Yoga, in the first place, teaches us to live consciously, to see causes and effects, to exercise sound judgment in everything (to act according to own experience, knowledge and experience of teachers), i.e. eliminates automatism. And it is very important to keep this mindfulness throughout the day.
Yoga talks about the precious human birth, when in the course of many factors a person has the opportunity to practice, he is healthy, is not burdened with the affairs and concerns, knowledge is available to him, he appreciates this knowledge. Such a birth is rare, and it is important to live such a life effectively.
Effectiveness of life is determined energy or tapas. We transfer this energy fr om life to life, and therefore, we are born with a certain reserve. We can spend it randomly on thousands of activities and things, to direct on the implementation of projects or satisfaction of worldly desires, or to divert attention fr om all outside things and to direct energy to self-development, increasing its potential. Aside fr om energy accumulating, it is important to learn to control it and to avoid useless spendings. In modern society, the whole infrastructure is set up to suck out of people their vital energy as much as possible. To avoid this, take responsibility for your life and begin to make efforts.
Effective day of practitioner begins before dawn, according to various sources fr om 4 o'clock in the morning or 1.5 hours before dawn. It is believed that from 4 am till 10 am - it is time of the mode of goodness. This time is for awakening, it is favorable for prayer, scripture study, meditation, yoga practice.
From 10 am till 10 pm - it is time of the mode of passion. At this time vigorous activity is carried out.
From 10 pm till 4 am – time of influence of the mode of ignorance. It is bedtime - immersion in self-forgetfulness.
Person harmoniously performs his affairs during the day, harmonizing his activity with the rhythms of nature. Failure to follow the regime leads to stress, exhaustion, and, as a consequence, to disease. People tend to think that fatigue, drowsiness, apathy and depression are norm of life and invented a variety of means to restore the activity, from the tea, coffee and sweets to pills and hard drugs. But is it worth the enclosed efforts, when there is a natural and free way - following the day regime, familiar since long time ago? God gives all to those, who get up early. Tomorrow is a new day.
1) Wake up calmly and gradually, lying in bed you can do self-massage, tune in mentally for the day or just stretch yourself.
2) Body cleansing. After sleeping body accumulates a lot of waste products, even if you lead a healthy lifestyle, so as the first priority you need to clean it using yogic actions – shatkarmas. To put it simply, toilet, shower, washing, brushing your teeth and tongue - that is the minimum of morning cleaning actions.
3) Mind cleansing. It is favorably to start the practice, as well as the day, with a prayer, devoting its fruits to supreme forces, thus overcoming your ego. Truly great people did not attribute their actions to themselves, but said modestly that God's will was realized through them. Early hours are filled with more subtle energy, helping to advance in practice. In addition, even the city calms down at this time and external factors are minimized. Hour of pranayama practice or concentration replaces two hours of sleep, tunes for the whole day and like any yoga practice allows you to accumulate energy, and experienced asceses allow avoiding troubles during the day. After all, we can decide ourselves wh ere to experience the sufferings allotted for us.
The most affordable and effective practice - Apanasati Hinayana. But you can choose the practice, that is currently the most effective for you, for example, Nadi Shodhan or Surya Shodhan Pranayamas. In the life description of many yogis they say that they practiced pranayama in the morning every day, in contrast to the performance of asanas. You can start with 15-20 minutes, gradually increasing practice time to 1-2 hours. Regularity is important, so do not overextend fanatically your unprepared body.
4) Hatha Yoga. After sleeping or long motionless sitting during breathing practice, body needs loosening up, morning practice of asanas will help to gradually awaken it. It is most effectively to practice for two hours several times a week, for daily practice some effective loosening up asanas and vinyasas will work well. Having started to practice yoga, you can devote more time and attention to asanas and less to pranayama, gradually changing this ratio. The main thing is that you realized why you give yourself a particular load. Before practice you should drink a glass of cool or warm water to cleanse and awaken the inner organs.
If you work and every minute counts, it is possible to perform the first 2 points at home, go to practice in the hall, and have breakfast already at work.
5) Time for effective activities. Hours before lunch allow executing twice as much than in the rest of the time. Maximum of energy and concentration that you should spent on good deeds.
6) Breakfast. After 1.5 hours after practice. Light but well-saturating products are preferred. Green smoothies, fresh juices, fruit salads and cereal will suit.
If possible, brush your teeth or rinse your mouth.
7) During the further day try to be maximally conscious, watch the position of your body, avoid slouching forward; watch your breathing, breathe calmly and deeply, not superficially; watch your diet, avoiding snacks between the main meals; watch your thoughts and information that you consume; watch your speech and its volume; watch yourself and the way your mind is reflected in the outer world. Try to find time for a walk in the fresh air, at least going out for some errands.
8) Dinner. It is effectively to eat twice a day, but if three meals a day is important for you, it is permissible, it is most importantly to give your digestive system time to rest, it all depends on the type of your activity and the strength of the digestive fire. For dinner eating vegetables is favorable, because they soothe and nourish. It is desirable to have dinner till 6 pm or 3-4 hours before bedtime.
9) Evening practice. It is necessary to transform the energy accumulated during the day. Facing and interacting with many people, especially in the big cities, you exchange energy with them. Yoga practice allows cleaning the received energy to not get its quality together with it. You can choose those practices that are currently more efficient for you: visit hatha yoga practicing or to practice alone, walk in the fresh air, perform pranayamas or mantra chanting, reading of spiritual literature, trataka, prostrations, and prayers.
10) Body cleansing. Long shower or bath can help lift the energy of the day, so decide for yourself how much you need to fully wash yourself. If you are doing purposefully practices to achieve some result, at this time, you should refrain from any waste of energy. But certain daily Shatkarmas are needed.
11) Before going to bed for 15-20 minutes you should practice inverted asanas to raise the energy from the lower chakras up, and with it your consciousness; gradually relax your body in shavasana. Then your sleep will also be more efficient. You can set yourself on awakening, using affirmations such as: I will wake up tomorrow at five in the morning refreshed and full of energy.
12) Sleep. The best sleep for the biological clock is before midnight. 6-7 hours of sleep is enough for a person for complete recovery, so if you go to bed at 9-10 pm, it is easy to get up at 4-5 am.
These points of effective day are only a model based on which you can make your own day. On personal experience it is verified that they work, but only when you are ready to follow them, because the mode of the day is also a harsh ascesis, especially in the early days. Do not hurry to put yourself in the strict confines, start with a few actions, but follow them regularly, they gradually will be included in a useful habit and cease to be ascesis, such as brushing your teeth. Do not blame yourself if you did not manage to follow regularity, most importantly not to stop, and the result will manifest itself. But do not be fooled by the excuses that your work or family prevents you, in the world there are thousands of possibilities, you should only get out of the usual framework. The Wholesome life helps to cope with all the chores faster and better. Gradually, you will realize that it is impossible to distinguish wh ere the practice is, and wh ere there is not. Every event, every moment will be full of meaning and possibilities for self-improvement. You can immerse yourself in yoga and try to live as efficiently as possible at the event oum.ru club “Vipassana - meditation retreat “Dive into Silence””, wh ere for this purpose ideal conditions are created by forces of many people for you. Try to make the first step, and you will be surprised how much you can achieve! Om
author of the article is yoga teacher of oum.ru club Bezhina Yuliya