• Check in, centering, balanced hatha yoga set considering contraindications, relaxation (with imagery as appropriate),
• Balanced pranayama considering contraindications, meditation/centering.
• Include at least one suggestion from Karma, Bhakti, Raja, or Jnana Yoga tailored for this client.

Continue - attending Wednesday and Friday night yoga classes as her routine permits.

Practice - asana at home:

Tadasana -> Uttanasana -> Ardha Uttanasana flow: this could be a gentle practice after your morning walk?

Adho Mukha Svanasana - option to wall or chair support

You could use these asanas as an evening wind down practice:

Bitilasana and Marjaryasana into Balasana

Pavanmuktasana into Supta Matsyendrasana - add support that feels appropriate

Check In - homework update/review

Awareness Practice

Discussion of rhythms in Yoga and Ayurveda - looking at our constitution, times of day, seasons of the year and seasons of life through the lens of the doshas

Asana: Focus on digestive health

Tadasana -> Uttanasana -> Ardha Uttanasana flow

Adho Mukha Svanasana - option to wall or chair support

Bitilasana with Marjaryasana into Balasana

Pavanmuktasana followed by Supta Matsyendrasana

Supported Waterfall with Shavasana and Yoga Nidra

Pranayama: Finger Compressions

Client presented rajasic following a busy few weeks of transition (she had cancelled our last two sessions in trying to get her daughter ready to take to college). Since our last session her oldest son had moved out on his own, and her she just moved her oldest daughter into college last Thursday. School has started for her younger twins, both 16yo but neither has completed all the requirements for their driver's licenses. She admitted to struggling with thoughts of feeling like "a failure" as a parent, and frustrated in trying to discover a new routine, or if a "routine" would be good for her.

She connected well with the idea of finding a rhythm to her days and weeks instead of a "schedule" or "routine", allowing her body to sync with nature instead of a clock. She knows her mornings Monday through Friday from about 6:45-8:00a are dedicated to helping her twins get ready for and get to school, but she is excited to be able to invest this time into them. She will also be investing many afternoons between 4:00-8:00p in driving them to various activities until her son gets his license. Now working for herself, her goal is to work about 20 hours/week, with her workday beginning around 10:00am. She would like to go for a walk after waking, getting outside in the early morning sun while she can. In encouraged her to be gentle with herself and give herself grace as she explores what her weekly rhythm becomes - she might need to try out different possibilities before she finds what works most easefully for her. Her countenance changed as she embraced this thought, and shared it made her feel "less of a failure." I reaffirmed that she was in no way a failure - to her kids, or more importantly, to herself. I shared how proud I was of her for all of the work she's been doing to care for herself and to heal over the past month.

While we had not meet in two weeks, she had been continuing to attend the Wednesday night yin and Friday night restorative yoga classes that I teach. She felt she had a breakthrough of sorts during an asana - where she felt tension in her right hip, and allowed herself to just be with it and focus on her breathing, and after a few minutes felt both a release of physical and emotional tension. I celebrated this with her as well - for staying connected with her body. She did share that all the food she has been eating has been staying down since last Thursday, and I celebrated this with her as a significant sign of her body healing. She also realized that what had felt like chronic gas/belching has also not been an issue over the past few weeks.

For our asana practice we focused on gentle postures that supported digestion, creating light pressure in the abdominal region, and with overall awareness and attention to the abdominal space. I encouraged the client to again be gentle with herself and give herself grace, focusing on feeling the movement of the breath in her body, and finding both the effort and the ease with each pose.

For our pranayama practice we explored finger compressions, and how she could practice them anywhere anytime she felt anxious in her mind or tightness/tension in her body.

After Shavasana and Yoga Nidra the client shared that she noticed she has been able to breathe more deeply during Yoga Nidra.

I was excited for the way her body is beginning to heal, and in helping her shift her perspective on her "progress"/where she is along her healing journey.

This was the final session of the case study, although the client shared she would like to become a "regular client." I'm including some notes to myself of other practices to consider with her:

Sutra 1.2 - 1.9? The vrittis -> tool to be aware of the thoughts - what's a phrase you can use?

Parva Upavistha Konasana - option to flow with kneeling Utthita Parsvakonasana

Japa: meditation with focus on the digestive system