Morning Practice 2022

1.    20 minutes of meditation

2.    Opening chant

OM
Vande Gurunam Caranaravinde
Sandarsita Svatma Sukhava Bodhe
Nihsreyase Jangalika Yamane
Samsara Halahala Mohasantyai
Abahu Purusakaram
Sankhacakrasi Dharinam
Sahara Sirasam Svetam
Pranamami Pantanjalim
OM

Each asana is held for five minutes.

3.    Salamba balasana - supported child's pose, with blanket between legs

4.    Supta virasana - reclined hero sitting on meditation cushion and over bolster and blankets, gradually removing props

5.    Supta baddhakonasana reclining over Tejomaya's back support, tucking blankets undrer legs

6.   Urdhva Dhanurasana - wheel pose using a ball

7.    Salamba sarvangasana - shoulderstand using two blankets

Also do half plow on each side and full plow, holding each for 5-10 breaths. 

End by sliding shoulders off blankets and rest for a few minutes.

8.    Sirsasana - headstand on one folded blanket

9.    Viparita karani

10.    Closing invocation

May we be happy

May we be well

May we be healthy and strong

May we be safe and sound

May we be peaceful

May we be at ease

May there be love in our hearts

May there be abundance in our lives

May there be peace in our world

Namaste

Evening Yoga Practice to Promote Deep Sleep (10-20 minutes)

Set an intention to do these poses gently and quietly, and let your breath be complete, smooth, and even.

1.    Prasarita padottanasana - wide-angle standing forward bend.

Stand with your feet wide apart, toes facing front. Fold at the hips, and place the crown of your head on the floor or on a block or pillows. Visualize all your burdens rolling off your shoulders. Hold for about 15 relaxed breaths.

2.    Supta baddha konasana - reclining bound angle pose.

Sitting on the floor, draw the soles of the feet together, knees apart. Place a rolled blanket across the feet and tuck the ends underneath the thighs to support the knees. Recline over a bolster or 3-4 pillows, allowing the shoulders and  chest to broaden and release to gravity. Soften the belly. Hold for five minutes.

3. Adho mukha jathara parvrittasana - downward facing twist

Sit with your hips to the right of your feet and cradle your left ankle in the arch of the right foot. With a long spin and open ribs, turn the sternum and drape yourself over a bolster, or stack of pillows or blankets. Place your right cheek on the top pillow, snuggling your belly into the support of the pillow pile. repeat on the left side. Stay for one minute on each side.

4. Salamba balasana - supported child's pose

Sit with a small roll blanket between the heels and the sitting bones, knees apart. Tuck your stack of pillows or bolster between the thighs and fold forward. Turn your head to one side. Let the rib cage melt into the pillows and the arms drape to the floor. Relax for five minutes, turning the head to the other side halfway through.

5. Chandra bhedana - pranayama for sleep

This pranayama activates the left nostril and the ida nadi, the lunar energy channel. Activating this pranic channel has a quieting effect on the brain and nervous sytem and helps facilitate sleep.

With your right hand, assume the vishnu mudra by curling your index and  middles fingers into the pad of your thumb. Your thumb and your ring and pinkie fingers are extended. Sit tall and tuck your chin slightly. Bend the elbow and close off the right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through the left nostril to the count of five. Then close the left nostril with the ring and pinkie fingers, exhaling through the right nostril for give counts Continue inhaling left, exhaling right for 15 breaths or more.

This sequence was designed by Lauren Toolin, director of The Metta Center for Yoga in Spencer, Massachusetts.

The Impact of Covid

Well, over two years has gone by since my last post. We have experienced the strangest of times, something that has impacted the whole world, and on a scale that I have never experienced in my lifetime.

When the first news of Covid hit us, with cancellation of classes and events, and the necessity of starting to wear masks to go grocery shopping, or anywhere,  I thought it was a temporary glitch, something that would last a few weeks, or at most a month or two.

In April 2020 I start sewing cloth masks for myself, friends and family. There were already shortages - the most notable being no toilet paper! - and as elastic was back-ordered I contemplated not making the masks. I actually thought it wasn't necessary. 2 1/2 years later and we are still wearing masks, though now it is optional, and despite vaccinations and boosters, many more people are getting Covid, though symptoms are much less severe.

There was a surge in zoom based events, and I started with enthusiasm, doing yoga and zumba classes online, as well as a year long course on Shamanism with Hank Wesselman. Zoom fatigue soon set in. Family visits were postponed, cancelled, rescheduled, and postponed yet again. In September 2022, I visited my son and his wife in Coquitlam and met Finn, who was born in August 2020. And yet, I have only just seen him and his brother Keegan again this week, two whole years later.

We were isolated, and for those of us living alone, it was a particularly lonely time. We were only supposed to get together with one other person. My lifeline was friend and neighbour Jinny.

Working from home is still the norm for many people. I am starting a number of new courses online, yoga, meditation, zumba, a course on Seth, and a new course with the now deceased Hank Wesselman.

And I have again - after a long hiatus - returned to my daily yoga practice. I am on Day 19 of a renewed daily practice of yoga and meditation, and yesterday added an evening meditation and yoga for sleep practice. I feel energized, renewed, as if I have spent the past two years as a chrysalid, and have finally emerged as a butterfly.

My next two posts will describe my morning and evening practices.