Sadhana

On the 12th Day of Christmas, my sadhana practice began.

The word “Sadhana” in Sanskrit means “an effort exercised towards the achievement of a purpose.” In this sense, every effort is some kind of Sadhana, because it leads to the achievement of some intended goal.

Guruji says

“I sometimes tell my pupils that the practice they do in yoga class is not, strictly speaking, yoga practice. The reason for this is that in a class, although you are undoubtedly “doing” and, hopefully, learning you are the subordinate to the teacher… At home, on the other hand, it is your own intelligence that is the master, and the progress that you make is yours and will be maintained. In addition, the will that you employ is yours… it comes from you, and it’s effect profound”

BKS Iyengar, pg 167 Light On Life.

Today’s practice is in PRACTICE - At Home

It’s time to get back on the mat.

It is after all where Guruji began and how he ended. He never abandoned his practice on the mat.

These daily practices have been curious, challenging, and expanded our minds and intelligence however…

“We are in danger of over-inflating our minds. So let us just pause to steady ourselves, as we do in asana…”

BKS Iyengar Pg 167 Light on Life.

PRACTICE

Let us return to the mat to sensitise the body and bring us closer to the core of who we are, how we will choose to be in this world. Our practice on the mat needs to be “effective performance, and correct execution” rather than repetitive, thoughtless action like a robot.

Join me to inspire and guide you on the mat for a practice that empowers you to be your own teacher.

Here is a sequence just like the classes I offer in the Home Yoga Practice Membership.

If you enjoy this practice, sign up for your 30 Day Trial today.

Thank you for joining me for the 12 Days of Practice. I hope you join me on the mat in the next month for a 30 Day Trial of the Yogabranches Home Yoga Practice Membership.

Today is the last day I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now!

Nidra

On the 11th Day of Christmas, I went into a wakeful, dreamy state.

I am talking about yoga Nidra.

A state of wakeful sleep where we align our mind with that of a more peaceful and collected state.

“anything that facilitates concentration, refelction, and inward absorption is going to begin to heal the prolems of the fissured, imbalanced self.”

BKY Iyengar pg 98 Light On Life

Yoga Nidra is not only for relaxation and enjoyment but it is also a practice of auto-suggestion. It is a practice of contemplating something that is greater than we are and through contemplation, we can align ourselves with this higher state of being.

But that sounds all a little out there, so let get down to the practicalities of this practice.

Today’s practice is in a Yoga Nidra - Wakeful Sleep

I spoke on Day 6 of Pratyahara. In sleep, we withdraw our senses.

“The senses of perception rest in the mind, the mind in the consciousness, the consciousness in the being”

BKS Iyengar, pg 158, Light On Life.

This is what we are doing in yoga, right?

So today’s practice is a yogi sleep.

PRACTICE

Find a quiet place you can lie down uninterrupted for 20 minutes and a device you can listen to the yoga Nidra I have recorded for you.

LISTEN HERE

In my home yoga practice Membership I have a series of audio recordings of different length Savasanas so that you can do a simple daily practice that restores your energy, helps withdraw your senses, and makes the mind sharp and alert.

I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now and get immediate access to the Savasana Series Audio Recordings. This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Routine

On the 10th Day of Christmas, I finally realised I was struggling to practice daily because I had no routine.

It just takes one small side step for me to get out of routine. Without routine, I find it very difficult to maintain my yoga practice.

But actually more than routine is the commitment to practice.

So hand in hand having a commitment to practice and a strategy in place to practice is the key to making it happen every day.

Particularly when you are traveling or simply not in your daily routine because you are on holidays… like now, it’s very easy not to practice.

Today I want to share with you the strategies I put in place when I’m out of routine to maintain a daily practice.

If commitment for you is the trouble…

You will have to join me on the 5 Day Discipline Challenge I am hosting in February 2021. Find out more here.

As for strategies for getting on the mat when you are out of routine here is what I recommend.

1. Practice first thing in the morning before the day gets underway. Make a commitment to set your alarm for 20 minutes before the rest of the family rises, roll out of bed and get straight on the mat.

2. Be mindful of how much you are eating and drinking before bed. What you consume before bed is going to make all the difference to how you feel in the morning and how much of a challenge it will be to get up and practice. Think how much better you will feel.

3. Don’t leave home without your mat. I find that having my mat in my suitcase is a good reminder to practice and being able to roll it out where ever I am is the best way to create physical space to practice. A travel light weight mat or carpet underlay are great for travel.

4. Practice off the mat. Be creative and do your asana practice on the beach or in the yard while the kids are playing around you. Use the space and things around you to inspire your practice and make for creative propping.

Today’s Practice

Choose one of the above strategies and implement it TODAY.

Just choose one and do it with conviction:)

Thank you for joining me for the 12 Days of Practice. I hope you join me on the mat in the next month for a 30 Day Trial of the Yogabranches Home Yoga Practice Membership.

Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now!

Change

On the 9th Day of Christmas, I was innovative and made a change.

Guruji writes about the subtle difference between innovation and inventing because they are often mixed up but there is an important difference.

The difference is between doing something new or doing something different.

When we do things new, we create change and this is what we are seeking as yoga practitioners.

“Yoga tries to help us to truly innovate, to develop the intelligence that allows us to create a new relationship to our ego and our world”

BKS Iyengar pg 123 Light On Life.

We are all guilty of repeatedly responding to an unfavourable situation with the same response but just in a different way, each time hoping to change the situation.

But until we respond to the situation in a NEW way we will find ourselves in the same predicament time and time again.

Let me give you an example I am sure you can relate to.

Today’s practice is in CHANGE - through innovation

I will summarise Guruji’s example to help differentiate for you the difference between innovation and invention and real change.

If someone repeatedly makes you angry, you keep responding to them with anger. The angry response may be different each time, you might use different words and actions but the response is the same, it is anger.

The day you chose not to respond with anger something new has happened and there is potential for change.

Are you with me?

OBSERVATION

Recall a recurring situation in your life that has the same undesirable outcome.

For example, your child continues to leave their shoes on the couch and you repeatedly nag them to move them.

Choose a situation that reoccurs often so you are given many chances to practice this exercise.

It won’t necessarily be easy to change how you respond to that situation, especially if it has been recurring for some time and you are in the habit of responding in a certain way.

PRACTICE

When the situation arises that you have identified in the previous step remember you have a choice. The choice to behave in a different way or a new innovative way and see change.

“That is the role of intelligence: to stop, to discern, to discriminate, to intervene.”

BKS Iyengar pg 126 Light on Life.

The practice is to write a list of 5 NEW ways you could respond to the situation you want to change.

1. STOP - so that you do not respond in the same habitual way. Catch yourself.

2. DISCERN - you have a choice. You are now at the fork in the road. The choice might be hard but it is simple.

3. DISCRIMINATE - The faculty of discrimination will aid you to choose a new path, not an easy path.

4. INTERVENE - You are now taking part in something NEW so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.

If you would like to read further on this see pg 126 onwards in Light on Life.

If your repeating problem is ‘should I practice or what should I practice?’, I have an excellent strategy for something NEW.

There are just a few more days to take up my offer for a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Which will give you so much choice for NEW ways to practice.

Karmic

On the 8th Day of Practice, I almost didn’t practice…

We might have the intention to get on the mat first thing in the morning but for some good reason, we don’t.

We get caught up in the day and before we know it we are about to crash land into bed.

STOP!

You can’t end the day without doing your practice.

Miss one day and it’s even easier to miss another. Don’t fall into that pattern.

Today we are going to do a 15-minute pre-bed practice.

This sequence is excellent for winding down after a busy day, quietening the mind, and preparing you for deep sleep.

“The consequences of our actions endure. The implications are karmic. As you sow, so shall you reap”

BKS Iyengar pg 154 Light On Life.

What you do before bed will affect your sleep. How you sleep will effect your ability to get up early the next day to practice, which will impact your day.

Everything we do has consequences …

Here is a 15-minute pre-bed sequence.

Enjoy

If you want to build some real fire and sweat it out on the mat every day. I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Vrittis

On the 7th Day of Practice, I seized the moment.

Are you waiting for the right time to practice?

Are you waiting till you have a decent amount of time to practice?

Are you waiting to attend a class to practice?

If this is the case your practice is possibly sporadic, irregular and unsatisfying.

The mind deceives us. We lie to ourselves and are quick to blame others or circumstances for our lack of discipline. But really we are just making excuses.

Maintaining a home yoga practice is hard.

Understanding the citta vrittis (the Five Modifications of Consciousness) can be helpful in changing our mindset.

The citta vrittis are

1. Correct knowledge (pramana)

2. Wrong knowledge (viparyaya)

3. Imagination or fantasy (vikalpa)

4. Sleep (nidra)

5. Memory (smrti)

“Their misuse when they are defective can lead to endless trouble”

BKS Iyengar pg 154 Light on Life.

For example

Right or wrong knowledge can lead us to misperception.

Daydreams can lead us to fantasy.

Lack of sleep makes us dull.

Memory can work to our detriment.

“Their study can help us to follow a certain way of life and adopt a right way of thinking. They show us a direction and enable us to channel the thinking process”

BKS Iyengar pg 154 Light On Life.

Correct knowledge brings awareness.

Discrimination steers us from wrong knowledge.

With imagination we have creativity.

With sleep, our mind functions well.

Memory helps us see the consequences.

The Five Modifications of Consciousness are natural psychological states that occur in everyone.

They affect what we do and as a result the quality of our life.

“The consequences of our actions endure. The implications are karmic. As you sow, so shall you reap”

BKS Iyengar pg 154 Light on Life.

CONSIDERATION

1. Recall a time that the citta vrittis deceived you from practice. This should be easy as it happens almost every day when we are faced with a decision, in this case, the choice to practice or not. Identify which citta vrittis led you astray. Was it lack of sleep and a dull mind? Was it fantasy that you would do it later in the day instead?

2. Recall a time that the citta vrittis aided you in your practice. Identify which citta vrittis served you and how. Was it the power of imagination that made the practice particularly creative and engaging? Was it a good night’s sleep that made your mind sharp. Was it the memory of the previous day’s practice and how you felt that gave you the power of discrimination to choose to practice?

PRACTICE

Don’t make the same mistakes. Don’t repeat the actions that are not serving you.

Write them down so they are clear in your mind so that next time you come to practice you do the practice.

If you want to build some real fire and sweat it out on the mat every day. I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Pratyahara

On the 6th Day of Christmas, I withdraw from the chaos.

We have lots of strategies to withdraw. Sadly the greatest these days is to withdraw to our devices and screens.

But this is not real withdrawal, actually, we are seeking more stimulation by doing this.

I am guilty of this. I have caught myself feeling exhausted and wanting to switch off only to turn to my phone and flip mindlessly through images and messages all of which are stimulating my mind and senses.

I am only withdrawing from my family and those around me. This is not the true sense of withdrawal that we are looking at in Pratyahara.

“Pratyahara is either the silencing of the senses and keeping them in their position passively, or the drawing inwards of the senses so that they may dwell on the core of the being”

BKY Iyengar pg 6 The Tree of Yoga

Today’s practice is in PRATYAHARA - Withdrawal of Senses

Pratyahara is the withdrawal and emancipation of the mind from the domination of the senses and sensual objects.

“asana practice takes one’s mind to peep inside the body, it is in pranayama that one begins to learn to with draw the senses and mind from their external engagement”

BKS Iyengar pg 99 Light On Life.

In your asana or pranayama practice can you recall an experience of pratyahara? Even if it was only a fleeting moment, I am sure you can recall it, because it is an experience worth remembering.

For example, that moment when the pose felt effortless. That moment your mind was focused on the breath and nothing else. That moment where everything was still and worry-free.

Can you recall a moment like this?

Imagine being able to turn this switch on whenever we needed it so that we could instantly be in the moment of stillness and quiet when life overwhelms us.

OBSERVATION

Recall a time that you felt overwhelmed and anxious

• Recall how your body feels

• Recall how you mind is

• Recall how your breath is

I simply want you for a moment to recall the feelings in the body, mind, and breath of being overwhelmed and anxious. Maybe you don’t have to do recall it, because you are feeling it right now.

Notice how in these moments the energy is escaping from us. The energy is chaotic and whirlwind like.

Let us use today’s practice to bring these energies under control.

“In Sanskrit, pratyahara literally means to draw toward the opposite”

BKS Iyengar, pg 100 Light On Life.

PRACTICE

We will use pranayama and awareness of the koshas to do this.

Set the timer for 10 minutes

Lie in savasana.

Spend the 10 minutes oscillating between the body, mind, and breath with the intention of aligning them.

First focus on your body, how it feels, let it become heavy and weighted.

The mind will continuously charge in with thoughts, judgments, and ideas.

As soon as you catch the mind has shifted from the body bring it back to the body.

Repeat this back and forth between the body and mind until you are able to stay with the body.

Now shift your awareness to the breath.

The mind is looking for movement and action so bring the mind to focus on the movement of the breath.

Again when you notice the mind charging in, bring your awareness back to the body, and then to the breath.

Continue the practice of focussing the mind on the body and breath until the timer goes off.

Through this practice, we are honing our senses, so that we can be more aware of our sensory responses in daily life and keep them under control when we go about our daily activities.

It’s not an easy practice but if you keep at it, the rewards are well worth the effort.

If you want to read more about pratyahara see pages 99-105 in Light On Life.

If you want to get on the mat with me and practice, I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Tapas

On the 5th Day of Practice… I lit a fire

I often use the word discipline and tapas interchangeably.

Tapas is a big word with lots of layers, but discipline is a little simpler and this is what I want to focus on today.

One of the definitions of Discipline in the dictionary is ‘train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way.‘

I like this much more than the definition which includes words like obey, punish and reprimand.

These words have a negative connotations and they bring up resistance in me.

Discipline does not have to be a punishment, obedience system.

We are practicing discipline by taking the smaller serve of food every meal.

We are practicing discipline by getting on the mat every single day if only to lie in savasana.

We are practicing discipline every time we rise to do something that is challenging.

Note here I use the word every in each example. Discipline is observed or practiced when it is done repeatedly not just once.

It is the repeated action that build tapas. Tapas is fire, the fire within us to do what needs to be done. Guruji says Tapas is the purifying fire of action.

“… a purifying process and one involving sustained personal effort”

BKS Iyengar pg 112 Light On Life.

Today’s practice is in TAPAS - Sustained Practice

Sustained Practice - what does that look like?

Let us not over complicate it and make it a chore, or more difficult than it needs to be.

It can be as simple as repeating a practice every day, it does not even have to be something that challenges you or is hard for you to do. The challenge is in doing it every single day.

For example every single day as soon as I wake I go to the kitchen and drink a full glass of water with lime. This is a sustained practice because I do it every day, it takes effort and discipline to do daily and in this practice I am building Tapas.

“Remember that yoga is not asking us to refrain from enjoyment”

BKS Iyengar pg 93 Light On Life.

OBSERVATION

Think about something you do that you would like to change. Something that is not really serving you. Something that is a habit rather than something you are consciously doing.

PRACTICE

What is something you would like to do every single day that would be beneficial to you?

Choose something that you can realistically do every single day. It may be an effort to do, but you know you will be rewarded by doing it.

It can be as simple as drinking a full glass of water when you rise. You know if is good for you, will hydrate you and that it is achievable but will take some effort to do it daily.

Now commit to doing this every day for the rest of the 12 Days of Practice.

Please comment below on what your new daily practice is going to be I can’t wait to hear it, and it might just inspire ideas for other too.

If you want to build some real fire and sweat it out on the mat every day. I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Practice

On the 4th Day of Practice, I really had to stretch.

Are you itching to practice but you…

• Can’t find the time

• Can’t find the space

• Don’t have the props

• Are out of routine

These are all valid obstacles, but let me show you a way to get around them all quickly so that you can restore some balance into your life.

Firstly (and this won’t be the last time I say it) …

Practice first thing in the morning. As soon as you get out of bed, go straight to practice.

But…

No Buts.

Today we are going to practice in the kitchen.

Place your hands on the kitchen bench and step your feet back to Ardha Uttanasana. Hold for 5 breaths.

Fill the kettle and turn it on.

Take your right leg up onto the kitchen bench and do Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana 1 then change sides. If the kitchen bench is too high, take the foot to rest lower.

Get your cup and choose your tea. Even if the kettle has boiled don’t pour the water.

First do Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana 2 on both sides.

Now pour the water and let your tea steep.

Do baddhanguliyasana with the arms.

Giggle the tea bag, remove the tea bag, do what you need to do.

Do gomukasana with the arms.

Do Urdhva baddhanguliyasana with the arms.

Now you may enjoy your cup of tea knowing your have done your yoga practice for the day.

“In whatever position one is in, or in whatever condition in life one is placed, one must find balance. Balance is the state of the present-the here and now”

BKS Iyengar pg 43 Light On Life.

It can be this simple to get into the routine of a daily practice.

If you want to build some real fire and sweat it out on the mat every day. I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Samskara

On the 3rd Day of Christmas, I screamed at my brother.

Have you noticed that when you visit your family you revert back to the behaviors and habits of your 16-year-old self?

Have you noticed how quickly you can be triggered when your brother or parent says something just the way they said it when you were a child?

Now 20, 30, 40 years later you are still reacting in the same way.

“a sufficient number of irritable reactions will create, imperceptibly, not in one time only, a little mound of irritability at the bottom of the lake of consciousness”

BKS Iyengar, pg 132 Light On Life.

It does not feel good when we behave this way, does it?

And fortunately or unfortunately we forget about the bottom or our lake as we’re only reminded of it once or twice a year when we spend time with family, then we very conveniently forget about it.

Let’s not sink it to the bottom one more time.

Today’s practice is in SAMSKARA - Freeing Yourself From Habit

“If you don’t …………………… for one day, you actually take away from the ……………………… sandbank at the bottom of the lake so the sandbank is fractionally smaller.”

BKS Iyengar, pg 134 Light On Life.

Are you ready to start shovelling this sandbank?

Remember these things build up over time and can only be removed over time. We’ve got to start somewhere and NOW is the best time to start.

OBSERVATION

Notice when you are triggered by family members’ comments. Notice the reactive and inappropriate reactions you have. Notice how these are reactions conditioned from your past.

PRACTICE

You can’t control what others say but you can control your response. Respond from the present moment, not the memory, or sandbank that piled up from years ago.

Change your tone of voice. Choose different words. Or perhaps the practice for you is not to say anything at all.:)

“The point we are seeking to reach is where we can act directly in the present”

BKS Iyengar, pg 137 Light On Life.

Begin the process of building good samskara. Your different response will be felt by all and mostly by you as it ripples deep to your core and washes away a layer of the sand pile.

“Yoga never forgets that the end purpose is not just to remove bad samskara. We also have to cultivate good deeds to build up good samskara.”

BKS Iyengar, pg 134 Light On Life.

If you are inspired by today’s practice and want to learn more you can read the following.

Page 131. ‘Samskara’. Light on Life by BKS Iyengar.

If you want to get on the mat with me and practice, I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Restorative

On the 2nd Day Of Practice, I needed to Rest and Digest.

Yes, I’ll give you something to help you digest all the food you ate yesterday if you didn’t practice abstinence.

Today I propose we take one of the two poses that are wonderful for digestion.

Yes, doing just one posture constitutes practice, but how we do it is what counts.

“Patanjali said the correct fulfillment of pleasure is an essential component not only of life but liberation… To pursue pleasure is to persue pain in equal measure.”

BKY Iyengar pg 175 Light On Life.

Supta Baddha Konasana or Supta Virasana are both good for digestion.

Excellent you are thinking, I can lie over a bolster and relax.

Wrong.

Practice with intent, not indulgence or languor.

The challenge is not in doing the posture, rather in finding a quiet space, the props you need, and being able to settle into the posture for 10 minutes undisturbed. The challenge is the discipline to practice with intent.

Now a few tips if you don’t have your yoga props.

• Firstly don’t make it an excuse not to do the pose.

• Use folded blankets, towels to build up the height you need to be comfortable.

• Taking a firm seat cushion off the couch can work for a nice firm bolster support.

A few tips if you can’t find the time or space

• You can do it lying on the lounge room floor while the kids play with their new toys.

• Offer to read the kids a book while you lie in the position so they won’t interrupt you and everyone can relax together.

• Keep in mind digestion is improved when we are relaxed.

A few tips in the posture

• Make sure you are well supported and comfortable so you can relax and digest. The aim of practicing the posture is not to do our best posture or to extend yourself, it is to relax and digest.

• Keep your awareness on your pelvic abdominal region

• Feel the expansion, length, and breadth of the abdominal region in the posture and as a result the space that is being created.

Something is better than nothing, right?

Sometimes all we can manage is one posture. Do it mindfully, with awareness and attention and you will see that the 60-minute practice you did mindlessly was less impactful.

I have created a a series of short videos that show you how to set up for the most common restorative postures.

You can find them in the Yogabranches Home Yoga Practice Membership.

You can take a 30 Day trial for $1 Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1 and access these videos immediately.' Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.

Greed

On the 1st Day of Christmas, I piled my plate too high.

“In yoga we consciously minimise our needs… We minimise our needs so that we can minimise our attachments and maximise contentment.”

BKY Iyengar pg 91 Light On Life.

It is counterintuitive, no?

We think if we have more we will be more content, right?

Like if I have that extra serving of food I’ll be more satisfied.

Wrong!

The less we have the more contented we will be, and in today’s teaching you will get to experience this first hand.

Firstly, Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas or not, todays practice is for everyone and for every day. But if you have a feast of food awaiting you, today’s practice will be particularly good for you to observe.

Today’s practice is in APARIGRAHA - Non-Greediness

Are you already thinking ‘I’m not greedy?’

“The ways in which our greed is destructive in our world are easy to see. The ways in which our greed is destructive in our lives is more difficult”

BKS Iyengar, pg 91-92 Light On Life.

First, we have to observe where in our lives we might be greedy and Christmas day lunch is a good place to start.

When you serve yourself from the Christmas feast today, or the shared family meal here are a few things to consider and perhaps catch yourself on.

OBSERVATION

Do you…

• Pile your plate high?

• Fear you will miss out?

• Take the biggest serve?

Our greed extends well beyond how big a serve we take at mealtime.

We can be greedy for possessions, attention, or someone’s affection … and the list goes on.

Take some time to reflect on how you might be greedy for things in life. Be 100% honest with yourself. It might be a bit embarrassing, but it is only you who has to know.

I’ll share mine with you. Actually, I am aware of it because I see my son doing it and our children can be mirrors. I love cake and I am guilty of looking for the largest piece on the plate:(

PRACTICE

Can you identify where your greed comes from?

What are you afraid of not having enough of?

Is this a true fear, do you really not have enough of it?

Can you in-fact see that tendency towards greed for ……………………………… is not necessary?

Please comment below if you want to share how this practice has inspired you. Or simply read the comments of others to be further inspired.

If you want to get on the mat with me and practice, I’m offering a 30 Day Trial of my Home Yoga Practice Membership for $1. Sign up now! This offer is only available for the 12 Days of Christmas.