Modern-day health practitioners trace some of the positive outcomes to the practice of yoga. If your doctor recommends this tactic, you can be confident that this recommendation comes from intense research and proven scientific results. This piece examines some conditions that yoga can help you manage or cure.

1. Depression

Yoga is one of the most effective tactics to manage depression. Emotional and mental problems such as anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the issues that yoga practice addresses. Yoga is a self-soothing tactic that helps you relax and divert from the pressure that causes stress and depression. Meditation in yoga brings you to the current moment and lets you clear your mind.

This practice is among other relaxation methods such as music therapy, autogenic training, and muscle relaxation that help you achieve a mental state, which averts any repercussions of depression. Relaxation techniques such as those employed in yoga help relieve both mild and moderate depression. If the doctor diagnoses you with depression, yoga is one of the best options to explore.

2. Heart Disease

Heart disease occurs due to various issues, including the build-up of fatty plaques in the arteries. You may also experience heart disease due to an unhealthy lifestyle such as poor diet, overweight, smoking, and lack of exercise. However, did you know that yoga can help you treat and manage heart disease?

Yoga helps you lower your blood pressure levels. You might also reduce your blood pressure levels by improving your exercise capacity and quality of life. Yoga incorporates many exercises that can help you beat heart disease. Heart disease is fatal; hence, any successful intervention is worthy of your consideration in such a critical time.

3. Menopausal Symptoms

Menopause is the time that represents the end of a person’s menstrual cycle. You enter this period after 12 months without any menstrual periods. Usually, menopause comes during a woman’s 40s or 50s. Several yoga tactics, including support props and postures, relax your body’s nervous system. Menopausal treatments using yoga incorporate more than the treatment of pain.

During menopause, your body is in the middle of a vast transition, which includes fluctuating moods, pimples, and physical changes that are different from issues you handle daily. These changes are easy to handle when your mental and physical conditions are in the correct order. The menopausal period is better tolerated when you are in a relaxed and focused form.

4. Breast Cancer

Cancer is one of the worst maladies in the world today. A cancer diagnosis might have you worried and unsettled for a while. Yoga helps you relax and comprehend the repercussions of your situation. In addition, breast cancer treatments involve intrusive methods such as surgeries, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. These procedures require the patient to be in the right mind, which yoga can help you achieve.

Yoga helps patients handle the fatigue, sleep disruption, cognitive impairment, and musculoskeletal symptoms associated with breast cancer treatment. The symptoms of the illness last throughout the treatment and recovery periods; hence, you need a way of handling them. Yoga helps you manage symptoms and the repercussions of treatment options for breast cancer patients.

Yoga is a treatment and management option for various health conditions. A yoga class might be the answer to your health issues. At Yoga Awakening With Sue, we offer yoga classes to help improve your mental health and alleviate the symptoms of various illnesses.

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I could tell you more about my beautiful son and how both he and our family fought to heal this devastating illness for two years, but instead, I want to share with you my healing process in hopes that this will reach others who share the same heartache. Although there are many ways to deal with grief, for me, my earnest dedication to my yoga practice has softened my pain. I have lived the life of a yogi for over 20 years, and I can tell you without any hesitation that we can find hope and healing through a daily commitment.

Yoga has taught me to stop looking outward for support and guidance and instead to go deeply inward through mindfulness and meditation. By looking inward, we can shift our awareness and perception. Every time we come to our yogic seat, it is an opportunity to transcend and release stored emotions and negative memory. Whether we are in a place of darkness or light, every time we come to our mats, we peel away the layers of suffering and begin over and over again. 

Through yoga, we learn that nothing is permanent; the death of our body is inevitable, but our spirit and energy live on. Yoga has taught me to embrace the dualities of joy and suffering. `It has taught me to connect with the cycle of life and know that my son’s soul still lives – just in a different form. ( On the day of his death, Tom’s dad said he could feel his soul) Swami Rama, in his book, Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita, states, “There is nothing that loses its existence. Existence is never lost, changed, or subject to destruction. That which changes is the form. After one becomes aware of the center of Consciousness, Atman, he understands that at the core of his being, he is unchangeable and indestructible.” 

Yoga training has taught me to stop clinging to life and to face everything from a place of love. It has taught me to be less reactive in all circumstances and to be a witness to life instead of holding onto every moment with a tight grasp. It has taught me that my true nature is not suffering and pain but rather joy, peace, laughter, and love. It has taught me the discipline to get up and keep going even when life is falling apart. It has given me tools such as deep breathing to rescue me in times of deep despair. (try Rise of the Phoenix)

Finding rituals of remembrance has helped the healing process. Above, Tommy’s words of wisdom are written on the stones and scattered in my garden. Below, our family wrote the following poem together describing Tom’s beautiful character.

When I look up to the clouds, I see Tommy peacefully resting in every stage of life, from the womb to old age. Although he is no longer here in body we will forever hold his spirit and wisdom in our hearts. We love you, Tommy…

He ran with the rivers; he rode with the wind, and he was always OK with dirt on his skin.
He felt your pain; he had the same goal; he would always seek to comfort your soul.
He talked to the moose; he held the chipmunks; he did not mind the odor of a stinky old skunk.
He would ride his bike here, he would ride his bike there, and in the end, he would ride to persevere.
He played with the dogs; he played with the cats, and he would never fear a silly little bat.
He would listen to others; he would listen to you, and he was always happy to hear all points of view.
He laughed at this; he laughed at that; his laughter was always with him as a mere rug rat.
The mountains were his home, the outdoors his place; it was nature that gave him great solace and space.
He loved his mom; he loved his dad, he loved his brother and the world with all that he had.
He trekked up hills, he often just roamed, but now his commission is to CARRY US HOME……

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BUDDHI YOGA

Buddhi is a Sanskrit term derived from the root, budh, which means “to know” or “to be awake.” Therefore, buddhi refers to intellect, wisdom, and the power of the mind to understand, analyze, discriminate and decide. Buddhi yoga helps to develop buddhi and unites the mind with the Higher Consciousness. Developing the spiritual mind, refining consciousness, and succeeding in merging with primordial Consciousness are the directions of Buddhi yoga.

When we have awakened truth and higher discrimination in the material world we are able to discriminate between the higher Self or pure awareness and our lower self or the one who is solely connected to the material world. When we are dependent on the material world to provide our happiness then we can never reach a higher level of conscious awakening called buddhi. Buddhi or discriminatory awakening helps us to distinguish what is right from wrong. When our lower thinking mind called manas is able to easily distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad then one has reached a higher state of pure reason called buddhi.

According to Swami Rama in his book Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita, he states that the higher or sattvic buddhi has the following characteristics.

(1) The power of discrimination is developed

(2) The buddhi that has learned to discriminate between the Self and non-Self, between the supreme Self in its unmanifest state and its power of manifestation, possesses the power of non-attachment

(3) Such buddhi has one-pointedness and inwardness

(4) It has attained calmness, quietness, and steadiness; it remains serene, undisturbed, and undissipated

(5) It is free from the desire for sense gratification

(6) It helps one to decide right from wrong and to act in a timely manner

(7) It makes one selfless and giving, without any expectations

(8) It helps one to remain tranquil and even in all conditions

(9) It helps one to remain a witness

(10) It leads one to spiritual heights

BUDDHI YOGA SEQUENCE

Below is my Buddhi Yoga sequence. This sequence will be used as part of Park City School of Yoga training in addition to training in the Anusara style of yoga and Kundalini. To learn more about this all-inclusive in-person yoga training see more HERE.

You can practice the sequence HERE with me on Youtube.

1 Ujjayi pranayama (victorious breath) Gyan mudra

2 Mantra intention followed by ohm

3 Balasana (child’s pose)

4 Cat-cow

5 Samasthiti (even standing)

6  Surya Namaskar  A  (Sun salute A) 3 times

7 Surya Namaskar B  (Sun salute B) 3 times

8 Uttanasana  (standing forward fold) to parsvotansana (pyramid pose) to Parivrtta Parsvottanasana (revolved pyramid pose)

9  Adho mukha śvānāsana (downward-facing dog pose) to V1 to V2 to reverse to trikonasana hold 5 to revolved trikonasana hold 5

10 DD to V1 to V2 reverse to parsvakonasana hold 5 to parrritta parsvakonasana  hold 5

11 Utkatasana (chair with twist)

12 Utanasana to V3 to half moon to garundasana

13 V1 to V2 to reverse warrior to side plank

14 Shalabasana (locust pose) and dhanurasana (bow pose)

15 DD to V1 to V2 to reverse to  skandasana (skater’s pose) to -prasarita padottanasana (wide legging standing forward fold) to hanumanasana (monkey split)

16 Vrksasana (tree pose) and uttitha hasta Padanghustasana (hand to foot pose)

17 Kakasana (crow pose) (maybe add tripod headstand)

18 Vadrasana to virasana (hero’s pose) to ustransa (camel pose)

19 Eka pada rajakapotasana (pigeon pose) to navasana (boat pose) to lolasana

20 Marichiasana (sage’s pose) to Janu sirsasana (head to knee pose)

21 Dhandasana (staff pose)

22 Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend)

23 Crownshasana (heron pose)

24 Sirsasana 1 (Headstand)

25 Balasana (child’s pose)

26 Setubandasana (bridge pose)

27 Supta badokanasana (reclined wide-angle pose)

28 Dhanurasana (wheel)

29 Supine Twist

30 Savasana (corpse pose)

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Breathing Techniques

One of the simplest ways for beginners to experience a calm mind is through breathing techniques and meditation. There are hundreds of breathing techniques and meditations that you can practice. My favorite App for this is Insight Timer. It has over 100,000 free meditations and breathing practices. (See https://insighttimer.com/) The breathing exercises are very simple and mighty powerful at the same time. Breathing exercises will allow you to truly experience inner peace and elevate the kind of strength and inner power you naturally hold.  As you learn advanced breathing techniques (called Pranayama), you will understand the power of holding the breath, which increases our life force, and the power of the exhale. By exhaling slowly and deeply, you will flush out negativity and relax the mind. 

Yin Yoga

One of the best yoga forms for beginners looking to calm the mind is Yin Yoga. In Yin yoga, you hold restorative poses for an extended period of time. Typically poses are held for 3 to 6 minutes. Another form of yoga for beginners is Anusara yoga. Anusara yoga places more emphasis on alignment, which is very important as a beginner. Finally, hatha yoga is another form of yoga where you will hold poses longer and focus on alignment.

Yoga Awakening combines many styles of yoga to best suit your needs, from basic to advanced practices. Regardless of level and style, you will feel rejuvenated and fresh as you radiate with extra energy. So many people have benefitted from the proper yoga postures, and you, too, can feel yourself enjoying this new sense of direction and power. 

The post Yoga for Beginners – The Best Place to Start Your Practice appeared first on Yoga Awakening With Sue.

Help for Sleepless Nights

• No electronic devices or TV one to two hours before bed without fail!
• Like clockwork, go to bed and arise at the same time every day.
• Drink the supplement Calm (magnesium) before bed.
• Take a calming bath before sleep.
• Do a peaceful activity before bed like Yin Yoga or Yoga Nidra with the wonderful free App Insight Timer.
• Have a routine every time you get into bed, for example, practicing full-body breathing or counting your breath.
• Practice yoga 5 or 6 days a week, always taking time for the final pose, savasana, for 8 minutes.
• If you wake up in the middle of the night, without fail, put a sleep meditation on such as the following from Insight Timer App.
• Go to sleep with gratitude (keep a gratitude journal) and think of two things that you will do the following day just for yourself.
• Wake up and manifest. Happily start your day with yoga. (Wake -Up and Manifest with me Monday through Friday from 7:15 to 8:00 am MST)
• Consider a retreat or intensive yoga training to give yourself the gift of a complete recharge.

A commitment to yoga practice is one of the best ways to improve your sleep. Most importantly, try some of the ideas above and practice yoga with an 8-minute savasana. Over time your body will be more relaxed, you will be more disciplined, and your sleep patterns will become more regimen. Making positive changes is about a daily commitment. Start tonight and make a commitment to practice some of the ideas above. Namaste to better sleep!

See you on the mat!

Sue

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The 5 koshas build one upon the other. The deeper we unravel and purify each sheath, the more we flourish, revealing our true essence and divine nature. Below, I have outlined the 5 koshas with techniques for purification. Our continual goal in yoga is to unravel the layers of our being so that we can flourish in mind, body, and spirit.

The 5 Koshas

Annamaya Kosha – Physical Body

This is the outermost sheath or layer. It represents the lowest of the layers and relates to the earth element. Caring for our physical body is the first step towards bringing awareness to the layers of our being.

Purification techniques

• Practice bodily cleansing techniques (shatkarma). Use a neti pot for cleansing the nasal passage 2 or 3 times a week.
• Implement an Ayurvedic (the sister science to yoga) lifestyle. Try a Zoom appointment with an Ayurvedic doctor in India. See more here.
• Practice yoga daily and other forms of exercise.
• Eat healthy and whole foods and follow an ayurvedic diet.
• When practicing yoga, be aware of how your physical body is aligned in space. 
• Develop more body awareness and release bodily tension by trying this Self-Realization practice here.

Pranamaya Kosha – Energy Body

We only breathe in and out of our lungs, but we can sense prana or life force anywhere in our body. When prana is restricted and tight, this can lead to physical and mental illness. Pranamaya kosha is connected to the water element.

Purifications Techniques

• Pranayama (breathing) techniques. There are hundreds of breathing techniques to calm the mind, nervous system and increase our energy or life force. Try this practice here.
• Try this full-body breathing technique here.
• Take yoga classes that place more emphasis on the breath.

Manomaya Kosha -Mind Body

This is the bridge between the outer and inner world. It is the conscious mind. It relates to the fire element.

Purification techniques

• Meditate to calm and still the mind.
• When practicing yoga, try to remove all distractions around you.
• Spend a day “turning your thoughts around. Every time you have a negative thought, change it to something positive. Continue the practice!
• When you become distracted by your thoughts while doing yoga, try focussing on your breath, keeping a steady gaze, and letting go of distractions.

Vijnanamaya Kosha – Wisdom Body

This layer relates to the subconscious mind and the air element.

Purification Techniques

• The more we practice mindfulness and meditation, the more we can connect with our intuition and inner wisdom. The next time you want to pick up the phone to ask a friend for advice, try meditation instead and trust the veracity of your own wisdom.
• On the mat, trust your intuition when it comes to challenging poses. Allow your inner wisdom to guide you, and be careful not to push beyond your boundaries. Trust that you are your own best teacher.
• Try yoga practices that are less alignment-based and instead take you deeper into the inner world of your subtle body. Try this class. Energy is Everything.

Anandamaya Kosha – Bliss Body

This is the most subtle state, the bliss layer. The space where you are in tune with your highest vibration, your best self.

Purifications Techniques

• Meditate and let yourself be pure consciousness right here at this moment. Imagine connecting with your universal self. Sense your bliss body. Feel contentment and lightness. Feel pureness in body and mind rather than over-analyzing. Practice this 5 minutes a day.
• Take time every day to do your favorite activity or try a new activity.
• On the mat in “happy baby,” bring memories back to a joyful childhood experience. Happy baby or balasana translates to “blissful child.”

A Meditation to Bring Awareness to the 5 Koshas

Come to a mindful seat. Lengthen the spine and sit tall. Begin to notice your physical body (annamaya kosha). Notice where your body is tense. Relax this area, then move to another area where you feel some tension. Give yourself a body scan and continue this cycle. Spend a few moments in each of these areas until they release. Take a few moments in gratitude and appreciation for wherever your physical body is today.

Now bring your awareness to your breath (pranamaya kosha) and imagine your breath breathing you. Imagine this breath flowing from the souls of your feet all the way to the crown of your head. Continue to feel this full-body inhale and exhale. Inhale from heels all the way to the crown of the head and then exhale back from head to heels. –Breath in and out through the nose. Repeat 10 times.

Now bring your awareness to your mind. (manomaya kosha) Ask yourself, “Is my mind rushing and racing?” “Am I thinking about the past or the future?” Now sit with your mind in complete peace. Allow this depth and presence of consciousness, and just be. Observe the emptiness. Internally repeat: I am not my body, I am not my thinking mind. Draw awareness to the mind and body and imagine peace, purity of mind, a light emptiness.

Now draw your awareness to your third eye between your eyebrows—the area of wisdom and intuition. (Vijnanamaya kosha). Focus here and become aware of your own “inner guru.” Meditate and celebrate your inner wisdom. Reflect on this truth and abundance.

Finally, bring your awareness to your bliss body (anandamaya kosha). Even if you are not feeling it, meditate on bliss and joy. Feel it bubbling up inside of you. Take your time and really notice what it feels like in your body.

In Summary

Yoga allows us to expand into all the layers (koshas) and levels of our being. These layers add to the richness of our yoga practice. By digging deeper into these layers, we realize that we are much more than one-dimensional beings. With consistent practice, we will begin to remove these sheaths to reveal our true selves, our Divine nature.

Namaste,

Sue

Further suggestions: The 5 Koshas

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The Chakras

Of these 72,000 nadis, there are 7 main energy centers known as the chakras. The chakras extend out from the sushumna channel which runs along the spine. You can think of the sashumna channel as a riverbed with estuaries flowing from it. Like the river bed, all the nadis extend out from this central channel.

The 7 chakras support all of our internal functioning. When prana flows freely through these channels then we are more likely to be healthy through body and mind. To learn more about the 7 main chakras you can check out my blog here. http://yogaawakeningwithsue.com/explore-the-chakras/ or try a yoga class here. Everything is Energy

Why it’s Important to Bring Awareness to the Subtle Body

When we draw awareness to our subtle body, we begin to manage how we exhort our energy both on the mat and in our daily lives. On the yoga mat, we learn to use less effort in challenging poses. In our daily lives, we learn to be less reactive and go about our day effortlessly, no matter what we are faced with. Holding onto our troubling thoughts uses our precious resources of energy.

In yoga, we call these negative impressions samskaras. We hold these emotions deep within our cellular structure. Unless we learn to find emotional release, we may hold onto these samskaras our entire lives. These impressions suck up our energy and weigh us down both mentally and physically. One way to release this negative energy is through yoga and pranayama techniques.

Ways to Practice Awakening the Subtle Body

Take a moment now to go inward and observe your body and mind. Where are you gripping in your body? Where are you using excess energy? Is your body calm, or is it tense with effort? And what about your mind? Are you focussed here in this moment, or is your mind wandering, judging, multi-tasking? All of these things use our precious resources of personal energy.

Through the many aspects of yoga practice, we can find emotional release. One of these techniques is full-body breathing. Here is a wonderful exercise that can help you to calm the mind and sense the prana flowing through the body. This is also a great practice if you have trouble falling asleep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4VywfdZQbY

Another way to practice balancing our energy centers is with a pranayama technique called Anulom Vilom or alternate nostril breathing. You can practice this technique in this daily ritual video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqfqRjN0SmE

For more reading about our subtle energy, check out Michael Singer’s book The Untethered Soul https://amzn.to/3bDDk3u. He states, “It’s actually a shame how little attention the Western world pays to the laws of inner energy. We study the energy outside and give great value to energy resources, but we ignore the energy within.”

The more we take time to be alone in self-awareness, the more we can enter the world of our subtle bodies. Try and dedicate 10 minutes a day to self-study, and you will be amazed at the changes it can bring to your life!

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As the story unfolds, the reigning king, during this time, King Rama, to whom Hanuman was completely devoted, asked for Hanuman’s help. You see, his most beautiful and beloved wife, Queen Sita, was captured by an evil king and needed to be rescued. Bravely, Hanuman accepted the quest to rescue Queen Sita. However, without his superpowers, this quest was quite challenging. He struggled in desperation, rallying across deserts and mountains. As he approached the great ocean, he was bewildered. How would he cross to the island of Shri Lanka where the Queen was said to be captured?

While contemplating crossing the ocean, he was suddenly approached by the king of the bears, Jambavan. Jambavan revealed to Hanuman that his divine superpowers were always inherent within him. With this revelation, Hanuman immediately took a great leap of faith and stretched his legs all the way from India to Shri Lanka. This is how the pose Hanumanasana, the monkey split, came to be.

The tale of Hanuman reminds us to remember our strengths, our courage, and our true nature. We may not be able to stretch across oceans or jump over mountains, but through our practice of yoga, we return over and over again to unravel and discover the truth of our divine nature. In the photograph above, you see Hanuman tearing open his chest to find implanted on his heart, King Rama and Queen Sita, forever reminding him of his dedication and faithfulness to his beloved King and Queen. In addition to his superpowers, Hanuman’s devotion was the truth of his divine nature.

Try the following yoga class, which leads up to the pose hanumanasana. Yoga for Hips and Hamstrings I hope to see you on the mat!

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Buttha Shudi is a yogic practice to purify the elements. All matter, living and nonliving, contain all of the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether or space (akasha). Below are recommendations for the purification of all 5 elements. With these practices, we are more likely to be free from sickness and disease. Try to make them a daily practice for better health and happiness!

EARTH ELEMENT

• Get out in nature
• Walk upon the earth with bare feet, touch the earth with your hands
• Give gratitude to the earth every day
• Make sure to eat only whole foods 

WATER ELEMENT

• Drink 8 to 16 cups of water a day 
• Have warm water with lemon or lime each morning before eating
• Take a bath
• Go for a swim

FIRE ELEMENT

• Get sunshine every day! 
• Give gratitude to the sun by doing sun salutations 
• Build heat, get exercise, and sweat every day
• Stand in front of a fire

AIR ELEMENT

• Get out in the fresh air daily ( Is the air that you breathe free from contamination?)
• Practice pranayama breathing techniques Here is just one of many practices –Pranayama
• Keep the window open a crack when sleeping

SPACE, ETHER ELEMENT

• Practice savasana every day (Final pose in most yoga classes)
• Do yoga Nidra as part of savasana. Try the many practices of yoga Nidra on Insight Timer App
• Meditate – especially meditations related to the chakras 

By doing these daily practices for the 5 elements (Buttha Shudi) and taking time for the physical practice of yoga every day, you will begin to see changes in your body, mind, and spirit. Take this time to be the best you that you can be. Your health and happiness are worth it!

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1 AHIMSA – (1st Yama) Non-violence, non-harming, compassion and love

Ways to Practice Ahimsa

• Take time every day for self-care. When we feel good about ourselves, we can better communicate and extend love and compassion to others.
• On the mat, practice heart openers like camel pose (ustrasana), locust pose (shalabasana), and bow pose (dhanurasana). Try my heart-opening class here.
• Repeat daily the Buddhist loving-kindness meditation. May I (we) be happy, may I (we) be free from pain and suffering, may I (we) be peaceful and full of bliss. (Join me in practice here)
• On your mat, do you practice in a way that is non-harming for your body, or do you let ego come into play?
• Have a daily meditation practice. By committing to daily meditation, you will learn to be less reactive. If someone wrongs you, you will more likely remain calm, peaceful, and less reactive.

2 SATYA – (2nd Yama) Truthfulness- meaning not only truthfulness to others but also ourselves. Satya is about honoring the truth of our highest life principles, values, virtues, and ideals.

Ways to Practice Satya

• Ask yourself – and journal and answer the following questions
  • Did I do activities today that were untruthful to my virtues and values? Did I do them solely out of obligation?
  • Am I living my truth through my work?
  • Am I living a life that is true to my highest ideals and the truth of who I am?
  • Are my relationships with my friends and partners, husband or wife, true to my life ideals?
• Repeat the mantra – “I follow and speak my truth. I listen to the truth of others.”
• On the mat, practice throat openers like puppy dog pose (anahatasana) and fish pose ( matsyasana).
• The next time someone wrongs you, compassionately speak your word.

3 ASTEYA – (3rd Yama) Non-stealing (this goes much beyond stealing someone’s possession)

Ways to Practice Asteya

• The next time you have a conversation with someone, notice if you “stole” the conversation or if you permitted the other person to speak.
• On your mat, stay inward in your own practice without wanting to covet what someone next to you can do. Remind yourself that yoga is about the journey and not the goal.
• Journal and answer the following questions
  • Do you respect other people’s time, or do you steal it from them?
  • In your mind, do you covet what others have?
  • Do you steal ideas, or do you give credit where it is due?

4 BRAHMCHARIA – (4th Yama) Non-excess, self-control of both actions and thoughts. (Literally translates to celibacy) Appropriate use of one’s vital energy.

Ways to Practice Brahmacharia

• Take note in your life where there is excess – for example, too much work, food, shopping, sex, or alcohol. By meditating every day, (including yoga as a moving meditation), you can begin to break these excess habits.
• On your mat, where are you using up too much energy by over-efforting? Engage the naval center in and up, aiding in conserving energy—practice peace-within physically and mentally with challenging poses.
• Practice tai chi or tai chi yoga and notice how you conserve your energy.
• Journal the following questions-
  • Am I a workaholic? Do I need a better balance in my life?
  • Do I spend too much time shopping and spending and buying things that I do not really need?
  • Do I eat an excess of food, or am I mindful of what I put in my body?

5 APARIGRAHA – (5th Yama) Non-hoarding, non- grasping, non-possessiveness. (letting go of things, or thoughts and ideas)

Ways to Practice Aparigraha

• Seasonally clean through your stuff. Read the following book https://amzn.to/3b8Xi66.
• Practice pranayama techniques with longer exhales. What are you holding onto emotionally? Use these longer exhales to release negative emotions.
• When shopping ask yourself the question, “Do I really need this?”
• Meditate and reflect on where you have collected unnecessary things, and even people. Where have you collected negative thoughts like gossip and ideas you need to release?
• Journal and ask yourself the following questions-
  • Do I obsessively collect things? If I were to lose them, would I be OK without them?
  • Do I collect friends just because my ego comes into play, or do I have a few close friends that share the same ideals as myself?
  • Do I hold onto emotions that are not serving me?
• If you are holding onto difficult emotions and you deeply need to release and let go, try The Rise of the Phoenix on the Insight Timer App.

In summary,

If we take time to meditate every day, whether that be a moving meditation or seated meditation, we will gradually begin to work on the Yamas. We will practice ahimsa and become more compassionate people. We will follow Satya, our truth in every aspect of our life. We will practice asteya and not steal from ourselves or others. We will learn how to conserve our energy (brahmacharya) both on the mat and in life, and we will learn to live with less (aparigraha) and become more minimalistic.

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