HalasanaPlow Pose 1
7. Janu Sirasana Bent Knee Forward Bend Balancing Postures 5 to 10 minutes With enhanced flexibility, you naturally become better at maintaining your balance. Spend about a minute in each of the six balancing poses, noticing how your inner mental turbulence quiets as you find your physical center. 4. Dandayamana Konasana Standing Angle Pose
Nadi ShodhanaChannel Clearing Breath
Nadi Shodhana means clearing the channels of circulation and is sometimes known descriptively as alternate nostril breathing. This pranayama exercise has a quieting effect and is very helpful in reducing mental turbulence associated with anxiety and insomnia. In Nadi Shodhana, you use your right hand to control the flow of breath through your nostrils. Your thumb is positioned over the right nostril, while your third and fourth fingers are over the left. There are several different styles of...
Calming a Turbulent Mind
Your mind is a thought-generating organ. Thought forms perpetually arise in your awareness. If you try to stop your thoughts with the intention of creating stillness in your mind, your mental activity may quiet for a few moments, but it will almost certainly start up again at full speed. The activity in your mind is communicated to every cell in your body. When your mind is turbulent, your messenger molecules communicate turbulence to your cells, tissues, and organs. If you can quiet your mind,...
Pranayama and Bandhas
Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open Breath is the essence of life. You inhale for the first time shortly after arriving in the world even before your umbilical cord is cut. From that moment on you take approximately seventeen thousand breaths each day, which over a lifetime totals about 500 million breaths. In your final moments on this planet, you exhale for the last time that breath defines the end of your life. Your breathing supports every experience you have from the...
Pranayama Breathing Exercises
You can learn a lot about life by paying attention to your breathing. Right now, take a deep breath in and hold it. Feel the increasing discomfort that builds as you resist the natural impulse to let go. When it becomes too uncomfortable, release your breath and notice the immediate relief that you feel. Holding on to anything when it is time to let go creates distress in your body and mind. Now take a breath, fully empty your lungs, and hold your breath. Become aware of the increasing...
Dandayamana Konasana Standing Angle Pose
Standing with your legs apart and your arms outstretched at shoulder height parallel to the floor, slowly bend forward, grasping your ankles with your hands. If you cannot reach as far as your ankles, grasp your legs as close to your ankles as you can. Now gently pull your head down toward the floor while you press your hips upward. Hold this position for about ten seconds while slowly inhaling and exhaling, using your breath to surrender further into the pose. Slowly return to an upright...
So Hum Meditation
Every meditation technique offers something of value to the mind and body. We believe that procedures that quiet your mind allow you to glimpse the silent space between thoughts and help expand consciousness and heal the body. A very simple, effective, and easily learned meditation technique uses the breath along with a breathing mantra to quiet the mind and relax the body. If you are unable to receive personal instruction from a Primordial Sound Meditation teacher, the So Hum meditation...
Law The Law of Least Effort
The Law of Least Effort states that nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease. If you look at the ebb and flow of the tides, the blossoming of a flower, or the movement of the stars, you do not see nature straining. There is rhythm and balance in the natural world, and when you are in harmony with nature, you can make use of the Law of Least Effort by minimizing your effort and maximizing your effect. When a Newtonian model of the world predominated in our collective awareness, the...
Dandayamana Dhanurasana Standing Bow Pose
Stand with your feet together with both arms straight in front of you, palms facing downward. Bending your left knee, reach behind you with your left hand and grasp your left ankle. Flexing forward at the waist, pull your left leg upward as far as you can comfortably stretch it, keeping your right hand forward and parallel to the floor. You should feel a stretch in your thigh muscles. If you cannot maintain your balance without holding on, grab onto the back of a chair with your hand until you...