• 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.

Increasing awareness of the body and loosening tension: Seated cat/cow at the end of the day before dinner. Incorporate neck stretches and shoulder shrugs from the Joint Freeing Series and observe what you’re feeling in the body.

Breathing practice: Pursed lip breathing for three rounds in the morning before or after meditation.

Manta repetition meditation: Mediate in the morning before going about your daily routine for 1 minute daily. Repeat your word or phrase mentally and if the mind starts to wander, return to that phrase.

Mental modifications and attachments: Make a list of the mental modifications that show up in your life and whether or not you think you are attached to them. A client asked about joy and what creates joy in our lives. Make some notes about simple things that bring you joy in life along with your definition of joy. We will discuss all of this in our next session.

Check In
Centering: Guided Awareness with emphasis on proprioception into the feet and the palms of the hands.

Discussion: I discussed the concept of the Atman from the Living Gita and the Kleshas with Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.9 to help the clients gain awareness about how the mental modifications are impacting them.

Gentle Hatha Yoga with Adaptations:
Joint freeing series including shoulder shrugs with sighs on the exhalation/as shoulders drop as well as gentle spinal twist in the chair.
Eye movements, including Oculocardiac convergence visual therapy, to stimulate a relaxation response.
Seated Sun Salutations
Knees to chest on the floor for low back release

Breathing Practice:

Pursed lip breathing, to help slow the breathing and extend the exhalation.

Relaxation:

Yoga Nidra with tensing and releasing and witnessing practice.

Meditation:

Guided mantra repetition meditation with offering of options for mantra, single words and phrases for those without a mantra.

A reported feeling very tired and hasn’t slept well during the week because he’s been out late with friends. He has been practicing meditation and the breathing practices, but has been inconsistent with both. P says she’s feeling calmer and like her reactions to things are lessened. She is feeling less pain. She has been doing all of the practices that have been assigned for homework and she notices if she skips meditation because she feels less calm throughout the day. T says he’s feeling more level and is doing all of the practices. T & P are married and so they do them together each day. CF says that he’s feeling less stressed, more level and less physical pain. He is not doing the meditation consistently but has been doing the breathing and the physical practices. CO’s flight was delayed from the business trip and he let me know he couldn’t attend.

P and T stayed after session to discuss hip and low back pain that sometimes arises. I offered some additional options to them such as legs in the chair and discussed their overpronation in their feet and helped them with adjustments to the feet and knees while standing in Mountain Pose. I assigned this physical awareness of the joints to them for additional homework.

It was good to hear that the clients are seeing benefits from the practices. It was a very good dynamic with the group in this session. They asked a lot of questions about the topics we discussed. I was glad that P and T stayed after to ask me for help and that I was able to offer some suggestions to help with physical pain. We discussed how the emotions can manifest into physical pain too and to check in with the emotions when they’re feeling pain.

Centering: Short guided awareness with proprioception into the feet and palms of the hands followed by a single Om chant together.

Check In

Discussion: We will discuss the homework assignment of how mental modifications and attachments show up in the client’s lives. We discussed Santosha from Sutra 2.32 the Niyamas because the clients raised the concept of joy in our last session. We will talk about contentment and how that’s impacted by craving. We will discuss 2.3 about the five obstacles with emphasis on aversions.

Gentle Hatha Yoga with Adaptations:
Joint freeing series including shoulder shrugs with sighs on the exhalation/as shoulders drop as well as gentle spinal twist in the chair.
Standing Sun Salutations with adaptations
Standing star to modified turtle pose standing
Constructive rest pose

Breathing Practice:

Pursed lip breathing, to help slow the breathing and extend the exhalation.

Relaxation:

Yoga Nidra with tensing and releasing and witnessing practice.

Meditation:

Guided mantra repetition meditation with offering of options for mantra, single words and phrases for those without a mantra.