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Oṁ tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam, urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt. This is the Mahāmṛtyu Jaya Mantra. "Mahā" means great. "Mṛtyu" is death. "Jaya" is victory. And "mantra" is the mantra. This is a great mantra to gain victory over death, to become free from birth and death. How does one become free from birth and death? For us, it also means that we should not suffer in this life. It is a prayer that God may liberate us from this world automatically, without pain and without any discomfort. It is not only about physical death, but also about separating yourself from your beloved ones, your attachment to your house, your attachment to your pets, your attachment to your jewelry, your good clothes, your car, your money, your property, your friends. We have many different kinds of attachments. Death means that you simply go away. You bought something you like very much, and now you have to leave it, not knowing who will use it. Perhaps it will be someone you do not like at all, and you know this person will use your things. That is not easy to accept. You have a beautiful new car. You love your wife very much. But when she asks, "Can I drive?" you are very kind, humble, and polite. "You just sit comfortably. Better I drive for you." So when you die, you see that your nice car will be taken over by someone—not your wife, but someone else. You may feel discomfort. It is difficult to overcome that one word we use: "my." We do not want "my" to become "thy." It is very difficult, and that is the whole struggle. That is why we are jealous, because we do not want "my" to become "thy." But you have no choice anymore. So death is not only that your body is gone or you are gone. It is about becoming free from this material world without suffering. "Urvārukam iva bandhanān"—"Urvāruka" is a fruit, what we call kurkumbar. It is a very nice, beautiful fruit, like a sugar melon or certain fruits. When they are fully ripe, they automatically separate from the plant or the branch. Until they are ripe, they are attached. If you take an unripe fruit from the tree, it is painful for the tree and for the fruit. But when it is ripe, it separates without suffering from either side. That is called Mokṣa. So, without suffering, may God bless us that we become completely detached from our attachments. To live without pain, to live without suffering—that is a life. To live with pain, quarreling, with our body torturing us, is unpleasant—it is not a life. Therefore, this Mahāmṛtyu Jaya Mantra also helps us to gain our health. And also, the mantra "Sarve Sam Svastir Bhavatu": may there be health everywhere. "My limbs should be healthy, O Lord. My words should be healthy, my thoughts should be healthy, my intellect should be healthy, and my being in this world should also be healthy." So many things we can purify karmically through this Mahāmṛtyu Jaya Mantra. Definitely, we have a lot of karma in our destiny which we caused or we overtook. This mantra helps; this thought helps. Now, there is one major problem in this modern civilization: neck and shoulder problems, back problems, hip joint problems, problems in the joints and fingers. Therefore, we decided that during these three weeks, at 5:30 p.m., we will have some practical exercises. Our dear friends, brothers, sisters, and practitioners who are with us through the webcast can also learn, or if they have problems, they can utilize this. Today we have some exercises for our shoulders, and of course for the legs, shoulders, and entire back. There are seven movements only, very easy. Among us, we have one very experienced physiotherapist, CJ. She is a professor of physiotherapy. She is a teacher in Austria, in Vienna, in the medical hospital clinic, and she trains students who wish to become physiotherapists. Also, she has seen many years of yoga and daily life practice, nearly 30 years or more, and she is an excellent yoga teacher. I would like to invite her, and we are happy that this week she will be with us. These exercises are from the Yoga in Daily Life book. You have this book; it is a system. Yoga in Daily Life is a system from nursery school to the university. In this system, the second part—when you begin with Yoga in Daily Life—you have new instructions every week. You practice each step for 14 days in the beginning. You learn today, practice the whole week, and after one week you get new exercises, but you continue to practice what you learned. Some of these exercises from the Yoga in Daily Life system, from the second, third, and fourth week, are very effective and good for our shoulder and neck pain. Sometimes you think you are exercising for your lower back pain, but in reality you are exercising for your neck. Our dear Hemlata, Harriet Bucher from Austria, is coming. Good Scott. Hi, all dear yoga friends. I think I will give over to our dear Harriet. My spiritual name is Hemlata. "Hemlata" means a golden vine, a very gentle plant which climbs up. "Hem" means gold. ("Hem" can also mean ice glaciers or snow, but here it means gold.) "Lata" is the vine. All right, so I was thinking: this one first, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, and finally stretching. If you can manage to show these few exercises in 45 minutes, and they should practice, okay? You do not need a book; you know everything by heart. But for your reference, you can look at it, because it is difficult for you to carry a heavy book and teach. So, you see the exercises are here; you can look at it in time. I give over to our dear Harriet. Hari Oṁ, dear yoga friends and all who are watching the webcast. I would like to start with the āsanas from the second part. Therefore, please stand up for the first āsana. It is the twisting of the spine in standing. All āsanas where you are twisting are very important to relax the deep muscles, the deep, short muscles in between the spine. They are very often in tension and rather difficult to relax. The best is to avoid distortions. It sounds very good and very interesting. Do you think everyone can do it? Who is looking? Yes, we all can do it, of course. So you all can do it. We can do it all together. Thank you. So, if you please, put your hand behind your head and interlock the fingers, and put your elbows far behind so that the front part of your chest is stretched. You can feel that in this position your whole spine is upright, that the front side of your chest is stretched, and that you can breathe very deeply and relaxed. I think this is good also for the lungs, no? It is very good for the lungs and for the ribs. Yes, it is relaxing for the muscles which are in the area of the ribs. You can also feel that your abdomen is stretched. Therefore, this position is the opposite of being in a counter position, the opposite of being in a kyphosis position, which many people are in during the day. So now, deep inhale with yogic full breathing, and while exhaling, turn to your right side very gently and feel the torsion of your spine. Your legs are apart. Now, while inhaling, come to the middle and slowly, while exhaling, turn to your left side. It is important that the legs are apart during this āsana, during this movement, so that your pelvis and your legs are in the same position, and so that your spine really can twist very well, as good as possible. So once again, do it in coordination with the breath. It is important that you do not turn the pelvis. You can manage it when legs and the pelvis are in one position; just your upper body will do the movement, not the legs and not the pelvis. You can have good control when you feel that your legs are completely in the same position on the floor and that your knees stay stretched and not bent. Then slowly come to the middle and put your arms beside your body. It looks very simple, but it is hard, no? Very effective. You all thought we could go like this, but it is not like that. You have to have it straight here, only the upper part, like this. It is called the King Cobra movement. Sorry, go ahead. You must correct them, honey. Do not stand in one place. So now, for a short time, close your eyes and feel the effect of the movement, the torsion of your spine, and the stretching of all your muscles around your upper body. Also feel your legs standing in a good position on the floor. Then slowly open your eyes again. Now come into the position of Vajrāsana. Vajrāsana is sitting on your heels. Vajrāsana is a position which is very, very healthy for your body. Vajrāsana will give you strength, and Vajrāsana improves your concentration. It makes you strong and gets your mind in harmony with your body. It is important because in this position you can get your spine in an upright position. So, just try to put your spine in your position. Put your head in one line with your chest. So your chin should be a little bit backwards, because today the topic is for shoulders and for the neck. So it is very important to straighten your neck, to have the neck straight. It is important that your whole spine is straight, beginning from the pelvis. Now you can imagine that you have a very fine line on your head which is pulling you up a little bit, so that you feel a little bit longer, stretched, and feel that your shoulders are relaxed on your chest, that you do not pull up your shoulders. Feel your breath. Feel your breath in your stomach and in your chest. Now again, interlock your fingers behind your head, and as you did before, push your elbows a little bit behind. You know now the feeling: it is stretching of the front side of your chest. Now, even while inhaling, improve the stretching of your whole spine. Really try to stretch the front side. While exhaling, now bend your spine, put your elbows in front, and put your head forward. Now, continue while you are breathing. While you are inhaling, you stretch your whole spine as much as you can, put your chest and abdomen forward. While you are exhaling, you bend your spine and put your head forward, and with your arms, you pull very, very softly your head a little bit down. Now, try to feel this movement in your spine. The bending and the extending are not just in the head, in the shoulders, and in the elbows. This is an excellent āsana to relax your spine. Yes, very good, no? Yes. Can I say something in between? You know that our physiotherapist concentrates only on three people. He cannot concentrate on six at once, and we are 600, or how many? I want to tell you something. When you interlock your fingers, do it behind the neck, not on the head. Because if you press your head like this, you may cause a problem in your spine. So it is good. Is it good for your neck muscles? So, thank you. Look, my head, not here, but here. Then, like this. Thank you. We have to learn, okay? So, next exercise, please. So now there is a contrary position. Stretch your front side and strengthen your back. It is rather typical for Yoga in Daily Life: āsanas are always in contrary positions because you have a bending. Now, put your hands a little bit behind your pelvis, with the tips of your fingers showing backwards. But be careful; it should not harm your spine. So just go as far back as it is possible for you without any pain. Now you can move your head backwards, but just do it if you have no problems in the neck. If it does not hurt you, it should be comfortable for you. So you can lie, the back side of your head is lying, resting between your shoulder and upper part of your back. Open your mouth a little bit so that your jaw is relaxed. Feel the stretching of your throat and your whole vocal area. You can inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. If it is enough for you, then come back again. Now, come back into Vajrāsana and again feel your whole back, especially the area of the shoulders, chest, and throat. Feel your breath, because this āsana is very relaxing for your whole body. The next āsana is grinding. Now stretch your legs. Sitting with straight legs is not so easy for everybody. It is because many people have too short muscles on the back side of the legs. These muscles, which are too short, are on this side: the hamstrings. If they are too short, they push your pelvis backwards, and then it is impossible to sit straight. So if that is the case with somebody, then you may bend your knees a little bit. Through practicing, there are many āsanas in this part which will relax these hamstrings and remove this stiffness. One of these āsanas is now the grinding. Now, your legs are slightly apart. Your back should be straight, as straight as possible. Now, put your arms forward at the height of your shoulders. Stretch your arms, and also do not push your shoulders upwards. Look forward and in front, straight. Now, inhale, and while exhaling, you make a half circle forward. You move your upper body in a half circle forward. While inhaling, you continue this movement, this half circle backward. Your arms should be all the time parallel to the floor and stretched, and your back should be as long as possible. So stretch your back so that the main movement comes from your hips. This āsana is very, very good for your abdominal muscles. It strengthens your abdominal muscles, and strong abdominal muscles are a protection for your lower back. Because the topic now is especially the shoulders and the chest, now stop for a while and relax while you are holding your arms straight in front. Your shoulders and your shoulder muscles will be strengthened, and also the muscles in the area of your shoulder blades. Now, please again, put your arms forward and interlock your fingers. Your arms are stretched, and now do the circle movement in the other direction. While you are pulling yourself forward in a half circle, you exhale. While moving backward, you inhale. While you are moving backward, activate your pelvis muscles. This other spice is excellent to improve your digestion. So, in case that you have pain, then you can start to do the movement in a very small circle. Then stop again. Now lie on your back. The head is in the middle. For a short while, close your eyes. For a short time, feel the effect of these āsanas. Feel your breath again, the movement of your abdomen and your chest. They are expanding while you are inhaling and completely relaxing while exhaling. Now, while you are breathing, combine your breath with the movement of your arms. So, in coordination with your breath, while inhaling, you lift your arms up and move them towards the floor, stretch your arms above the head on the ground, stretch the whole body. While exhaling, you move your arms beside your body again. Continue a few times. Especially feel the area of your neck and your shoulders. Do it five times. Feel the stretching of your chest, the front part of your chest, while inhaling, and feel the movement of your shoulders and the relaxation while you are exhaling. The fifth time when you stretch your body, you can roll your body a few times right and left while normal breathing. This will help you to get the normal tension in your body which you need during the day. Then roll to your side and slowly, on this side, sit up, please. So we will continue tomorrow. Thank you for practicing together. Thank you. Thank you. Coming from Vienna and from German to English, translating in the brain is sometimes different. So now you can understand, I have to translate from Hindi to German and German to English and English to German. It is a very serious subject. For a healthy person, it is okay. But for one who has a problem, it is not so easy. Therefore, it needs gradual practice. So we do once again. For example, you can sit in Vajrāsana, and as I said, you interlock the fingers behind the neck, not on the head. Now, make a rule that you will do it four times only. So, inhale and stretch your elbows behind to the side. Expand the chest and exhale. Bring your elbows together in the front and lock your chin to the chest. Inhale, go back. This is the second round. Look straight, not to the stars, and exhale slowly. First, bring your elbows together, and then slowly bend your knee. Lock your chin to the chest, and feel the expansion of the back muscles. Slowly go back again. The third round begins. Inhale. Exhale. And the fourth round begins. Inhale. Exhale. Come to the normal position. Slowly release your fingers, bring your hands onto the thighs. With closed eyes or open eyes, just relax. So make rules; it will be easy for you. As I said, it is a system. It also has a therapeutic effect. It is not that we do 20 post-movements. It is not that we do 15 exercises. We may do only one kind, but concentrate slowly and properly. So tomorrow again, 5:30 p.m. Czech time, which means Central Europe, actually. The Czech Republic is in the middle of Europe. It does not matter from which side you see. And the strelky is the middle point of the universe. If you do not trust, you may measure. So, tomorrow, 5:30 p.m., in this divine Shiva garden. This is called Śiv Bāga. Okay, and now I wish you a very good appetite. Have a good meal, and at 8 o’clock we will be together again on the meadow, because here we should not make noise, as the birds are sleeping. When we make too much light and noise, then the birds are mourning. They will be angry with me. Birds come and sit on my window and say, "What do you think? It is abnormal. It is time for sleeping, but still, if you want to do with your disciples..." Then go in the meadow. So I told them, "Yes, birds, yes, birds, I have heard enough from you, birds. We will do somewhere else," so on the meadow.