This is simply the practice. You may ask why?? to certain parts; explanations will be forthcoming:
1) Wake up at 4:30 am
2) Take a cold shower, massaging all limbs of the body moving in and out of the water a total of 4 times.
3) Go to my designated morning yoga spot facing East. 15 minutes of warm ups
A) Tuning in: Change "Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo" 3 times --> "The infinite teacher is everywhere/ I bow to my highest consciousness"
B) Spinal Flex: pump at belly button lower spine, grabbing shins, breath short in as moving forward, short out as moving back. Continue steadily for 2 minutes
C) Spinal Twist: hands on shoulders, parallel to ground. Twist left and breath in short, twist right and breath out short. Continue steadily for 2 minutes.
D) Life nerve stretch: Grab toes with fingers, hinge from the hips. Breath in as come up, breath out as hinge lowers towards shins. Continue steadily 3 minutes.
E) Cat stretch: lay on back, bring left knee to chest drop over outstretched left leg. Repeat opposite side
F) Legs over head stretch
G) Pelvic twist: make clockwise/ counterclockwise circles with lower abdomen
H) Breath of fire immunity exercise: Plug right nostril with index finger on right hand, hold ring finger with thumb on left hand perpendicular to ground. Breath out quickly short through left nostril. Breath will come in naturally quickly. Repeat in rapid motion, like panting of a dog. Eyes closed, looking at what would be the spot between the eyebrows. Continue at least 3 minutes.
4) Sat Kriya Workout
A) Sat Kriya 5 minutes
i) sit on your heels so that your weight is resting on your shins like a Sphynx
ii) interlace
your fingers and with the pointer fingers out like you were making a fake gun
and bring them over your head so that the sides of the arms press against the
ears
iii) begin a rhythmic chant of the words “Sat” and “Nam” at a
rate of 8 repetitions per 10 seconds. As you chant “Sat” pull your belly button
in just slightly, and on “Nam” release. Sat – Nam means “truth embodied”
iv) To end, inhale and clench your lower
abdominal and sex organs and hold, then exhale and hold the breath out while
repeating the same clench of lower muscles
B) rest on back 3 minutes
C) Repeat exercise A 5 minutes
D) rest on back 3 minutes
E) Chest stretch 3 minutes
i) interlace fingers behind head
ii) breath slowly and deeply, eyes closed focused on brow point
F) repeat exercise A 3 minutes
G) rest on back 2 minutes
H) frog pose 26 times
i) heels touching, off the floor the entire time, feet at 45 degree angle
ii) fingers on the floor 3 inches in front of feet
iii) breath in as extend legs, keeping fingers and feet on floor
iv) breath out as bring legs down
I) Rest 1 minute, sitting or laying down
J) Repeat exercise A 3 minutes
K) rest 1 minute sitting or laying back
L) Frog pose 10 times
M) Repeat exercise A 3 minutes
N) Frog pose 15 times
O) Repeat exercise A 3 minutes
P) Frog pose 10 times
Q) Repeat exercise A 5 minutes
note: to end, breath in and clench lower abdominal and sex organs with hands in position. hold 30 seconds, exhale and hold out briefly. Repeat 2 more times.
R) relax on back 15 minutes
note: this is VERY IMPORTANT. You MUST do this part of the exercise
5) "How to deal with a thought" meditation- 11 minutes
A) sit comfortably on a cushion, hips higher than knees on the floor, or sit in a chair
B) focus eyes on tip of nose (even though its not actually visible, as close to that spot as you can imagine it is)
C) hold both index fingers outstretched with arms perpendicular to ground
D) Chant "I am" while simultaneously pulling in index finger on right hand then pointing it up again
E) Chant "All is" while simultaneously pulling in index finger on left hand then pointing back up
F) repeat and continue for 10 minutes
G) after 10 minutes, chant "I am Akal" (I am infinite) with both index fingers pointed up for 1 minute
H) to end, inhale, keeping fingers pointed up and eyes on the tip of the nose and squeeze every muscle in the body, exhale and repeat 2 more times
6) One minute breath pranayam- 31 minutes
A) Sit with hips higher than knees on a cushion on the floor or in a chair
B) Plug right nostril with right thumb, rest left hand comfortably on thigh or in lap
C) breathe in for a count of 15 seconds while mentally chanting "Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad Sat Gur Prasad Ek Ong Kar"- each repetition takes 3 seconds so repeat 5x = 15 seconds
D) Hold breath in for 15 seconds- using chant for mental timing
E) breath out for 15 seconds- mental chant
F) hold breath out for 15 seconds- mental chant
G) continue 31 minutes. to end, breath normally for 2 minutes
7) seal the yoga practice with short song
May the long time sun shine upon you
all love surround you
and the pure light within you
guide your way on, guide your way on, guide your way on
Sat Nam
8) Pack up and enjoy the day. Go back to bed for a while or stay up and eat breakfast.
Food: throughout the day I follow my own vegetarian version of the "Paleolithic Diet". More about the food will be posted later on.
Then in the late afternoon, I might go for a small little jog. My life in New York City also contributes minimum 2.5 miles of walking daily.
If it sounds like a lot of work, there's no doubt that in a way it is. You must, must, must confront your own mind and do it all every day. But, it is worth it. I can certainly say the trouble that I go through to do this in the morning is WAY, WAY better than the trouble of constantly bouncing blood sugars and worrying about insulin doses and such. Probably less cumulative mental energy as well.
Bedtime: go to bed at 9:30-10.
To fall asleep, lay on right side, plug right nostril and breath deeply for 11-15 minutes. Then roll over and pass out.
I thought it was insane when I had a teacher tell me this is what I needed to do. But the teacher was completely right. If you try it for a full week without judging it, who knows what you might find. The exercises can be performed in a whisper if it is hard to find a spot where you will not disturb your still sleeping family.
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