• 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 with whatever asana and pranayama she feels pulled to do, and some practices she feels resistant to but that she knows would be good for her. Continue to meditate in silence for at least a few minutes every day. Do some form of chanting (so hum, om namo narayanaya, even just humming). Work on neck daily, and continue to do daily progressive muscle relaxation, and yoga nidra before bed.

We started today by centering with some exaggerated dirgha/3 part breathing, a slight pause at each stage of breath with a hand to the belly and a hand to the chest. We went over her PSS scores (18 on 10/24 and 24 on 10/28) and then got into Hatha yoga. The hatha yoga was much like the last few sessions, we have agreed that we have found what seems to work and are focusing now on sharpening the current practices we are working with.
We worked on neck strength and mobility using self-resistance with her hands and against the wall along with a tabletop series to warm up for both sessions (cat cow, sunbird, . Backbends-wise, we used variations of bridge, variations of locust, supported fish, variations of cobra. Forward folds we used included variations of knees to chest, variations of child's pose, supine therapeutic leg lift variations with strap, wide legged forward fold both seated and standing. Inversions utilized for these two sessions were downward dog on a chair and then viparita karani (Do you have any other suggestions? not sure about shoulderstand and headstand for this client). We used chair twist and supine figure 4 twist for these sessions.
We then moved to a guided imagery practice for both sessions - first one was a grounded river flow, encouraging her to feel cleansing water moving around and through her body, and the second was a warm sand and weighted relaxation guided imagery, encouraging her to feel herself surrounded by warm sand that was forming to her body and helping her to feel heavy and relaxed.
Pranayama: extended exhale breathing, bhramari, kapalabhati, and nadi shodhana (3:12:6)
Meditation: Diaphragmatic ocean wave meditation; so hum - session two; mountain stillness meditation; om namo narayanaya chanting synchronized with breath for a four part inhale into the chant
Wisdom teachings: the first session being documented here was related to hatha yoga, a brief discussion related to the history of hatha yoga, the purpose of hatha yoga (to prepare the mind for raja yoga), sthira-sukham, and how to balance effort and ease in all actions and in the nervous system in general. We want to shift away from trying too hard, because it leads to strain, nervous system guarding, dysregulation, poor breathing patterns, less self-trust, etc.
The second session was related to raja yoga - we reviewed the 8 limbs of yoga and discussed how they relate to achieving goals in everyday life. We really got into aparigraha, santosha, and pratyahara. Pratyahara, as she put it, "might be the thing I've been missing". She found the analogy of the "Center" (in lieu of Soul) being pulled by the chariot of the body that is led astray by the horses of the senses especially interesting and was reflecting out loud about her own patterns and how her technology use has been compulsive lately.
Closed with silent meditation both days.

Her progress was being documented in real time right in front of me as she speculated on her own senses leading her away from her peace and her goals, which was very cool. I assumed the second session would be indicative of a backslide due to her higher stress score at the beginning of the session, but then it led to the real-time breakthrough. She reports less physical pain; I think that is where the yoga therapy is really shining.

these sessions were good, I felt like I did better with managing our time together, although these sessions are still going long. I think I just need to accept that I need to do less asana. She mentioned not being interested in the root lock and that had the potential to be awkward but I just told her that was fine and we kept it moving. Afterwards, I doubted myself a little bit, because I do feel the bandhas could be of great utility to this client, but I just let it go and figured I'd bring it up to Brahmi, my mentor.

My plan for next session is definitely to get into Japa, which will mean I'll need to do some refreshing for myself as I don't often talk about japa at length. I will also consider my mentor's input when planning our next sessions, as we will be working together again after a several week hiatus (she went to ireland, and then we went to orlando). What do I need to work on next?