• 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.

1. Continue with the awareness of breath and body.
a) When you wake up, as you said in our session, be aware of your breath and affirm: “How beautiful is my breath.” Suggestion: You can write this on a piece of paper and place it on your bedstand.
b) Take deep breaths during the day when you remember to do that. You can set an alarm on your watch to stop for 1 minute to take a deep breath)
c) Focus on the breath, not on the thoughts. Let the thoughts pass like clouds in the sky and gently bring your mind back to your breath.
d) Awareness of your psoas muscle. Notice the region of your psoas, mainly at night, before sleep. Take deep breaths to relax your soul's muscles.

2. Continue with your journaling practice. Journal about anything that comes to your mind.

Or if you want some Journaling suggestions:

“Wherever you go, there you are.” (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
Changing inside is more effective than outside. Changing patterns of thinking.
Change your thoughts, change your life.
I accept the challenges that come to me as opportunities to grow stronger and clearer about how best to use my energy and focus my attention.
About the power of journaling, in case you didn’t read yet.
https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-health-benefits-of-journaling

3. Practice the bhastrika pranayama which we did together with the movement of your arms. Practice every day in the morning. It’s very energetic!
“This breath is very good for dysthymia, because the vagus nerve is stimulated, which is a known treatment for depression. There is also a probable release of feel-good hormones oxytocin and prolactin.

Watch this 2 minutes video and practice this pranayama with Amy Weintraub, creator of Life Force Yoga.

4. Continue practicing progressive relaxation before sleep, as we did together. Contracting each part of your body and relaxing. Tensing the part when you inhale and release when you exhale. Observe the difference.

5. Try practicing the eye exercises (Netra Vyayamam) we practiced together. At the end of the practice, you can rub your hands and place them like conchs on the top of your eyes. And take a deep breath.

Summary:
- Any time in the day: awareness of your breath and body.
- Journaling practice (you choose the time) every day.
- Bhastrika pranayama – in the morning or before lunch, with empty stomach.
- Eyes exercise (2 minutes) before sleep.
- Progressive relaxation (5 minutes) before sleep.

1. Talk about the week.
“Wherever you go, there you are.”
Changing inside is more effective than outside. Changing patterns of thinking.
Change your thoughts, change your life.
“I accept the challenges that come to me as opportunities to grow stronger and clearer about how best to use my energy and focus my attention.”
2. CENTERING
sitting, observing emotions, sensations, breath
3. ASANAS(respect your body)
1) Warm-up – neck, shoulders, sun salutation.
2) BACK BEND: SPHINX
3) FORWARD BEND: PASHIMOTANASANA (BOLSTER)
4) LEGS UP THE WALL
5) SUPINE TWIST
6) Progressive Relaxation and deep relaxation with imagery (SMTT manual p. 115)
7) BHASTRIKA PRANAYAMA
8) MEDITATION
9) CLOSING

- She is sensitive to the idea of death, there were several deaths in her family last year. She said she needs to trust a higher force.
- Breath is more in the thoracic spine.
- She is learning to breathe: she wakes up and thinks "How beautiful it is my breath!".
She had a trauma with her mother closing her nostrils with tape because she thought her daughter's nose was too big. Deep breath doesn't look natural for her yet.
- She is very intuitive, she sees lights and images when she closes her eyes. She saw an image inside her torso of something twisting and contracting.
I told her that maybe her body wanted to tell her something: the psoas muscle is located in that region (from T12, lumbar, to inner thigh). It's related to fight and flight response, fear, stress, and anxiety. Some asanas and pranayamas can help her release tension in that area.
- She always says that after the session she is another person. This means she is open to healing.

I understood that we have to be open to the intuitive insights of the client. This one particularly, she is an artist-designer and has done lots of inner work, she is very open to being in contact with intuition.
I really enjoyed being this vessel just creating space for her to bloom.

We need to come back to the idea of death from another perspective and continue to bring her from a tamasic state of depression and fear.
1. Talk about the week.
Abhivesha / Aparigraha
Fear of not having enough:
“Just thinking that a resource is limited initiates fear, thereby lessening the joy in the present moment.” Nischala Devi
Fear of death:
“The body is like a rented apartment, and nature is the landlord. We dwell in our apartment until our lease is over. During our tenancy we must follow the laws set by nature—violating them causes debility and disease, and this results in eviction. On the other hand, compliance with nature’s laws—including nonviolence, truthfulness, compassion, nonattachment, and non-possessiveness—engenders an environment in which we can live joyfully. But we must always maintain the awareness that nothing in this world, including the body, is ours. While we live in this body we must discover the purpose of life, and when the lease has expired, we must graciously hand the keys of breath over to the landlord or we will be evicted.”
2. CENTERING
sitting, observing emotions, sensations, breath
3. ASANAS(respect your body)
1) Warm-up – neck, shoulders, moon salutation.
2) BACK BEND: in the moon salute
3) FORWARD BEND: in the moon salute
4) INVERSION : legs up the wall
5) Twist: Supine twist
6) Yoganidra – From Julie Lusk’s book “Yoganidra meditations”– Lifting Depression and energy with Life Force Yoganidra – Amy Weintraub)
PRANAYAMAS: Nadishodhana (2 min) – beginning thru the right nostril/
Surya bheda (2 min)/ Bhramari (2 min) – didn’t have time
7) MEDITATION
Focus on the breath. Chant/hear asatoma sadgamaya (impermanence of life and permanence of the higher Self)
8) CLOSING
Chant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAX0iGkd_nI&t=3s)

Om
Asato Mā Sad Gamaya Lead is from unreal to Real
Tamaso Mā Jyotir Gamaya Lead us from Darkness to the Light
Mṛityor Māmṛitam Gamaya Lead us from the fear or DeathTo knowledge of Immortality

OM Śantiḥ Śantiḥ Śantiḥ OM Śantiḥ Śantiḥ Śantiḥ

9) Resources
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/QA-A-Yogic-Perspective-on-Dying/
Julie Lusk’s Moon Salute – video and pdf
https://wholesomeresources.com/?s=moon+salute