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Now, relax and lie on your stomach in the tiger position. In the tiger position, you are on your navel with your legs bent; you may touch your elbow to your knee. Take one deep inhale and exhale. Now, slowly, we will stand up. Today we will practice āsanas from a standing position. When standing, the position of our pelvis is always very important, just as in Ānandāsana, where we press the low back to the floor for stabilization. Here also, be aware that you do not have too much lordosis in this area. It is very important that your knees are not locked. When you lock your knees, you immediately create a slight problem for them, and your pelvis goes back. Keep your leg straight, but do not lock the knee. Imagine this position like a zipper closing, or imagine your pubic bone moving slightly toward your navel—not too much. Now we will stretch our body upward. Especially when we stretch up and raise our hands, our pelvis usually goes too far back. Try not to do this; that is one of the main points. Inhale, rise onto your toes, and stretch your body up. You may interlock your thumbs. Exhale down. Inhale, rise onto the toes, stretch the body, and exhale down. Once more, nice and slow, together. Inhale, stretch, stay in the position, and breathe normally. Enjoy the stretching while simultaneously strengthening your leg muscles. Excellent. This is especially needed when you sit for a long time at work; you need to stretch your body. When you are curved and in poor posture, you are not breathing well, and our concentration, awareness—everything—declines. We become sleepy and crave another coffee. Instead of coffee, try something like Tāḍāsana. Nicely up, stretch, and down. Inhale, and take the hands a little more back... and exhale. Once more, inhale, take the hands more back, and exhale. Bring the hands down. Try to feel how you are breathing now as we stand in a nice, straight position. Also, ensure your shoulders are not too far forward, but not only pulled back—nicely balanced, as in Ānanda Āsana. Imagine the same picture, but rotated 90 degrees. Now again, interlock your fingers. Keep your heels and feet on the floor. Stretch, and take the hands back to the right. Inhale and exhale, but do not move your pelvis. When practicing this movement, try not to look around, as we are often not flexible in the thoracic area; our thoracic spine does not bend easily. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Nicely stretch your body. Inhale. Two. Be aware of the position of your pelvis. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. And three. Exhale. Inhale and exhale. Inhale in the middle and exhale. Now relax in this position. Also, be aware of how you are standing on the floor. What does this mean? Feel your body's weight on your heels. After that, feel the outer part of your foot, and slowly, the area under the big toe. Avoid putting weight on the small toe, as that will cause your knees to turn out and may lead to pain on the outside of your knees. Try to feel the outside and under the big toe. Also, do not lock your knees, and remain aware of your pelvis position. Now, position your shoulders nicely, and your head as well. Imagine a wall behind you and that your neck is touching that wall. Ideally, your ear, shoulder, and hip joint should be aligned. That is the correct standing position. Why is this standing āsana not easy? If you have flat feet, you will feel some muscles inside your feet now. Now we will do Pavan Muktāsana in a standing position, starting with the right leg. Inhale, and exhale. Lift the leg up, up... and inhale. Two, exhale and lift, more up. Inhale, three. Inhale, four—excellent for concentration. Inhale, five. Inhale, six. Inhale, seven. Inhale, eight, up, more up. Inhale, nine, up, more up. Inhale, and once more. Then inhale, and now relax in Ānanda Āsana. Relax. Simply standing in the correct position is not easy. Now, try to feel your foot. How is the circulation in your feet and legs? Feel your whole body. It is very important to strengthen our legs and to have a good, stable body position because the condition of our mind is reflected in our body. Through correcting our body, we can also correct our state of mind. That is why we practice yoga—to change and develop nicely. As Viśvagurujī said, "Naraseṇārāyaṇa"—from human to God. Start with āsanas, prāṇāyāma, concentration, and meditation, but the most important is bhakti. Now, take one deep inhale and exhale. Slowly stand up. When changing position and trying to stand, you may shift to one side and use your hands for a little help. Now, separate your legs slightly and place your palms on your pelvis. First, look. We will go down on one side and slowly come up, then to the other side. It is very important when you go down that the line between the big toe and second toe aligns with the line of your knee, and also with the hip joints—everything in one line. If you go in or out, you will have a slight problem with your knee. You know, when skiing, if the knee goes in, you will injure it. This is the principle for all practices: Aśvasañcālanāsana, Maṇḍūkyāsana, everything. In all āsanas, the knee should track over this line. Also, do not go too far forward; position yourself nicely. You will feel all these muscles. Okay, now we will start on your right side. I will go on the left, as in a mirror, but you go right. Mind the position of your pelvis. Straighten your body. Inhale here, and exhale nicely. Let's stay in this position. Inhale slowly up, and exhale down. Inhale, three. Inhale, four. Nice, feel your muscles. Inhale, five. Inhale, six. Inhale, seven. Inhale, eight. Inhale, nine, inhale, and once more, ten. Excellent. Relax a little in this position. If you are only watching on Swāmījī TV, you might think it is easy, but try practicing with us and you will see and feel your muscles. Also, if you have any problem with a joint, we need to strengthen the two neighboring muscles. Now we will do another exercise. The first was more for the thigh muscle; the second will be more for the calf muscle. First, look. As before, but now the heel will lift. We are not changing the height of the body; press the knee down, heel up, heel down and up, but do not change the position of the upper body. You will feel this around the hip joints. In the same way, you will feel your heart beating a little, so we will not do ten repetitions. On the right side, slowly go back, down, and heel up. Exhale. Inhale. Two. Up. Three. Position of pelvis, four. But do not over-straighten the leg, five. And up. Look, you go into this position and remain there, not moving further. Just stay, heel up. One, two, three, four, and one more, five. Return to the middle and relax. Ānandāsana. Moving into Ānandāsana and rising is also practice. If we practice correctly, we will feel, as people like to say, that it is a cardio practice. You immediately feel your heart beating a little quicker, but it is also excellent for your heart. Now, feel the circulation in your legs. This kind of exercise is excellent when you are on anuṣṭhāna. If you have knee pain, be gentle. Maybe do only three times at first, but after one week, try five times. Slowly, as you strengthen your muscles, you will be able to do more repetitions. Always practice. All these āsanas that strengthen the legs will give us more strength and presence in the here and now. Now, slowly stand up. We will practice Maṇḍūkyāsana. We will do it from the first level, but if you have knee problems—not because you think you have problems and avoid practice, but if you genuinely have knee issues—in that case, you may practice Marjari. Everything is good, but Ānanda Āsana is not for that. When we practice, yes. Same principle, but now the foot is at about a 45-degree angle. Not parallel, and you go down. Also, the knee should follow the line of your foot, so your calf, knee, and thigh align. Keep the heel on the floor, but feel as if you are going back. Okay, but in that case, slowly go forward—not too much. That is just to see. If you go too far forward, you will not go back properly. Also, when practicing this āsana, try not to practice in a certain incorrect way. If we want to practice that way, we would practice a different āsana. Instead, try this: inhale, stretch up, separate your legs, and imagine someone is pressing your thoracic area, similar to Marjari. Also, as we talked about yesterday: the head position is not good for this part. But imagine you have something here. If you look, everything is connected. Daṇḍāsana practice with the head follows the same principle in this position. Marjari, or this position, follows the same principle. We need to understand this principle and, through it, practice āsana. What does it mean here? Look up. When you go, it is an exhale—just exhale. But try with your knee: press your upper arm and squeeze. The exhalation will be better. Squeeze like a lemon. Now, come, inhalation, and open your arms. This is such a good āsana for your low back. Now we will go together. Try to keep your heel on the floor. If you cannot get your heel to the floor, separate your legs a little more. Okay, inhale. Nice. And exhale. Two. Separate a little more. Exhale, three, up, and nice. Exhale, and once more. Inhale, and relax in this position. Mostly in the world, this position is for relaxation. In India, everything is done in this position: cooking, selling fruit and vegetables, even going to the toilet. Yes, giving birth. In Europe, now it is only in Eastern Europe, but people used to sit and drink coffee in this position. If you sit in this position, you will not have problems with your hip joints. When you breathe in this position—because of that, I am talking—you feel abdominal breathing and the stretching and relaxing of the low back. Now, the second part. Here is inhalation, but here is inhale. Look up, straight, and with exhalation, stretch your legs. With inhalation, come down. Inhale, exhale, stretch your legs. Once more, inhale, and exhale, and remain in this position. Relax nicely. Relax in this position. Let gravity become your best friend. Relax. If you relax your head, you will feel a nice stretch in your neck. Relax your hands and head, and feel a nice stretch in your chest area. Relax, and move from the hip joints down. Also, do not lock your knees. Your legs are straight, but do not lock them. This means avoiding hyperextension. Now, slowly go down and feel all this. As you go into Ānanda Āsana, relax. Once, you may inhale a little deeper. With exhalation, feel that your body becomes heavy and relaxed. Why are we always concerned about the heaviness of our body? You have experience with a small child: when a small child sleeps in your arms, in that moment, it becomes so heavy. Immediately, you think, "Oh, this child is heavy," and you see, oh, he is sleeping. You also have experience when you are on the dentist's chair: you almost have no heaviness on the chair; you are like levitating because you are in stress and contraction. Now, feel the heaviness of your body, which means you are completely relaxed, surrendered to the floor. Now, try to feel the circulation in your legs, in your back, low back, abdomen, but also feel your pelvis—especially this area, the pelvic diaphragm. You may feel your anal muscle, a warm feeling, and circulation. When you are in stress, all these lower muscles are also contracted. If you contract these muscles for too long due to fear or stress, they will start to pulsate a little. You will also feel, in intense times, some nervousness and irritation in your joints and nerves. In this position, you can realize that the tension and nervousness are leaving you, and you are calming down. Be still, be here and now. To maintain awareness, your body is a great tool. Now, take one deep inhale and exhale. With the help of your hands, slowly sit in Daṇḍāsana. Half butterfly. I hope you feel nice circulation in your legs; it will be a little easier to sit. Half butterfly is especially helpful if you have cold feet. If you have poor balance, this āsana will give you more strength and balance. Now, three times down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Two. Inhale. And once more. Excellent. Nice. Now slowly come back, and exhale. Change sides. Also try to keep straight—not leaning up. Enough of āsanas. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Try to go down from the hip joints, exhale. Inhale, and once more, exhale. Inhale, and exhale, and butterfly. Also, maintain a nice straight position, but also relax. If you try too hard, it is not good. That is only for a nice photo; relax. The secret of this āsana is that your tailbone is not on the floor. If your tailbone is on the floor, the position of the pelvis will be incorrect, and you will not be able to go down. I am not joking; it is true. Only the position of the pelvis matters; maybe one finger's width—it is not important, but your tailbone should be above the floor. Inhale and imagine someone is pulling your chin, and you will go down. Again, inhale, but stretch and come up. Two and three. Slowly come up. Stretch your legs. Feel the circulation in your legs. If you are thinking of something else and our awareness is elsewhere, we will not feel the body. But try to keep awareness here and now. Through feeling your body and what happens within it, we also practice for our awareness. Slowly sit in the position for prāṇāyāma. You may choose which position you want. Sit nice and straight. This āsana was also from the first level, Sarva Hita Āsana, and we will also practice Nāḍī Śodhana today. First, 20 inhalations and exhalations through the left nostril. Close your left; 20 times, inhale and exhale through the right. When you finish, put your hands down and relax. Twenty inhalations and exhalations through the left. Twenty inhalations and exhalations through the right. But first relax, hands down. It is the same as writing a letter. You would not start a letter with, "I need 10,000 euros, please give me." Who would give it to you? Instead, you begin: "Hello, how are you? I hope this letter finds you well..." You have this first part. For everything in life, in sport—if you immediately start intense practice, you will injure yourself. Before bhajans, before prayer, before invocation, for everything, you have in the book this interval. Yes. How is it? Yes. First this, and that is for us: relax your body. "I am now practicing, and I will practice prāṇāyāma. I will practice Nāḍī Śodhana first." Relax, my friend. Relax. After that, we chant Oṁ three times. And we start with the prāṇāyāma. We will chant only once. Relax. Assume a nice, pleasant position. Also be aware that our body is straight; this is very important for our breathing. Be aware that we are breathing with our abdomen as well. Now we will chant Oṁ once. Inhale and relax your shoulders and elbows. Start with the prāṇāyāma. Be aware: "I am inhaling. And I am exhaling." Enjoy your prāṇāyāma. When you finish your prāṇāyāma, breathe relaxed with both nostrils. Feel your whole body. Be aware of the position of your body. Be aware of this whole. Be aware of your friends around you. Once, deep inhale and exhale. Inhale. Oṁ... Rub your palms, place them on your face muscles, and slowly bow down. Stretch your spinal column. Greet your master, your Gurū Dev, and slowly come back. Carry on. So, all is good?