Kriya Yoga Program: Pre-Meditation Exercises

Recently, we began to reread two amazing books, "A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya" by Satyananda Saraswati and another book titled, “Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond" by Nancy Bardacke.

I believe that it's time for us to delve a little deeper now into the actual yoga asanas (poses) found within these sacred pages. Especially since the first program concerns pre-meditation exercises and our other book is all about mindfulness meditation (& birthing). Lucky us :) So, here is how our first asana program begins:

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"Most people today are physically very stiff. You can test this for yourself: from a standing position, keep your legs straight and bending forwards try to touch your toes with your hands. If you can't (please do not force or strain), then this shows that your body is stiff. Because of this stiffness most people cannot sit in one position for a very long time, as is necessary in higher yogic practices, without feeling the urge to move their limbs in response to discomfort. The following simple exercises are designed to generally loosen up your body and prepare you for eventual mastery of meditation asanas. There are many possible loosening up exercises, far too many for daily practice. The following exercises are selected ones which we feel give optimum results, especially when performed systematically in the order that we have described them" (19).

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    Alright. Noted. Let's begin then shall we? Below you will find a presentation which includes:

• Me, reading portions of the chapter that I feel are the most noteworthy
• The Pre-Meditation Exercises
• 3 program options and time allotments to guide you
• Photos of the poses (asanas) 
• My voice, walking you through the entire program

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Preparations

1. Practice in a well ventilated, unobstructed room. Do not practice in outdoors and in poor weather conditions.
2. Use a folded blanket or rug placed on the floor. 
3. Wear comfortable clothing which doesn't obstruct free movement. Use common sense in this respect. 
4. Please do not use unnecessary strain or force in any of the exercises. Though you may find that your muscles are a little stiff to begin with, they will begin to stretch even after a dew days of regular practice. (I'll write about this in more detail in a later post)
5. If you haven't already, consider reviewingJala Neti and Your Reasons for Wanting to Practice Yoga

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VIEW PRESENTATION

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If you are subscribed to my blog and if the presentation doesn't automatically load in your email box, it's because MailChimp (my blog distributor) isn't compatible with this file type. Please feel free to click the link "View Presentation" found above or simply visit my blog and read it from there. This includes the survey below, which most likely won't load properly in email. Sorry about that and thank you!

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Perhaps Next Time...

Maybe I'll try to put together a video for you of myself leading a yoga class which includes these poses? What do you think? Would you like that? Let me know ;)

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