• 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.Always have these 4 keys “handy”! 😊
LOCKS KEYS
HAPPY FRIENDLINESS/KINDNESS
UNHAPPY COMPASSION
VIRTUOUS DELIGHT
NOT SO VIRTUOUS DISREGARD/EQUANIMITY
Think about:
How can we communicate with others/yourself using the keys? How can we express compassion toward the unhappy without being drowned by their sadness?
How can we express disregard/equanimity toward those not-so-virtuous?

2. Be aware of sensations in your throat. When you feel stuck in your throat practice the HA breath.
3.If you feel overwhelmed with emotions, observe them, and let them flow. Sing, dance, cry, let the energy move, and not get stuck.
4.Bhastrika pranayama can help to release the blocked energy. Hatha Yoga Pradipika (2:66-67) says that this pranayama breaks psychic knots. A study with Bhastrika pranayama showed that it can reduce anxiety:
This study provides the first preliminary evidence that 4 weeks of B. pranayama reduced anxiety and increase positive affect, and that these changes are associated with the activity and connectivity of a brain network involved in emotion processing, particularly the amygdala, anterior cingulate, anterior insula, and the prefrontal cortex. Resting-state fMRI revealed significantly reduced functional connectivity particularly involving the anterior insula and lateral portions of the prefrontal cortex which participate in awareness and attention.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00467/full?fbclid=IwAR2allcj2VGdPACVLzaCZF-TaOas9YOpTH_jz6pr9DFbYothK7wwkWUjYc0

Summary:
Keep practicing daily yoga, observing your breath, and journaling
Try more neck rotation with a blanket around the neck and viparita karani for hamstring stretch and slow down the thoughts.
How to practice bhastrika (you can coordinate breath with arm movement or not): https://youtu.be/2V4AxalOyuI?si=A7v4XNLr0xrMI69E

1. Talk about the week.
4 locks and 4 keys
“The four locks are: sukha (happy people), dukha (unhappy people), punya (the virtuous), and apunya (the not-so-virtuous). At any given moment, any person – including ourselves – can fit into one of these four categories.
The four keys are: maitri (friendliness or loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (delight), and upeksha (disregard or equanimity). Patanjali reminds us that there is a Yogic way of approaching all people, no matter what behaviors and attitudes they may be exhibiting at the moment.” (https://www.theyogasanctuary.biz/inside-the-yoga-sutras-the-keys-to-peace-1-33/)

LOCKS KEYS
HAPPY FRIENDLINESS/KINDNESS
UNHAPPY COMPASSION
VIRTUOUS DELIGHT/HONOR
NOT SO VIRTUOUS DISREGARD/EQUANIMITY

How can we communicate with others using 4 the locks? How can we express compassion toward the unhappy?
How can we express disregard toward the not-so-virtuous?

2. CENTERING
SENTADA, OBSERVAR RESPIRAÇÃO E SENSAÇÕES
3. ASANAS(respeite seu corpo)
1) Warm-up – neck, shoulders, kundalini breath for throat, ha breath (throat chakra) .
2) BACK BEND: camel with block.
3) FORWARD BEND: seated yoga mudra
4) INVERSION: setu bandha sarvangasana / legs up the wall
5) Twist: Supine twist
6) Yoganidra – Wheels of Life, pages 231, 232, 233.
7) PRANAYAMA: Bhastrika
8) MEDITATION
Breath awareness and let the thoughts pass like bids on the sky. You cannot stop the birds from flying but you can avoid them make a nest on the top of your head! 😊
9) 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 Death
To knowledge of Immortality
OM Śantiḥ Śantiḥ Śantiḥ

10) Resources
https://www.theyogasanctuary.biz/inside-the-yoga-sutras-the-keys-to-peace-1-33/
Wheels of life
Raja Yoga Manual

She reported that her dog has cancer and she is taking care of him. She said the dog is her baby and it is very sad to watch him not being so active anymore. She said she was very distracted all the time, and very sore on her back and arms because she painted the house walls. She acknowledged that was probably trying to escape her problems. After the bhastrika pranayama, she cried and said that we closed the cycle from the beginning of the session. She could release the stuck energy and was feeling much better. She is part of the Yoga therapy group for Healthy Bones. She said all these sessions (individual and group) are life-changing for her. She suggested journaling wherever she is, writing in the air, as a form of introspection.

Between sessions, I asked her if there was something she wanted to work with and she said the throat chakra. All the session was directed toward that, but I changed the pranayama, from Brahmari to bhastrika, when I noticed she needed a pranayma kriya to cleanse the stuck energy. I also added the neck rotation with a blanket around the neck that is very soothing for the neck and gives good support to it. Here we are working the throat chakra and the neck relaxation to relax the mind and body.

No plan for the next session yet. I told her I am going to Brazil for 3 weeks and we could consider continuing our sessions when I return. By then, I will ask her what issues she wants to address. We could continue working on non-attachment and fear.