• 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.

Asana:
o Tadasana mountain pose with affirmation
o Arddha Chandraasana Half-moon pose
o Uttanaasana full forward bend pose
o SRF asana

Affirmation:
o Add affirmations during Tadasana practice: “I am strong, I am stable, I am flexible.”
o Be mindful during all of your asana poses.

Breathing Practice:
o Nadi Sudi for 10 minutes. Add affirmation when breathing in, something you want to develop in your life, and breath out something that you want to change or eliminate. For example:
 Inhale “I’m calmness”, and breath out tension
 Inhale “I’m content”, breath out sadness
 Inhale “Harmony, breath out impatience
o Do Nadi Sudi before you do meditation to help you to quiet your mind.

Meditation:
o Mantra repetition following your breath with a mantra, it could be like we discussed - breath in “Soul” and breath out “not the mind”. Say it mentally.

o Witnessing the mind technique of meditation – being an observer of your mind without getting involved in it. Witnessing the thoughts without becoming lost in them. As we observe the mind this way, like a child that notices that its being observed changes their behavior, so the mind with begin to gradually stop the thoughts when it is being observe. This takes patience and happens over time. See instructions below:

Witnessing the mind meditation:
a) Observe the thoughts like clouds passing before the Sun.
b) Movie Theater, you are the Audience (true self) watching the film, you are also the Star (thoughts) of the film, and you identify with the Audience and not the Star of the film.
c) Technique – Mind is focused with detachment – just watching the mind, cultivate awareness over time
d) Keep a light attention on the breath, but be very very interested to see if you can catch the thought that comes. You are like a thought cat waiting for the thought mouse to come. When the cat is waiting the thought mouse is not likely to come, so how quickly can you catch it when it comes (train the mind to return to witnessing the thoughts.)
e) Transcend Mental Level and experience True Witness Within.

Obstacles to Meditation:
o Make sure you are in a comfortable sitting position, make any adjustments that you have to make early on.
o When hearing sounds during meditation that you have no control over, try to go deeper into the meditation, and resolve to not allow the sounds to disturb you.
o Breath normally ~ slowly during meditation. Do not try to make your breath happen. Allow the breath to calm your down to relax you. In order for this to happen the breath should be normal, gentle and allowed to become slower, and you will find that your mind begins to follow and relax.

Medications for sleep: take them at the time the doctor says you should.

Hug Yourself sometimes: you are your best friend. Hug yourself with love. You can teach your son to do this and you can do it together. You can teach your mother too.

BREATHING PRACTICES TO SUBSTITUE FOR HABITS:
Do these practices instead of the things that waste time:
o Do Breathe of Joy during the day.
o Incorporate an affirmation with Nadi Sudi – breath in something that is significant to you, we practiced breathing in ‘peace’ and breathing out ‘tension’ or breath in ‘I got this’ and breath out ‘impatience’.

WISDOM PRACTICE:
We discussed that we want to be/feel painless rather than painful or pleasurable. To do that we must think clearly and be discerning about our thoughts and mindfully control our thoughts and emotions. We must nip painful thoughts and emotions in the bud to change these patterns. If we desire pleasurable thoughts and emotions eventually/inevitably they will turn into painful thoughts and emotions. We simply want to live painless lives and connect with our true self which brings the true pleasure we seek.1

For this we must become stronger – how do we do that? “We have to ‘increase the pull of the painless’ whirlpool of clarity, discernment and selflessness through meditation, prayer and selfless action, the study of high ideals, and or mantra repetition adds force to the momentum of painless vrittis (thoughts), strengthening their influence in our lives. We do this overtime.”1 To do this we must dedicate time to go inside to cultivate peace inside of us, to connect with our Soul – “Then the Seer [Self] abides in His own nature.”

We discussed in previous sessions that when we are in a situation that we cannot externally change, we must change our internal environment, the way we see and think of what is happening. When we change our internal environment, the external environment will also change.

Pray to God every day, remember you are his child, give him your love as he is your father, and ask for his help with difficult situations.

We discussed acceptance and flexibility with family situations.

We discussed control over eating and other painful creating habits.

Recall that when you see that your brain needs a break, instead of allowing your mind to interpret that as eating, make the effort to be mindful and do something else instead to give your brain a break. Do Nadi Sudi to rebalance the brain, or Breath of Joy. Drink water instead of eating sweets. As discussed, write the word ‘Love or harmony or peace’ on a piece of paper and put a clear glass full of water on it and let it sit overnight. The next day you can reach for this water that is charged with those vibrations and have a drink of it mindfully. See the video’s below on Dr. Masaru Emoto’s Water Experiment – Water Responds to Consciousness:
Dr. Masaru Emoto - Message in the Water Interview (youtube.com)
Water Has Memory! Dr. Masaru Emoto's Water Experiment! (youtube.com)
Dr. Emoto's Water Experiment (youtube.com)

1Inside the Yoga Sutras, A Comprehensive Sourcebook For The Study And Practice of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, by Reverend Jaganath Carrera.

Centering.
Hatha asana – Tadasana with affirmation, Arddha Chandraasana Half-moon, and Uttanaasana.
SRF asana, same as before (no new SRF asana have been added).
Full body tense and release (Seegra Savaasana)
Body scan.
Breathing Practice – Nadi Sudi with affirmation – 5 minutes
Meditation - JAPA
Discussion on how the assignments went for client. How the personal sadhana is going?
Briefly review Wisdom teaching - Sutra I.2 – The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga / Yogas Citta Vritti Nirodhah.
Wisdom teaching – Sutra I.5 – There are five kinds of mental modifications which are either painful or painless.

In the last 7 days client has been waking up earlier by 20 minutes. She does her asana and has tried to meditate.

Client has practiced having ‘zero’ expectations from her husband and her mother on the weekend. Client did everything she had to do without expecting or asking for help and without complaining. This led to a good weekend for her.

In the last 10 days, client has stopped the habit of going to her phone to check messages, and surf the web, etc. She has stopped using the phone as a distraction. This has given her a feeling of liberation.

Client still becomes disappointed and self-critical with her practice of meditation. We discussed accepting ourselves where we are and that change happens over time. Client has been given a few meditation techniques work with, they are JAPA and Witnessing the Mind.

In reference to meditation the client concluded that “what is important is being patient, absorb the moment, don’t worry abut what happens.”

I felt good for this client who has been able to stop the habit of constantly going to the cell phone for satisfaction and distraction. She felt liberated.

It was great to hear that she is putting into practice the teachings of having “zero expectations”.

I may not be able to meet with this client again until I return from my retreat. She is okay with this.

Table discussing the Koshas, (describing them in a medical way) until after I return.

Centering.
Asana –
o Tadasana with affirmation,
o Arddha Chandraasana Half-moon
o Uttanaasana,
o Twist on a Chair

SRF asana, same as before (no new SRF asana have been added).

Full body tense and release (Seegra Savaasana)
Body scan.
Breathing Practice – Nadi Sudi with affirmation – 8 minutes
Meditation – JAPA, and introduce Walking Meditation

Discussion on how the assignments/homework went for client. How the personal sadhana is going?

Briefly review Wisdom teaching - Sutra I.5 – There are five kinds of mental modifications which are either painful or painless.
Wisdom teaching – Sutra I.15 – Vairagyam/Non-attachment – The consciousness of self-mastery in one who is free from craving for objects seen or heard about is non-attachment. Page 22-27

Table discussing the Koshas until August.