretch yourself. With an exhalation, bring your hands back and the leg back. Close your eyes and feel the effect of the practice. Take a deep inhale and exhale. This practice, in an advanced stage, can also be performed with closed eyes. It is difficult because we have to concentrate more on an inner point behind our forehead to maintain balance, instead of on some point in the outer world. Now we can proceed to another āsana called Haṃsa Āsana, the swan. The beginning position is the same, legs are close to each other, and again feel the weight of the body more on one leg. Now, bend your knee and touch your feet, catching your feet with your palms. Feel the thigh muscle of the stretched, bent leg parallel with the thigh muscle of the other leg. Try to pull your feet a little bit toward your body. From this position, we will start to perform the Haṃsa Āsana. With an inhalation, lift up the left hand, and with an exhalation, begin bending your body. Keep your pelvis facing forward as far as possible, and pull your leg, only your leg, behind your body as far as possible. With an inhalation, come back up again into this position, and with an exhalation... back again into the starting position. The same will be performed on the other side. Again, place the weight of your body on one leg. Then catch your feet behind your buttocks. Correct the position of your thighs so that they are both parallel, and your feet are not facing the left side or the right side, but are straight, facing toward your back. Inhale deeply and lift the leg up. Stretch yourself upwards, and in this stretch position, with an exhalation, begin bending into Haṃsa Āsana. Keep your pelvis straight and lift up only your leg with the help of your buttock muscles and the muscles on the back side of your leg. Again, concentrate on one point, and the other leg is stretched. Stretched. Inhale, come back into the starting position. With an exhalation, relax. Close your eyes and feel the effect of the practice. Perform this āsana on both sides again with full concentration and directed movement. This āsana again balances the whole nervous system. It again improves the ability to concentrate. It is very good for students and for those who do mental work. You can start performing the āsana with an inhalation. Stretch yourself and bend slowly. The pelvis is, if possible, straight. Do not bend your pelvis to the left side or the right side, and do not open your pelvis. Most of the effect comes from straightness. It stretches the muscles on the front side of the hip and strengthens the muscles on the back side of the hip, the leg, and the buttocks. It also opens and stretches the chest muscles, extensors of the back and hip, and develops a sense of balance. It develops the ability for bodily stability. With an exhalation, come back and perform this practice on the other side. Again, after a deep inhale and exhale, try to stretch yourself when you are up, and bend yourself to the front. Fix your gaze on one point, and now try to stop all movements in this āsana. Only the breath is moving in the body, and you feel that your āsana is being held in this position only by your concentration. You can also feel how the meaning of the āsana, which means swan, is that you can feel yourself like a swan in this position. With an inhalation, come back, and with an exhalation, return to the starting position. Again, close your eyes and inhale and exhale deeply. The last practice from this part of Yoga in Daily Life is Sūrya Namaskār. Sūrya Namaskāra is a salutation to the sun. It is a practice which consists of 12 different movements, and they are connected with each other, coming one after another. Sūrya Namaskār begins with a standing position. Place your palms together in front of the chest. With an inhalation, go up to position two, place your hands above your head, and look up at the ceiling. With an exhalation, bend down to position three, and relax your legs and head. With another inhalation, place your right hand, place your right leg behind, and look up to the front. With another inhalation, place your left leg back to the position of the heel. With held breath, lower your body to the floor, bend your arms, and touch your chin, chest, and knees on the floor. With an inhalation, go to Bhujaṅgāsana, which means to lift your trunk and support your pelvis with your arms, keeping the pelvis on the floor. From this position, we are coming again back. So, with an exhalation, come back again to the standing position on the arms and feet. With an inhalation, place your left leg to the front, between the palms. With an exhalation, place your right leg close to the left one. With an inhalation, come up, look to the ceiling, and stretch yourself. With an exhalation, come back to the position with hands close to the chest. Relax your hands beside the body. You can do this practice several times and feel the stretching of particular parts of your body. You can continue your practice in your breathing rhythm once again. With inhalation going up, with exhalation down. With inhalation, one leg goes back; with exhalation, coming back with the other leg. With holding of the breath, the position is on the chin, on the chest, and on the knees. With inhalation comes Pūjaṅgāsana, Cobra. With exhalation, again coming back on all fours. With inhalation, a different leg comes to the front. With exhalation, bring one leg close to the other. With another inhalation coming up. With an exhalation, palms in front of the chest. Inhale and exhale deeply in a standing position. We can do one more round according to your normal breathing process. This practice stretches all the major muscles of the body and all the major joints of the body. It increases energy in the body, improves circulation throughout the whole body, and also especially in the head, improving the function of the head organs. It also stimulates digestion and stimulates the whole body's energy. This practice can be done either with concentration on your physical body together with breathing, or concentration mainly on breathing. Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā... After this practice, we will continue with a short relaxation and prāṇāyāma from the third level of Yoga in Daily Life. So lie down in Ānanda Āsana and completely relax your whole body after this practice. Inhale and exhale deeply. Relax the whole body from the top of the head to the toes. Completely relax both legs. Relax both hands, relax your spine and back muscles, relax your abdomen, relax your chest, relax your face muscles. All the tension from the face is, with every exhalation, going away. Compare your feelings now with the feelings you had at the beginning of the practice. All the levels of your being: physical, mental, the level of feelings, the level of energy. Concentrate on your nostrils and feel the breath, how it is coming inside and going out from your lungs. Breathe a little deeper, and inhale and exhale deeply. Prepare yourself slowly for the prāṇāyāma practice. Move your fingers and toes. Wait for another inhalation, and slowly, slowly, with the help of your hands, come up into a sitting position—first raising your head, then raising your shoulders, then the trunk of the body into the sitting position. Take a comfortable seat for your prāṇāyāma practice or meditation. Straighten up your spine. Relax your hands on your knees, either in Śhin Mudrā or with your palms nicely relaxed on the knees. Inhale and exhale deeply. Relax the whole body. Relax your hands. Relax your shoulders and elbows. Relax your abdomen. Relax your legs and relax your face muscles. Ensure that your position is without any movements, very straight, but without any tension. Consciously release all the tensions of your body and all the muscles which you do not use for maintaining this position. Inhale and exhale deeply, and bend your right arm for Prāṇāyāma Mudrā. Index finger and the third finger touching the eyebrow center, and the thumb closes the right nostril. Inhale through the left nostril and exhale through the right nostril by closing the left nostril with your ring finger. After exhalation, inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left nostril. This is one round. Perform like that for ten rounds of this breathing, which is alternate breathing, also called Anuloma Viloma. Inhale left, exhale right. Inhale right, exhale left. After ten rounds of this alternate breathing, place your arm back with an exhalation on your knee. Inhale and exhale deeply. Wait for another inhalation and again make prāṇāyāma mudrā. Now we will start with inhalation through the right nostril. Exhalation through the left nostril. Another inhalation through the left and exhalation through the right nostril. Use your thumb and ring finger to close the nostrils alternately. Keep your body straight but completely relaxed, and concentrate on the flow of your breath through the nostrils as you are changing them. This breathing calms the mind and gives balance and harmony to the whole body by balancing both hemispheres of your brain. Again, perform 10 rounds by this alternate anuloma-viloma way of breathing. After this prāṇāyāma practice, you are very well prepared for the meditation, self-inquiry meditation from Yoga in Daily Life, Level 3. It includes mostly visualization, imagination, and self-inquiry meditation. Exhale deeply, and we will now finish our practice according to the third level of Yoga in Daily Life. Exhale, and we will sing three times Om and the peace mantra. Deep inhale. Peace, peace... within yourself and around you. Feel your inner peace and slowly move your fingers, move your legs, move your toes, move the whole body, and rub your palms together strongly. With the rubbing of your palms, extrovert yourself, and become aware of the area of the place where you are. Become aware of your surroundings and of yourself being in this space. Be aware of your whole being, together with your social connections. Rub your palms and rub your facial muscles strongly. Make them warm and open your eyes. You can also, with an exhalation, bend down and let the body relax in this position. So, with this, our third-level practice according to Yoga in Daily Life ends. Have a nice day. Thank you for joining us.