A day in the life

[Guest guest]

I hope this doesn't not seem like too strange a request. But I am wondering in

this first few days of the new years and people like me making resolutions to

develop a more healthy and yogic lifesyle, if the esteemed members who answer

question so fully, could give a sample of a day of their life. For example, time

one arises, how long for morning yogic asansas and meditation. What you would

typically eat, aerobic activity, and if you have a evening yogic routine. what

time you head to bed. And any secrets you have for success in particular that

have worked for you.Nothing helps me more than becoming familair with what the

experts practise to accomplish what they do.

 

Thank you so much, may all of you have a wonderful year ahead, and may someone

you love, "catch" the desire to learn kundalini yoga from seeing the changes in

you.

 

Sat Nam,

Deb

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Deb:

 

I want to start off by saying that I didn't just dive into the

following routine, but moved into it slowly and gradually, never

doing more than I was comfortable with. It is important not to

overcommit ourselves. By starting slowly, and only committing to

what we are comfortable with, we make progress at our own pace.

 

My normal schedule at the moment:

 

Rise at 3:30 - cold shower and other cleansing routines, dressing

 

4:00- 5:00 (approx) for yoga - pranayam, warm-ups, and whatever

kriya I am currently working on.

 

5:00-6:30 relaxation, meditation, etc. At the moment I do the

standard sadhana chants (62 minutes), but often add other meditations

or alternate days - I am working on meditations that seem very useful

for me, such as the 1-minute breath, Sat Kriya (31 minutes), Kirtan

Kriya (11 minutes), and Sodarshan Chakra Kriya.

 

For breakfast I normally have yogi tea, fruit, and oatmeal with nuts

and/or seeds. My lunch & dinner choices are pretty varied, but try

to always have fruit before both meals, and a salad with at least one

of them, and they usually include soup & bread, or veggies, beans,

rice, etc.

 

I try for an 11-minute nap after lunch, and try to make my lunch the

larger meal of the day, which helps me eat a smaller dinner. I try

not to eat dinner past 6:00. There are days when I can't get dinner

because of teaching, so I'll try to have some fruit in the afternoon

so I don't run out of energy. And it is important to drink enough

water during the day - at least 8 cups, more in dryer climates.

 

I walk (usually BreathWalk) 4-5 miles at some point during the day,

if I don't do some other aerobic activity.

 

I try to be in bed by 9:30. Some evenings I teach a late class, and

may skip my evening meditation, or just make it short (5 or 7

minutes), so I can be into bed by 10, which is the latest I can go to

bed and be well rested.

 

On other evenings when I have time and inclination I will do some

pranayam (3-5 minutes) and 11-31 minutes of meditation before bed.

Some evenings I will even do a short yoga set before my meditation,

or perhaps just some of the "meditation facilitators" that

Gururattan's books provide. Some nights I just feel very tired and

go to bed at 8!

 

The most important secret for me is to be accepting of whatever I can

do on any given day. If I fall asleep during my morning relaxation

or the sadhana chants, or if I just want to go to bed early and

forget my evening meditation, or if I am working on a difficult kriya

and need to cut the times down, even if I'm normally doing the full

times, that is OK. To love ourselves unconditionally and accept our

limitations and imperfections is what really counts.

 

Love & blessings,

Sadhant

[Guest guest]

Dear Cristina:

 

> you do when you have guests that are not yogis?

 

Of course, I want all my friends to share the joy of morning sadhana

so I make them all get up and do yoga with me! Oh, wait, I suddenly

understand why I have no friends... ;-)

 

When I first started with the cold showers, it would have been a

problem, because when the water hit me, I would scream, and then the

cat came in and screamed back at me - very entertaining, but it might

bother guests. But since I don't scream anymore, I don't seem to

disturb anyone. And, the way my house is set up, the bathroom isn't

too close to any bedrooms. Another option would be the cold sponge

bath - not as much fun as the cold shower, but better than nothing.

 

There are plenty of meditations that have a silent mantra, like

Sodarshan Chakra Kriya, but another idea is to use the opportunity to

get together with some yoga friends for morning sadhana - maybe

getting a group sadhana going over time.

 

Many blessings in your (our) new way of living,

Sadhant

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Sadhant

 

I just went to the winter solstice and after experiencing this new way of living

that you described, I've decided to adopt it for

ever. This is what I want for myself but at the same time I don't want to be the

"different" one...

 

This week I am having guest at home and it has being a lesson for me to offer

a nice hospitality and trying to live this new life

style at the same time. It has not being absolutelly easy for me, maybe as part

of this process that you've mentioned. I am not doing

all the meditation I woudl like to, I am not taking a shower at 3am because I

don't want to make noise...things like that... What do

you do when you have guests that are not yogis?

Thank you very much and thanks Deb for starting this conversation.

Sorry for English mistakes...I am Brazilian.

With love

Cristina

[Guest guest]

Dear Cristina,

 

 

This is what I want for myself

 

Being true to yourself is the most important thing.

 

but at the same time I don't want to be the "different" one...

 

You just might be unless you live in a yogic community.

 

What do

> you do when you have guests that are not yogis?

 

Courtesy and not making noise is one thing. Doing what you need to do is

another. This may require an attitude shift, from I might be bothering

someone to maybe my light is helping someone. Heh they don't even have to

do it to get the benefits!. The more we are ourselves and do what we need

to do for ourselves, the more we give permission to others to be who they

are and do what they need to do for themselves. This is liberating for

everyone.

 

I know this takes time and there are so many situations that challenge us,

but people around us are happier when we are happy. If not, they leave and

others appear. Life is an interesting dance.

 

Sat Nam,

 

Gururattan Kaur

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 01/02/2001 7:28:50 PM W. Europe Standard Time,

kundaliniyoga writes:

 

>

> Rise at 3:30 - cold shower and other cleansing routines, dressing

>

 

You are rising when I am figuring it is probably time to hit the sack.

I do like to do my yoga in the evenings... hey, if I start doing my

yoga right before bed, we will be practicing on ~almost~ the same

schedule... :-D

 

Sadhant, I have been doing yoga for years

and I lead a pretty pure lifestyle at this point, but I do have to admit

I found your schedule terrifying!

 

The terror is probably because

of two reasons- one is that I am recovering from chronic

inflammatory arthritis and morning stiffness is a considerable factor.

I enjoy my practices quite a bit if I do them later in the day when I've had

a chance to loosen up more gradually. An early morning

yoga schedule for me would involve a lot of pain and stress; this

I don't need.

 

The second reason I practice in the afternoons or evenings is

probably also related to the arthritis... I tend to avoid setting up any

kind of schedule that would be thrown off if I needed extra rest,

since extra rest is something that I ~often~ need.

Rolling out of bed bright and early to get right to something is for me

an invitation to cut short my rest and become chronically

sleep-deficient/exhausted. This is because of my personality,

I am so not perfect yet.

I tend to work compulsively and so I have to guard my yoga practices

from myself and my own compulsive tendencies to push until risking burnout.

 

I love this idea of sharing about schedules!

 

Serena

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Serena!

 

> I enjoy my practices quite a bit if I do them later in the day when

 

First of all, I think the really important thing about our practice

is consistency, and whatever we can do to help us maintain

consistency is worth following. There are certain advantages to the

early morning hours, but for me, the big changes happened when I

committed to a daily routine, which meant late afternoon or evening

at first. It was quite some time before I decided to try working on

the early morning routine.

 

I think enjoying our practice and avoiding pain and stress is very

important - most of us are looser later in the day, and I do enjoy

evening yoga for this reason. I firmly believe that each of us

should what seems right to us - and of course, that might change over

time, and it is good to be open to that possibility.

 

One thing that really surprised me about the cold shower is that,

counter-intuitively, it helps me be looser. For example, when I

started this practice I'd been doing a kriya that included the asana

where you inhale and stretch your arms up above your head, and exhale

and bend down, presumably putting your palms on the ground. I could

put my palms on the ground when I practiced in the evening, but not

in the morning. But the morning of my first cold shower, I

discovered that I was now able to do this!

 

We refer to the hours of 4-7am as the ambrosial hours: this period is

the most effective time for meditation for several reasons, such as

the general calm, peace & quiet of that time. I am better able to

sit if I've done some yoga first, of course.

 

I find that I don't stretch as far or move as gracefully in the early

morning routine, but I have also found that this forces me to be more

conscious of my body and gentle about pushing myself further. I have

a tendency to push myself too fast, and I have found that I overdo

less often now that I do my primary yoga in the early morning.

 

And doing this early morning routine makes the whole day go much

better - I start off feeling wonderful, and am able to approach

everything that happens from a better place.

 

Love & blessings,

Sadhant

[Guest guest]

Dear Serena,

 

Everyone needs to do what fits their needs best. Sounds like you are doing

that. There is no one fixed formula for everyone. I think that one of our

biggest challenges is to accept this for ourselves without guilt and for

others without judgment.

 

In addition to my morning practice, I personally do 30 to 45 minutes of

meditation everyday before I fix dinner in the evening. Ideally we would

meditate at sunrise and sunset, as the energy shifts. I usually don't get

this exact timing. But I found 33 years ago when I started Hatha yoga that

I could have an evening if I did yoga or meditated at the end of the working

day. I am alive for the rest of the day.

 

Sat Nam,

 

Gururattan Kaur

[Guest guest]

Dear Gururattan,

 

When you do your evening meditation do you do some warm-ups first ? I've

been finding that some breathing exercises help to get me into a

meditative state of mind if I want to do some meditation before bedtime.

I find that physical yoga late in the evening wakes me up and then I

can't get to sleep.

 

love to all,

Avtar Kaur

______________

GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!

Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!

Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:

http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

[Guest guest]

Dear Siobhan,

 

> When you do your evening meditation do you do some warm-ups first ?

 

Sometimes spinal flex or breathing.

 

I've

> been finding that some breathing exercises help to get me into a

> meditative state of mind if I want to do some meditation before bedtime.

> I find that physical yoga late in the evening wakes me up and then I

> can't get to sleep.

 

That is reason to just meditate or do only left nostril breathing before

bedtime.

 

Sat Nam,

 

Gururattan Kaur