• 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.

ORDER OF PRACTICE TO FOLLOW:
ASANA – be aware and present when doing poses – develop embodied awareness
o Tadasana
o Half-moon
o Uttanaasana/forward bend
o Star - 5 pointed star with hands free
o King Dancer
o Standing Strut
o Standing Twist

Netra Viyaymam – Eye movements 5 min

Diaphragmatic Breathing - 10 min
o Dῑrgha Śvāsam – see instructions below, and health benefits.
o Tell your mind “you are okay”

Meditation – 1 min, 2 maximum. Apply Mantra mentally inhale Om and exhale Shanti (do asana and eye movements before meditation).

WISDOM TEACHING – Apply the Four Locks and Keys to yourself:
o Sutra I.33 Four Locks and Keys – By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.

Definition of Virtue: A virtue (Latin: virtus) is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being. In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose actions that succeed in showing high moral standards: doing what is said to be right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour, even when doing so may be unnecessary from a utilitarian perspective. When someone takes pleasure in doing what is right, even when it is difficult or initially unpleasant, they can establish virtue as a habit. Such a person is said to be virtuous through having cultivated such a disposition. The opposite of virtue is vice, and the vicious person takes pleasure in habitual wrong-doing to their detriment.

Diaphragmatic Breathing Instructions (Dῑrgha Śvāsam) :
To begin, exhale fully, then inhale let the abdomen expand first, then feel the air flowing up to expand the rib cage and upper chest…feel the collarbones lifting…. Exhale from the upper chest, rib cage and gently pull in the abdomen, empty for a full exhalation emptying the lungs, feeling the collarbones lowering. Again, inhale expanding the abdomen… then the rib cage, and upper chest, filling from the lower lungs completely. Exhale from the upper chest, rib cage, and gently pull in the abdomen for a full exhalation. Allow the parts (abdomen, rib cage, and upper chest) to blend so that the breathe is one continues smooth flow. Close the eyes and bring the awareness within as you continue this practice for 10 minutes.

Benefits of Dῑrgha Śvāsam: it brings in as much as 7 times more oxygen than normal shallow breathing, increases and balances energy, clears the mind, and diaphragmatic breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which promotes many health benefits including reducing the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (PHA) axis hormonal flow.

Next week you can record the Yoga Nidra in the Session.

• Centering
• Check in –
o Review what YT has she been able to integrate (what worked)
since last session?
o Assess client’s meditation practice.
o Heart rate - Has she felt her heart rate increases?
o Client sharing.
• ASANA –
o Tadasana
o Half-moon
o Uttanaasana
o Star - 5 pointed star with hands free
o King Dancer
o Standing Strut
o Standing Twist
• Netra Viyaymam -
• Yoga Nidra - offered with Restorative Savasana with cushion support (she gets little support in other areas of her life…)
o Full body tensing and releasing
o Body Scan – from the head down to the feet and then up again.
• Pranayama -
o Dirga Swasam
• Wisdom Teaching -
o Sutra I.33 – By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.
• Chanting - “Hari Om"
• Meditation –
• Close Out - {reflection on how she is feeling, any questions she might have, the homework – the idea is to continuously focus her and our conversation back to YT and what will grow her true self, not about what has happened}

CO-CREATING CLIENT’S TOOL BOX
o Full forward Bend
o Extended Star
o King Dancer
o Standing twist
o Eye movements
o Breathing really helped - double inhale with prolonged exhalation.
o She did meditation but did not apply the mantra, she thought she had to say mantra out loud. I re-taught so that she is clear that she does mantra mentally.

Client is progressing little by little mentally and emotionally, the following is what she said in this session about vrittis and emotions:

“I am getting to understand how I can have control of my emotions. When I’m quiet I’m normal and in a painless state, but if I let something to develop and come up that will capture my whole - yea I’m feeling like I am understanding that I can have control of my emotions and my thoughts because the thoughts bring emotions and suddenly it will change you. I used to think, ‘so I am what I am thoughts are coming and going it's out of my control, emotions are coming and going it's out of my control’, but it is I am creating them. I can stop them I can change them. And they consume all the time all the energy and absolutely zero productivity. Nonsense emotions.”

Client reported that yes the heart rate increased, because she didn’t prepare for it with doing asana first. She was trying more than two minutes because she knows we need more time in meditation to clear the mind. I am asking her to follow the 'order' of practice that I have outlined in the homework so that meditation is last.

She did meditation but did not apply the mantra, she thought she had to say mantra out loud. I re-taught so that she is clear that she does mantra mentally.

During Dirgha Swasam, client repeated an affirmation “you are okay” also. She felt significantly better. And she said that this breathing was great.

Client completed 2nd PSS tool.

Sometime the client does not follow instructs, as in when I instructed in the previous session that she should not do the meditation without first doing asana and to keep meditation to one minute.

We changed Hari Om - we need practice doing it together. I will signals next time of when its her time to chant.

• CENTERING - before beginning the session
• CHECK IN
o Review what YT has she been able to integrate (what worked)
since last session?
o Assess client’s meditation practice.
o Heart rate - Has she felt her heart rate increases because her mind is restless and when she tries ‘hard’ to bring it back it gives her more stress.
o Client sharing.
• ASANA
o Tadasana
o Half-moon
o Uttanaasana
o Star - 5 pointed star with hands free
o King Dancer
o Forward bend with spinal stretch
o Standing Strut
o Standing Twist
o Spinal Extension and Flexion
• NETRA vIYAYMAM
• YOGA NIDRA - 30 min offered with Restorative Savasana with cushion support (she gets little support in other areas of her life…)
o Full body tensing and releasing
o Body Scan – from the head down to the feet and then up again.
• PRANAYAMA
o Dirga Swasam with hugs,
o Nadi Sudhi, Kapalabhati,
o perhaps alternating at times with Brahmari
• WISDOM TEACHINGS
o Sutra II.7 – Attachment/Ragah – Attachment is that which follows identification with pleasurable experiences. Page 90
o Sutra II.8 – Aversion/Dveshah – Aversion is that which follows
• CHANTING - 1 min Chant with her during sessions, using a simple chant like the "OM Shanti" chant that she can use when the mind is turbulent. Pick one and stick with it for now.
• MEDITATION – 1 min - ask the following:
o Has she felt her heart rate increases because her mind is restless and when she tries ‘hard’ to bring it back it gives her more stress
o I will teach client to lightly touch the tip of each finger as in sa, ta, na, ma during meditation.
o I will offer the use of a mala with a mantra during meditation so that the stillness and silence does not cause anxiety.
• CLOSE OUT - 5 min {reflection on how she is feeling, any questions she might have, the homework – the idea is to continuously focus her and our conversation back to YT and what will grow her true self, not about what has happened}